When one door closes, another opens.
When LSU’s starting left tackle Chris Faulk went down with an apparent knee injury during a routine practice drill, a slew of questions concerning the future of the Tigers’ front line plagued LSU.
The offensive line that was being touted as one of the nation’s best was left with a 6-foot-6, 320-pound hole that led straight to quarterback Zach Mettenberger.
Enter sixth-year senior Josh Dworaczyk.
Dworaczyk gelled with the starters seamlessly in his first career start at left tackle for the Tigers by not allowing a sack against Washington.
But the question remained if this was just a quick fix or a permanent solution for LSU coach Les Miles.
“Josh has been playing left guard his entire career, and we always use him as the backup left tackle,” Miles said. “He’s a guy that’s always taking snaps, and we very comfortably moved him out and moved another guy in… I think he’ll stay there.”
Dworaczyk always knew his opportunity may come at the drop of a hat — or the tear of a tendon — and that he may have to be prepared to play a position other than his normal left guard.
“I knew I was going to get a chance to play,” Dworaczyk said. “This season, as the sixth guy, I was prepared.”
When the offensive line would take position tests, the 300-pound Dworaczyk would not only take the test for left guard, but the test for every position along the line, just in case his number was called.
“Coach [Studrawa] and I have always been on the same page about moving me out to a left tackle position if anyone went down,” Dworaczyk said. “It fits my build and body style.”
Within his six years in Baton Rouge, Dworaczyk has seen his fair share of season-ending injuries to offensive linemen.
In 2008, T-Bob Hebert suffered a season-ending knee injury against South Carolina during punt coverage.
In 2010, Will Blackwell didn’t even make it to the second quarter of the first game of the season before he broke his leg.
Last season, Dworaczyk himself suffered a season-ending knee injury before the season ever started.
“You’re never really prepared for when it happens,” Dworaczyk said. “Or how it’s going to happen or what the severity of it is going to be, but you know once it does, there’s a camaraderie as a group that gets tighter even with him not there.”
Just as Dworaczyk lost his spot in 2011, Faulk’s knee injury in the Wednesday practice leading to the Washington game opened the door for Dworaczyk to earn his way into the starting lineup.
That day’s practice was like any other, according to junior fullback J.C. Copeland.
“It was a tempo thing, we do it everyday,” Copeland said. “It was just a normal thing we do and it just happened. Practice almost stopped for a minute… He was running a play and he was caught up in a pile.”
Dworaczyk and the rest of Faulk’s teammates tried to support their injured brother after Faulk discovered he would need surgery and subsequently miss the rest of the 2012 season.
“He’s doing OK,” Dworaczyk said. “I know it’s tough, it’s almost like an unreal situation for the first couple of weeks, especially once he has the surgery.”
