LSU Benefits from Brandon LaFell’s Return 

There is perhaps no one who can better illustrate the importance of taking advantage of opportunities than senior wide receiver Brandon LaFell.

Going into his junior year at Lamar High School in Houston, LaFell was a third-string quarterback with little chance to see the field. That changed, however, on the opening day of a seven-on-seven tournament.

“One of our receivers was late to the first game of the tournament,” said LaFell. “My coach told me to play wide receiver. I jumped in there and I played pretty well and was named MVP of the tournament. I just felt like a natural out there.”

Having played wide receiver for a grand total of one weekend, he received scholarship offers from the University of Houston and Texas A&M.

The offers didn’t stop coming, and he eventually narrowed his choices down to three schools.

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“My decision basically came down to Florida, LSU, or Texas,” said LaFell. “I didn’t want to stay in the state, and Florida was too far away. LSU was a big-time program that was finishing in the Top 25 every year. They had just come off a national championship two years earlier, in 2003.”

There was also the benefit of going to school with fellow Houston native R.J. Jackson, whose friendship with LaFell goes back to middle school.

“A lot of people thought we didn’t like each other, but they didn’t know we’ve known each other our entire lives,” said LaFell. “We went on a couple of our college visits together. Midway through our senior season we decided that no matter what, we’d go to school together.”

Where that decision came, however, is undoubtedly a college football first.

“I had tickets to the rodeo,” LaFell said. “We went to the rodeo one night and we talked about it and decided to come here.”

 Despite playing the last two years of his high school career at wide receiver, LaFell was still decidedly unrefined in many aspects upon arriving in Baton Rouge.

“I played there in high school, but I really didn’t have any technique. I was just going off natural ability and instincts,” he said. “Since I’ve been here, older receivers like Dwayne Bowe and Buster Davis really helped me out. Early Doucet is the one who got me better as a route runner and as a blocker.”

Those improvements showed in each of his first three seasons, as LaFell doubled his scoring output each year, jumping from two to four to eight touchdowns from his freshman to junior seasons. He also saw a similar growth in his receiving yards per season. After notching nearly 1,000 yards in 2008, LaFell faced another tough decision, but this time he faced it alone.

He opted to forgo his senior year at LSU and enter the 2009 NFL Draft. However, with a 72-hour window to remove his name, LaFell reconsidered and returned to accomplish unfinished business.

“It basically came down to whether I could better myself by coming back,” he said. “I also came back for my team. We went 8-5 last year and that was a bad taste that was left in my mouth. I didn’t want my last couple of games to be that way. I didn’t want to lose my last home game the way we lost to Ole Miss last year.”

There was the added incentive of finishing his education.

“It was real important for me to get my degree,” he said. “My mom has four kids and I’ll be the first to get my degree. That was one of the things she stressed when I was making my decision about where to go to college.”

Playing with his fourth quarterback in four years, LaFell has shown no signs of slowing down, having notched his third consecutive season with 500 receiving yards. His nine touchdown grabs in 2009 have put him in sole possession of second place in the LSU record book for career touchdown receptions.

While the name next to the statistic is his, LaFell recognizes that football is an 11-man game. The credit, he says, belongs to everyone in the LSU program.

“I evolved a lot, whether it was in the weight room, or improving myself as a blocker, or being a better person. I just give all my thanks to all the people around me because my teammates, fellow receivers and coaches helped me to be the person that I am today,” he said.

Down to his final home game, the senior who put his name in the draft pool last year can’t seem to imagine life after LSU.

“I’m so used to walking out of the stadium knowing that next week I’m going play there again,” he said. “All the emotions are going to be built up. It’s going to be a weird feeling, but I’m going to go out there and play one of my best games.”