LSU Football: Will Campbell Leading Tigers Offensive Line to New Heights
LSU’s offensive line has been named one of 12 semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award, which is presented annually to the most outstanding offensive line in college football, the Foundation for Teamwork announced on Tuesday.
Joining LSU on the semifinalist list include: Georgia, Florida State, Kansas State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oregon, Oregon State, Tennessee, Texas and Washington.
LSU’s offensive line, which features sophomore tackles Will Campbell and Emery Jones Jr., junior guards Garret Dellinger and Miles Frazier and senior center Charles Turner III, has helped the Tigers become one of the most explosive units in college football. LSU has started the same group of five players on the offensive line in all nine of 10 games this year.
Behind LSU’s offense line, the Tigers rank in the Top 10 in the nation in 10 categories and rank No. 1 in total offense (560.2 yards) and plays of 20-plus yards with 87. The Tigers are also the only team in college football to rank in the Top 10 in both rushing (No. 4 at 223.9) and passing (No. 4 at 336.3) yards per game.
LSU also leads the nation in yards per rush with a 6.32 average. The Tigers have scored 28 rushing touchdowns, which ranks No. 4 in the FBS, and have only two negative plays on designed runs. LSU has rushed for 200 yards in six straight games and last week against Florida, the Tigers had 300-plus yards rushing and 300-plus yards passing for only the second time in school history in an SEC game.
Last week, LSU racked up 701 total yards against Florida, the third-highest total in school history, and the most yards ever given up by a Gator defense. LSU has topped the 500-yard mark in eight of 10 games.
Individually, Turner has been named Outland Trophy National Offensive Lineman of the Week (vs. Auburn) and SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week (vs. Florida), while Jones earned conference lineman of the week honors vs. Missouri.
“Once again the cream has started rising to the top, and the common thread with this year’s semifinalists is that their high level of play has directly translated into the success of their teams,” said Cole Cubelic, SEC Network sideline analyst, and Chairman of the Voting Committee. “O-line play is defined by being at your best when your best is needed, and with just a few more opportunities left in 2023, the committee is looking forward to the coming weeks to see which units can continue to separate themselves when it matters most.”
The Joe Moore Award finalists will be named on Tuesday, December 5th. The eventual winner will be recognized in the ensuing weeks during a surprise, on campus visit to the winning unit’s school (TBD as per the winning school’s schedule).
“Like in year’s past, in addition to the extensive film review and voting committee conference calls, we also solicited the opinions of more than ninety FBS head coaches that had personally faced many of the O-line units under consideration,” said Phil Steele, analyst and founder of the popular preseason magazine Phil Steele’s College Football Preview. “It’s been an honor to be a part of an award that matters so much to the O-line community, and we take that responsibility seriously.”
“There is an undeniable relationship between excellence at our position and winning football,” said Aaron Taylor, CBS college football analyst and co-founder of the Joe Moore Award. Taylor played guard at the University of Notre Dame for the award’s namesake, the legendary offensive line coach Joe Moore. “The exciting thing this year is that it’s still wide open, and these last few weeks will be extremely important in determining which unit earns the right to be considered the most outstanding in college football.”
LSU won the Joe Moore Award in 2019.
