While five Southeastern Conference matchups were played this weekend, LSU sophomore offensive guard Garrett Brumfield’s weekend consisted of funnel cakes, turkey legs and convict poker.
This all took place, of course, while he attended the Angola Prison Rodeo, which stakes claim to being the “wildest show in the South.”
Brumfield said he frequented the Rodeo when he was little, but this trip was his first in years. His free weekend was afforded by the cancellation of LSU’s game against Florida due to safety concerns as Hurricane Matthew closed in on Florida’s east coast.
“It’s a good place to go out and have some fun,” Brumfield said. “The concessions, I love concessions … it might not be the best, but sometimes you got to get in there and get a couple things you might not always be able to have when you have a weekend off.”
While Brumfield used his time off to get away from football, senior cornerback Dwayne Thomas didn’t stay far removed from the game.
After relaxing at his mom’s house and being treated to a few home-cooked meals, Thomas said he visited his dad in Houston, where he watched the weekend’s slate of games.
“I needed those four days off. It felt good,” Thomas said. “I was sad watching a lot of college football, saw a lot of upsets that I was not expecting. It was just awful watching football … I saw a lot of Florida teams playing.”
Thomas said he found himself coaching the games from his couch, focusing on the defender playing his primary position — nickelback — and the opposing wide receiver. He commended Alabama’s nickelback, sophomore Minkah Fitzpatrick, who intercepted three balls and returned one for a touchdown.
But his favorite play came during the Texas A&M and Tennessee game, when Tennessee senior cornerback Malik Foreman, who wears the same number as Thomas, chased down Aggie freshman running back Trayveon Williams and poked the ball loose for a touchback on what should have been the game-sealing score.
To Thomas, that could have been him.
“I was like ‘Finally, a 13 made a big play this week,’” Thomas said. “That was a great play by him to send the game into overtime … it made me want to play.”
He did manage to play some football, though. In between watching games, he threw the ball around with his cousins in his backyard.
“I didn’t hit them,” he joked. “They tried to hit me.”
Heading back home was a common theme. Junior quarterback Danny Etling made his way back to Terre Haute, Indiana, to visit family and keep his mind off football.
“I wanted to play [our game], so I didn’t want to think too much about football,” Etling said.
Meanwhile, junior fullback J.D. Moore and junior offensive tackle K.J. Malone visited home in Ruston, Louisiana.
“The game was cancelled Thursday right before practice, so I went home Friday morning,” Moore said. “I kind of decided when they told us. Everyone was like ‘Well, I’m going to go home.’”
“K.J. Malone is also from Ruston, and he was like ‘I’m going home tonight.’ I [said] I’m going to sleep in, then I’m going home.”