LSU offensive guard Josh Dworaczyk will get one more chance to play for a national championship after all.
Dworaczyk has been granted an extension to his five-year playing clock and will be granted a sixth year of eligibility, the NCAA announced Wednesday.
Dworaczyk missed the entire 2011 football season after a knee injury during training camp in August sidelined him for the fall.
“I’m excited to be able to get another year so that I can finish my career on the field,” Dworaczyk said in a news release. “I felt like I had some unfinished business, so being able to get this additional year is a blessing.”
Dworaczyk spent the season in a coaching capacity, helping out offensive coordinator Greg Studrawa as an assistant.
“Getting to see the game through the eyes of a coach and understanding what they are looking for from the players on the field, it helped me fully understand our offense,” Dworaczyk said. “It also gave me a different relationship with my teammates. As a player, I was a leader on the field. Last year, I couldn’t be in the huddle with my teammates, so I tried to be a motivator, giving words of advice or encouragement and doing whatever I could to help from the sidelines.”
The BCS National Championship game was the second time he watched the game from the sidelines — the first time coming in 2007, when he was with the team during his redshirt freshman season.
“Watching from the sidelines last year wasn’t always easy because I was so used to being a contributor on the field,” Dworaczyk said.
LSU coach Les Miles called the return of veteran Dworaczyk “great news for the program.”
“You never want to see a player have his career cut short because of an injury,” Miles said. “Josh is a tremendous representative of our program, and it’s nice to see that he’s going to get a chance to finish out his LSU career on the field.”
Dworaczyk has played in 38 games, starting 26 contests at left guard. He started all 13 games for LSU in the 2009 to 2010 season.
 
 
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Contact Katherine Terrell at [email protected]