Earlier this week, LSU two-sport athlete Nick Storz called baseball coach Paul Mainieri.
Storz had received a call from LSU’s new offensive football coaches, and they encouraged him to fully participate in spring practice, telling Storz if he focused on playing tight end, he could carve out a larger role next season.
Storz, a redshirt sophomore pitcher who joined the football team last summer, realized after three arm-related surgeries, football offered a brighter potential future. He and Mainieri agreed he should leave the baseball team and play football full-time.
“I love him to death,” Mainieri said, “but for his own future, I think he's doing the right thing.”
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Storz arrived in fall 2017 touted as a possible first-round draft pick loaded with potential, but a cycle of surgery, rehab and setbacks filled his baseball career. Finally healthy last spring, Storz recorded a 1.04 ERA over 8⅔ innings. Then the coronavirus pandemic ended LSU’s season.
A few months later, Storz approached coach Ed Orgeron about joining the football team. Storz had wanted to play college football since he arrived in Baton Rouge, enticed by a sport he regretted quitting in high school and the atmosphere inside Tiger Stadium.
At 6-foot-5 and 260 pounds, Storz had the body to withstand the physicality of football. Orgeron gave him a chance to make the team. Storz played backup tight end and appeared in 10 games on special teams. He made one tackle.
When he joined the football team, Storz intended to play both sports the rest of his career. He recently began preparing for baseball season, throwing as he readied to pitch again, but the call from LSU’s offensive coaches convinced him to leave the sport that brought him to LSU.
Southeastern Conference athletic directors approved a normal structure to baseball season this spring, opting to play a 56-game schedule with …
“He got a phone call from one of the coaches, and they really encouraged him to be out there for spring football practice,” Mainieri said. “They felt he could make an impact with the football team. They'd like him to be at practice every day in the spring and see if he can be a guy they can count on.”
If nothing else, Storz provides much-needed depth at tight end. Senior fullback/tight end Tory Carter declared for the NFL Draft, freshman phenom Arik Gilbert entered the transfer portal after opting out late in the season and redshirt junior backup Aaron Moffitt has been recovering from a torn ACL.
Right now at tight end, the Tigers have freshman Kole Taylor, Storz and sophomore Devonta Lee, who converted from wide receiver to linebacker to tight end. They also signed three-star Jalen Shead and three-star Jack Bech, who’s listed as a wide receiver/tight end.
Mainieri said losing Storz on the baseball field doesn’t disrupt LSU’s bullpen. Though Storz would have competed for a role as a reliever, the shortened major league baseball draft kept some of LSU’s best players in school, deepening a veteran pitching staff. The Tigers have 18 healthy pitchers as they hold individual workouts before preseason practice starts Jan. 29.
The first question Jake Peetz ever fielded as LSU’s offensive coordinator was about the Tigers' 2019 offense.
Now, Storz leaves a sport that never panned out to focus on one that might give him a longer athletic career. He said in a statement released by LSU he felt “grateful and blessed” to play college baseball and excited to devote himself to football.
“I think he realizes his chances of playing professional baseball were going to be slim,” Mainieri said Friday. “I think he feels with the proper work and preparation, maybe he'd have a chance to play in the NFL someday. He feels if he gives full dedication to football he can pursue that. He just has to put his baseball career behind him.”
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