Written by Jason Pugh for the LSWA

NATCHITOCHES – As hard as it may be to believe – especially for those who gathered at the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame Museum on Friday afternoon – Andrew Whitworth nearly left his home state to play college football.

“I was always a (Danny) Wuerffel and (Steve) Spurrier fan,” Whitworth said of the Florida Heisman Trophy winning quarterback and head coach, who helped lead the Gators to national prominence in the mid-1990s. “Fred Taylor was my favorite running back. I wanted to be a Gator so bad.”

Then, a new face to Louisiana entered Whitworth’s living room – first-year LSU head football coach Nick Saban. With Saban not only came a recruiter but a coach who would help shape the course of Whitworth’s career ahead of his senior season at West Monroe High School.

Those were a few of the words Whitworth imparted during a news conference welcoming him into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, which will hold its 2025 induction ceremonies at 7 p.m. Saturday inside the Natchitoches Events Center.

The one-time Gator fan credited Saban with helping him realize his future was not as a tight end but a few steps closer to his quarterback.

“I had visited Houston Nutt at Arkansas and Phillip Fulmer at Tennessee,” Whitworth said. “They used big tight ends in their offenses, and that was what I was playing. Nick Saban came in and sat in my living room and said we can sign you as a tight end and you’ll play there for a year, but I think if you play offensive tackle, you’ll probably have a pretty good run at playing football. He was the first coach in my life who told me I should be an offensive lineman – which is the most insulting thing you can say to a tight end. The way he said it, though, I started thinking, ‘Maybe I’ll be a lineman.’ I asked my senior year (at West Monroe) to move to offensive tackle and began putting on weight because coach Saban believes I’ll be a great left tackle. I can’t say he had it wrong.”

Saban will join his one-time recruit and eventual anchor of the LSU offensive line in this year’s induction class.

Saban’s belief in Whitworth helped keep him in Louisiana and added to Whitworth’s championship-laden career. A two-time national champion at West Monroe, Whitworth added a college football national championship at LSU, winning it in the same place he took home three Louisiana High School Athletic Association titles – the Superdome.

Just as Whitworth left an indelible mark on the NFL as a Walter Payton Man of the Year Award winner, the Superdome did the same for “Big Whit,” who often played at 6-foot-8, 350 pounds, but displayed an athleticism that belied his tremendous stature.

“The Superdome is just a really special place to me,” Whitworth said. “It felt like going to your favorite restaurant or as a kid playing on the playground. It’s such a massive part of my history in sports. I look back at how many games I was able to play there – played in four state championship games at West Monroe, winning three of them. We played in the Kickoff Classics against (Archbishop) Shaw and John Curtis. My one touchdown in high school came in the Superdome. Low and behold, I go to LSU as part of Nick Saban’s first recruiting class and win a national championship at where else but the Superdome. I don’t know how LSU always pulls it off – winning national championships in New Orleans.”

Photo: Andrew Whitworth receives his LSHOF jacket from Ronnie Rantz at a news conference announcing his induction into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame on Friday (Photo: Chris Reich/Northwestern State University Photographic Services).

The fun in one of the most enjoyable cities in the nation didn’t stop in college.

As a rookie with the Cincinnati Bengals, Whitworth and his team scored a victory against the New Orleans Saints in the Superdome. His first NFC Championship Game victory came with the Los Angeles Rams in the Superdome against the Saints with a controversial non-call allowing the Rams to escape with the victory and send Whitworth to his first Super Bowl.

Those memories are part of what Whitworth carried with him throughout his 16-year NFL career that culminated with a Super Bowl championship with the Rams, bookending a remarkable five-year run with the second and final NFL franchise for whom he starred.

Regardless of whether it was in Cincinnati or on the West Coast, Whitworth kept the championships coming while remaining true to and proud of his Louisiana roots. As a Northeast Louisiana native whose start turned into a supernova in Baton Rouge, Whitworth is uniquely positioned to espouse the virtues of both ends of his home state – something he does with the same pride he took in mentoring young NFL players and young men and women in West Monroe and Ruston, the hometown of his wife, Melissa, a former Miss Louisiana winner.

“This is such a humbling honor,” Whitworth said. “Louisiana played such a huge role in my life. When I look back to Monroe, West Monroe, being Louisiana born and raised, playing for West Monroe and junior high at OCS (Ouachita Christian School) – my grandparents are from Bastrop. Every little part of him childhood – of my career – what this state has done for me and meant to me. It’s really fun to me now. I do enjoy living in California and tell people about Louisiana. We’ve had opportunities to bring families here and show them around. When I see other people from the 318 (area code) or Baton Rouge when I’m out and about in my travels, there’s such a gleam of pride about where we’re from and how it molded us.”