Teammates kept gently chiming the ESPN SportsCenter theme music as they walked by.
It’s nice to be Southern’s Darren Coates these days. It’s real nice to be Southern’s Darren Coates after going 90 yards for a touchdown on the first offensive play in his first start.
The burst, up the middle of the line and down the right sideline, made ESPN’s nightly top 10 as well as a college football recap top 10 later.
The telephone calls started coming as the Jaguars rode home Saturday night after their 33-27 victory over Florida A&M in Birmingham, Ala.
“The coaches came to the back of the bus where I was and told me about it,” Coates said. “It was a very exciting moment for me.”
The play — as well as the SportsCenter recognition — was reminiscent of the way Southern started its magical 2003 season, with Ezra Landry taking the opening kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown in a 29-0 romp over Mississippi Valley State.Sophomore quarterback Bryant Lee, in his third start, told Coates to score before the offense took the field.
“I guess he knew what the play was going to be,” Coates said. “He told me from jump, ‘I’m going to hand you the ball, and it’s up to you to take it to the house.’ We got good blocks by our offensive linemen. The hole was open, so I just had to make a move and take it to the house.”
SU coach Pete Richardson said the TD run for a young team coming off two losing seasons “kind of psyched them up.”
Coates, a senior, had totaled 119 yards and one touchdown last season. Those were his only career stats, and 52 of those yards and his only touchdown came in the season-ending Bayou Classic.
Saturday, Coates had 142 yards and two touchdowns, adding a 3-yard plunge for the go-ahead score midway through the third quarter, on just 10 rushes — 14.2 yards per carry. That one-game performance already bettered the best from last season, Kendall Addison’s 133 yards against Texas Southern.
Coates’ day confirmed the difference made by the combination of his offseason work, the jolt of confidence from the end of last season and the addition of first-year running backs coach Elvis Joseph.
Coates looked like a different back — in body type and in running style — in preseason camp, and the improvements showed Saturday.
“Only good things can happen for him if our offensive line can hold up without any major injuries,” Richardson said.
Powered by Coates, Southern totaled 238 rushing yards. That total is better than the season-best 236 in the win over Texas Southern last season.
What’s more, in the season opener a year ago, SU had 1 yard on 20 carries in a 30-29 victory over Bethune-Cookman College (and the Jaguars totaled 226 yards on 113 carries, never breaking 100 yards, in their first four games).
Ahead comes a big challenge.
Valley clamped down on two of the conference’s best running backs, Martel Mallett (23 yards on five carries) and Mickey Dean (19 yards on nine carries) in a 16-9 win Saturday.
The Delta Devils also made four sacks and recovered two fumbles.
Southern (1-0) faces Valley (1-0, 1-0 SWAC) at 4 p.m. Saturday at Soldier Field in Chicago.
“They look to put everybody in the box (the area near the line of scrimmage), really like FAMU, with fast linebackers, bring it, push everybody to the ball,” Coates said. “So we have to bring the same intensity.”
