Connie Aucoin
July 27, 2017
Lafourche releases sites for Night Out Against Crime parties
July 27, 2017
Last year, the Nicholls football team won five Southland Conference games, finishing the league schedule with a record above .500 for the first time in a really long time.
Now, the Colonels are ready to fight for a ring and the playoff berth that comes with it.
Expectations are as high as they’ve been in years around the Nicholls program as third-year coach Tim Rebowe leads the Colonels into the 2017 season.
At Southland Conference Media Day last week in Texas, coaches and media members picked the Colonels to finish fifth out of 11 teams.
But with a slew of returnees off last year’s team, the Colonels think they have a shot to do even better than that, emphasizing they’re not satisfied with merely being in the middle of the pack.
“We have a long way to go,” Rebowe said. “As much as we build on the positives, I’m going to tell our guys that we haven’t done anything yet. If you look at those conference standings and where we were picked, I would much rather look at the end of the season and see Nicholls get into the playoffs than where we were picked in the preseason.”
The Colonels believe they have a group that can do exactly that.
Offensively, Nicholls is led by sophomore quarterback Chase Fourcade, who’s looking to evolve from a game-manager to a full-fledged playmaker in 2017.
Last year, Fourcade thrived as a true freshman, completing 201-of-365 passes for 2,482 yards and 18 touchdowns. As a rusher, Fourcade also found ways to hurt opponents, generating 324 yards and nine scores.
With a full offseason to get bigger, faster and stronger, Rebowe said Fourcade has evolved and is a better player who is more physically equipped to handle the mental and physical grind that is an 11-game college football season.
“I thought when we went out to spring ball and Chase threw his first pass in the spring, I thought he was just a lot bigger, stronger and the ball had a little bit more zip on it,” Rebowe said. “I think he’s made tremendous strides in the offseason. He’s a lot more mature and I see him every day throwing since spring ball. We take the fall expecting him to have an outstanding season.”
On the edges, Nicholls is going to have a lot of summer competition at wide receiver after losing C.J. Bates to graduation last fall.
Bates caught 53 passes for 798 yards and nine touchdowns last season.
Rebowe said he’s not quite sure how the receiving depth chart will shake out, but added that he’s confident some guys will step up.
In the running game, Nicholls returns sophomore halfback Dontrell Taylor and big, bruising fullback Mason Boudreaux.
Both guys combined for close to 600 yards rushing and seven touchdowns last season.
“We’ll need some redshirts to step up on offense, some guys who sat out last year,” Re bowe said, when asked about the wide receiver departures. “They’re expected to fill a big role for us again this year.”
Defensively, Nicholls also has a slew of returnees back off last year’s group, including Allen Pittman, who led the team in tackles last year with 95.
Defensive lineman Sully Laiche is also back after posting 9.5 sacks and 13 stops for a loss last year as a freshman for a Colonels defense which made huge strides and were stingy about keeping opponents out of the end zone.
“We thought we had a good spring (defensively),” Rebowe said. “We continued where we left off last year after a sol id season.”
But perhaps more important than any of the returnees or the depth chart is the Colonels’
mindset going into 2017 – an attitude adjustment which shows exactly how far the team has come.
In previous media days, uncertainty surrounded Nicholls football and the Colonels were almost always picked to finish either last or near the bottom of the Southland.
But now, Nicholls is generating respect, and folks around the conference seem to understand how far the team has come.
Senior tight end Stephen LeBouef said the excitement around the program is higher now than it has ever been at any other point in his career.
He said Nicholls is no longer an afterthought in football conversations and the team is beginning to get respect.
“I think we are talked about as much as any other school in the state,” LeBouef said. “If you go anywhere from New Orleans to Lafayette, they know about us now. Our coaches do a great job recruiting the surrounding areas. I think Coach Rebowe is a popular guy in the state, and that’s helped our popularity tremendously.”
But now, the team wants to take the next leap.
Nicholls opens its season with a Thursday night home game with in-state and conference rival McNeese – a huge game which could set the tone for both teams’ seasons.
Rebowe agreed, adding that that’s the only game the team sees on its schedule right now – its first one.
“It’s going to be a big one, a huge one,” Rebowe said. “As far as I’m concerned right now, that’s the only game on our schedule because it’s the next one. We’ll have our guys get focused to get ready for that. It’s a long season, so you have to go week-in and week-out because the guys (you’re facing) will be ready to play.”
Nicholls State University’s football team has long been picked to be one of the worst teams in the Southland Conference at media day. But this year, the Colonels have risen from the doldrums and are picked to finish in the middle of the pack. But players said they’re aiming higher than that.
Nicholls senior tight end Stephen LeBouef said there’s more hype around Nicholls football than at any other time in his career. He said the Colonels think they can compete with anyone in the Southland Conference.
