One of the big surprises of the young college football season so far has been the play of LSU, which has two of the best wins of any team after beating Miami at AT&T Stadium to open the year and knocking off Auburn at Jordan-Hare this past weekend.
Key to the success of the Tigers? Look no further than perhaps the smallest guy on the roster in graduate transfer kicker Cole Tracy. His 42-yarder as the clock hit zero beat their SEC West rivals and he had plenty of clutch kicks against the Hurricanes as well. Well, SEC fans being SEC fans, the success of the kicker is not going unrewarded... for his old school. It seems many Tigers fans are sending money back to tiny Assumption College, a Division II program in Massachusetts.
Per USA Today:A couple of the initial gifts were for $54, apparently because of Tracy’s 54-yard field goal against Miami in the season opener. And yes, as you’d expect, a few of the gifts that have come in after Tracy’s 42-yard field goal to beat Auburn were for $42. A few were for $42.36 — 42 for the field goal, 36 for Tracy’s LSU jersey number.
(Vice president for institutional advancement Tim) Stanton says at Tracy’s request, the gifts made in Tracy’s name will go to support Assumption’s football program. And while we’re talking about names, during an interview Saturday night with USA TODAY Sports, Stanton joked about naming a goalpost for Tracy. Except he apparently wasn’t joking.
“We don’t know where this is gonna end,” Stanton said. “If this continues and gets to a higher amount, there will probably be some kind of naming opportunity. If it really reached some significant levels — this might sound ludicrous, but like $1 million — we’d name the field after him.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, some 141 gifts have been made totally nearly $7,000 per USA Today’s George Schroeder.
While it seems like reaching seven-figures might be a stretch, if Tracy keeps kicking like he has been and helps knock off teams like Georgia or Alabama, never say never. After all, SEC fandom knows no bounds.