LSU’s Burrow, Stingley, Moss boast pro genes
ATLANTA – LSU is on its maiden voyage into the College Football Playoff, but it brings a veteran group of players with strong connections to a step beyond the college final four – the professional level.
The No. 1 Tigers (13-0) play No. 4 Oklahoma (12-1) at 4 p.m. ET Saturday in a national semifinal at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The winner plays on Jan. 13 in New Orleans against the winner of No. 2 Ohio State (13-0) and No. 3 Clemson (13-0), which play at 8 p.m. ET Saturday in Glendale, Arizona.
In fact, three of the Tigers key players – quarterback Joe Burrow, cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. and tight end Thaddeus Moss – are commonly referred to as pros.
“Joe doesn’t call the plays, but he could,” LSU coach Ed Orgeron said of Burrow, whose father, Jimmy, played professionally in the NFL in 1976 for Green Bay before spending five years in the Canadian Football League as a defensive back. Burrow became a college football assistant coach at Washington State, Iowa State, Nebraska and Ohio University, where he was defensive coordinator until retiring temporarily after 2018 to watch his son play.
“I learned a lot from my dad, being a coach for so long. Both of my brothers (Jamie and Dan) played at Nebraska. There was just always football,” Burrow said in one of his first interviews at LSU in 2018.
“Joe is a coach on the field,” Orgeron said. “In the film room, he is always coming up with ideas or suggesting things and asking questions. You can tell he’s a coach’s son. He’s like a pro.”
Orgeron noticed Burrow’s veteran knowledge of the game on his first meeting with him in May 2018 when Burrow made a recruiting visit to LSU as he was preparing to transfer from Ohio State as a graduate transfer.
“He didn’t want a lot of recruiting jargon. It was a business trip. We had a football meeting, and it was about three or four hours,” Orgeron said of the sitdown with Burrow, Burrow’s dad, himself, offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger and pass game coordinator Joe Brady.
“And Joe was the smartest guy in there,” Orgeron said. “I was very impressed with his knowledge of football – the way he could verbalize what he saw on the film, what he wanted to get done, what type of plan that we had for him, the things that he liked, the things that he didn’t like.”
Stingley also comes with a deep football lineage. His late grandfather was Darryl Stingley, a wide receiver for the Patriots in the 1970s who was drafted in the first round out of Purdue in 1973. Stingley’s promising career was cut short on Aug. 12, 1978, when he was paralyzed after a hit by Raiders safety Jack Tatum in a preseason game in Oakland. Stingley died at 55 on April 5, 2007.
Stingley’s son Derek, who is the father of Derek Stingley Jr., played professional baseball and football in the minor leagues. He played for the Louisiana Bayou Thunder minor league football team in Hammond in 1995 and played for a decade in the Arena Football League before coaching in that league through 2011.
Little Derek Jr. would often accompany his dad to practices.
“He was about 4 or 5 and would run in the individual drills,” Stingley Sr. said in an interview in the summer of 2018 when his son committed to LSU out of Dunham High in Baton Rouge. “He’d backpedal with the players. When he was 9 or 10 he was doing drills with the players. Derek has always been about three or four years advanced. When he was 15, he looked 18.”
Stingley Jr. is 18 now, but his dad said he looked like he was 20 when he was 17.
He is a true freshman, but Orgeron says he plays like an upperclassmen.
“I see Derek work,” he said. “You go in the indoor facility in the offseason, and every Saturday and Sunday, he and his daddy are working. He’s a tireless worker. Derek came ready to go when we got him. His dad did a good job of coaching him. Derek is a humble young man. And he’s one of the finest corners I’ve ever been around.”
In a banner season, Stingley Jr. has been named to eight first-team AllAmerican teams by the American Football Coaches Association, The Associated Press, CBS, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, USA TODAY and The Athletic. He was also named Southeastern Conference newcomer of the year unanimously.
“Derek in my opinion is a top five pick right now as a freshman, which is crazy. He’s already a pro,” LSU senior defensive end Rashard Lawrence said.
“The only reason I’m in this position is because of everyone else on the defense,” Stingley Jr. said after the Tigers beat Georgia in the SEC championship game. “We all work together. I knew that was going to happen, and I’m just blessed to be in this spot. Every game that we’ve played taught me something new.”
Moss’ father, Randy Moss, is one of the greatest wide receivers in NFL history, and it was his son Thaddeus who delivered the introductory speech when Moss entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018 after retiring in 2012. But now the spotlight is on the son. “This is the first year I was actually able to make a name for myself,” Moss said. “I’ve been waiting to do that for 21 years – the whole time I’ve been alive.”
Moss sat out the 2017 season after he transferred from North Carolina State. Then he missed all of 2018 with a foot injury.
This season, he broke the LSU record for receptions by a tight end, which was 34 set by Malcolm Scott with 34 in 1981 and equaled by Mitch Andrews in 1985. Moss has 38 for 434 yards and is fourth on the team in receiving.
“He came into this season after a layoff and has just been a pro all year. You wouldn’t know he didn’t play for two years,” Burrow said.
“For the first time, I’m the one on the field, and my dad’s on the sideline,” Moss said. “But he’s a fan. It’s been great. He’s like my No. 1 fan. I’ll be talking to mom about it, and she’s like, ‘Man, the excitement that he shows you.’ He shows me a different excitement. But when he’s not with me, he shows everybody else a whole other level of excitement.”
Randy Moss, who is a studio NFL analyst on ESPN, has only been able to make a few of his son’s games this season. But he picked three big ones – Florida, Alabama and Georgia.
“At the Georgia game, my people said he was in the stands acting a fool,” Thad Moss said. “Because he’s never been in the stands much. He’s never been a fan or a spectator before. He’s always been on the field playing. But he loves it. He’s living it up and enjoying it.”
Moss is living the “like-father, likeson” story on the field.
“I couldn’t have anyone in my corner better than him,” Thad Moss said. “He’s seen it all. He’s done it all. And he’s experienced it all. I wouldn’t want nobody else in my corner. It’s great to have a dad who has been there.”