Coates leads rejuvenated Southern running game

Photo: Darren Coates, SU RB



















By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN, Advocate sportswriter

Headlining Southern University’s muscled-up running game has been senior Darren Coates.

Coates had his best game as a Jaguar in a 41-34 win over Tennessee State on Saturday, running for 115 yards and a career-high two touchdowns and making three catches for 45 yards and his first career receiving score.

Coates, a two-way star at West Feliciana High School, was a nonqualifier as a freshman at SU and was academically ineligible another season. He ran for 119 yards and one touchdown and had seven catches for 56 yards last season.

“Of anybody who is playing well and is consistent for us this year, it’s him,” Southern coach Pete Richardson said. “He’s finally weathered (the eligibility issues) and developed into quite a fine football player.”

So far this season, he has 48 carries for 341 yards, averaging 7.1 yards per carry, and four touchdowns on the ground and seven catches for 62 yards and the TD through the air.

“Catching and running the ball, he did a great job,” SU offensive coordinator Mark Orlando said. “I’m really excited.

“He’s a kid who has been in the program and to come to his last year and be productive like he is. And he’s a great kid, just works hard. For him to have the success he’s had early is a big plus. He’s really helping us.”

Factor in that Coates’ production comes as SU has balanced the running game with sophomore Brian Threat (22 carries for 110 yards — 5.0 yards per carry) and junior Kendrick Smith (135 yards on 24 carries — 5.6 per rush — and six catches for 48 yards and two touchdowns).

SU averages a SWAC-best 184.0 rushing yards per game.

“You’ve got three guys there who can tote that mail and make things happen,” Orlando said. “And the O-line is doing a good job up front of creating some running lanes for those guys, and they’re hitting them.”

Landry hurting
Southern senior wide receiver Gerard Landry had his left arm in a sling and got rehab for a shoulder injury Tuesday.

“I think he’s going to be all right,” Richardson said.

Landry, a second-team All-SWAC selection last season, has 14 catches for 199 yards and a team-high four touchdowns this season.

He has scored in all four games this season and six of SU’s last season. He also has a catch in 29 consecutive games.

He served a suspension in the first half of the Tennessee State game, with RaShon Jacobs starting in his place. Jacobs scored in the first quarter, and Landry caught a TD in the third quarter.

Passer to punter
What to do with a former starting quarterback? Alabama State’s Alex Engram, the team’s top quarterback last season and the starter of the season opener, is the punter. Pretty good move. Engram was named the SWAC co-specialist of the week after averaging 42.2 yards on six punts, with a long of 54 and two inside the 20-yard line, Saturday in a 28-25 win over Alcorn State.

“I love him,” Alabama State coach Reggie Barlow said. “This is a guy who had the starting quarterback job, instead of pouting he found a way to help us. He taught himself how to punt in one week. He not only did a good job, but he took a lot of pressure off Jeremy (Fetterhoff) and you can see how it helped (Fetterhoff’s) kicking.”

Fetterhoff went 4-for-4 on PATs.

Making the move
Engram was 59-for-137 (43.1 percent) for 787 yards, seven interceptions and six touchdowns and ran 86 times for 399 yards and five TDs last season. He was 4-for-9 for 32 yards and two interceptions a year ago in a 38-20 loss to Southern.

In the season opener, Engram was 3-for-6 for 44 yards and an interception when he was pulled in favor of Chris Mitchell. Mitchell went 10-for-11 for 206 yards and two TDs in a come-from-behind 24-19 win over Jacksonville State.

“We went last year with Alex and were kind of inconsistent,” Barlow said. “I just felt like I didn’t want to start the season off with the same stuff we had been through last year. &hellip If you’re making mistakes and you’ve been in the program for a while, we might as well go with someone else who hasn’t been in the program. We just decided to go with Chris, and he’s been doing pretty well.”

Harry back to defense
SU junior Frank Harry moved back to defensive tackle in practice Sunday. Harry worked at that spot in the spring after transferring from South Florida and at the beginning of preseason camp before moving to guard on offense.

Richardson said Harry could go back to offense in an emergency but said “he’s too good of an athlete” to keep on the sideline. Outside of a few snaps on defense, Harry’s been used just on special teams in games.

Notes
Barlow is the older brother of former Southern basketball player Darrell Barlow, whose last year for the Jaguars was 1997-98. Of SU’s five wins last season, the Jaguars’ largest margin of victory came in the 38-20 win over Alabama State. SU remains the least-penalized team in the SWAC, with 20 penalties for 168 yards. SU sophomore CB/RS Ronald Wade will miss Saturday’s game as the third game in a three-game suspension for violating team rules.