Any sports fan knows you don’t just throw together a couple of football players and hope for the best. No, making a collegiate contender year after year takes practice, training and more practice.
Here’s a look at what a typical week is like for an LSU football player.
SUNDAY
Afternoon Specialized “Stretch and Stride” workout for those who participated in the previous night’s game, including aerobic exercising and stretches. Game film session. Training staff reevaluates injuries.
MONDAY
Morning Academic classes
Afternoon Injured players receive treatment with trainers. Team meetings at 3 p.m. Light practice. Media sessions before and after practice.
Evening Catered dinner for the team. Some players dine in the stadium.
TUESDAY-THURSDAY
Morning Academic classes
Afternoon Injured players receive treatment. Team meetings at 3 p.m. Full-pad practice on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; light practice on Thursdays.
Evening Team meal
FRIDAY
Morning Academic classes
Afternoon Team meetings. Game plan walkthrough. Athletes run plays without pads.
Evening Team heads to Lod Cook Hotel (or a hotel in the town they’re visiting), where they stay overnight. Position-specific film sessions. Team dinner.
SATURDAY
Morning Officially game day. The team eats breakfast together. Entire team meets before breaking off into position meetings.
Pre-game When at home, team buses across campus before the march down Victory Hill. Team heads to Jeff Boss locker room for treatment with trainers. They get dressed in warmup attire and run position group warmups on the field. Stretch. Put pads on and run last-minute warmups and walkthroughs.
Game time Group huddle back in the tunnel—the team gets in a circle and gets pumped up with chants and rallying cries. They run out to the field. Game on.
Travin Dural’s pre-game essentials
Travin Dural. Courtesy LSU Athletics
The LSU wide receiver is looking to have a big year. His pre-game routine is a bit more complex than others’. 225 asked Dural about his essentials before a game.
• Lil Wayne’s ‘Fly In, Fly Out’ on repeat. “I first heard it when I was 15. It puts me in the right place and mood.”
• ‘Family Guy.’ The night before each game, he has to watch an episode. “I have to get my laughs in.”
• His Friday night meal? A whole lot of fried chicken. “No matter where we are, I have to have a plate full of fried chicken wings. I could eat maybe 20 pieces.”
• Gameday socks. He wears the same pair of dress socks his mom bought him for every game. “They’re light green, blue, pink and yellow. My mom bought me them when I first got to LSU.”
