LSU running back Leonard Fournette is skipping the Tigers’ Citrus Bowl game against Louisville this month to prepare for the NFL Draft. His college career is over a few weeks earlier than expected, to the chagrin of some in the NFL and college games. He won’t join his LSU teammates for a final game together, and that’s subjected Fournette to some criticism that he’s looking out solely for himself.
Leonard Fournette uses one photo to counter the claim he’s selfish
As he skips LSU’s bowl game to turn pro, the running back offered a quiet response to his critics.
Fournette makes one point about this:
That’s Fournette’s young daughter, Lyric. The two seem to have a really beautiful father-daughter bond, and Fournette says his daughter is his life’s inspiration. Lyric has become something of a celebrity in Baton Rouge and on the college football internet.
Fournette isn’t the only college running back skipping bowl season for draft prep. Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey and Baylor’s Shock Linwood are doing it, too, and some observers are worried about it as a general trend. A big part of that worry is about the effect players skipping bowls could have on their teammates.
“I bet their teammates are like, ‘I understand. I understand,’” Miami coach Mark Richt, a former college player himself, said this week. “Maybe face to face. But I bet you when they lay their head on the pillow, they’re like, ‘Why is that guy doing that? We’re a team. We paid the price together.’”
You could choose to read Fournette’s tweet as a statement that he owes nothing whatsoever to his teammates. Fournette clearly enjoys his teammates’ company and has gotten rave reviews as a person during his time in Baton Rouge. He presumably cares about them.
Six words don’t prove anything about Fournette’s character. But that he does things like auction off his jersey to help South Carolina flood victims suggests it’s pretty good.
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