Was Burrow's first year starting. Chase and Marshall were both true freshmen. Jefferson was only a soph. Jonathan Giles was heavily pumped by O and a complete bust. Brossette was a senior starting over CEH.

The line was beyond outstanding in 2019, because everybody became Seniors/Juniors. They even got Ed Ingram back. He had been suspended the season prior I believe. Ingram had to take on a reserve role, because the oline was so good. 2018 would have loved to have Ingram starting.

So the addition of one assistant coach is responsible for it all, huh? Not that the team was far more experienced and talented from one year to the next. Especially at all positions from QB to line to WRs. Even got Moss the TE back healthy in 2019.

So no chance they worked magic together?

quote:
@CoachBurrow
One of my favorite pictures . True love between player and coach . What Coach E. did for Joe was always underestimated . Joe and the Burrow family know how much he meant to Joe . He coached Joe to a Heisman trophy and LSU to a National Championship. Enough said . Thanks Coach .

People like you still want to discredit Ensminger, wow. The man coached LSU even after tragedy and some of y'all still refuse to give him any credit for 19'. All because LSU hired an assistant coach to help.

quote:
Brady said after winning the Broyles Award, grasping the incorrect public perceptions as to who ran the 2019 offense. “I’m only at LSU because of Steve Ensminger. I’ll never forget that.”

quote:
Joe Burrow praised "Coach E" throughout his Heisman speech, stirring up nationally televised emotions within the Bayou legend sitting before his greatest apprentice:

"You guys believed in me after I broke my hand...when I didn't know if I could still play or not....thank you," Joe's voice crumbling into tearful reckoning at the end.

Still don't want to give this man credit for coaching up Burrow, huh? Even if it took him a second season.

quote:
Intent, hell-bent and ready to make a dent, Ensminger went full Passenger 57 on Georgia, Oklahoma and Clemson, dialing up his most in your face, boot to the throat play calling in his quest for football eternity.

Even Steve couldn't back down from being a little ambitious in this championship moment...he had to take over...this was his offense....these were the games, the team and the quarterback of his dreams...he'd waited all his life for those moments.

In fact, the pair grew increasingly silent (or telepathic) toward each other upstairs in the booth following December's awards ceremony, with Brady even heading to the sidelines far more than usual vs Oklahoma (as can be seen through a multitude of photographic evidence. Meanwhile, throughout the Clemson game, Brady and Mangus can be seen looking left out with little to do other than talk to Joe Burrow, silently staring over at an on-fire Steve Ensminger running the show like Mick Jagger's lovechild with Mike Martz circa '99...Brady and Mangus wondering "just how is he doing this???").

quote:
Joe would return from the field and immediately talk to Jorge Munoz or Joe Brady about what he saw and felt on the previous drive, meanwhile Ensminger took in the information or adjustments and made preparations for the next series, talking to Joe when he felt like it:

quote:
Ensminger taught Brady how a top-level coach works, how you recruit the best young men in the country; Steve educated the former Penn State GA on the ins and outs of installing an offense, which plays to call (and when), the nuances of every young man on the roster, and the importance of his system's unorthodox pre-snap movements (affording time and space for skill position players as well as supplying quarterbacks enough distance from the line of scrimmage);

quote:
Together, Ensminger and Brady became LSU's own Murtaugh and Riggs:

Maximizing Joe Burrow's brilliance became a crusade between the two offensive impresarios and this nonstop quest for success pingponged back and forth from The East Coast Playboy to his elder (not elderly).

They went through every detail: over the last decade, dropped passes killed the Tigers and 2018 was a horrible year for drops at LSU. We witnessed the first year of the Burrow / Ensminger offense leaving many touchdowns or big plays on the field following uncharacteristic lapses from our studs out wide.

How would they curb this issue?

Unorthodox drills such as the swinging door, the goggles...or...just pure volume:

Ensminger and Joe Brady envisioned a "Summer of 10,000 Catches", delivering this objective to Mickey Joseph's crew of centurion receivers during the 2019 off-season. Of course, Joseph's WR corps passed the test with flying colors, much of the improvement down to the Marrero native's own big time head coaching potential as well.

quote:
With or without Joe Brady, the 2019 offense was headed in the right direction, dropping 40+ points in the final 3 games, Mickey Joseph, Joe Burrow, Steve Ensminger, the receivers, Thaddeus Moss's return from injury, the emergence of Clyde Edwards-Helaire, James Cregg's offensive line becoming a titanic blockbusting force...all of these elements collided and aligned into the historic juggernaut we (including you Saban) will never forget....Joe Brady became the savvy, smart interior decorator who could show Ensminger and Joseph a thing or two about fashion sensibilities.

This post was edited on 12/8/21 at 6:34 am