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Lloyd Cushenberry Could Be Point Man for a Turnaround

LSU center has plenty of experience initiating the play and leading, whether it's on a football field or a basketball court
Gene Chamberlain|
Lloyd Cushenberry Could Be Point Man for a Turnaround
Lloyd Cushenberry Could Be Point Man for a Turnaround

Lloyd Cushenberry just likes giving someone else the ball.

Maybe this explains how he's a 6-foot-4, 315-pound point guard trapped in a football center's body.

"I was a huge basketball fan growing up and I would say that being a center is like being a point guard," Cushenberry told reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine. "Having control, I love it. Being a vocal leader, I love it."

Cushenberry was more than a basketball fan.

"I grew up paying basketball, it was my first love," he said.

Cushenberry was the point guard in basketball, but in a different sport, in a different size body, he's still handing out the ball.

"I feel like I've gotten used to being, I guess, the point guard on the field," he said. "I've gotten so used to it that it's in my nature now."

The Chicago Bears could use a vocal offensive line leader after losing theirs to retirement, guard Kyle Long. Cushenberry makes the line calls and directs things up front instead of in the back like he did as a point guard.

Whether Cushenberry would drop far enough for the Bears to select him in Round 2 at pick No. 43 is definitely open to debate.

If it happened, they would find a way to get Cushenberry on the field at center or even as a guard with James Daniels and Cody Whitehair. It would give them three players up front on the line with the capability of being a center or guard.

"You can't start without the center," Cushenberry said. "It's my job to do what I have to do every snap, have a great snap for the quarterback, so everyone else can execute."

Cushenberry was a key part in helping LSU win the Joe Moore Award for college football's best offensive line. Last year Pro Football Focus had him at four sacks allowed and 34 total pressures. 

"I'm a low-maintenance guy, don't have a lot to say, but on the field I flip that switch," Cushenberry said. "In my first years it took longer to develop that vocal leadership but once I took over the center job I knew I had to step up.

"As soon as 2018 came around, I was more vocal and I had no problem with it. Once I got the starting center job, all of that went out the window. I felt like I worked hard enough to be able to speak my mind when I wanted to and guys respected me. It’s not a problem at all."

Cushenberry said he'd have no problem moving to guard if the coaching staff thought it was the best fit.

"I'm used to playing center because that's what I've been playing for the last few years starting, but I have a past at guard so it wouldn't be any problem making that transition," Cushenberry said. "I feel like I'm athletic enough to do it and I'm willing to do whatever for whichever team drafts me, whatever they need me to do."

While Cushenberry's natural athleticism took over in basketball, learning to play center in football presented a different challenge.

He had to learn how to snap the ball.

"Maybe I was born to be a center," Cushenberry said. "I didn't play it in high school so I had to teach myself how to snap and get comfortable being a vocal guy."

The snap-teaching process came via the internet.

"I found some videos on YouTube and basically I taught myself in the offseason before I enrolled (at LSU)," Cushenberry said. "Then once I got to campus I actually stole one of the balls from the equipment room and me and my roommate, he was a quarterback my freshman year, so we would just snap. I got the rhythm and we found it."

It probably wouldn't work that way for some of the guys he idolizes in his other sport, like Chris Paul, Steve Nash and Luka Doncic.

It worked just fine for Cushenberry and LSU on a football field.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

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