Terriers ready to roar in 2018

Nicholls adds 11 to track and field family
August 1, 2018
My unpopular sports opinions
August 1, 2018
Nicholls adds 11 to track and field family
August 1, 2018
My unpopular sports opinions
August 1, 2018

The 2017 prep football season hadn’t even been over for 24 hours yet last fall, but Vandebilt Catholic head football coach Jeremy Atwell already had his eyes on the future.

“We love what we have coming back,” Atwell said on a radio interview the day after the Terriers fell in the opening round of the Division II State Playoffs to Archbishop Hannan. “We’re sorry to see our seniors go and we love them for all they’ve done for our team. But we feel like we have bright days to come here.”

Flash forward to the present and that optimism is still burning bright for the Terriers’ coach.


Like other prep teams, Vandebilt is busy getting ready for the 2018 season. The team had its annual retreat last week, which leads into the opening of fall camp for coaches and players.

Atwell said the start of camp has been great for his team, adding that he thinks this year’s Vandebilt team has a chance to be the best he’s had in his tenure.

That’s high praise.


The Terriers have won 15 games over the past two years and have built their program into an annual contender.

“We’re so excited,” Atwell said. “It’s hard for me to think of the right word to say to give you the full picture of how excited we are. We like our group of kids. We have a big senior class and we have a lot of experience. We return a lot of starters on both sides of the ball and that’s a luxury you always love to have — especially when you’ve won some ballgames the year before.”

For the Terriers, skill is a huge reason for the optimism.


Atwell said that during the early years of his tenure, Vandebilt struggled to keep up with opponents’ athleticism, but this year, he thinks the team will have plenty of playmakers on both sides of the ball.

One of those is a household name locally, senior Brennan Patterson, a standout who burst onto the scene last year before suffering a season-ending injury.

Atwell said Patterson looks 100 percent so far in camp and he’s going to have a big role on the team — on offense, defense and special teams.


Offensively, he’s going to be a wide receiver and he’ll even get the ball in creative ways at times.

“The easiest way to get the ball to your best athletes is to snap it to them,” Atwell said. “We’re going to do some packages where we snap it to Brennan. A lot of people think he’s just fast or elusive, but he can throw it a little bit back there.”

But Patterson is not alone on the edges for the Terriers.


In addition to Patterson, the Terriers return several playmakers on both sides of the ball, including Cruz Theriot, Jacorey Wells and C.J. Detillier, among others.

One player who Atwell is especially impressed with is senior halfback Drew Rios, who also missed significant time last year with an injury.

Rios will be the team’s feature back this fall and he has big shoes to fill. The past two seasons, the Terriers had a one-two punch in the backfield with Brennan Rogers and Michael LeCompte getting tough yardage between the tackles.


This year, a lot of that burden will fall on Rios, who has earned the praise of his coach with his work this summer.

“He’s going to be our work horse back there,” Atwell said. “And we’re really excited to showcase him. He’s gotten healthy and he’s gotten a lot stronger this offseason. We think he can handle that load.”

Defensively, Vandebilt has 7 starters back, including arguably one of the top players in the area in linebacker Chandler Rhodes, who posted more than 100 tackles last season.


Atwell said Rhodes reported to camp lean and quicker than he’s ever been.

“That guy just has a way to find the football,” Atwell said.

But in addition to Rhodes, the Terriers also have a slew of returnees with experience, including Patterson, who can take away an entire side of the field with his athleticism.


Vandebilt lost defensive coordinator Mike Walker in the offseason when he accepted the head coaching job at Berwick.

The Terriers replaced him with Taylor James, who was an assistant coach last season at Northwestern State University.

So far, Atwell believes that the players are buying into James’ style, showcasing aggressiveness early in camp.


“They’re running to the football. It’s great to see,” Atwell said. “I catch myself rooting for those guys in practice when they make a play and I have to stop and catch myself because I’m the guy calling the offensive plays.”

Vandebilt opens its season on Aug. 31 against Thibodaux. The Terriers also play H.L. Bourgeois, Shaw and Central Catholic in its non-district slate.

Vandebilt footballCASEY GISCLAIR | THE TIMES


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