With the football season coming to an end, most football players spend the off-season preparing for next season.
Wide receiver Bennie Brazell has another national championship to compete for.
Brazell, a junior from Houston, is the first LSU athlete to win two national championships in two sports.
As a member of the 2003 national championship football team, Brazell had a limited role on the team, finishing the year with just 10 kickoff returns for 40 yards.
Brazell played a large part in the track team’s road to the 2002 NCAA Outdoor Championship, anchoring the 4×100-meter relay with a time of 38.48 seconds.
In the 400-meter hurdles, Brazell finished second with a school-record time of 48.80.
In the last event of the championship, Brazell helped clinch the title as the third leg of the 4×400-meter relay. The relay team finished with a season-best time of 3:02.33.
“I feel that [two national championships] is a very, very great accomplishment,” Brazell said. “Sometimes I fail to realize what I accomplished.”
As a two-sport star, Brazell said it is not easy work.
“In the fall, it’s really hard,” Brazell said. “I come right from track practice, and I go right over and do football. I don’t complain, I just get it done.”
Aside from the busy schedule, Brazell said it all pays off in the end.
“It’s way worth it,” he said. “Championships, it [does not] get better than that.”
When it comes to recruiting two-sport stars, coach Pat Henry said that much of it involves work with coach Nick Saban.
“Most skilled guys who play football also run track in high school,” Henry said. “But there are those exceptionally skilled people. I recruit them as a track man and [Saban] recruits them as a football man.”
One of those skilled players, Xavier Carter, will serve for both Saban and Henry next season.
Carter, ranked the No. 1 receiver in the nation by Rivals.com, currently plays football and track at Palm Bay High School in Melbourne, Fla.
With state titles in the 100, 200 and 400-meter dash, as well as two state football titles, Carter will look to make an impact in both sports at LSU.
Henry said that being involved in two sports takes a good bit of patience.
“There’s so many things in the individual that are involved,” Henry said. “There are some tradeoffs, and that player must realize the tradeoffs. It takes time for the athlete to realize that.”
As a school with prestigious track and football programs, Henry said it is a definite advantage in recruiting.
“I think the advantage that we have gained is that both programs are in pretty good shape nationally,” Henry said. “We’ve been successful with both programs in the last few years, so there are those young people who want to be involved with great programs from both sides.”
Henry also said the track program, not just football, is what brings in top recruits.
“I don’t think Bennie Brazell or Xavier Carter would be here if it wasn’t for the fact that they knew that they would be involved with a great program,” Henry said.