Heisman finalists back on stage in title game
Grand prize there for LSU, ‘Honey Badger’ to take
Playmakers make big plays in the big games. And the BCS championship game has two of college football’s best. USA TODAY’S Kelly Whiteside looks at LSU’S Tyrann Mathieu and Alabama’s Trent Richardson.
NEW ORLEANS — The best nicknames evolve organically. Ones that are forced (“Ocho Cinco”) or yawningly obvious (“Big Ben”) can’t compare with the perfection that is “Honey Badger.”
LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu’s moniker is based on a popular Youtube video, which shows a honey badger attacking a beehive, impervious to the stings of swarming bees. In another clip, the honey badger steals prey from a cobra’s mouth, then eats the snake for dessert. “Honey badger just takes what he wants,” the narrator says.
When Mathieu stripped the ball from an Oregon punt returner and returned it for a touchdown in the
season opener, an LSU fan spliced the honey badger video with Mathieu’s highlights. At first, Mathieu didn’t care for the nickname. What part? “The honey part,” Mathieu said.
The honey badger is regarded as the most fearless little creature in the world, and at 5-9, 175 pounds, Mathieu can relate. “The honey badger is such a relentless animal,” he said. “He’s fierce. And he definitely doesn’t fear anything. So I just try to take that same approach to the field and just try to play smart and violent football for my team.”
The sophomore finished fifth in Heisman Trophy balloting last month and won the Bednarik Award, given to the nation’s top defensive player. He owns the school record with 11 forced fumbles and leads the team in tackles this season with 70.
Game-changing plays have become Mathieu’s trademark, but in LSU’S 9-6 win against Alabama on Nov. 5, he wasn’t a major factor.
“I was disappointed in myself,” he said while preparing for today’s Bowl Championship Series title game against the Crimson Tide. No easy road to stardom
After the Tigers made the 75mile trip to New Orleans on Wednesday, Mathieu tweeted to his 88,000-plus followers that their prince had returned.
Two years ago, Mathieu was playing high school football at St. Augustine, a Catholic school in New Orleans.
During the recruiting process, Mathieu was largely overlooked because of his size; LSU was the only Southeastern Conference school to offer him a scholarship.
Mathieu has been driven by what he has overcome. His birth mother chose not to raise him, and his birth father is serving a life sentence for murder at Loui- siana State Penitentiary. After his grandfather died when Tyrann was 5, he was raised and later adopted by an aunt and uncle.
“It obviously was a blessing to be able to see two different sides of the scale,” Mathieu said of the loving home he grew up in.
“It teaches you to fight for everything and nothing’s going to be given to you,” Mathieu said. “You try to take that to the field.”
As a freshman, Mathieu forced five fumbles, recovered three fumbles and had 4½ sacks and two interceptions. After star cornerback Patrick Peterson, now a rookie with the Arizona Cardinals, left for the NFL, Mathieu assumed Peterson’s role as well as his No. 7 jersey.
After Mathieu’s openinggame theatrics against Oregon, his reputation began to grow. Against West Virginia, he anticipated a screen pass and deflected the ball to himself to set up a touchdown.
The next week against Kentucky, he swatted the ball away from the quarterback and scooped it up for a touchdown. Against Florida, he intercepted a pass in the end zone.
“He sees the great play he’s about to make even before it ever happens,” coach Les Miles said about Mathieu’s instincts.
But his Heisman chances took a dip in October after he was suspended for a game vs. Auburn for testing positive for synthetic marijuana, a mistake that taught him a lesson about maturity, he said.
Mathieu finished the season strong with a 92-yard punt return against Arkansas and two jaw-dropping returns in the SEC title game against Georgia.
In a title game matching the top two defenses in the country, LSU’S star power is in its secondary. The Tigers call themselves D.B.U., as in Defensive Backs University.
Though Mathieu has attracted the most attention, LSU corner- back Morris Claiborne leads the Tigers in interceptions with six, won the Jim Thorpe Award, honoring the nation’s top defensive back and was voted by SEC coaches as the league’s top defensive player.
The friends challenge each other daily, competing for their own version of Revis Island.
Mathieu staked claim to his share of the island Thursday when he wore No. 24 in practice, the jersey number of New York Jets lockdown cornerback Darrelle Revis. Not afraid to talk it up
With his shock of blond hair and a mouth that doesn’t stop moving, Mathieu is hard to miss. “If I have to say something to get you out of your game, I think I’m going to say it,” Mathieu said. He says he researches opposing receivers, trolling for personal information, including their mothers’ names.
Alabama players view Mathieu’s chatter as part of the giveand-take of the game. Even the player who was leveled by Mathieu in their first meeting doesn’t hold a grudge. Alabama’s Dre Kirkpatrick was covering a punt in the regular-season game when he suffered a concussion after a Mathieu hit.
“I don’t feel that was a dirty play, and I heard he apologized on Twitter,” Kirkpatrick said Friday.
LSU’S defensive backs said they feed off of their teammate’s emotions.
“When Ty’s having a good game, we’re all having a good game,” safety Eric Reid said. “If he gets the ball on the ground, you’ll see 11 of us swarming to it trying to get it and then blocking for him if he gets an interception.”
The Honey Badger has become more than a nickname. It has become a rallying cry and marketing gold. Tigers fans, kids especially, wear T-shirts which read, “Honey Badger just takes what he wants.”
“I look at it like this,” Mathieu said. “I see little kids, and they’re in love with the Honey Badger. So I’ll be the Honey Badger for them.”
Bars in Baton Rouge and New Orleans have started serving a drink called the Honey Badger, which consists of a shot of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey Whiskey dropped in a glass of beer.
In this hard-partying part of the country, a signature drink is high praise.
“I kind of heard of it through Twitter,” Mathieu said. “I guess it’s blowing up.”
“All the hype that’s around the Honey Badger, he deserves it,” Claiborne said.
“He’s been that type of player since he stepped foot on campus. . . . But we never thought it would be like this.” Claiborne shook his head and smiled. “This is crazy . . . A drink?”