LSU has had a pretty good run in the past 10 seasons.

The Tigers had 4 seasons with double-digit wins, including the 15-0 CFP championship masterpiece in 2019.

Those 10 teams featured 8 consensus All-Americans and 76 NFL Draft choices, including 14 that were selected in the first round.

That’s a lot of good players.

And some players’ importance can’t be fully measured by stats and honors. Some are significant leaders and others are historic recruits.

Some check multiple boxes.

Here are the 10 most important LSU players from the past 10 seasons (2012-21):

10. P Brad Wing (2011-12)

Wing only played 1 season in the 10-year window, but his 44.6-yard career average is the highest in school history. The length and height of his punts as well as his skillful placement of punts inside the opponents’ 20 were important factors in the defense’s success.

Additionally, Wing’s arrival from Australia (via Baton Rouge high school) blazed a trail that was followed by Wing’s successor, another good punter named Jamie Keen. A third Aussie, Josh Growden, punted part time in 2016-17 but wasn’t as successful as his predecessors. Wing also was at the advent of a resurgence in LSU special teams that attracted top kickers in Cole Tracy and Cade York.

9. T Austin Deculus (2017-21)

Deculus provided much-needed stability on a unit that lost a lot of players to early departures, injuries and disciplinary action during his tenure.

He wound up playing in a school-record 61 games as a 4-year starter at right tackle, which included the 2019 championship.

8. QB Danny Etling (2016-17)

The Tigers had struggled at the quarterback position since Matt Flynn helped lead the 2007 championship team. Inconsistency and shortcomings during the eras of Jarrett Lee/Jordan Jefferson (2008-11), Zach Mettenberger (2012-13) and Anthony Jennings/Brandon Harris era (2014-15) held the program back.

So LSU wasn’t very attractive to quarterbacks, but Etling transferred there from Purdue, started 23 games in 2 seasons and passed for 4,586 yards and 27 touchdowns with 7 interceptions. He finished with the 2nd-lowest interception percentage in SEC history. His importance transcended his statistics as his success was followed by the transfer of another Big Ten quarterback of note.

7. OL Lloyd Cushenberry III (2016-19)

Cushenberry started the final 28 games of his career and LSU won 25 of those games, including the championship run. The CFP champions featured a lot of glamorous skill players, but Cushenberry was an important leader in the trenches and behind the scenes.

6. WR Justin Jefferson (2017-19)

Unlike a lot of the skill players during the past decade, Jefferson squeezed in 3 full seasons before heading to the NFL. As a result he ranks No. 3 in touchdown catches (24), No. 5 in receptions (165) and No. 6 in receiving yards (2,415) among the Tigers’ all-time leaders.

5. WR Ja’Marr Chase (2018-19)

After a solid but unspectacular freshman season, Chase set SEC records with 1,780 receiving yards and 20 touchdown catches in 2019. He won the Biletnikoff Award as the top receiver in the country and was a consensus All-American.

4. S Grant Delpit

Delpit can’t take credit for LSU calling itself “DBU.” Patrick Peterson, Tyann Mathieu and others had a lot to do with that. But Delpit did his part to enhance the reputation.

He made 37 consecutive starts, was a consensus All-American in 2018 and 2019, and won the Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back in the championship season.

3. RB Leonard Fournette (2014-16)

Fournette was the top recruit in the country coming out of St. Augustine High School in New Orleans. LSU wanted him badly. So did Alabama.

If Fournette had spurned the Tigers for the Crimson Tide, as several top Louisiana prospects have in recent years, it would have been harmful to the LSU brand and subsequent recruiting efforts. Fournette was limited by injury for part of his career, but he set a school single-season record with 1,953 rushing yards in 2015 and finished with 3,830 yards (4th-highest in school history) and 40 touchdowns.

2. LB Devin White (2016-18)

LSU has had a lot of really good defensive players over the years. But until White’s final season, it had never had a Butkus Award winner as the nation’s best linebacker.

White was a tackling machine and wound up being selected the highest of any Tigers linebacker when Tampa Bay chose him with the 5th pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

1. QB Joe Burrow (2018-19)

Burrow had as good a season as any college player has had in winning the 2019 Heisman Trophy by a record margin. He set school and SEC records that might never be broken: 5,671 yards and 60 TD passes. LSU’s previous marks were: 3,347 (Rohan Davey in 2001) and 28 TD passes (JaMarcus Russell in 2006, Matt Mauk in 2003).

That performance overshadows what was a really good season that he had in 2018, including how he got up off the turf after the blindside hit against UCF in the Fiesta Bowl. His Tigers never lost again after that play.

In 2 seasons the transfer from Ohio State accomplished more than just about any other LSU quarterback – or any other quarterback really – has.