Former LSU DT Tyler Shelvin, his choice to opt out last fall and the family he proved wrong
Brody Miller Apr 22, 2021 11
BATON ROUGE, La. — Deborah Silas was walking through a Home Depot on an August Thursday in Lafayette, La., when Ed Orgeron called.
“Miss Deborah, I’ve got some bad news,” he said. “I’m hearing Tyler is gonna opt out.”
Orgeron always calls Silas when he needs help with Tyler Shelvin, and this was news to her. Shelvin is her grandson, the massive 350-pound LSU defensive tackle who she helped raise. He’d brought up the option of opting out of the 2020 season back in July, but just as a thought he had with star receiver Ja’Marr Chase. The teammates said they’d look into it and discuss it. That was the last she’d heard. So she told Orgeron she’d call Shelvin and find out more.
She called. No answer.
She called again. No answer.
Finally, Shelvin called Silas back and she asked what was going on.
“I just got out of the office with Coach,” he said. “We got it right. We’re alright, Ma.”
Orgeron told her the same. That everything seemed to be handled, that Shelvin wasn’t going to sit out his redshirt junior season. At this point in time, Shelvin was considered a potential top-50 NFL draft pick. Maybe even a first-rounder. As the large-but-athletic nose tackle on LSU’s national championship defense in 2019, Shelvin broke out while taking on two-to-three blockers at a time. The former top prospect in Louisiana was finally living up to the hype, and people at LSU believed with one more season of tape he could cement himself as a top-tier draft pick.
But this was a wild time around the country, and especially in Baton Rouge. The next day, LSU players skipped practice to protest racial inequality in America. Tensions rose in the locker room. Folks were in players’ ears about opting out to prepare for the draft. Nobody was even certain this football season would happen.
By Monday, Shelvin’s mother — Dana Arcenaux — was calling friends crying. Shelvin was talking to family friend Brandon Robinson for nearly nine hours. Orgeron was on the phone with people close to Shelvin as many as 11 times in one weekend. Many, including Silas, argued that opting out would be a grave mistake. “It was gut-wrenching,” one person said.
But Shelvin had made up his mind. He walked into Orgeron’s office that Monday and informed him he was opting out of the 2020 season, ultimately ending his LSU career so he could begin preparing for the 2021 NFL Draft.
And it could have broken the Shelvin family. He didn’t speak to Silas for months after their disagreement, a shock considering their relationship. Same with Robinson. Some around the football world criticized the choice, seeing a defensive lineman with a history of discipline and weight issues skipping the season despite having just one full year of game film. Silas sent a message to Shelvin’s now agent, Rocky Arcenaux, worrying: “I don’t think Tyler can do this on his own.”
Shelvin quietly moved to Dallas and began training with EXOS as his perceived draft stock fell drastically. But he committed to his diet. He took ownership of his life. And he showed up for his LSU Pro Day eight months later at an athletic 350 pounds — his ideal playing weight — and posted impressive testing numbers. NFL teams took notice. So did those close to him, to the point they can all proudly admit:
“Look, retrospectively, he made the right choice,” Robinson said. “I was wrong.”
This is a story about the world of 2020 opt-outs and how a player like Shelvin made his choice amid a barrage of dissenting voices and opinions. More importantly, it’s about what happens after. It’s about how the kid who once had to have his credit card tracked to ensure he wasn’t ordering Little Caesars pizza could go out on his own and grow up with pressure on his shoulders.
We don’t know where Tyler Shelvin will get drafted. We don’t know how his NFL career will turn out. But the same people who said opting out was a mistake now believe it was the most important choice of his life.
“As it turns out,” Silas said, “maybe it was the best decision.”
So, why was this considered such a big risk? You have to realize Shelvin had question marks surrounding him even before opting out. He was Orgeron’s No. 1 priority in his first signing class in 2017, but there’s a reason Shelvin didn’t become a major contributor until Year 3 at LSU.
Start with his weight. Shelvin had academic issues coming to LSU, too, but those close to him say that had more to do with his schooling than Shelvin himself. He’s a bright kid. His weight, though. It’s a tricky subject, as many will explain the actual number can be misleading, but nobody denies Shelvin had trouble taking care of his body and doing the right things. Even before Shelvin arrived at LSU, as he weighed in the 370-pound range, Orgeron was making jokes to Silas about cooking him gumbo with no rice. There were times in Baton Rouge he ballooned to 390 pounds.
It was always a lighthearted punchline in public, with Orgeron providing weight updates and saying a “slim 360” or “slim 375.” In reality, it was a constant battle behind the scenes. In 2018, Shelvin wasn’t allowed to travel with the team to Florida and was ultimately suspended for two weeks because he couldn’t get his weight in order. He spent his time away running and working out with LSU trainers while his teammates practiced.
Orgeron often called Silas to ask her to help with Shelvin’s diet — she’s the one who often caught him ordering Little Caesars or sneaking snacks — and Shelvin spent extended time with trainer Tommy Moffitt and the nutrition staff. He got his weight down in time to play well in the final stretch of the 2018 season, and when starting nose tackle Ed Alexander opted out of the Fiesta Bowl, Shelvin got his first start and thrived.
Then, even through the spring of 2019, there was talk of Shelvin’s weight again becoming a problem. By fall camp, Orgeron said it was a competition for the starting job between Shelvin and freshman Apu Ika, adding “Shelvin has a long way to go.” He called Silas to talk to Shelvin about not giving his all.
But the switch that often flips for Shelvin when things are on the line did just that. The next few practices, while working with the backups, Shelvin dominated and worked his way back atop the depth chart.
“Miss Deborah, what did you tell him?” Orgeron asked Silas. “I had to pull that boy off the field. He was killing everybody.”
Shelvin became the anchor of a national championship-winning defense. He didn’t get the acclaim. He definitely didn’t get the stats. But some around the LSU program would argue he was the first- or second-most important piece of Dave Aranda’s defense that fall. He took up every double team. Sometimes teams triple-teamed him. And he still created pressure at the line of scrimmage. LSU coaches and analysts said in private that as long as he returned for one more season, Shelvin could be a Glenn Dorsey-type player. He would go in the first round.
He returned for his redshirt junior year slated to be one of the faces of LSU’s 2020 defense. The understanding was that if he wanted to be a first-round prospect, he needed to prove to NFL teams he could maintain his discipline and weight for two full seasons. NFL evaluators knew about his question marks, so one season of film wasn’t going to be enough.
Then, the pandemic hit.
The people close to Shelvin — his mother, his father, Silas and Robinson — began vetting advisors and potential agents during the 2020 offseason. It was preliminary stuff, short discussions, research before letting Shelvin decide way down the road.
One of them was Rocky Arcenaux, a New Orleans native with clients like Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott and Chiefs running back (and former LSU teammate) Clyde Edwards-Helaire. He now represents Ja’Marr Chase, too.
And around this time of discussions, Shelvin and Chase began talking about opting out. It was becoming a trend in college football, with the NCAA allowing athletes to opt out of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic without costing them a season of eligibility. Many did opt out for that reason and will return in 2021, but a portion opted out to remove the risk of a pandemic-altered season and instead prepare for the NFL draft.
Silas and Robinson adamantly opposed. For starters, they thought Shelvin needed one more year of college football. NFL teams often have less confidence in a pick when they’ve only played one season, let alone somebody with the discipline concerns Shelvin carries. Then, Silas worried eight months without the structure of LSU football would lead to Shelvin gaining weight, making the wrong decisions and costing him his promising future. Shelvin’s parents, Dana Arcenaux and Germole Shelvin, went through different phases of thinking opting out was a good idea and arguing he should stay in school.
At this point, it’s worth noting Robinson and Silas don’t “need” anything from Shelvin. Robinson has owned more than 100 Planet Fitness gyms across 17 states. He took on an advisor role for Shelvin when Shelvin was in middle school and Germole asked if he’d provide some guidance for his talented son. Silas was one of the first African-American graduates from Michigan State, a longtime nurse and a business owner. It’s why she primarily took care of Shelvin. Their advice to Shelvin, they say, was with his best interest at heart.
Shelvin debated opting out for a while, and after that first meeting with Orgeron he temporarily decided to stay. Still, he had constant thoughts going through his head. He had family members get sick from COVID-19. He, as a 350-pound man, was at greater risk if he caught it, too. Then, add in the killing of George Floyd, the tension that followed and LSU players protesting. Shelvin and a friend were once stopped and profiled by police a few years ago, Silas said, with officers making them get out of the car and yelling at them before another officer who knew them drove by and put a stop to it.
Throw in Rocky Arcenaux talking with Shelvin’s family, and he was being pulled in multiple directions. Orgeron was on the phone with his circle constantly. Robinson and Shelvin talked at great length. His mother called Robinson in tears the night before and went to Shelvin’s apartment the Monday of his decision. At that point, she also thought opting out might be the wrong choice.
But Shelvin made his own decision, which those close to him credit Shelvin for doing. He opted out, and he said at his pro day the pandemic was the reason why. Rocky Arcenaux is now his agent.
The drama of that week led to the distance between him and Silas, the central figure in Shelvin’s life was out of the loop at maybe his most important juncture. Some college football and NFL analysts scoffed at his choice, saying he isn’t like Chase who will still maintain his draft stock. Shelvin still had a great deal to prove.
Shelvin moved to the Dallas area, where he trained with 46 other athletes at EXOS gym for the next six months. He was, for all intents and purposes, on his own for the first time.
And he shocked everyone close to him.
“His grandmother and I were 100 percent against opting out,” Robinson said. “So he made a decision to opt out. And I think he felt like the world kinda bristled at him for doing it, and then therefore he had to shoulder his decision and prove the world he knew what he was doing.”
Brent Callaway at EXOS has been training athletes for the scouting combine and pro days for 17 years. He’s seen it all. And he’s trained plenty of athletes coming from the Shelvin background of needing to get his weight and diet in order. He also was well aware of Shelvin’s history, so he found himself surprised by the Shelvin he saw.
“Usually guys who find themselves in that situation need loads of handholding,” he said. “Tyler was kind of the opposite. Tyler was like, ‘I can do this on my own. If you trust me, I’ll get it done.’”
As much as Shelvin’s weight is always going to be a focus, and rightfully so, it can also be misleading. There are stories of him tomahawking balls over the goal post and catching LSU running backs downfield. He can do a backflip off the edge of a pool. He was Northside High’s placekicker. He’s a physical freak who bends the notions of what somebody his size can do. A few NFL personnel people look at his film and say he can be Vince Wilfork, if he wants to be.
The main focus at EXOS was his diet. Much like at LSU, he spent extensive time with EXOS’ dietician, understanding what the best foods were to fuel him while filling him. Shelvin is a cook himself, so he took his lessons and brought them home. Callaway said Shelvin got into salmon and baked chicken, and he got a lot of miles out of his air fryer.
He showed up to LSU Pro Day in March weighing a fit-looking 350 pounds, which, again, seems high but Callaway confirms it’s a great weight for him to remain athletic. It was a statement that he succeeded these past few months. His family said NFL teams were pleased with his 40-time (5.45 seconds) and his 28.5-inch vertical jump.
“I’ve watched Tyler mature over the last eight months more than any point in time I’ve ever seen him,” Robinson said. “He’s growing into his own man. He’s making his own decisions. He’s doing all of this how Tyler wanted to do it. I’ve seen him commit to it better than I’ve ever seen him commit before.”
Silas said, “I was surprised at how responsible he’s been. He’s been holding his own, in his own apartment, going to his own workouts, taking care of business. I’m proud of him.”
And one day this winter, as Silas sat on the sofa, a key turned in her door. It startled her. Shelvin walked in after months apart. They reunited and remained connected from that day forward.
They never spoke about it. She stays out of everything involving the draft and business.
“We just got back into him.”
Orgeron stood and watched as Shelvin ran through defensive line drills at LSU Pro Day in March. On one side of Orgeron was three-year starting defensive lineman Glen Logan. On the other side was five-star freshman phenom Maason Smith. They watched as Shelvin exploded through bag drills and cut with the agility of a far-lighter man. Orgeron turned and whispered a little something to the two linemen after each impressive moment from Shelvin.
On the day that seemed to represent whether or not Shelvin could handle this adult life without constant supervision, he seemed to pass each test as well as one could hope.
His circle has been told interest in him has increased since that day. The Athletic’s NFL draft expert Dane Brugler projects Shelvin to go on Day 3 in the later rounds, but feedback to the Shelvin camp has been that the third round is possible and even the second round isn’t off the table.
The hope is that — in what’s described as a weak defensive tackle draft — a team will take a chance on Shelvin’s talent slightly earlier than expected. The 2019 film is certainly good enough if they can trust the rest of Shelvin the person.
“There’s two main questions from almost every team that I usually get and am ready to answer,” Shelvin said. “One, obviously, is about my weight, and two, if I’m a good pass rusher. So, I mean, that’s the main things I really focus on because, I mean, my football game speaks for itself when (game day) comes. So, it’s just learning how to control those things. I mean, learning.”
He said he learned about nutrition when he opted out. He got a game plan. He returned for pro day in good shape and improved on his pass-rushing ability.
“It was a hard process and I executed it well,” Shelvin said.
Now comes the real debate if he made the right decision. Some believe not playing will cost him millions of dollars. Others point to the fact few on LSU’s defense improved their stock under beleaguered defensive coordinator Bo Pelini’s scheme in 2020, so it likely wouldn’t have helped him.
But there’s another factor that must be considered. Maybe the pressure of his risky decision, maybe the doubt and the drama and the friction, maybe that’s what got Shelvin to put it all together and grow up. Maybe he doesn’t become this version of himself if he doesn’t opt out.
Silas thought hard about that. She said she believes he finally got serious and said to himself, “Life is not a game. I need to get it together. I need to make decisions on my own. Even if people aren’t going to agree with it, the end result is going to be on my shoulders.”
The story of Tyler Shelvin isn’t finished. The test will be if he can maintain this discipline next year and the years after that.
But for those who have been through his journey, who’ve seen all the peaks and valleys, they see a success. They think Shelvin’s grown up.
Athletic story on Tyler Shelvin
Athletic story on Tyler Shelvin
I don't want to clog the draft feed with this, but a nice story from April about Tyler Shelvin