Each Saturday before LSU home football games, thousands of fans line the sides of Victory Hill as the LSU football team makes its entrance into Tiger Stadium.
Fans cheer, coaches shake hands, and players begin their mental preparation for the game.
But what does that preparation consist of?
Junior defensive lineman Sam Montgomery said his pregame ritual isn’t what most fans would expect of him.
On the field, Montgomery is known as a high-energy, high-intensity player, but before the game he’s a different person.
“I’m relaxing. I’m not hyped or anything. I’m just chill,” Montgomery said. “I have a five-minute highlight video of my life that I play in my head of [adverse] times in my life which inspires me to go out and play.”
Senior offensive linemen Josh Dworaczyk said his pregame routine is similar, though he used to prepare differently.
Dworaczyk said as a defensive lineman in high school he used to get “jacked up” before games, but now he uses a much more focused approach.
“As an offensive lineman now, if you want to be successful, it’s going to be a 10-play or 15-play drive, where you go down there and score,” Dworaczyk said. “So you can’t be burning that much energy in pregame.”
One of the most common sights fans see on Saturdays is players with headphones on, blaring music to drown out the noise.
But that’s not always the case.
Junior defensive end Barkevious Mingo said he often doesn’t listen to music before games. In fact, he forgot his headphones before last Saturday’s 41-3 victory over Washington.
Dworaczyk said he would much rather take in the sights and sounds.
The NCAA granted Dworaczyk a sixth year of eligibility this season after missing all of the 2011 season with a knee injury, so he appreciates his fleeting experiences as a college athlete.
“This season I’ve actually taken my headphones off and just felt like I really needed to enjoy this and soak it all in,” Dworaczyk said. “How many other times and chances do you get to walk in front of that many people with everybody screaming ‘Go Tigers’? I really want to relish in that.”
Dworaczyk said he can’t take the field without completing his pregame walk inside Tiger Stadium.
For Dworaczyk, this isn’t a leisurely afternoon stroll — it’s mental preparation.
“I always go out to the field and walk all the way down to one endzone and walk all the way back,” Dworaczyk said. “I get to the endzone and say, ‘all right, this is where we’re going to make our goal line run.’”
Dworaczyk said the tradition started a few years ago with former lineman Will Blackwell and now includes junior offensive lineman Josh Williford and tight ends coach Steve Ensminger.
But Montgomery said there’s a proper time to get pumped up for the game, and for Dworaczyk, that time is in the tunnel before the team takes the field.
“That’s the exciting part where everyone gets hyped up,” Dworaczyk said. “And then we get to the sideline and do our breakdown of ‘tick, tick, tick, boom!’ and that’s our last moment of getting hyped up.”
