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My dream for my future has always been to be a sports writer. It was my way to be as close to sports as possible without playing them, as my days of playing baseball were behind me.
I came to LSU from Pennsylvania not only to experience a part of the country I had never been to before, but also to kickstart my sports writing career at the highest level possible.
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I came to LSU because of the opportunities the Manship School and the athletic programs can provide me for my sports writing.
However, between being away from home, being surrounded by a culture completely different from my own and learning everything there is to learn about life in college, I’d be lying if I said it was easy. It was anything but easy.
When I joined the Reveille after my first semester in college in the spring of 2022, I found the connection to LSU I was looking for. As the only freshman on the sports staff at the time, my colleagues welcomed me with open arms, and I’m proud to call all of them my good friends.
I was thrown into the fire right away, covering Kim Mulkey’s first season at LSU as the head coach of the women’s basketball team. The team made the second round of the NCAA Tournament, which was the first season LSU made the tournament since 2018.
That season, I worked alongside my good friend of mine, Dylan Sanders, who had been with the Reveille already. I learned so much on how to cover a beat, especially a beat that was garnering lots more attention. I thank him a lot for that.
Going into the fall, I primarily covered football recruiting, as that’s where my background was prior to LSU. I run my own personal brand on just about all social media platforms, TTJH Sports, where I conduct interviews with some of the best high school football recruits in the country.
The Reveille gave me the freedom to cover recruiting in a way that it never did before, and it gave me a lot of pride and confidence to be able to give them that coverage.
But little did I know what the spring of 2023 would hold.
It was my second season on the women’s basketball beat when Angel Reese came to LSU from Maryland. She came to the program alongside transfers La’Dazhia Williams and Jasmine Carson, incoming freshmen in Flau’jae Johnson and Sa’Myah Smith and returning point guard Alexis Morris.
When the team won 23 straight games, in which Reese had recorded a double-double in all 23, I knew the season would be special.
READ MORE: LSU wins national championship 102-85 in Kim Mulkey’s second season in Baton Rouge
The Tigers went into the NCAA Tournament as a No. 3 seed with two losses on the season. They cruised through the first two rounds with wins over Hawaii and Michigan. With those two wins, the Tigers exceeded last year’s run.
LSU escaped No. 2 seed Utah 66-63 in the Sweet 16, and No. 9 Miami 54-42 in the Elite 8. The Tigers were going to the Final Four. They exceeded my expectations.
But having the opportunity to go to Dallas to cover the team on the biggest stage was such a privilege, and a time I always look back on with pride and so much to be thankful for.
I arrived in Dallas on Friday morning, waiting until LSU was set to tip off against Virginia Tech. The Tigers came back in the fourth quarter and escaped with a 79-72 win.
LSU was going to the national championship, but it didn’t hit me until that Sunday morning that I was covering a national championship. At that time a year before, I was still finding my footing at the Reveille.
The Tigers came out knocking down more shots than anyone would have expected. Along with that, seeing the hype around Iowa guard Caitlin Clark with my own eyes was special. Knowing that she may be the most talented women’s college basketball player over the next few decades, it was special getting to cover her.
When the clocks hit zero in the fourth quarter, the Tigers had won and were national champions. In that moment, it didn’t hit me. I just wanted to experience everything that would happen next.
On the way down from the press box to the court, a colleague and I were in the elevator when all of a sudden, NBA legends Dirk Nowitzki and Pau Gasol walk into the elevator. Their 7-foot statures towered over us.
When we got off the elevator, nothing felt real. We had just interacted with two of the NBA’s best on our way to see report on a national title for LSU.
I made my way onto the court, and I video taped everything, took pictures of everything and tweeted everything, knowing very well that I may not have an experience like this again, or any time soon.
But, man, was I wrong.
The spring came to a close, and it was already a semester I’ll forever remember. I took the summer sports reporting job for the Reveille, and my primary assignment was to cover the baseball team.
After the team finished its regular season, I made the five-hour drive to Hoover, Alabama, to cover them in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
The tournament was a joy to cover, as there always seemed to be baseball going on. And while I didn’t have to cover all of it, I still went and watched it all. I wanted to be in the present and soak everything in.
While LSU didn’t win the tournament, it was a joy to be there and see some of the best college baseball in the country.
It was then time for the NCAA Tournament, but I went home to Pennsylvania to cover the regional and super regional. When the Tigers won their regional over Oregon State in Baton Rouge, I knew the chances to go to Omaha, Nebraska, were close, but it didn’t register to me right away.
But when LSU defeated Kentucky two games to none in the super regional, I knew I was going to Omaha. Nebraska was a state I’d never been to, and I’d only heard the greatest things about the College World Series. I was ecstatic.
I flew from Philadelphia to Omaha two days before LSU took the field against Tennessee. Before LSU took the field, I went to the stadium and watched all the games from the press box. I told myself, “You may never get this experience again,” so I wanted to make the most of it.
READ MORE: National Champions: LSU wins Game Three of CWS Finals over Florida 18-4 to secure national title
The Tigers won their first game against Tennessee, but lost to Wake Forest in the winner’s bracket. After LSU defeated Tennessee once again, they were set to meet with Wake Forest again. The Tigers defeated Wake Forest 5-2, but had to play the Demon Deacons for a third time the next day because Wake Forest only had one loss.
Paul Skenes was set to take the mound for LSU, and Rhett Lowder, Wake Forest’s ace, was set to pitch for the Demon Deacons. It was one of those games where you just know it’ll be something special to witness, and everyone in Charles Schwab Field knew it, too.
After a pitching duel for the ages, the game was scoreless after nine innings, and was going to extra innings. In the 11th inning, Tommy White hit a two-run home run to left field to send the Tigers to the national championship series against Florida.
Once again, LSU was playing in a national championship, and I somehow found myself covering it.
LSU took the first game over the Gators 4-3 in 11 innings. The Tigers were a game away from winning a national title, but I knew Florida would come with everything it has.
And it did. The Gators took game two in a lopsided, 24-4 blowout. After seeing this, I doubted the Tigers could come back from a defeat like that just a day later.
But once again, LSU proved me wrong, as the team wiped its memory completely. This time around, LSU won in a pummeling of its own, 18-4.
LSU won its second national title in three months, and somehow I found myself covering it.
I made my way down to the field. As the players received the national championship trophy, I remember taking a full circle look at the stadium, all the fans and the bright lights.
I told myself, “This is why you came to LSU, to do things like this. Whenever you question why you’re there, this is why.”
Unlike the women’s basketball national championship, we were able to approach players and briefly interview them after winning the title. I had interviewed Skenes; Ty Floyd, who had pitched the game of his life in LSU’s second matchup with Wake Forest; Thatcher Hurd, the starting pitcher in game three against Florida; and Gavin Guidry, who threw the pitch to secure LSU’s championship.
After covering two national championships, it would have taken a lot to top them.
Heading into my third season on the women’s basketball beat, many expected LSU to have a legitimate shot at winning back-to-back national titles. While that wasn’t the case, this season on the beat was much more of a learning experience than anything.
Between Reese’s four game absence from the team, The Washington Post’s article on Kim Mulkey and covering players with celebrity-like platforms, there was a lot of responsibility.
While it wasn’t easy all the time, I look back on it honored to be the one with that responsibility.
I sit here writing this today with so much to be thankful for. My family, my editors, my colleagues and everyone who has supported me throughout my sports writing career thus far. I truly could not have covered the teams I’ve covered to the best of my ability without them.
But to anyone reading this, that is in the position I once was; someone wanting to take a leap of faith in their journalism career at LSU, and may not know the best way to do so, the Reveille is the place to do that.
I would not be the writer I am today without the Reveille, and I know I still have so much more work to do and so much more I can learn. But if I got to the position I’m in today as a kid from a small town in Pennsylvania, with nothing more than an immense work ethic and goals to achieve, so can you.
