BATON ROUGE, La. — Joe Burrow sat in his apartment with his brother Dan late one October 2018 night when a text flashed across his phone screen. LSU had just beaten then-No. 2 Georgia, 36-16, a night that changed the perception surrounding LSU football.



He read the text on his phone. It was a message from his backup, Myles Brennan.



“Hey man, great game,” Brennan wrote. “I really appreciate being able to learn from you and watch you.”



Burrow leaned over and showed the text to Dan. It was a surprising moment that might not have happened two months or even two weeks earlier. It was a minor but relevant gesture that showed respect and acceptance that Burrow had been working little by little to earn since he arrived that summer in Baton Rouge.



That Saturday last October was the day something new awoke in Burrow, at least to the public eye. He threw for 200 yards and ran for another 89 yards on the biggest stage. He punched in...