Share on LinkedIn

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - While LSU was in the midst of its magical run to the top in 2023, Jay Johnson was already thinking about 2024 and how he would replace some of his best players. Coach Johnson knew that once the season ended, he had some very big holes to fill, and shortstop was one of them.

Jordan Thompson had an incredible junior season and capped it off with an All-NCAA Tournament nod. When LSU beat Kentucky in the Super Regional, Johnson said that his shortstop made several “MLB type plays.”

But right after the Tigers beat the Wildcats, Johnson monitored the transfer portal and hit the phone lines to get the ball rolling on 2024. At this point in time, the Californian noticed that a familiar name decided to step away from his current program.

Michael Braswell III played at South Carolina for two seasons and wanted an opportunity to play “everyday shortstop.” However, Braswell didn’t feel he’d have the chance to do that with the Gamecocks. So, Johnson went to work.

“When he entered the transfer portal, I was like Josh get me his number yesterday,” said Johnson.

The third year head coach has always had a high opinion of Braswell. From a distance, Johnson noticed a talented South Carolina shortstop who was stellar defensively and had promise in the batters box.

“We brought him here because I liked him. Whenever we were scouting an opponent that South Carolina was playing, me and coach (Marc) Wanaka were like, man this would be a great guy to have. I just like how he plays, it’s just this guy who’s going to make everyone else around him better and that’s absolutely the way its happened,” Johnson said.

Johnson gave Braswell a call on the heels of the big win over Kentucky and went to work quickly.

“I was talking to Michael, he was excited to hear from us. He’s like yeah I’ll come down when you guys get back from Omaha and I was like no, why don’t you come tomorrow,” Johnson said.

A simple phone call, let alone an invitation to take an expedited visit to campus, was something Braswell thought he’d never get from Coach Johnson.

“I didn’t really expect the call honestly. I got the call and I teared up on the phone, I cried man, because I thought I’d never get the opportunity to play at a program like this,” Braswell said.

With that said, a call from LSU is one that Braswell has wanted since he was a kid.

“LSU has a fantastic program, best fanbase in the country. Rooted for LSU growing up, definitely was my dream school growing up,” Braswell said.

Where does this affinity for LSU stem from? For some kids it’s the uniforms, seeing the team on national television, or going to the ballpark for games often to watch the Tigers. The source of the fandom is a bit different for Braswell.

“It’s kind of childish, but I was playing NCAA Football when I was younger. When I’m like five, six, seven years old and see oh man the Tigers look pretty cool with those colors, you can ask my parents, man, I was like dude I want to go to LSU. Parents said it was too far but, yeah that’s why it’s my dream school,” Braswell said.

Now, Braswell gets a chance to live out that dream that started on a video game and wear those colors on the diamond! Look out for number 10 in purple and gold this spring. It seems Braswell has already carved out a very important role on this team.

“He means a lot to our team. It’s kinda hard to imagine our team this year without him,” Johnson said.

Braswell and the 2nd-ranked Tigers begin their season on February 16th against VMI.