Southern to emphasize recruiting in parish

By Eric Narcisse, Daily World

BATON ROUGE - In years past, one of the main constants on Southern University's football team was the presence of players from St. Landry Parish.

But that hasn't been the case in recent seasons and won't be again this year, as the Jaguars have only one player from the parish on their roster, freshman kicker Josh Duran of Eunice.

Jaguars coach Pete Richardson said his program has put a strong emphasis on recruiting again in St. Landry Parish.

"I think the main thing is for us to build a relationship once again with the coaches in that parish," Richardson said. "There has been a lot of turnover with the coaches in the parish, so we just have open up the lines of communication with those coaches again, because there are excellent athletes down there. We need to get out there, sell our program and get those kids to take a strong look at attending Southern University."

Richardson did say his staff has scouted several players, not only from the parish, but around the state and academics are a major concern.

"One of the big misconception's is that if you are an athlete, we can get you into our school," Richardson said. "That's not true. Just like every school, our university has guidelines and things have changed over the years. We have gone from having open enrollment to selective enrollment and that's hindered our ability to recruit."

One of the main changes in Southern's enrollment requirements is that all potential students have taken and passed two years of a foreign language.

"Not only do you have to have a certain GPA and ACT score, but you have to have that foreign language," Richardson said. "That's killing them, because some areas don't even offer foreign languages."

What makes it even tougher for Richardson and the Jaguars, is when they do find a recruit that meets their university requirements, they are forced to battle with some of the bigger schools for their services.

"Everyone is looking for those athletes," Richardson said. "If you have a recruit with the GPA and ACT score, everyone is going to be in on him."

Nevertheless, Richardson and his staff will renew their efforts to find gyms inside the parish.

"The athletes are there," Richardson said. "We're going to get back down there and recruit."