The Honey Badger isn’t the only LSU athlete with a nickname. On the cross country team, they’re an unspoken requirement.
“I guess we just like to make fun of people, especially our teammates,” said redshirt senior Richard Chautin. “Our nicknames often come about as a result of embarrassing things, so we form a nickname by which that embarrassing thing can be nickname.”
Chautin said the nicknaming system was in place before he came to LSU, but that it really took off during his freshman and sophomore years.
The nicknames vary from simple to obscure, and some people have multiple names.
Redshirt freshman Bryan Mutell is called Big Lovin’ for his striking resemblance to the character McLovin’ from the 2007 movie “Superbad” and also bears the name Yoshi.
“[Kevin Fitzgerald] went to Jesuit and is nicknamed Starfox,” Mutell said. “[The LSU team] decided they wanted a Nintendo character on the team, and they decided I look like