Leonard Fournette, Odell Beckham Jr., Tyrann Mathieu and Patrick Peterson.
All four players were spark plugs and game-breakers on their side of the ball and on special teams. The four all-time greats combined for nine special teams touchdowns in their career.
Junior running back Derrius Guice was supposed to be the next in line, but due to a nagging injury Guice has been limited in his play this season.
In his stead it has been senior receiver DJ Chark.
The 6-foot-4, 198-pound receiver has been the Tigers’ most consistent big-play threat all season. It’s been a role Chark has held since he scored a 79-yard touchdown on the first touch of his career as a sophomore against Texas Tech.
In his 30 career games (10 starts), Chark has accounted for 28 explosive plays, which were measured as a run, catch or punt return of 20-plus yards and a kick return of 30-plus yards.
The 28 plays totaled 1,119 yards for an average of 40.0 yards per play.
For comparison, in 39 career games with 34 starts, Beckham Jr. had 58 career explosive plays for 2,138 yards, averaging 36.9 yards per play.
Chark’s numbers are remarkable when considering that he has only touched the ball 80 times in his career, and only one of those came in his first two years.
The 80 touches resulted in 1,461 yards and nine touchdowns, six of which were not receiving touchdowns. His 18.3 average yards per touch surpasses Beckham’s average of 16.2, and Chark’s 46.9 yards per touchdown is also more than Beckham’s 44.8 average.
This season Chark is averaging 24.3 yards per catch which is sixth in the country and is fourth in the country with 18.8 yards per punt return.
The biggest play of Chark’s career may have come Saturday in LSU’s 27-23 win over Auburn.
Chark trimmed Auburn’s lead down to 23-21 with a 75-yard punt return for a touchdown two plays into the fourth quarter.
“[The punter] kicked it far enough to give me a chance to run,” Chark said. “Once I beat the first guy, I figured it was going to be a big return. I knew the guys were going to block their hearts out, in that moment of the game people were giving it all they had.”
Chark also displayed his big play ability with 150 yards on five catches.
Chark responded after a fumble on his first catch and became the team’s spark plug throughout the game. He credited senior receiver Russell Gage, senior quarterback Danny Etling and redshirt sophomore Derrick Dillon with picking him up during the game.
“Derrick made a big conversion on an out route, Russell made a third down completion,” Chark said. “Just things like that have everybody fighting for a goal and it’s a big thing. Then after the game you see the stats and you think ‘wow, we did something special,’ but at the time everybody was just fighting for their one goal.”
Chark finished the game against Auburn with a career-high 233 all-purpose yards and earned Southeastern Conference co-offensive Player of the Week.
“The team didn’t doubt me, and I didn’t doubt myself so I was able to come back and make some plays,” Chark said.
LSU senior wide receiver DJ Chark (7) runs the ball down the field during the Tigers' 35-26 win against Syracuse on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017, in Tiger Stadium.
