LSU Gold

Bennie Brazell Season 2024

LSU
Bennie Brazell
Title
Assistant Coach
Email
bbraze2@lsu.edu
Phone
(225) 578-8627
Hometown
Houston, Texas
Alma Mater
LSU (2011)

The LSU Track & Field program was proud to welcome back one of its all-time greats as an assistant coach prior to the 2012 season as former Tiger two-sport national champion Bennie Brazell joined the coaching staff as Dennis Shaver’s assistant for the men’s sprints, hurdles and relays.

Brazell now enters his 13th season coaching at his alma mater in 2024, as his addition to the staff has paid big dividends for the Tigers over the years.

Brazell himself was part of five NCAA Champion relay teams during his collegiate career with the Tigers from 2002-05, and he helped build upon that proud tradition in 2023 by coaching the Tigers to the NCAA 4×100-meter relay record of 37.90 seconds. The 2023 4×100 squad consisting of Brandon Hicklin, Dorian Camel, Da’Marcus Fleming, and Godson Oghenebrume can be considered the greatest relay team in collegiate history after putting up historic numbers from start to finish. The team checked off plenty of accomplishments throughout the outdoor season including the CR and LSU record of 37.90, four top-10 times in the world in 2023, five of the top-10 times in collegiate performance list history, and seven of the top-10 times on the collegiate performance list for 2023. All of these accomplishments throughout their historic campaign led them to SEC and NCAA gold.

Along with anchoring the 4×100 team that won SEC and NCAA gold in 2023, Oghenebrume saw a lot of individual success in the 60 meter and 100 meter. During the indoor season the Nigerian cut his 2022 PR of 6.89 seconds down to 6.60 seconds in 2023. His indoor success led to him taking bronze and being named Second Team All-SEC after clocking a time of 6.64 seconds. His title and much improved time sent him to his first NCAA Championship appearance.

Oghenebrume found a new level of speed during the 2023 outdoor season, breaking the 10-second barrier multiple times in the 100 for the first time in his career. Oghenebrume made his first NCAA Outdoor Championship appearance and made the most of it, clocking a time of 9.90 seconds in the finals to take silver. His new personal-best time ranks second in LSU history just behind Olympian Richard Thompson in first who clocked a time of 9.89. His time also ranks third in Nigerian history, seventh in African history, and seventh in collegiate history. Heading into the season Oghenebrume held a personal-best time of 10.12 seconds in the 100, seeing .22 seconds shaved off of his previous best this season.

During the 2023 season Oghenebrume was named the USTFCCCA South Central Region Track Athlete of the Year and LSWA Men’s Track Athlete of the Year while also earning two First Team All-American nods, two First Team All-SEC honors, two SEC titles, two SEC weekly honors, and one USTFCCA National Athlete of the Week nod.

In her first season with the Tigers, Shani’a Bellamy saw tremendous progression in both the 100-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles. Brazell helped coach Bellamy to her first ever sub-56 second time in the 400mH, dropping her previous best of 56.65 seconds to 55.48 to take gold at the NACAC U23 Championships. Her time of 55.48 seconds ranks seventh in LSU performance list history. Bellamy was crowned a First Team All-American in the 400mH at the NCAA Championships, and then also finished fourth at the USATF Outdoor Championships in July. Bellamy was named the LSWA Women’s T&F Newcomer of the Year on July 21.

The second Tiger to go sub-10 in the 100 this season was junior Da’Marcus Fleming. Fleming was able to reach this feat in the NCAA Outdoor Championship final with a time of 9.97 seconds. His time ranks him third on the all-time LSU performance list behind Oghenebrume and Richard Thompson, and makes him just the fourth LSU athlete to go sub-10 with legal conditions. Fleming finished the 2023 season an NCAA 4×100 Champion and a two-time First Team All-American. The Miami, Fla., native made his first appearance at the USATF Championships after the NCAA Championships, taking fourth in his semi-final heat.

The LSWA Men’s Newcomer of the Year, Brandon Hicklin, had one of the most impressive seasons in all of the nation for 2023. Hicklin punched tickets to both the indoor and outdoor NCAA Championships for long jump and the 100m and 4×100-meter relay. Hicklin transferred over to Baton Rouge for his final collegiate season and saw his 100-meter time cut down from 10.52 seconds to 10.12 seconds. His time of 10.12 seconds ranks ninth in LSU performance-list history. The starter for the NCAA 4×100 Championship team also made an appearance alongside Fleming at the USATF Championships in the 100m, and also competed in long jump. Hicklin finished 10th in long jump at his first USA championship with a jump of 7.75 meters (25’ 5.25”).

Coach Bennie helped Sean Burrell continue to show he was the best 400-meter hurdler in the nation during the 2022 outdoor season, earning his second consecutive title at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a time of 48.70 seconds in the 400-meter hurdle final. The Bowerman Watch List member earned USTFCCCA First Team All-American honors for his back-to-back title win. Burrell was named the LSWA Men’s Track Athlete of the Year for his stellar outdoor season.

Eric Edwards Jr. had a great last season to close out his collegiate career with the Tigers. Edwards was a finalist for both the indoors and outdoors NCAA Championships in 2022. Outdoors, Edwards finished second in the 100-meter hurdles with a collegiate PR of 13.15 seconds, which ranks second in program history for LSU behind his former teammate Damion Thomas. Indoors, Edwards finished eighth with a time of 8.24 in the 60-meter hurdle final. After the collegiate season Edwards went on to the USATF Outdoor Championships, taking seventh in the nation for the 100mh.

The 2021 season was another exceptional season for the sprints group under Brazell. Terrance Laird, Noah Williams, and Sean ‘Squirrel’ Burrell all won individual national titles and all three were recognized by The Bowerman committee throughout the season; Burrell was named as one of 10 semifinalists for the most coveted award for collegiate track and field. Brazell earned USTFCCCA honors indoors as he was named the Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year in the South Central region. Brazell’s athletes accounted for 44 of LSU’s 84 points at the NCAA outdoor championships as the Tigers won their fifth men’s outdoor national title in June.

Laird had one exceptional season in 2021 that saw him win two NCAA titles and four SEC titles. Laird was named the SEC Runner of the Year for both the indoor and outdoor seasons, and he was named the 2021 USTFCCCA Men’s Runner of the Year for the outdoor season. At the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Laird scored 20.5 points for the Tigers as he won titles in the 100 meters and as anchor on the 4×100 meter relay; he took second in the finals of the 200 meters. Laird clocked the third fastest time in NCAA history at the Texas Relays when he ran a 19.81 to claim the top spot in Texas; he also went sub 20 four other times this season. He pulled off the sprint triple at the SEC outdoor meet with wins in the 100 meters (9.80w), 200 meters (19.82), and the 4×100 meter relay (38.87).

Burrell made a name for himself on the world stage after training with Brazell for just one season. It was the finals of the 400 meter hurdles at the NCAA Outdoor Championships where Burrell really burst onto the scene with a world U20 record of 47.85 seconds in the event to win the NCAA title. With that time, Burrell became the first U20 athlete in world history to crack the 48 second barrier in the event. The time of 47.85 was the fourth fastest time in collegiate history, and it finished the 2021 season as the seventh fastest rated time in the world. The crazy thing was that Burrell had never competed in the 400 meter hurdles before arriving on campus and training with Brazell. He continually lowered his times throughout the season starting with a time of 50.83 before lowering that to 47.85 seconds in a span of 10 races. Burrell was a finalist for the Rising Star Award presented by World Athletics as well.

Williams broke the school record in the indoor 400 meters with a time of 44.71 at the NCAA Indoor Championships to become the fourth fastest runner in world history over that distance indoors. He clocked a personal best of 44.30 outdoors to become the second fastest runner in school history in the discipline as well. Williams won SEC titles in the 400 meters indoors and outdoors while also helping the 4×100 meter relay to SEC and NCAA titles outdoors.

The men’s 4×400 meter relay and the women’s 4×400 meter relay both clocked LSU top 10 times during the 2021 season as well. The relay crew of Dorian Camel, Sean Burrell, Tyler Terry, and Noah Williams combined to clock a 3:01.00 in March at the Texas Relays to become the sixth fastest team in LSU history. Indoors, the women’s squad of Symone Mason, Favour Ofili, Milan Young, and Amber Anning went a time of 3:29.69 at the NCAA Indoor Championships to finish fifth in the race and register the third fastest time in NCAA history.

It was another strong showing by Brazell’s long hurdlers on the women’s side at the SEC Outdoor Championships. The foursome of Brittley Humphrey, Milan Young, Jurnee Woodward, and Leah Phillips combined to score 26 points by finishing 1-2-4-6 in the event; it was the first career SEC title for Humphrey.

Brazell led first-year transfer Terrance Laird to an 2020 SEC title in the 200 meters with a readout of 20.52. The junior also ran the second fastest 200 meter time in school history, a 20.43, at the Tyson Invitational on February 15. Laird became the second LSU runner in program history to win the Men’s Track Athlete of the Year award in the USTFCCCA South Central Region joining the likes of Xavier Carter (2006).

Brazell had seniors Dylan Peebles (20.74) and Akanni Hislop (20.76) firing on all cylinders as well in the 200 meters as they both registered NCAA top-10 times on the season. Peebles placed third at the SEC Championships in the 200 meters and Hislop followed with a fourth-place finish. Tyler Terry had a season best of 46.01 in the 400 meters to earn himself a fourth-place finish at the SEC Championships and a No. 10 ranking in the NCAA.

Hislop (6.65a), Peebles (6.66a), and Laird (6.66a) all entered LSU’s top-10 category in the 60 meters. Hislop ranks as the fifth-fastest sprinter ever in the event, while Peebles and Laird are tied for eighth.

In 2019, his women athletes accumulated a total of 30 points for the Tigers, including a 1-2-3 finish in the 400 meter hurdles that saw Jurnee Woodward win her first SEC title with a time of 56.77. He helped Woodward, Brittley Humphrey (56.11) and Milan Young (56.42) all crack the sub 57-second barrier in 2019. Humphrey (3rd) and Woodward (6th) earned points for LSU at the NCAA outdoor meet in the 400 meter hurdles. On the men’s side, 400 meter hurdler Christian Boyd placed fifth in the finals.

He helped Jaron Flournoy to indoor All-America honors in the 200 meter dash with a fifth-place finish. Flournoy had a breakout senior season with PRs of 10.12 in the 100 meters (No. 5 LSU history) and 20.09 in the 200 meters (No. 3 LSU history). Flournoy anchored the men’s 4×100 meter relay to gold at the SEC Championships for the fourth-consecutive season.

Brazell’s 2018 4×400 meter relay squad of Jahnoy Thompson, Correion Mosby, Renard Howell and Jaron Flournoy closed out the season with the fourth-fastest readout in program history, a 3:00.55, to earn a bronze medal in the final event of the season. He tutored Jaron Flournoy to two additional All-America honors in the 200 meters at the indoor and outdoor NCAA meets. Flournoy finished fourth at the NCAA outdoor championships with a readout of 20.43, and he also placed fourth at the NCAA indoors with a 20.55 in the 200 meters. Flournoy was LSU’s best sprint scorer at the SEC meets. He anchored the men’s 4×100 meter relay to an SEC title outdoors and he scored 10 points between the indoor and outdoor SEC meets in the 200 meters. Brazell also coached JUCO transfer Correion Mosby to a fifth-place finish in the 200 meter dash indoors.

LSU lined up one of the most prolific sprint relay teams in collegiate history in 2016, culminating with a record-setting victory at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships where Jaron FlournoyRenard HowellTremayne Acy and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake teamed for a then Hayward Field stadium record at the University of Oregon with a winning time of 38.42 seconds in the NCAA final.

Their victory at the NCAA Championships came just weeks after smashing the SEC Championships meet record where they ran the eighth-fastest time in collegiate history at 38.33 in the conference final.

The 2016 SEC Outdoor Championships at the University of Alabama was also the site of one of the most impressive displays in the history of the meet as Mitchell-Blake also swept SEC 100-meter and 200-meter titles while emerging as one of the world’s bright young stars with his performance.

It was his victory in the 200-meter final that sent shockwaves across the country and around the world as he crushed the field with a wind-legal 19.95 to become the seventh-fastest sprinter in collegiate history in the event. Mitchell-Blake, who was just a split-second shy of John Regis’ British record of 19.94, used his performance during the collegiate season as catalyst for making his Olympics debut with Team GB where he lined up in the 200-meter semifinals in Rio de Janeiro.

Mitchell-Blake made history again as a senior in 2017 when he earned the distinction as the first LSU Tiger in program history to run sub-10 seconds in the 100 meters and sub-20 seconds in the 200 meters with a 9.99 PR in the 100-meter final at the SEC Championships while scoring the SEC Outdoor silver medal as an All-SEC performer in the event once again. That performance highlighted a senior season in which he added four more All-America honors to his resume, including the title of NCAA Outdoor Silver Medalist in the 200-meter dash.

An NCAA Champion, nine-time All-American, six-time SEC Champion and 10-time All-SEC sprinter, Mitchell-Blake is one of the most decorated athletes to proudly wear the purple and gold during his collegiate career.

Mitchell-Blake would later set the world of track and field alight when he anchored Great Britain to the World Championship in the 4×100 relay on his nation’s home track at the London Stadium last summer. Storming to the finish line in 37.47, he cemented a national record for his country and earned a special place in history as the World Champion in what was the final race of Usain Bolt’s legendary career. He also placed fourth in his first World final of the 200-meter dash.

The Tigers have also fielded a deep stable of 400-meter runners in recent seasons as Fitzroy Dunkley, Michael CherryLaMar Bruton and Cyril Grayson won NCAA titles during both the indoor and outdoor seasons as the nation’s leading 4×400-meter relay team in 2016. They even established themselves as one of the top teams in collegiate history with a seasonal best of 3 minutes, 0.38 seconds that season.

Like Mitchell-Blake, Dunkley later made his Olympics debut with Jamaica as he added an Olympic silver medal in the relay to his title as 2016 NCAA Outdoor Silver Medalist in the 400-meter dash.

Cherry proved to be one of the NCAA’s leading 400-meter sprinters in his own right in his debut season in 2016 as he was the NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor Bronze Medalist in the event with his performance. He followed as a senior in 2017 by earning the title of NCAA Indoor Silver Medalist and defending his bronze medal at the NCAA Outdoor Championships while going out as a two-time NCAA Champion and eight-time All-American in his two seasons in Baton Rouge.

Cherry clocked his personal best of 44.67 in the 400-meter final at the USA Track & Field Championships last summer to earn his spot on Team USA at the World Championships in London. That’s where he climbed the medal podium as a World silver medalist in the 4×400-meter relay.

LSU’s sprinters, hurdlers and relay teams provided the foundation of a squad that earned a pair of top-five team finishes at the NCAA Championships during the 2016 season as the Tigers placed fourth indoors and fifth outdoors in national competition. In all, nine Tigers combined for 20 All-American honors at the NCAA Championships while also being crowned SEC Champions that season.

While LSU has featured many of the nation’s top 400-meter sprinters in recent years, Vernon Norwood is certainly the class of the field as he wrapped up his collegiate career in 2015 with a sweep of NCAA 400-meter titles while also anchoring the Tigers to the NCAA Outdoor Championship in the 4×400 relay. It’s a career in which Norwood won four NCAA titles and eight All-America honors in his two seasons.

While emerging as one of the world’s top young 400-meter runners with a lifetime best of 44.44 set in his senior season, Norwood also represented the United States at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing that summer where he was crowned a World Champion as part of Team USA’s 4×400-meter relay team in his championship debut.

Brazell was one of the world’s leading 400-meter hurdlers throughout his own athletic career as an LSU Tiger, and he helped coach Quincy Downing to a pair of All-America honors in the event during his career in Baton Rouge. After finishing his junior season in 2014 as the NCAA Outdoor Bronze Medalist, Downing went out as an All-American in the 400 hurdles once again by finishing fourth nationally to cap his senior season in 2015 in which he set a personal best of 49.63 in the event.

In Brazell’s first season in 2012, the Tigers followed a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships with an impressive second-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships as they were just two points shy of winning a national championship in his inaugural campaign.

Their 2012 season was highlighted by claiming their eighth national championship all-time in the 4×100-meter relay. While running with a team of Barrett Nugent, Aaron Ernest, Keyth Talley and Shermund Allsop, the Tigers matched the seventh-fastest relay performance in collegiate history at the time with a winning 38.38 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Nugent wrapped up his collegiate career in 2012 as the most decorated hurdler in the history of the LSU men’s program with a pair of NCAA titles and four SEC titles to go along with 10 All-America honors in his four seasons in Baton Rouge. After breaking his own indoor school record in the 60 hurdles with a run of 7.55 to claim the NCAA Indoor bronze medal, Nugent captured his third-straight SEC crown in the 110 hurdles and ended his career with All-America honors during the outdoor season.

Nugent owns the distinction of being the only LSU Tiger to win three-straight SEC Outdoor titles in the 110-meter hurdles in the history of the SEC Outdoor Championships.

The 2012 season also saw former Tigers Ade Alleyne-Forte (Trinidad & Tobago) and Riker Hylton (Jamaica) make their Olympics debut in London while running the mile relay for their countries. Alleyne-Forte certainly made the most of his first Olympic Games as he led Trinidad & Tobago to a bronze medal in the relay as a third leg on the team that set a national record of 2:59.40 in the Olympic final.

The Tigers have followed Brazell’s inaugural season as an assistant coach in 2012 with seven more top-10 team finishes at the NCAA Championships, including ties for eighth and seventh at the NCAA Indoor Championships and finishes of seventh, tie for fourth and fourth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively.

A member of the program from 2002-05, Brazell helped the Tigers claim five NCAA relay titles while earning 14 All-America honors as one of the NCAA’s leading 400-meter hurdlers during his four seasons in Baton Rouge. By earning 14 All-America accolades for his career, Brazell is the No. 2-ranked Tiger all-time behind only the 19 All-America honors won by Kelly Willie from 2003-06.

Brazell actually owns the unique distinction of being the university’s first student-athlete to win national championships with two different sports teams during his LSU career.

In four seasons as a member of national championship football and track programs at LSU, Brazell became one of the school’s most recognizable two-sport stars during his career that featured national titles in track and field outdoors in 2002 and indoors in 2004 and on the football field in 2003.

Brazell even represented the United States on an international stage during his junior season at LSU as he advanced to the Olympic final in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. In his Olympics debut, he finished in eighth place in the final at the centennial games.

A product of Westbury High School in Houston, Brazell made an immediate impact on the LSU Track & Field program as the nation’s No. 1-ranked high school prospect in the 400-meter hurdles.

During his freshman season, Brazell scored eight points as the NCAA Outdoor runner-up in the 400-meter hurdles while breaking the school record in the event with a time of 48.80. He also anchored LSU to a national title in the 4×100-meter relay that ran the fourth-fastest time in NCAA history at 38.32, while also running the third leg on the Tigers’ bronze-medal winning 4×400-meter relay team.

Brazell’s 14 points helped led LSU to a national championship in its own backyard with the 2002 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships being held at the Bernie Moore Track Stadium.

Brazell helped guide LSU to a second NCAA team title at the onset of his junior season in 2004 with their victory at the NCAA Indoor Championships. With the women also winning the team championship, LSU made history as the first program to sweep both the men’s and women’s team titles at the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships.

Brazell certainly went out with a bang as a senior in 2005 at the NCAA Championships as he enjoyed performances in both the 400 hurdles and 4×400 relay that eclipsed previous collegiate records.

In the most exciting NCAA final in the 400-meter hurdles in NCAA Championships history, Brazell and Florida’s Kerron Clement each shattered the collegiate record as Clement struck gold in 47.56 and Brazell took home the silver in 47.67, a time that remains LSU’s school record in the event.

While Brazell came up just short of owning the collegiate record in the 400-meter hurdles with his second place to Clement in the national final, he would not be denied in the final of the 4×400-meter relay. That’s where he ran a 44.8-second split on the third leg to set the collegiate record at 2:59.59 with Reggie Dardar (46.4), Willie (44.4) and Xavier Carter (44.0) in winning the NCAA crown.

The Houston native also enjoyed a successful career on the football field while appearing in 43 contests in his four seasons as a wide receiver and special teams standout. Brazell appeared in 11 games for the Tigers during their national championship season in 2003, including the 2004 Sugar Bowl.

Brazell concluded his football career at LSU with 17 catches for 341 yards and three touchdowns before being picked in the seventh round of the 2006 NFL Draft as the 231st overall pick by the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Brazell File

Athletic Experience
2004 Olympian
5-time NCAA Champion
14-time NCAA All-American
LSU School Record Holder (400 Hurdles, 4×400 Relay)
231st overall pick (7th Round) of the 2006 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals
Member of LSU’s 2002 NCAA Outdoor and 2004 NCAA Indoor championship teams on the track.
Member of LSU’s 2003 national championship team on the football field.

Coaching Records at LSU
4 Olympians
4 Olympic Medalists
2 Olympic Gold Medalist (Michael Cherry, Vernon Norwood)
2 World Champions
3 World Championship Medalists
2 World Junior Championships Medalists
18 NCAA Champion athletes winning 12 NCAA event titles
27 SEC Champion athletes winning 24 SEC event titles
33 All-American athletes winning 118 All-America honors
32 All-SEC athletes winning 89 All-SEC honors