LSU Sports Interactive
by Caroline Domecq
LSU Sports Information
Coach Nick Saban told a story at his weekly radio show last Wednesday of an incident that occurred while attending his grandfather’s funeral a few weeks ago.
His sister, whom he had not seen in six months, walked up to him with a solemn look on her face and asked, “Why aren’t you playing Alley Broussard more?”
While that is not what he expected to hear from his sister, that is a question many people have been asking, considering Broussard’s performance this year.
In four games this season at running back, the sophomore has carried the ball 30 times for a total of 172 yards. He has also rushed for three touchdowns, all coming in last week’s game against Mississippi State. He scored them all within the first 17 minutes of the game.
Broussard attributes his improvement this season to the fact that he is a lot more familiar with the game situations and more comfortable making plays.
“I just feel more relaxed and more confident,” he said. “The difference from last year to this year is that I can see the holes better and get my reads better.”
As a true freshman last year, Broussard rushed for 389 yards on 85 carries. He had his breakout performance in the Tigers’ seventh game, a 33-7 victory over South Carolina in Columbia. He rushed for a total of 108 yards on 19 carries.
That is still his highest yardage total, even with his three-touchdown explosion against Mississippi State when he gained 73 yards.
Broussard has come a long way since he first started playing football in his hometown of Lafayette, La. He said he really was never a football fan as a child, but tried it out because of a neighbor’s suggestion.
“I really wasn’t a football fan growing up,” he said. “I used to play a lot of sand lot football, up until one day, my neighbor said I needed to go try and play some real football. He kept nagging me about it, so finally I went and tried out.”
And it is a good thing he did.
It is also a good thing he tried out a number of positions, because it was not running back where he started, the position that has earned him much recognition.
“My first position was wide receiver,” he explained. “I was pretty fast, and as the year went on, I tried out different positions. I eventually went to running back, and that’s where I stuck at and still am now.”
After learning the fundamentals of the game in middle school, Broussard went on to play for Acadiana High School, where his team made it twice to the Class 5A State Championship semifinals. Broussard was also twice named a first-team 5A All-State selection.
In his 1,910-yard performance on 290 carries with 27 touchdowns his senior campaign, he was named an All-American by Riddell Footwear and SuperPrep and ranked as the No. 4 running prospect in the nation by Rivals.com. He also was ranked at No. 8 by ESPN.com and No. 6 by College Football News.
Locally, he was named a member of the Baton Rouge Advocate’s Super Dozen, the Shreveport Times Top 20 and the New Orleans Times-Picayune’s Top 25 Blue Chip list.
Broussard attributes his career at Acadiana with giving him the ability to play for a program like LSU today.
“The coaches worked with me a lot,” he said. “It was just a lot of fun playing for Acadiana. In middle school we ran the same offense, so it was easy for me to learn. So it helped me get bigger, stronger and faster. It was a great program over there.”
That quality of being a great program is the same thing he noticed about LSU. Once he knew he would play in college, Broussard said his heart was always set on becoming a Tiger.
“I was always really focused on just LSU,” he said. “I took other visits to in-state schools just in case, but I was just focused on LSU the whole time. It’s a great program with great traditions. I love the people here–it’s awesome.”
One person he has grown particularly close to is fellow running back and roommate Justin Vincent. Not only do the two share a position on the football field, but they also share living quarters in their on-campus apartment. This in mind, it is no surprise the two are continuously compared.
But they are just as different in many aspects as they are alike, in their running styles, for example.
At 5-foot-11 and 205 pounds, Vincent is quicker and shiftier out of the backfield. But at 6 feet and 225 pounds, Broussard is more likely to bulldoze over opponents for his yardage.
Broussard explained it by saying: “I have more power and am more capable of bringing it to (defenders.) He’s capable of doing that, but I’m more of a power back. I’m stronger, so I have a better chance of running through a person than he does.
“He’s better for first-and-10,” he added, “and then I’m better for third-and-one, fourth-and-one and any short yardage; I just bulldoze it in.”
Though he said he is improving, he admits to being made fun of for the way he made his cuts in the past, being compared to a huge cruise ship.
“I can’t do all the little cuts and stuff, but I am getting better at it. Last year they called me the ‘Queen Mary,’ because when I’d cut, I’d just make a little arc,” he said while making the motion with his arm. “I didn’t give them the