Blunt force trauma

Published 12:00 am Thursday, September 20, 2018

LAKE CHARLES — He is a blunt force with an ability to cause trauma and chaos.

B.J. Blunt lives up to his name, whether he is playing football or talking up his team.

“We are a good defense, a good team,” Blunt said. “We can play with anybody.”

True to his word, Blunt and his McNeese State teammates are off to a 3-0 start. However, a big test is coming this weekend when the Cowboys travel to No. 25 BYU.

“We are not scared,” Blunt said. “We will play anybody.”

Blunt answers questions the way he attacks opponents, straight on and at full speed.

“He loves to play,” head coach Lance Guidry said of his senior linebacker. “He’s one of those kids that momma let him out of the house to go play in the yard until the street lights turn on, that’s B.J., he’s going to stay out there as long as he can. It’s hard to get him off the field.

“He is the pulse of our team.”

That was not always the case.

Blunt came to McNeese in 2014, a 3-star recruit out of New Orleans. But he was ruled ineligible for lack of credits and left the university.

He sat out two years before resurfacing at Garden City Community College in Kansas where he helped win a national junior college championship in 2016 before returning to the Cowboys.

It was an education in life that sticks with him today.

“I learned how to be a man, to take on situations head up and man up,” Blunt said of his time away from McNeese. “I came in as a freshman wild and looking for a party. I came back all business, taking this seriously. I learned a lot.”

He proved that last last Saturday, when he led the Cowboys to a 20-10 win over Nicholls State. He personally took control of the game on the opening kick, when he recovered a fumble that led to the game’s first touchdown 10 seconds into it.

The Cowboys never looked back.

“You want to come out strong and make a statement,” Blunt said. “We did that.”

The All-Southland Conference performer dominated Nicholls with a team-high nine tackles, including four for loss with three of those being sacks to go with that fumble recovery. His work led to being named the National Defensive Player of the Week by both College Sports Madness and STATS as well as being selected the Southland’s top defender.

Blunt was given the job of spying and stopping Nicholls quarterback Chase Fourcade, a duty he took personally.

“It’s great when it’s just you and him,” Blunt said. “It’s just who gets the job done.”

Since moving from safety to linebacker last year following an injury to Christian Jacobs, Blunt has gotten the job done.

This year the 6-1, 210-pounder leads the Football Championship Subdivision in sacks with five. As a team the Cowboys have 14 sacks on the season, tops in the Southland and fifth in FCS.

After three games Blunt leads McNeese with 20 tackles, six for loss, including those five sacks.

“He practices hard. He plays hard,” said Guidry, who is also the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator. “I’m going to tell you what I admire about him.

“He doesn’t do everything right and you correct him on the sideline and you may really jump on him, his composure never changes. He listens to corrections. He’s very respectful. I love the way he plays. He’s a team guy and all he wants to do is win.”

Putting it bluntly, he seems to be doing just that.