Joe Burrow, Drew Brees Talk About Journey as a Quarterback

Joe Burrow and Drew Brees are two of the most recognizable athletes to come through Louisiana on their journeys to NFL stardom. Representing two different eras of football, the younger Burrow has been very open about his admiration for the way Brees carried himself and thoroughly prepared throughout his career.

The two have had numerous conversations since first meeting in advance of LSU's 2019 national championship and ahead of Super Bowl 56, it's a full circle moment they meet again.

Burrow sat down with his childhood idol Brees to talk about his journey from a young age, through the adversity at Ohio State, the rise at LSU and how injuries and competitive reps have placed him in the position he's in now with a Super Bowl on the line. The two reminisced about Burrow's journey and how tough the early part of his college career was despite putting in the same amount of time and effort at Ohio State.

"I worked the same way that I do now but I wasn't seeing the product on the field," Burrow told Brees during the NBC Sports interview. "I was getting better at practice but at some point I've gotta go show it on the field.

"I got my chance at LSU and it really couldn't have worked out better. Coach O was great for me. Everything he told me in recruiting ended up happening. I battled through a lot of injuries and I'd say those injuries were the most significant moments. I've been resilient."

At the beginning of that 2018 season, Burrow admitted that it was a bit of a feeling out process after not having played football in three years in a competitive game. It wasn't until the tail end of that junior season where Burrow really started to see the switch flip.

"The last two games of my junior year at LSU. We played Texas A&M at Texas A&M, threw a lot of touchdowns, ran for 100 yards and I felt 'ok I'm starting to get back to it.' Then in the Fiesta Bowl I threw for 400 something yards and going into that offseason I realized I was getting better and I was gonna have a full spring ball with all of these guys."

Of course that spring and summer, Burrow, Chase and the rest of the weapons LSU had at its disposal would throw and catch 10,000 balls to build that chemistry to unmatched levels. The result was a record breaking 15-0 season that led to that national championship and countless accolades.

Fast forward two years and it's a very similar feel for Burrow, who has plenty of familiar faces around him from both stops during his college days. What made that LSU locker room so special is very much what makes his current Cincinnati Bengals locker room so close. For example, there aren't any players on either team that Burrow couldn't sit down in the cafeteria and share a meal with.

"It's felt very similar," Burrow said. "We have a lot of the same players. Ja'Marr is here, Tyler Shelvin is here, a lot of guys I played with at Ohio State as well. So the surroundings for me when I first got here were very familiar, I knew a lot of people and our locker room is really close. That was the same way at LSU and I think that's what put us over the edge."

With the Super Bowl now just a few days away there's one element to Burrow's game that's been gaining praise across the sports world and that's his confidence in the big moments. He still hasn't lost a playoff game in college or the pros and believes just like preparation for a game, getting those mental reps in big moments allows him to be so successful.

"Just putting myself in a lot of competitive situations, growing up and playing three sports, it's the same thing as getting reps in practice," Burrow said. "At a certain play you get reps in competitive situations and start to realize certain things about yourself. You feel like you can step up in certain moments and the moment is never too big."