Jontre Kirklin almost cried after his first career touchdown against the Vanderbilt Commodores last Saturday.
"I actually like literally felt all the love just like cover me," he said of the emotions he felt. "I had to shake it off like 'You got to finish.'
"I just was so joyful and just so proud of myself that I was able to just go out and perform at the level that I performed, you know, just finally getting into the end zone after four years of hard work."
Kirklin went on to score again against Vanderbilt and said he hoped that was just a taste of how his senior year will play out.
"After all those years of me being high school, you know, scoring every game, touching the ball literally every play and then just going into ... not really touching the ball and a game setting ... it kind of can shake some of the people up," Kirklin said. "You just keep grinding, and it's always going to work out for the best."
Scoring is nothing new for the former quarterback turned defensive back turned receiver. He accounted for 147 touchdowns during his and heaped lead Lutcher to a state championship his senior year.
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He moved to defensive back after signing with LSU's in 2017 and played in several games over the past three season but mostly contributed on special teams as the LSU secondary was filled with future NFL players.
"I came in with great guys in front of me," he said. "Donte Jackson, Kevin Tolliver, you know, many many other great cornerbacks whenever I was in the corner or the defensive back room."
Kirklin said he focused on improving, taking corrections, always asking questions, and ultimately switched to receiver.
"I just really busted my tail just to be out there on the field," he said.
Kirklin made some appearances on offense tallying a total of 86 yards from scrimmage combined in 2018 and 2019.
Kirklin admitted that going from touching the ball every play to sporadic touches in games was challenging, but said he kept working in order to be ready when he received his opportunity.
He also found ways to contribute to the team as well. Ahead of LSU's national championship game against Clemson, Kirklin played to role of Tigers quarterback Trevor Lawrence with LSU's scout team.
"I felt like I helped the whole defense," Kirklin said. "I was so proud of those guys and that's the national championship game. It didn't make any sense. I felt like I was a coach sitting on the sidelines calling plays."
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LSU head coach Ed Orgeron said Kirklin has shown perseverance throughout his time at LSU.
"Jontre's come to work with a smile on his face every day," he said. "Like I said, Jontre is like one of my sons. I'm so close to him and his family. Him being from Lutcher and we recruited him. Outstanding young man. No one wants him to have more success in the program, and we all do.
"It's good to see it, but he's waited his turn. We tried to get the ball in his hand, played on wildcat, tried to play defense. He told me, you know what, Coach, I want to play receiver. I'm going to be a darn good receiver, and he sure is. I hope he has a great senior year."
Kirlin aims to make sure his performance against Vanderbilt becomes a trend this season.
"That kind of just showed everybody what I could do," He said. "So I got to just keep keep pushing and keep doing it, you know, keep on producing so it's just not like 'Oh, that's a one-time thing .'"