WAFB 9 News Baton Rouge, Louisiana News, Weather, SportsBig receivers may be strength for Southern Jags

Southern head football coach Stump Mitchell may be a former running back, but he lacks a powerhouse runner on this year's Jaguar squad. The leading returning rusher is junior Sylvester Nzekwe, who gained just 248 yards on 66 carries, with five touchdowns a year ago.

Behind Nzewke is Brandon Rice, who tallied just 139 yards rushing and no TDs. Rice came to "The Bluff" with big hype and accolades, but has yet to live up to that talk. Former Tara Trojan Dallas Fort is listed third on the depth chart and saw no playing time last year as a redshirt freshman. Former Clinton star Byron Williams is also trying to catch Mitchell's attention again, after missing all of last season due to academic issues.

"Hopefully that group will perform better than it did a year ago, when Gary Hollimon was the man," Mitchell said.

The coach boldly predicted before the start of last season Hollimon could lead the nation in rushing. Instead, he finished with a paltry 329 yards and averaged just 3.3 yards per carry.

The word is the Jags may go with a "running back by committee" system. And if that's the case, Southern may be looking to a stable of tall and athletic wide receivers to make plays in the passing game.

Senior LaQuinton Evans (aka "Smoke") is the team's leading returning receiver, after snagging 329 yards worth of receptions and averaging a hefty 19.4 yards per grab last season. He also scored five touchdowns. Evans stands 6'2 and weighs 190 pounds, while also generating plenty of buzz after recently clocking a 4.37 in the 40-yard dash. Pro scouts from the Philadelphia Eagles recently attended Southern's practice to get a look for themselves. At Monday's practice, he exhibited that speed during 7 on 7 drills, streaking down the sideline and hauling in a bomb for a deep score.

Evans isn't the only big body to throw to. Junior college transfer No. 80 Michael Berry also gives the Jags a massive target, standing 6'3" and weighing 215 pounds. While sophomores Javon Jordan and Kesean Peterson are technically tight ends, they look the part of wide receiver and could basically play that role. Both are long and rangy weapons that should be able to elevate above defensive backs for big plays in the passing game. Jordan is a towering 6'6" and 226 pounds, while Peterson is 6'3" and weighs 240.

So, which quarterback will pull the trigger?

"I think it's Dray's job to lose at this particular time," Mitchell said.

Mitchell is referring to sophomore Dray Joseph from West St. John High School. Last year, Joseph had his moments, but his statistics were far from spectacular, completing less than 50 percent of his passes, with five TDs against four interceptions.

Junior Jeremiah McGinty saw a majority of the action behind center last season, but he's been recovering from offseason surgery on his throwing shoulder.

"Now he's throwing the ball pretty well," Mitchell added.

McGinty completed only 45 percent of his throws last year for 1,271 yards and nine scores against six picks.

Mitchell said freshman JP Douglas is currently the third string QB.