“Golly, that’s that’s crazy. What? You didn’t… I mean, I feel like you accidentally started loving football at LSU.” That was Mookie Betts’s exact reaction on his On Base podcast after hearing Paul Skenes’s answer. After one month, we can say that we have witnessed Paul Skenes’ pure gold firsthand for the second straight season, but still, the man off the field never ceased to amaze us.  But what happened this time?

On the podcast, when he was asked if LSU football should be number one in the country or not, Skene was brutally honest. “I have no idea… I don’t know…. don’t really watch,” Skenes said. And then he added simply, “Like, I don’t know anything about football.”

Skenes was at LSU when quarterback Jayden Daniels won the Heisman Trophy. But Skenes barely noticed. “I know that I knew that Jaden Daniels was good,” Skenes admitted. “I didn’t know he was going to win the Heisman.”

For those who don’t know, LSU football is not just a sport in Louisiana; it is a religion. Tiger Stadium, which holds over 100,000 screaming fans, is also known as Death Valley. And Skenes, who moved from the Air Force Academy to LSU in 2023 and struck out 209 batters with a 1.69 ERA, over 122.2 dominant innings there it was a truly wild statement.

So, what was he paying attention to? Only one thing. “The only sport that actually interests me is baseball,” he stated.  And interestingly, he did attend one football game during his year there that he said, “It was the coolest sporting event I’ve ever been to.” 

Skenes’s confession might make him seem one-dimensional. But while he lacks interest in other sports, he is incredibly versatile within baseball.

Paul Skenes was a different kind of two-way star

Long before he was just a pitcher, Paul Skenes dreamed of being like Shohei Ohtani, as he said, “As a two-way guy, that was what I was trying to be before I got drafted.” And at the Air Force Academy, in his freshman year in 2021, he started all 48 games for Air Force, playing 18 at catcher, 28 as the designated hitter, and two at first base.

And at the plate, he had a .410 batting average that was 14th best in the Nation at that time with 11 home runs, 21 doubles, and 43 RBI. On the mound? He was nothing short of spectacular as he recorded 11 saves (ninth in the nation) with a 2.70 ERA as the team’s closer and became the only player in NCAA Division I to have double-digit home runs and saves.

He continued the same in the next year, and then he made the tough choice to give up hitting when he transferred to LSU because he knew it could get in the way of development. Speaking on that, he later said, “What you’re seeing at the big-league level with Shohei Ohtani is it’s very possible to be elite both ways, but I think it does take a lot of time, energy, and effort to do so.”

That singular focus paid off because in his only season at LSU, Skenes went 13-2 with a 1.69 ERA and set the SEC record with 209 strikeouts. Skenes then led the Tigers to a national title and became the College World Series Most Outstanding Player. And this dominance continued after the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted him to the majors when he won Rookie of the Year in 2024 with a 1.96 ERA. And this season, with a 2.05 ERA, he started his second straight All-Star Game. 

So, we can say his football confession isn’t a sign of ignorance; rather, it’s the secret to his success. What do you think?