When the LSU offense takes the field for the first time this year, senior tackle Joseph Barksdale will line up in a new spot, arguably the most important in football — left tackle.
The position, glorified for its importance in guarding the quarterback’s blind side, has been occupied by only two players at LSU during the past eight years.
For Barksdale, who spent his previous three seasons at right tackle, the move is a minor one compared to other changes he has experienced since wrapping up his All-America high school career at Cass Tech High School in Detroit.
“I’m so used to being on the far right side of the plays, [but] as far as technique and everything, it wasn’t that difficult to switch,” he said.
Offensive coordinator Gary Crowton complimented Barksdale on the ease of the transition, calling him as “solid as can be on the left side as he was on the right side.”
It hasn’t always been that easy.
Just the move to Louisiana was difficult enough. Barksdale, the first scholarship football player from Michigan in LSU history, quickly found himself undone by the Louisiana weather.
“The summers are brutal,” he said. “The hardest thing, other than being 20-something hours away from home, is the heat. I’m still not used to it.”
He also endured a position change in order to see the field earlier.
Barksdale arrived at LSU as a five-star defensive tackle, Parade All-American and top-five recruit in the country at his position.
He never saw so much as a snap from the defensive side of the ball, going from pursuing quarterbacks to protecting them. His freshman season was spent learning the ropes as backup to right tackle Carnell Stewart during the Tigers’ 2007 national championship run.
The move paid off when he earned the starting job in 2008 as a sophomore and never looked back.
During the past two seasons, he started all 26 games at right tackle and led the offense in snaps from scrimmage in both 2008 and 2009. Further cementing his iron-man status was a near-perfect 2009 season in which he played every snap in 12 of 13 games, sitting out only seven plays all year.
LSU coach Les Miles expects the latest switch to pay even bigger dividends.
“We do the Big Cat drill, a drill where we go one-on-one, and Joe Barksdale had a dominant outing against some very good defensive ends recently,” Miles said. “I think he is going to be a postseason awards guy.”
Now the veteran member of a young offensive line, Barksdale doesn’t plan on changing anything as he eases into a leadership role.
“Since I’ve been here I’ve tried to lead by example, and it’s been working for me,” he said. “I’ll probably step up and say something if something needs to be said, but besides that I’m going to do what I do.”
Perhaps he knows better than most the trouble that words can cause.
In December 2009, a mini-controversy erupted when a post appeared on Barksdale’s Twitter account, saying “Not gonna be able to make it home for Christmas. This is just another reason why goin to LSU was the biggest mistake of my life.”
Barksdale immediately denied writing the message, claiming it was posted during practice as a practical joke played by friends who logged into his account.
He insisted he’s enjoyed his time as LSU and that he and his teammates on this offensive line are closer than ever.
“We’re definitely coming together,” he said. “We hang around each other a lot more than we did last year, just as far as enjoying each other’s company, having the same interests and expounding on those interests.”
The unit Miles hailed before last season as potentially the best offensive line in his time at LSU came up well short of that lofty boast, producing only two individual 100-yard rushing performances (both against in-state opponents) and allowing a conference-worst 37 sacks.
For Barksdale, the criticism he’s faced is just another chance to get better.
“Pressure makes diamonds,” he said. “At the end of the day, pressure is what you make of it. I just call it people having high expectations. I’m not going to let the team down.”
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Contact Ryan Ginn at [email protected]