By KACE KIESCHNICK, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
Fifth-year senior center Braelin Moore is confident in the Tigers’ new-look offense under coach Lane Kiffin and coordinator Charlie Weis Jr.
Moore (6-foot-2, 301 pounds) started 12 games for LSU last year after transferring from Virginia Tech. The Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, native started 24 games in three seasons with the Hokies. After the exits of head coach Brian Kelly, offensive coordinator Joe Sloan and offensive line coach Brad Davis last season, he could have understandably changed schools or tried his luck in the NFL.
But he had unfinished business at LSU.
“The decision was pretty easy for me,” he said after practice Monday. “I had a choice if I wanted to go to the next level, but there is still a lot on the table that I desire to go get. It’s a national championship. It’s a Joe Moore Award. That’s why I came back, just trying to go get those things.”
LSU’s 2019 offensive line helped the Tigers win the national championship at 15-0 and won the Joe Moore Award that goes to the nation’s best offensive line. It is named after legendary Pitt offensive line coach Joe Moore, who coached the Panthers’ line from 1980-85 and Notre Dame’s offensive line from 1988-96. Braelin Moore is not related to Joe Moore, but both are from Pennsylvania with the late Joe Moore from Pittsburgh.
Moore went 6-6 in starts each of his two seasons at Virginia Tech. The Tigers were 7-5 in games he started last year. He wants more success than that, and there are a lot of differences between Kelly and Sloan’s offense compared to Kiffin and Weis’. Moore said those two were the other reason he returned as Kiffin’s and Weis’ offenses have been among the best in the Southeastern Conference and the nation in recent years.
“I haven’t been a part of an offense that’s demanded those kinds of numbers, so I know what that could do for our team. I know what that could do for me,” Moore said.
The Kiffin-Weis Ole Miss offense averaged 176.3 rushing yards (2,645 total) and 2.6 rushing touchdowns (39 total) per game last season. The Rebels also allowed the fewest sacks per game in the SEC with just 1.27, only 19 all year.
Compare those numbers to LSU’s averages of 104 yards (1,352 total) and 0.8 (10 total) touchdowns on the ground last season. Moore and the rest of the offensive front allowed Tigers quarterbacks to be sacked 29 times last year for a 2.23 per game average.
While it is easy to recognize the superior efficiency of Kiffin and Weis’ offensive line play, Moore quickly found out it is another thing to replicate it.
“It was kind of rough in the spring going from a huddle team to now we’re on the ball as fast as we can, but there’s so many advantages to it. The defense has to play on their heels every play. They don’t know what we’re going to run because there’s so much motion going on. It’s really a headache for the defense,” he said.
Ole Miss led all SEC teams with 1,099 offensive plays ran last season (489.67 per game), but the Rebels ranked 12th in time of possession, averaging just 28 minutes, 44 seconds a game. That makes for an average of one play every 23.5 seconds of game time. LSU’s offense was last in the conference with 333.54 plays in 30 minutes, 16 seconds of possession a game for an average of one snap every 28.75 seconds.
That tempo has become a trademark of the Kiffin-Weis system. Kiffin said the simplified language required to run the offense quickly makes it easy for transfers like quarterback Sam Leavitt to get up to speed fast. Moore said it was great to get the young, talented backups Husan Longstreet and Landen Clark reps in the spring, but having Leavitt under center is a game changer.
LSU QUARTERBACK SAM LEAVITT IS THE OFFENSE’S COMFORTER
“When we got Sam back, it was almost just like a comfort blanket,” Moore said. “He’s been there before. He’s already played in the playoffs. He knows what it takes to win. Having a guy like that back there to really orchestrate everything is huge.”
Leavitt led Arizona State to an 11-3 record, Big 12 title and College Football Playoff appearance in his first season as a Sun Devil in 2024. With talented new pieces all over the LSU offense, Moore did not prophecy that level of success this season, but is expecting improvement from last year.
“I like where we’re at right now,” he said. “We still got a lot of ways to go, but this offense is going to be extremely explosive.”
That starts with a revamped offensive line. Moore is joined by redshirt sophomore right tackle Weston Davis (6-6, 315) as the only returning starters from a season ago. Junior left tackle Jordan Seaton (6-5, 307) was a prize five-star transfer addition out of Colorado. Maryland fifth-year senior Aliou Bah (6-5, 327) is another experienced portal addition at right guard, and fifth-year senior Bo Bordelon has finally earned his chance to start at left guard.
“Them guys is dogs,” Moore said. “That’s why we got them here. Seaton’s going to hold that left side down, and West and Aliou are gonna hold that right side down. But those guys are big, powerful dudes, and I look forward to what they’ll give us.”
What they give, Moore hopes, is a performance worthy of that Joe Moore Award. LSU, by the way, has welcomed back offensive line coach/run game specialist James Cregg, who was LSU’s O-Line coach in 2019.
“I got the utmost confidence in this group,” Moore said. “That we could go get that award, and we could be the most dominant O-line in the country.”
Be the first to comment