By ANDRE CHAMPAGNEE, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
LSU fifth-year senior tight end Bauer Sharp will face his former team Saturday as Southeastern Louisiana (2-1) takes a short 46-mile drive to Baton Rouge to play No. 3 LSU (3-0, 1-0 SEC) for a hefty check of $750,000.
Thomas Wolfe wrote, “You Can’t Go Home Again,” but one of Sharp’s homes is coming to him.
Sharp started his career with the Lions in Hammond as a quarterback in 2021 after being recruited by head coach Anthony Scelfo out of Dothan High in Dothan, Alabama. Sharp was unranked and Southeastern was his only offer.
Update: Brian Kelly weighs in on if Florida assistant Jabbar Juluke suspension is strict enough and on 2026 SEC schedule with 3 annual opponents. “I’ll take Alabama, and I’ll take Georgia …” https://t.co/PbTDmLDNtZ
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) September 19, 2025
“Nobody recruited him out of high school, and we brought him in as a quarterback. We just knew he was a great competitor, and he proved that when he got here,” Scelfo said during his weekly press conference on Monday.
Sharp played in one game in ’21, so he met with the coaching staff and decided an entry level position would be best.
“He said, ‘Look, I just want to get on the field somehow,'” Scelfo said. “And we said, ‘Maybe the best place for you right now is special teams.’ And he just jumped at it, proved himself on that, and then we just saw value in him as a player. We went back to him and said, ‘Look we can get you on the field all the time, if you just make a position change. He said, ‘I’ll do whatever I need to do, not only to play, but to help us win.'”
Sharp moved to tight end and caught 11 passes for 78 yards and a touchdown and rushed 10 times for 83 yards in his redshirt freshman season of 2022 as the Lions won the Southland Conference title and finished 9-4 after a win in the FCS playoffs.
“That’s the person you get. That’s who he is,” Scelfo said.
LSU SIGNS TRANSFER TIGHT END WHO JUST PLAYED AT TIGER STADIUM
Sharp blossomed. In 2023, he caught 29 passes for 288 yards and three touchdowns and added Wildcat quarterback to his repertoire, rushing for 133 yards and five touchdowns. Then he entered the NCAA Transfer Portal and played in 2024 at Oklahoma.
Sharp started all 12 regular season games, including at LSU last season, and led the Sooners in receiving yards with 324 and in catches with 42 while adding a pair of touchdowns. He caught one pass for four yards in a 37-17 loss at LSU, where he would soon transfer to.
“He’s been a great leader. He’s accountable,” LSU coach Brian Kelly said. “We’re really pleased with him. He came here knowing that he was not done developing.”
Through three games in his fifth-year senior season, Sharp (6-foot-5, 250 pounds) already has nine receptions for 97 yards, including a 65-yard catch and run last Saturday against Florida. And he has proven himself as a blocker as well.
“You don’t want a tight end that can’t hold his own in the run game, and he certainly can do that,” Kelly said. “Catches the ball, is a great teammate and at the end of the day, he’s going to compete his tail off for you for four quarters.”
Sharp takes pride in his versatility.
“I feel like I’m faster than most tight ends in the country, but I can also block,” he said.
Scelfo knows that all too well, but he still wants to visit.
“Looking forward to seeing him,” Scelfo said. “Hopefully, I get a chance to say hi to him before the game. If not, I’ll see him afterwards.”
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