Q with Josh Dworaczyk – Senior Offensive Guard

At 6 foot 6 and 300 pounds, LSU senior offensive lineman Josh Dworaczyk has to be among the largest people ever from New Iberia. The friendly and articulate big guy is thrilled to have been granted by the NCAA an extremely rare sixth year to play college football and is extremely proud of his Polish heritage. 225 caught up with him just before the start of the season.

After losing last year to injury, you, more than anyone on this team, should appreciate playing this season.

Definitely. I take every single day as a blessing from God, just being able to be back here and play for LSU. I talked about it the first day I got my sixth year, about how lucky I was to get this second chance. A lot of players I know who have gone to the NFL come back and they’re like, ‘Man, Josh, you’re so lucky that you’re still here in college.’ You know, we play in the greatest stadium with the greatest fans in the greatest state, and it’s something I get to do again.

I’ve been enjoying every single year, but this year especially means that much more to me.

We have a chip on our shoulders from last season, and I’m back and able to be part of this great team and show the world who we’re going to be.

After missing all of last season with the knee injury, you became a cheerleader/assistant coach/good morale guy last year. What was that like?

It came kind of naturally because of the leadership role I’d had during the previous seasons as a starter. After my injury I wanted to do something. I’d seen guys who had injuries, and they’re stuck in the training room, and they don’t get to come out and experience the team and when that happens you really don’t feel like you’re a part of it.

So I found myself a role, a position which Coach Miles and Coach Stud [offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Greg Studrawa] both backed me up on.

Not getting a senior season is a tough time in a young man’s life, so it gave me something to focus on, gave me something to do and also gave me a way to help out the team. I didn’t play a major role, and I don’t want to sound like I did anything super special, but to me it was super special.

To me it was something that I enjoyed every day. I got to come out and be with the guys and still have that leadership role that I love and embrace and affect the other players in some kind of positive way.

Okay, so pronounce your name for me and for readers playing along at home.

“Door-rah-sick.”

I looked at it the first time and figured it was “Duh-voor-chack.”

Duh-voor-chack. I’ve heard all kinds of ways to say it. It’s really “Vrah-sick.” That’s how you probably would say it in Poland. But it’s ‘Door-rah-sick’ here. If you say it right you roll the “R,” but I don’t know which great-great-grandfather decided he was going to change it to ‘Door-rah-sick’ or that’s how they were going to say it, or they probably just had so much trouble saying it the right way they just gave in.

No matter which way you say it, it doesn’t look like that at all when you write it down. It’s a complete jumble. You put a “D” next to a “W” and a “C” next to a “Z” and “Y” and it ends with a “K.”

It’s the greatest last name on the team, I have to say.