What’s the most dreaded punishment a misbehaving child could receive? Being grounded from TV? Having his cell phone taken away?
On the rare occasion a young Travin Dural acted up, one of his mother’s punishments in particular would set him straight in a hurry.
“She wouldn’t let me go to practice,” Dural remembered. “Nothing hurt as much as missing practice.”
Fast forward to November 2015, when the Breaux Bridge, La., native received the devastating news that he would be missing practice for a long time.
The torn hamstring Dural suffered against Ole Miss is an injury rarely seen in football. Dural sold out for an overthrown pass, looking to make an incredibly acrobatic catch. Instead, his hamstring was torn completely off the bone.
“I kind of thought I was going to be out a couple days of practice, come back that week, be able to play next week.”
He was on crutches until Christmas and wouldn’t even be able to run until April. Someone who hated missing one practice as a kid was sidelined for nearly five months. When the annual Spring Game came around in April, he was merely a spectator.
“Not having a chance to come out and play spring ball with all my brothers—that was something that kind of bothered me,” Dural said.
Dural, a player who thrives off his speed and agility, couldn’t even run a route for nearly half a year. How would he respond to such adversity?
He considered it a blessing.
 |
 |
| LSU At the Game programs are available on campus three hours prior to game time and online while supplies last. |
“It was a long process, but it made me appreciate football a lot more,” Dural said.
Determined to turn a negative into a positive, Dural came into this season with a new perspective, a rejuvenated spirit and something to prove. The road to recovery relied mostly on one key component: rest. Dural took advantage of that, as it an opportunity rarely presented to an LSU football player.
“That was a blessing because I can’t remember the last time that I actually had a break from football,” Dural said.
Not only did the injury give Dural a chance to recuperate, but it also is likely the reason he is still in Baton Rouge this year. Scouts projected him to be a third-round pick prior to tearing his hamstring. A redshirt junior at the time, Dural had a decision to make: take a chance by entering the draft or come back to school and get healthy. He decided returning to LSU was his best option and now considers it one of the many positives that resulted from his torn hamstring.
“I got to come back to school,” Dural said. “I get a chance to finish and graduate before I leave, before my eligibility is up.”
Now, Dural is 100 percent fit. The redshirt senior is one of the most experienced impact players for the Tigers and prides himself on being one of the leaders on the team. In fact, others in the receiving group affectionately refer to Dural, who will turn 23 in November, as “old.”
“A lot of people look at me as the older guy, so a lot of people listen to what I have to say because they know I’ve been through a lot,” Dural said.
Actually, Dural has been “the older guy” of the receivers for a few years now. Even as a redshirt sophomore, Dural was someone that fellow wide receiver Malachi Dupre looked up to as a freshman.
“When I came in, Travin was one of the guys who helped me out the most,” Dupre said. “He was the only guy who had any playing experience going into my freshman year. He was one of the guys I leaned on the most. He was there for me.”
As the old man of the receiving corps, Dural holds himself responsible for keeping everyone level-headed. Following the season-opening loss against Wisconsin, the man who has been here the last five years had to make sure his guys didn’t hang their heads.
“I had to keep everyone’s spirit up,” Dural said. “I kind of had to step in there, tell them everything is going to work itself out.”
Looking out for others is one of Dural’s best traits, and it extends off the gridiron as well. In July of last year, Dural and his cousin were leaving Breaux Bridge when they noticed a vehicle that had flipped over into a ditch.
A St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Deputy reported to the LSU office that Dural had called 911 and stopped to help the woman who was trapped in her car. He and his cousin did what they could to pry the door open so she could get out.
Had the deputy not reported what happened, Dural’s act would have gone unheralded, as the Tigers’ wideout never said a word to anyone on the team about what he’d done.
“Travin is a Good Samaritan for what he did and how he acted,” former LSU coach Les Miles said. “He’s a great kid and a great person.”
His demeanor is just the same when it comes to football. Instead of touting himself, he is quick to credit others for his success. He specifically points out his parents, grandmother and AAU coaches as key influences in his life, but notes that there are more people than he can name who helped him along the way.
“There’s a lot of people that helped me out growing up, whether it was bringing me to practice when my mom was at work, or picking me up after practice,” Dural said. “I came in contact with a lot of people growing up that helped me be the person that I am.”
He’s come a long way to get here. In his fifth year as a Tiger, Dural believes this team can still achieve the lofty expectations set at the season’s start. Individually, his main goal is simple:
“Make it through the season healthy … while helping my team.”
This season is Dural’s last hurrah before taking the next step, and one of the things he’ll miss most is hearing those raucous fans in Death Valley.
“They’re so passionate about this game, which I appreciate so much,” Dural said. “If you have fans that go hard, it makes you want to work for them. It makes you want to play harder for them because you don’t want to disappoint them.”
Dural needs less than 500 yards to become the 11th player in LSU history to eclipse 2,000 career receiving yards; he could use all the support fans can muster.