As Louisiana State football players celebrated a 50-7 dismantling of Texas A&M on the last Saturday night in November, the Tigers’ star quarterback, Joe Burrow, made a beeline for the student section. He blew a kiss, took a bow and gave Death Valley’s coeds a standing ovation.
“I just wanted to see them for the first time and just thank them for coming to the games,” Burrow explained later. “Obviously, I don’t go to class because I take online classes, so I don’t get to see any of those people.”
On Saturday, Burrow is very likely to win the Heisman Trophy, awarded to college football’s best player. But here’s the thing: In 2019, college football’s best player doesn’t actually set foot on his college campus very often.
Burrow is a graduate transfer quarterback from Ohio State. He transferred to LSU early in the summer of 2018 after losing the battle to become the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback to Dwayne Haskins. At the time, he had already completed his undergraduate degree in business and been named an OSU Scholar Athlete.
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According to LSU’s athletics website, he is now working toward a master of arts in liberal arts. The degree requires 36 hours of coursework, as much as nine hours of which can be completed per term, and comes with the option to write a thesis, an endeavor few graduate students pursue, according to MALA program director Michael Pasquier.
“MALA students can complete the required course load in less than two years if he or she takes courses during the summer, fall, and spring terms,” Pasquier wrote in an email to The Wall Street Journal. The timeline means that Burrow, unlike many graduate transfers, may complete his master’s degree before going to the NFL, where he is projected to be drafted high in the first round.
Pasquier wrote that all MALA students take “some combination of web-based and/or in-person courses” and that online classes are common within LSU’s graduate schools. Approximately 17% of the 5,750 graduate students registered at the university are enrolled exclusively in “distance education,” according to the National Center for Education Statistics. A further 5% of graduate students take some combination of online and in-person classes.
The move has worked out famously for all involved. Burrow is perhaps the most talented quarterback in LSU history and the 2019 Heisman Trophy front-runner. The Ohio native forever endeared himself to the Tigers’ rabid fan base by trotting onto the field before the Texas A&M game in a Cajun-inspired “Burreaux” jersey. He then hung 352 passing yards and three touchdowns on the Aggies in just over three quarters.
But this hero of the LSU campus is also a stranger to the LSU campus.
“Since he’s been here I’ve never seen him on campus,” said junior center Lloyd Cushenberry III, Burrow’s upstairs neighbor in Baton Rouge. “He likes to go in his room, play Xbox Rocket League. Or he’s watching documentaries on space or something.”
Indeed, on LSU’s No. 1-ranked football team, not many athletes work toward their degrees from the comfort of their dorm rooms. Freshman defensive lineman Joseph Evans says he sees most of his position group wandering through campus on weekdays. Online classes are rare enough to spark envy among LSU football’s lecture-hall-bound teens and 20-somethings.
“I go to class,” said tight end Thaddeus Moss. “I wish I had online classes.”
Junior defensive end Glen Logan happens to be taking three online courses this semester for his interdisciplinary studies major. But he still gets stopped by students on Dalrymple Drive who want to take a picture with his neon green-tipped dreadlocks.
“They’d probably maul Joe if he went walking around,” laughed Logan. “They’d be like ‘Oh my God, it’s Joe Burrow!’ ”
Such hysteria may explain why the quarterback keeps a low profile.
“He eats in the cafeteria with us, but after, Joe goes in his little habitat and it’s over with. Nobody is connecting with Joe after that,” said wide receiver Justin Jefferson, in the locker room after LSU’s 37-10 win over No. 4 Georgia in last Saturday’s Southeastern Conference Championship.
When asked whether he knew where Burrow lived, Jefferson shook his head and relayed the question to fellow standout receiver Ja’Marr Chase.
“Hell no!” replied Chase. “We’ve been trying to get him to come out for some time. But he don’t do nothing.”
The contrast between the outsize regard Burrow holds on campus and the amount of time he physically spends there couldn’t be more stark. The quarterback arrived in Louisiana with little fanfare 18 months ago and completed one season without inspiring much mania among fans. But as his performance on the field reached unprecedented heights this season, he rocketed to a new level of fame.
Through 13 games in 2019, Burrow has completed 77.9% of his 439 throws, shattering Texas quarterback Colt McCoy’s previous single-season record of 76.7% set in 2008. Remarkably, Burrow’s average pass is 10.7 yards, well above McCoy’s 8.9-yard average a decade ago. LSU’s quarterback now graces billboards across the capital city in his Cajun senior-night jersey.
Those billboards are probably as close as most Baton Rouge residents will ever get to seeing their beloved quarterback outside of Tiger Stadium. According to Burrow’s neighbor, Cushenberry, LSU students have a better chance of playing him on Xbox than getting him to join their study groups.
“He’s just like a legend around here,” said Cushenberry. “You only speak about him, but you never see him.”
On Saturday night in Manhattan, Burrow won’t be the only Heisman finalist whose presence on campus is scarce compared with his fame. Justin Fields, the Ohio State quarterback who transferred from Georgia after the 2018 season, takes all of his pre-business classes online. He said in late September that when he isn’t working out at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, he would rather watch Netflix at home than explore his school.
“But from what I’ve seen, the campus is beautiful and the people around are great,” Fields said.
Write to Laine Higgins at laine.higgins@wsj.com
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