The Cincinnati Bengals landed a special prospect at No. 1 with LSU quarterback Joe Burrow.
And that applies to on and off the field.
Burrow, the record-setting passer who just had one of the best-ever seasons by a quarterback, joins the Bengals as the hometown hope for a revival.
Here are some fun, quick tidbits and notes to know about the new starter under center.
He calls Ohio home
While Joe was technically born in Iowa, his father, Jimmy, coached at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. That’s about 2.5 hours from Cincinnati. He grew up and went to high school in Athens before going to Ohio State, then LSU.
Burrow returned home after his stint at LSU and partook in Thursday’s draft from his home in Athens — now he’s the hometown kid tasked with turning around the Bengals.
He left Ohio State after battle with Dwayne Haskins
Burrow graduated from Ohio State in three years while spending time as a backup and eventually losing the starting gig to Dwayne Haskins. Urban Meyer has explained why Burrow didn’t win the job.
While Haskins went on to be a mid-first-round pick last year, Burrow went on to have one of the greatest collegiate seasons ever at LSU.
He’s not a Skyline guy…but he’s all about SpongeBob SquarePants
Destined to go to the Bengals, Burrow’s social media presence went under examination by fans.
There, they found out Burrow wasn’t big on the popular Cincinnati chili, Skyline.
But Burrow is big on SpongeBob SquarePants — just look at his Twitter header and posts. He’s also said as much in pre-draft interviews.
Why bring this up? Cincinnati’s social media has been all over SpongeBob memes since the season ended. Just saying.
He makes a point to give back
Burrow’s Heisman speech raised an incredible amount of money for the needy in Athens, Ohio.
The impact of his words on the area has been staggering. And he’s surely just getting started on his work in the area now that he’s back in the state.
Rest assured Athens will sport plenty of LSU and Bengals decorations for the foreseeable future.
He often has his own teammates questioning and bettering themselves
Joe Burrow brutalized his teammates at LSU.
And they’re better for it. Just ask them in an excellent interview roundup from Luke Easterling of Draft Wire.
Burrow inflicted the same damage on his own team in practices as he did on the opposition. Everyone improved because of it. In a perfect world, that’s the mentality and work ethic arriving alongside Burrow in Cincinnati shortly.
