KEYS: A leader emerges at Southern

Baton Rouge, LA - Stunned beyond belief.

That’s how the Southern football coaches felt. It was Friday night, some eight days before the Jaguars’ season opener Saturday in Nashville, Tenn., against Tennessee State. The campus had emptied out. Most students were headed home, fast asleep or out on the town.

At 10 p.m., SU coaches were milling about the A.W. Mumford Field House, preparing for a scrimmage. There, they stumbled upon Jamie Payton and 10 of his fellow linebackers, who’d stayed late to watch more film.

“Unbelievable,” defensive coordinator O’Neill Gilbert said. “Friday night, after a hard practice, most guys want to go eat pizza and do whatever college kids do. Friday night, they were up here with Jamie Payton.”

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