McNeese football
McNeese State head football coach Matt Viator announced a signing class of 15 student athletes on Wednesday.
“It’s an exciting day for us,” Viator said. “This is a very good class and we are excited about them joining our team. There were areas that we targeted and we feel very good about what we got.”
Viator said that with the limited number of scholarships the team had opened this year, the priority was to fill needs that the team not only would have this year but also on down the road.
He said he expected the 15 signees to come into August camp and compete for playing time this season and be valuable members of the team for the ensuing years.
One of the signees was Central High (Baton Rouge) quarterback Will Briscoe who is expected to be one of those contending for the Cowboy slot. McNeese lost four year starter and SLC and Louisiana player of the year Derrick Fourroux to graduation.
Briscoe was named the top offensive player in Class AAAAA this past season after he had completed 188 of 283 passes for 3,080 yards and 38 touchdowns. His three year total as a starter for Central had him passing for 5,848 yards and 60 touchdowns and averaging 208.1 total yards per game.
Reynaldo Young of East St. John High was signed as an athlete as he started every game for three seasons, playing wide receiver, defensive back and running back.
The Cowdboys signed five wide receivers including Briscoe’s twin brother Wes who caught 57 passes for 1,175 yards and 21 tds last year. Other receivers signed were Kenny Brown of St. Louis High (Lake Charles), Will Hassien of Sulphur High, Jereon McGilverly of Northside High and Diontae Spencer of Westgate High.
Brown caught 144 passes for 2,175 yards and 21 touchdowns and had 3,343 all-purpose yards in his career, Hassien caught 40 passes for 576 yards and five tds last season, McGilvery caught 60 passes for 966 yards and nine tds in 2009 and Spencer also played quarterback, passing for 906 yards and seven tds and rushing for 987 yards and 18 tds last season.
The only offensive lineman the Cowboys signed was Antoine Everett of Lamar Consolidated of Richmond, TX and he also played defensive tackle, earning all-state recognition.
Defensive linemen signed by the Cowboys were tackle Sean Brown of Central High who had 68 tackles and seven sacks last year, end Everett Ellefson of Mandeville who had 97 yards and nine sacks and Danyel Hunter of Dickinson (TX) High who had 96 tackles and seven sacks.
Linebackers signed by McNeese were Orrin Fontenot of Parkview Baptist (Baton Rouge) who also played tight end and was a four time all-district pick, Correy Middleton of Richwood High (Monroe) who made 101 tackles and intercepted three passes last season and Deonte Thompson of Evangel Christian (Shreveport) who played on two state championship teams and was credited with 76 tackles, five sacks and three interceptions last year.
Signing with the Cowboys as a kicker/punter was James Bice of St. Louis High (Lake Charles). He kicked eight field goals (longest 52 yards) last year and made 31 straight PATs. He made his last 52 straight PATs and had a career total of 20 field goals, breaking or tying 10 school records.
All 15 recruits are also outstanding in the classroom and one – Spencer – carries a perfect 4.00 overall grade point average.
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