Rudy Niswanger might have the most popular first name in collegefootball, but the LSU center is hardly the small, under-sized RudyRuettiger of Notre Dame played by Sean Astin in the 1993 movie.
At 6-foot-5, 293 pounds, Niswanger never struggled as the NotreDame’s Rudy struggled with grades or playing time. Niswangerhas a 4.0 grade point average and has played in 22 games in hiscareer.
With starting center Ben Wilkerson out the rest of the year,Niswanger has been moved from right guard to center. Nate Livingsmoves back to right guard and Brian Johnson will be at righttackle.
In fact, he’s played every position along the offensiveline, serving as the top back-up before starting at left guard in2004.
“His career here has been playing the sixth man for acouple of years, so he’s had a lot of opportunity to playdifferent spots,” said LSU coach Nick Saban. “This isnot something that just happened recently. When we had ourpreference as to where we’d play him, we wanted him to playguard, and we were pleased with how he played there. But he alsogave us the best five-man combination on the field at thattime.”
Niswanger said the adjustment from guard to center has been easybecause he has worked there before, and there are not manytechnical differences between the positions.
“At the beginning of every play, we set up our blockingschemes based on who’s going to be the Mike (linebacker), soI’ll have to be more mentally focused before the play,”Niswanger said. “It’s just making different types ofcalls, making sure the line is on the same page. Even if ourblocking scheme is wrong, if we can block it the same way,we’ll be OK.”
Niswanger said the center position has more responsibility,including pass blocking, where the center has to get to the blockfaster. He said despite switching guys around, the offensive lineis a very cohesive group.
“We’ve played different positions but we’vebeen playing together,” Niswanger said. “People want tosometimes look at a new offensive line as it is in the NFL whereyou get guys coming in from a different team. It’s difficultand we’ll have to adjust, but it’s not a completely newsituation.”
Niswanger’s ability to play every position is in largepart due to his intelligence and versatility, Saban said.
“We don’t have anyone else on our team that’snever made a B in college,” Saban said. “The guy isbright, a lot brighter than me. He’s not one of those guysthat’s a specialty player. He’s got a lot offlexibility in terms of his ability to do things. Being a smart guylike he is makes the assignment part of the job easy forhim.”
Wilkerson, who went down on the last play of the Vanderbiltgame, will be on the sideline helping Niswanger with the positionand answering questions.
“[Wilkerson] will help a lot,” Niswanger said.”He’ll be there for the intellectual and physicalthings of the position, but he’s going to be a good emotionalleader and give encouragement.”
Niswanger eventually wants to go into medicine and may decide tobypass next season in order to attend medical school, similar toformer quarterback Matt Mauck.
Left tackle Andrew Whitworth said he is proud of the factNiswanger hasn’t made a B in college.
“It’s amazing, I try to see how many [B’s] Ican achieve,” Whitworth said. “Just the level ofexcellence he shows in the classroom is unbelievable. Rodney Reedwas the same way. I grew up with both those guys, and I’vebeen impressed with the things they could do.”