WEST POINT — The last few weeks have been a whirlwind for former West Point offensive lineman Scott Lashley.
Getting back to the area on Friday morning, Lashley was both tired and excited after being signed by the New Orleans Saints following a successful showing at rookie minicamp.
A year removed from his last college season with Mississippi State, Lashley has seen his football career come in chapters, and the newest chapter is set to begin shortly.
“It hasn’t set in yet,” Lashley said. “In a sense, I’m excited for the opportunity, but I know that these opportunities, especially with a guy in my situation, can be gone like that. You just come into work every day and give that same kind of energy and enthusiasm about anything you do.”
Lashley’s career with West Point saw him earn individual honors while the Green Wave rattled off four-straight state championships following his senior season in 2015.
“Scott has never lost his work ethic and that’s one thing I noticed really quickly, even when he started working with our guys,” West Point head coach Chris Chambless said. “He’s going to put in work, but he works with a purpose, like he was chasing something. He never lost a sense of who he is as a person and he deserves every opportunity he gets.”
In talking with those within the program, West Point football is a brotherhood and a family, with players playing for each other and playing for the team.
That’s a mentality that stuck with Lashley as his college career began, committing to play at Alabama, where he won a national championship in 2017.
“There is no I,” Lashley said. “I get a lot of guys, especially with NIL going on that it’s a big me me me thing. When I had conversations with Coach (Nick) Saban, everything was structured around the team and it was the exact same way at Mississippi State and that helped me learn how to communicate with coaches, how to play and how to be selfless.”
Tuscaloosa often felt like a completely different world despite being less than 100 miles away from West Point.
Alabama’s campus was sprawling and intimidating at times, but Lashley continued in his journey with the Crimson Tide, playing with them through the 2019 season, where he decided to take a break from the game and focus on himself.
With eligibility remaining after graduating from Alabama, he moved to Starkville and Mississippi State as a grad transfer, getting closer to home and family.
“When I was leaving high school and getting recruited, Mississippi State was the school to go to because the majority of the guys from West Point, when they got their Division I offers, they all went to Mississippi State,” Lashley said. “The beautiful thing about Mississippi State is that they embraced me with open arms when I came back. It was something I was shocked about.”
Being closer to home made it easier for family, friends, teammates and coaches to watch him play.
Representing West Point meant something at Alabama, but it meant that much more returning to the Golden Triangle and being a stone’s throw away from home.
Lashley’s college career wrapped up in 2021, playing 12 games at right tackle for the Bulldogs, and the next chapter of his career began as he continued training for the NFL.
He returned to West Point, getting a job in April 2022 as the newest strength coach for the football program.
While at Mississippi State, Lashley earned his master’s in education, so this job was perfect for him and is a position Chambless expects he’ll return to following his NFL career.
“He knows what he wants to do, and you don’t see that out of a lot of young guys,” Chambless said. “He wants to be a strength coach. He wants to mentor young people. He wants to be around young kids, whether that be college age or younger. This was an opportunity that he was blessed with, the opportunity to go play pro football.”
His determination on and off the field kept him in shape, and now, the Saints have given him a chance to fight for a spot on the 55-man roster for this coming season.
Throughout all of his progress and different stops in life, his roots have stayed a constant. Chambless even gave him a West Point floppy hat to wear while at training camp, further cementing the bond between him and the Green Wave that he’ll represent wherever he goes.
“I’m just excited for the opportunity,” Lashley said. “I know where I come from, a small town in Mississippi, I’m just excited to go down there and go to work. … It’s something I’ve worn since I left this community. I would like to say I held my community to a high standard and I want that to be the standard for athletes in the future.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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