Colonels given respect at Southland Conference Media Day

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When Tim Rebowe took over at Nicholls, the Colonels were firmly entrenched at the bottom of the Southland Conference — a program that was understaffed, outmanned and routinely was blown out of games by several touchdowns.

Flash forward to the present and Nicholls is no longer on that lowest rung — not by a long shot.


The Colonels participated in Southland Conference Media Days this past week and while there, they received another notch in the belt of their rebuilding process under Rebowe.

Nicholls was picked to finish No. 2 in the conference’s preseason rankings — behind only Sam Houston State. The Colonels also had more players on the preseason All-Conference team than anyone else in the league.

Rebowe concedes there’s still a lot of work to be done for the Colonels to cash in on those projections. But he added that to be recognized so highly amongst peers is a great feeling — one that’s not been experienced in Thibodaux for quite a while.


“It’s quite an honor,” Rebowe said. “It says a lot about our players and how hard they’ve worked and that your peers and the people you play against respect you. But at the end of the day, you still have to play those games and you have to be able to play them one game at a time. The message needs to be the same to our guys and I think they understand that.”

Modesty aside, the Colonels are feared amongst their peers because of the depth of returnees they will enjoy in 2018 — players who contributed heavily off a team which made the Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs one year ago.

The Colonels return virtually its whole defense this year — a group that was already fearsome last year when keeping Southland Conference offenses in check throughout the year.


One of those returnees is linebacker Hezekiah White, who said that process of going from afterthought to powerhouse has been great to experience first-hand.

White recorded 54 tackles last season — fourth most on Nicholls’ team.

The top three guys above him — Allen Pittman, Corey Abraham and Ahmani Martin — are all back, as well.


“It’s been wonderful,” White said of the turnaround. “You have to give a lot of credit to Coach Rebowe. He came in and he wanted to change the culture around in Thibodaux. I think he’s done that. He and his coaching staff have done a wonderful job. They always preach winning. You talk about us losing every game our freshman year and last season, we’re in the playoffs. It started out a little rough, but thanks to Coach Rebowe and staff, we’ve changed the culture around here. I love Thibodaux. The whole community has come out and supported us and we appreciate them.”

But while it’s the defense that looks like the go-to group on paper, the Colonels know that to make the strides forward that they want to make in 2018, it’s the offense that has to emerge and become dominant, as well.

Nicholls wasn’t terrible offensively in 2017 — they were firmly in the middle of the pack of most statistical categories, both in the country and in the conference.


But for Nicholls to take the next leap forward, the team has to reverse that trend and improve — especially at protecting the football. The Colonels lost 13 fumbles and threw 14 interceptions a year ago. They had more giveaways than takeaways a year ago — a surprising stat for a team that had as much success as the Colonels did.

On paper, the Colonels should be prime for improvement.

Quarterback Chase Fourcade is back and will be enjoying his third-straight season as Nicholls’ starter.


Also back are weapons like Damion Jeanpiere and Kyran Irvin — the team’s leading receiver and rusher a year ago.

Along the line, Nicholls has a few holes to fill, but has talented bodies — a luxury the team didn’t have at the peak of their rebuilding.

“The whole offseason, we’ve been working hard,” offensive lineman Ryan Hanley said. “We’ve been doing more than what we did last year because we know where we were last year. We’re looking forward to this season and will see what happens.”


The Colonels open the 2018 season Sept. 1 at Kansas. The Colonels then play at Tulane (Sept. 8) and also at McNeese State (Sept. 15) before finally hosting a game.

That game will be arguably the team’s biggest of the season — a home date with Southland powerhouse Sam Houston State on Sept. 22.

Tim Rebowe


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