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Courtesy photo

Michael Johnson, also known as the Tiger Chef, helps feed around 500 student athletes as the executive chef at LSU. His job allows him to be creative while balancing what athletes want to eat and what they need to perform at the top level.

"We use the expression to a lot of the student athletes here that they bring their backpack full of tools with them," Johnson told CBS Sports. "...We are going to unpack all of that and put the good stuff back in, and put better things in where the tools have gone dull, so to speak."

Johnson and his team do an eight-week cycle menu to avoid food jags. Some of the things that are consistent are deep fried foods on Mondays, and steak nights on Wednesdays -- which naturally leads to one of the busiest nights of the week.

Breakfast is from 6:30 a.m. to 10- ish, emphasis on the "ish" because the kitchen staff does not want athletes to go to practice hungry. Lunch is from 11 a.m. until around 2 p.m., and dinner goes from 5 p.m. until at least 7:30 p.m.

Athletes are in constant communication with their dietician to make sure they are following one of three plans: the gain program, maintenance program or lean program. Johnson then works with the dieticians to create a menu that will suit the different needs.

Johnson's first experience working with performance nutrition was at T-Mobile Park with the Seattle Mariners. His impressive resume also includes the Seattle Seahawks, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Olympics and even the 2012 Guinness Book of World Records for largest nacho. 

Here are some of his most memorable experiences as a chef:

Luaus and Burrow's pot roast: Team Takeover nights

Once or twice a month, LSU does a Team Takeover Night in which a specific team sits down with the chefs to create a menu. It is often more expensive than one of the usual menus because the teams try to compete against each other and don't hold back with requests. These range from ordering jerk seasoning straight from Jamaica, to doing a whole pig Luau -- back when defensive tackle Breiden Fehoko, who hails from Hawaii, was in Baton Rouge. 

Team Takeover Nights used to be Taste of Home Nights, which celebrated a specific regional area. For example, here's what a Taste of Home Night looked like when the menu was made to honor the fare of Southern Louisiana. 

MealWhat's Cookin
Lunch Berbere Shrimp & Grits
Slow‑Cooked Smoked Pork
Black‑Eyed Pea Hummus
Roasted Candy‑Striped Beets
Smothered Cabbage
Grilled Corn
Carolina Gold Rice
Cheddar Mac & Cheese
Corn Muffins
Seafood Bisque
Dinner Smothered Turkey Necks
Watermelon‑Brined Fried Chicken
Smothered Seitan & Mushrooms
Vegetable Medley
Braised Greens
Black‑Eyed Peas
Sweet Potato Casserole
Charleston Gold Rice
Corn Muffins

One of the most memorable ones for Johnson happened in 2019 in honor of a well-known athlete who was born in Ames, Iowa. 

"We did one specifically for the Midwest and Joe Burrow was from the Midwest. Realistically, it was for his family," Johnson said. "Typically, we didn't do it for just one athlete, but for Joe Burrow we did."

Burrow's family came for the special occasion and created a menu with typical midwestern dishes such as pot roast and stew. 

The whisper before the Heisman

Johnson remembers taking a photo with Burrow, his dad, cousin and coach Ed Orgeron during that Taste of Home Night. As he was walking away, Orgeron told Johnson to remember this moment.

"Coach O grabbed me by the shoulder, pulled me in and said, 'you might want to hold on to that one son, because that's going to be our next Heisman trophy winner,'" Johnson recalled. "It was in like, September or October, well before the hunt for the trophy had started, and Coach O had called it. He whispered it in my ear and lo and behold, we had this extraordinary year. Coach saw something there that I don't think anybody else saw and it was incredible."

A few months later, Burrow won the Heisman trophy by the largest margin in the history of the award and became the most decorated player in LSU football history. To this day, that is still one of Johnson's favorite photos. 

PB&Js and Paul Allen's secret dive mission

Before LSU, Johnson worked for the Seahawks at Lumen Field. His team had to feed everybody in the stadium, which meant 70,000 people on game day including the players, cheerleaders, people in the suites and even security.

He had to cook everything from hot dogs to filet mignon, but despite the variety in his kitchen, the excitement didn't always show in what the players were eating. At the professional level, Johnson explained, a lot of athletes are very much set in their ways. 

"We had a couple of guys who wouldn't eat anything other than grilled chicken breast and tuna sandwiches," Johnson said. "We fed them PB & J sandwiches, sugary sweets and bone broth on game day, but we didn't do a whole lot on game day."

One of this most memorable experiences with the team happened on the day he was set to meet owner Paul Allen. The co-founder of Microsoft had a team of private chefs who traveled around the world with him, which meant Johnson was not going to have a lot of interaction with him. However, Johnson befriended one of Allen's chefs, Chet Wallenstein, who convinced Allen to let Johnson cook for his suite one day. 

That much awaited moment didn't go as planned, but it's one Johnson will never forget.

"We are presenting the food, laying it down and Chet was going to introduce me to him. Paul was glued to his Microsoft tablet. He was intensely looking at this thing," Johnson said. "Chet looked at me and said, not a good day, let's just go. I was like, ok no worries. Who am I to tell Paul Allen he needs to turn around and meet me, right?"

A few days later, Johnson found out he was in the room while history was being made.

"(Wallenstein) says, 'you are never going to believe this, but when you were about to walk up to him and shake his hand, he was actually watching live footage of an underwater research vessel that was going to the bottom of the Pacific.' They found the USS Indianapolis and he funded that. He was watching live footage of his research vessel finding the USS Indianapolis."

Cooking for a President: A venison showdown at the Olympics

Johnson worked the 2010 Vancouver Olympics but didn't get to watch a lot of the games because he had a lot of action happening in his own kitchen. His team was in charge of suites, including those that housed some of the most powerful people in the world. He said there were about 4,000 dignitaries, from the crown prince of Dubai to former President George W. Bush. 

"These are not people that you can take lightly," Johnson said. "As a matter of fact, I had an international health department gentleman following me around during the preparation of one of those days, because they have to."

The inspector was supposed to follow him for eight hours on the first day, but he had seen enough to trust Johnson after only three hours and decided to leave early. That compliment boosted Johnson's confidence, which he was going to need for opening ceremonies the following day. 

Johnson saw the inspector again and was instructed to cook venison for Bush's suite at exactly 165 degrees, which is significantly higher than the temperature required for a medium-rare finish. The chef had so far followed all the protocols, but he had to speak out against this one.

"I was like, oh my God brother, this is my time to shine and you want me to cook venison to 165 degrees? It's going to come out like jerky," he said. "Venison is lean. What are we doing here? He kind of looked at me and said, 'let me call my boss.'"

The inspector walked far away, but Johnson could see him staring while making the phone call. After an intense couple of minutes, Johnson was granted permission to cool the venison to 145 degrees -- as long as the inspector watched it closely.

"This is a man of international integrity watching over the most important people in the world so we don't make them sick, and he just gave me the green light to cook to 145 degrees," Johnson said. "That was one of the most memorable experiences at the Olympics."