BATON ROUGE, La. -- OK, that had to be a first.
It was definitely LSU freshman Leonard Fournette’s first touchdown of his career. There’s no question about that. But Fournette’s striking the Heisman pose after the 4-yard run against Sam Houston State on Saturday might have made him the first player in college football history to raise his knee and throw the legendary stiffarm pose after his inaugural score.
“I think it’s little premature to launch a Heisman candidacy,” LSU coach Les Miles said after the Tigers’ 56-0 win. “I think that he needs to realize, too, that this is his team and it’s not to do with personal liberty. There were a lot of guys blocking for that run and a lot of effort and energy to help that man score that touchdown."
SEC Network announcer Brent Musberger saying afterwards, “A little early for that pose, young man, but I got your excitement.”
Whatever Miles said to the freshman running back afterward, it was apparently not as forgiving. He was caught on TV giving Fournette an earful immediately after he returned to the sideline following the play.
“I looked at Coach,” quarterback Anthony Jennings said. “He was coming onto the field and I already knew what was going to happen.”
Fournette finished with 92 rushing yards on 13 carries, plus 32 receiving yards on two leaping catches. It was an outstanding Tiger Stadium debut -- even if he might have jumped the gun a bit with his Heisman moment.
“He definitely has the potential to be a Heisman Trophy winner, but as of now I believe he needs to stay humble and keep running the ball like he is,” right tackle Jerald Hawkins chuckled.
The touchdown run itself was nothing special -- a 4-yard burst up the middle against an FCS defense that barely got a fingertip on Fournette before he entered the end zone. But the play immediately before that was more like what Tigers fans expected to see from the nation’s top overall prospect when he signed with LSU in February.
On second-and-10 at the SHSU 44, Fournette took a handoff left and then cut back toward a huge hole in the middle of the line. He cut right at the 41 to dodge safety Michael Wade, then followed receiver John Diarse’s block on cornerback Mikell Everette at the 29. A Bearkats defender didn’t get to Fournette until he ran through safety Eric Agbaroji’s tackle at the 21 and then dragged cornerback Ernest Payton from the 13 to the 4, where he finally went down.
The highlight-reel 40-yard run set up Fournette’s touchdown burst on the next play.
There were plenty of firsts to go around on Saturday for members of LSU’s vaunted 2014 recruiting class. In his first substantial playing time, quarterback Brandon Harris also contributed a couple of highlights -- including a 46-yard touchdown run that was much more worthy of the Heisman pose.
With the Tigers already up 27-0 in the second quarter, Harris faked a handoff to Terrence Magee and instead ran up the middle. He first spun through a tackle attempt by linebacker Lance Duran and then backed into cornerback Darion Flowers, who was unable to bring Harris down before he spun toward the LSU sideline and broke into the open field. Then it became a footrace and Harris barely avoided Everette’s diving tackle attempt at the 9 and followed Diarse’s block on Trenier Orr as he bolted into the end zone for his first career score.
Harris put an exclamation point on the night when he and freshman receiver Malachi Dupre combined for two more firsts -- Harris’ first touchdown pass and Dupre’s first scoring catch -- early in the fourth quarter.
On second-and-goal from the 8, Harris lobbed a pass to the back right corner of the end zone, where a diving Dupre brought it down just beyond cornerback Tevin Creeks’ coverage. It was yet another example of what LSU fans envisioned when Dupre, the nation’s top wideout prospect, and No. 2 dual-threat quarterback Harris joined the Tigers earlier this year.