By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – Forgive Jacobian Guillory if he got a head start on LSU’s Senior Night ceremony.
“I started crying a little bit,” Guillory said of his wet eyes in the final seconds of last Saturday’s 23-22 victory over Arkansas.
The former Alexandria Senior High star will certainly unleash a torrent of tears of gratitude in Saturday’s pregame ceremony honoring 28 seniors before LSU’s final home game of the season vs. Western Kentucky at 6:45 p.m.
After six seasons – he’s a Class of 2020 signee who inked an LSU scholarship four days after Joe Burrow became the Tigers’ second Heisman Trophy winner in December 2019 – Guillory runs through the Tiger Stadium goalposts for the final time.
He came to LSU as a somewhat doughy 344-pound nose tackle who plugged high school offenses because he was immovable. He’ll leave the Tigers as a 318-pound defensive tackle athletic enough to leap over Arkansas’ defensive line and stop Hogs’ quarterback Taylen Green for no gain on fourth and goal at the LSU 1.
While at LSU, Guillory has played under two head coaches, two interim coaches, four defensive coordinators, and seven defensive line coaches.
“Whatever life throws at you, you’ve got to be able to stand your ground, be where your feet are and just excel,” Guillory said. “I feel like, regardless of who my position coach is and who my head coach is, at the end of the day, I know why I’m here at LSU.”
He came to the Tigers’ program and stayed loyal, never wanting to transfer, because he never wanted to play for any other school.
“A lot of kids transferred after not playing the first couple of years,” Guillory said. “I just decided to stick it through. From a young age, LSU is where I want to be. And I was always grateful for the opportunity. LSU was the first one to believe in me, to offer me a scholarship.”
Guillory reminds himself of that every home game when he’s the first Tiger on the field in uniform and ready to go before pregame warmups.
“When I walk on the field, that’s just me, like being thankful to put on that purple and gold, like,” Guillory said. “A lot of guys where I’m from don’t get that chance.”
It certainly hasn’t been easy for Guillory, who has played in 51 games with 15 career starts, including all 10 this season. His stats aren’t gaudy with 68 career tackles, including six tackles for losses and two sacks.
He has always understood his role, doing dirty work, the hand-to-hand combat with an offensive lineman or two, so teammates could be free to make tackles.
During his LSU career, the Tigers have signed 17 defensive tackles (8 high school, 8 transfer portal, 1 junior college transfer).
Yet, he never wavered.
“Why go somewhere and stop trying to start somewhere else, or do something somewhere else?” Guillory said. “I feel like there was always a reason I was here at LSU. I just feel like I belong here, and I feel like I’ve proved that. It shows it’s a testament to all the hard work I put in.”
Especially last season, when he could have called it a career after tearing his Achilles in the second game of the year against Nicholls. It came on the heels of his best pre-season camp.
“He was our energy guy,” LSU linebacker West Weeks said of Guillory. “When we lost him, it was a huge blow not just for the D-line but also the whole team.”
But Guillory wasn’t about to pack it in. He’s not built that way.
“I wanted to finish what I started,” he said.
So, he had to relearn how to walk, then jog and finally run. He made it back to the field late in spring practice.
Maybe Guillory’s LSU career hasn’t gone as planned. It’s certainly lasted longer than he anticipated.
And while he hasn’t played on championship teams, he has a laundry list of memories about teammates who will be friends the rest of his life.
He’s also had his moments this season, such as stopping Green last week (“I just knew it was about to happen and I just jumped over the whole line,” Guillory said).
Or the Florida game when Guillory was illegally held by Gators’ offensive guard Knjeah Harris, who was flagged for an offensive holding penalty that nullified an 87-yard TD pass.
As the Gators’ Jadan Baugh was racing to the end zone with the Florida fans going crazy, Guillory saw the penalty flag and began waving for everybody to return to the line of scrimmage.
“I saw a picture of it,” Guillory said. “It’s just the flag and me. I was like, `Man, I really called a touchdown back.’
“I’m just grateful for everything I’ve done in Tiger Stadium.”
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com