#43 Joe Lawrence Season 2025

(updated 7/31/04)

Former pro baseball standout that joined the Tigers last spring … Had return to football stopped temporarily as he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in left knee in a non-contact play during the spring game … Underwent surgery in May and will be at full strength once fall camp begins … Expected to lend a hand in the secondary for the Tigers as well as playing on special teams … Tremendous athlete who excelled in both football and baseball in high school … Will be the oldest player on the team and perhaps the oldest to ever put on an LSU football uniform at 27-years of age … Picked 16th overall by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1996 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft … Broke into the Major Leagues in 2002 after spending five years in minor league ball … Played in 55 games as a second baseman for the Blue Jays in 2002, hitting .180 with 2 home runs and 15 RBI …Delivered an RBI single in his first career Major League at-bat against the Texas Rangers on May 1, 2002 … Signed with the Milwaukee Brewers for the 2003 season, playing 43 games in AAA … Retired from baseball after his stint in AAA in 2003.

HIGH SCHOOL
Two-sport standout at Barbe High School in Lake Charles … Capped football career at Barbe as the school’s all-time leading receiver … Four-time First-Team All-State selection in baseball and Three-time First-Team All-State pick in football … Led football team to a pair of district titles and the baseball squad to four district championships … Named Louisiana Gatorade Player of the Year in baseball and was the Coca-Cola Football Player of the Year for the state … Coached in football by Jimmy Shaver.

PERSONAL
Full name is Joseph Dudley Lawrence … Goes by Joe … Born on February 13, 1977 in Lake Charles, La. … Parents are Will and Sally Lawrence … Has two sisters, Robin and Mandi, both graduates of LSU … Played in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., as well as leading his baseball team to the Dixie Majors World Series.