'It's just been this cool tradition': How former Bronco Matt Mauck, third-round pick Lloyd Cushenberry III are connected by an LSU jers

[Miles]

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Sixteen years before the Denver Broncos turned in the card and drafted LSU center Lloyd Cushenberry III, they selected a different member of the LSU program.


Seven players from LSU's 2003 team were drafted that year on the heels of a national championship of their own — and in the seventh round, Denver selected the Tigers' quarterback.


Matt Mauck, who was drafted by the Cubs in 1997 and played minor league baseball before heading to LSU to play quarterback, earned second-team All-SEC honors in 2003 before Denver chose him with a seventh-round pick.


Before he headed to Denver — where he spent just one season with the Broncos and did not appear in a game — Mauck laid the foundation for a lasting tradition in Baton Rouge.


"When I got to LSU, I was a little older," Mauck told DenverBroncos.com on Monday. "Some of my closest relationships and some of my dearest friends were members of the auxiliary staff: Jack Marucci, the head trainer; Greg Stringfellow, the equipment manager; Michael Bonnette, the SID. When I got done, we had a lot of success and we won the national championship for the first time since 1958. So we were actually just sitting in Greg Stringfellow's office and some of the freshman were coming in, and just jokingly, I said something like, 'We can't just have anybody wearing 18. Come on, we've got to figure this out.'"


Mauck said nothing much came from the off-hand conversation — except the player who unintentionally wound up with No. 18 excelled both on the field and in the locker room.


Jacob Hester began his career at LSU as a special teams player and part-time running back. By the time he was a senior, though, he was named a team captain and was the team's starting running back. He also ended his career as a second-team All-SEC player and a BCS national champion. And he did it wearing No. 18.


"We just got lucky that Jacob was the guy that wore it," Mauck said. "He had it for four years, and he was the same type of guy — a little bit of an overachiever. … And then after Jacob, we were kind of like, 'Hey, this actually worked out pretty well. This might be a cool tradition to pass it along to somebody who has overcome adversity, maybe had an injury or was just a great student, locker-room guy.'"


Hester, who also played briefly for the Broncos, was just the beginning. Fourteen players have donned the No. 18 jersey since Mauck left LSU, including another former Bronco, Lamin Barrow. Last year, two players were awarded the honor, which Mauck said has become synonymous with LSU football.


"Every single person that's worn it has been a high-character guy, productive on the field, never an issue and a leader on the team," Mauck said. "It's just been this cool tradition. And then why a guy gets it, when you get it, you feel like, 'Oh, man. All right, I've got to live up to this thing.' It's got nothing to do with me, just the guys who have worn it who have come through there. And the fan base at LSU has really kind of adopted it. You'll see more 18 jerseys in the stands than anything else. Very similar to [Texas] A&M's 12th man, the way they've really bought into that. The 18 at LSU has become probably the most recognizable tradition down there."