BATON ROUGE, La. -- LSU coach Ed Orgeron on Friday called Leonard Fournette "one of the greatest players in LSU football history," and in this case, that wasn’t a coach stretching the truth to compliment a player on his way out the door.
Fournette was a Louisiana legend before he ever arrived at LSU as the nation's No. 1 overall prospect, and his college career proved that the hype was real.
The junior running back announced Friday that he won't play in the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl with LSU so his ankle can get healthy for the NFL draft -- he had previously declared for the draft a year early. Fournette leaves without winning a national championship or a Heisman Trophy, although both were within reach during his 1,953-yard sophomore season before the Tigers' late-season slump.
Yet his place in LSU history is secure. In 2015, the All-American led the nation in rushing yards per game and posted the second-highest rushing total in SEC history (trailing only Alabama RB Derrick Henry's 2,219-yard season). Fournette also broke a handful of LSU rushing records -- including career yards per carry (6.2) and yards per game (119.7).
He leaves behind a mile-long highlight reel that cements the NFL-bound junior as not just the greatest running back in LSU history, but one of the best the SEC has ever seen.
Here are some of the most memorable moments in Fournette's three SEC seasons:
The violent runs: In view of Fournette’s unique combination of power and breakaway speed, ESPN’s Todd McShay lists the RB as the top prospect in the 2017 NFL draft. Fournette's ability to humiliate defenders with crushing stiff-arms and flattening impacts is what created the most highlights, however.
As a freshman in 2014, he had already had some big games before he dropped his shoulder and knocked big-hitting Texas A&M safety Howard Matthews onto his rear end on Thanksgiving night. That was perhaps the moment when Fournette's legend began to take hold nationally.
Through the years, he crossed lots of helpless defensive backs off his hit list. To name a few:
Auburn’s Rudy Ford and Tray Matthews in a 223-yard performance against Auburn last season that turned Fournette into the Heisman front-runner.
Mississippi State’s Brandon Bryant, whom he brutally tossed to the ground this season.
Texas Tech’s Keenon Ward while totaling 256 yards and five touchdowns in last season's AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl.
Ole Miss freshman safety Deontay Anderson along the Rebels sideline, during a game when Fournette briefly held LSU’s single-game rushing record with 284 yards on just 16 carries (more on that in a sec).
That facemask call was correct. #MISSvsLSU pic.twitter.com/jw4fl5zMpY
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 26, 2014
Then there were the plays where defenders had to rip off his face mask or face a vicious left hook before they were able to get him down.
That sheer brutality is a big part of what makes watching Fournette play so much fun.
The Heisman pose: Let’s go back to the beginning. Fournette was getting preseason Heisman hype before he played his first college game, but he opened with a whimper by gaining just 18 yards on eight carries in his debut against Wisconsin.
He generated some attention -- although not the kind then-LSU coach Les Miles wanted -- the following week in LSU’s blowout win against FCS Sam Houston State. Fournette barreled into the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown in the first quarter and then struck the Heisman stiff-arm pose shortly thereafter, earning a stern lecture from Miles.
Fournette would rush for 92 yards on 13 carries in that game, with his first 100-yard outing coming three weeks later against New Mexico State (18 rushes, 122 yards, 2 touchdowns). He set an LSU freshman rushing record with 1,034 yards that season.
The big games: Fournette was part of the Heisman conversation at the beginning of his sophomore season, after a breakout performance in a 2014 bowl loss to Notre Dame when he rushed for 143 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries and also returned a kickoff 100 yards for another score.
His performance against Auburn in Week 2 was when he solidified himself as a candidate. That was the first of three consecutive 200-yard games for Fournette, and he did it by making touchdown runs that have been replayed hundreds of times since. He trucked Ford on the way to the end zone for a 40-yard score in the second quarter, and then slung a leaping Tray Matthews over his shoulder along the sideline before slipping away for a 29-yard score in the third quarter to put the Tigers up 31-7 en route to a 45-21 win.
With the exception of Fournette's 31-yard performance against Alabama, every 2015 game featured at least a couple plays that have a rightful place in Fournette's highlight reel. It was one of the best single seasons by a running back in SEC history.
Fournette's gimpy ankle greatly reduced his highlight plays this season, but he reminded us of his greatness in one final blaze of glory at Tiger Stadium.
He returned from a two-game absence to face Ole Miss and smashed the school rushing record in just 16 attempts. In his third touch of the night, Fournette broke loose for a 59-yard touchdown run. On his eighth touch came a 76-yard score. On his ninth, a 78-yard scoring run that gave LSU the lead for good.
Fournette entered the fourth quarter with 12 carries for 254 yards, already a school record, and carried only four more times as the Tigers salted away the victory. Nonetheless, his average of 17.8 yards per carry that night ranks second in SEC history for any player with at least 10 carries in a game. His 284 yards also tied for 10th in SEC history, although LSU's Derrius Guice has since surpassed Fournette's mark by rushing for 285 yards in the regular-season finale against Texas A&M.