Patricia Ann Garrett-Washington
August 30, 2011Hello football, hello tailgaters!
September 1, 2011By day, freshman Beaux Hebert, sophomore Landry Klann and junior LaQuintin Caston are competitors, three ambitious Nicholls State quarterbacks vying for one spot on the field on Saturday nights.
“Every one of us wants to play,” Klann said. “On the field, we’re all working toward that. … Individually, we all want to be out there.”
By night, they are friends, lounged around a Thibodaux apartment huddled around a Playstation 3 or XBox 360 system playing NCAA 12 or whatever’s the video game flavor of the week.
“That’s a pretty big thing around here,” Caston says with a laugh. “It gets real.”
But by the time game day rolls around, the guys assume their favorite role, teammates.
With the Colonels dividing playing time among three serviceable signal callers, the Nicholls State quarterback trio touted its togetherness as the key for the group’s success.
“They make a good play for the team and you’re just so happy for them,” Hebert said. “Then I turn around and I make a good play for our team and I look at the sideline and they are just as happy for you. We’re all on the same team here. We’re all working for the same goal. Sure, we play the same position and we all like to play, but we’re all friends and we’re all in this together.”
The elder statesman of the bunch is Caston, who is coincidentally the smallest of the three players.
Standing approximately 5-feet, 8-inches and weighing 200 pounds, Caston served as Nicholls starter last year.
He took advantage of the title and found success, winning the Southland Conference Player of the Week Award two times.
His play was so big that the Colonels’ athletic website found a growth spurt within their passer, upping his height from 5-feet, 8-inches as a freshman to 5-feet, 10-inches last year to 5-feet, 11-inches now.
For the record, Caston does not appear to be 5-feet, 11-inches to this 5-feet, 9-inch reporter.
Either way, his teammates and coach say his effort is worth more than a few inches on any given Saturday.
Caston passed for 1,147 yards and rushed for 577 more as a sophomore and had both a 300-yard passing game and several 100-yard rushing games.
“He’s a playmaker,” Hebert said. “He makes things happen.”
“LaQuintin’s athletic ability and his escape ability are big and he’s really a good ball carrier, too,” Colonels coach Charlie Stubbs said. “He’s really improving in the passing game, as well.”
If Caston is the athletic playmaker of the bunch, Klann is the stereotypical pocket passer.
“Landry’s the most polished quarterback of all of us,” Caston said. “He’s more of that accurate quarterback, more of what you traditionally think of when you think of a quarterback.”
Standing 6-feet, 3-inches and weighing 210 pounds, the San Antonio native landed in Thibodaux after tossing for more than 5,000 yards at McCollum High School.
Klann showcased the cannon dangling from his right arm in limited action last season as a freshman, completing 35-of-60 passes for 391 yards and a touchdown.
“He’s also above average in the running game, as well,” Stubbs said.
His counterparts say Klann progressed even more this spring and is ready to have a major impact as a sophomore.
“He’s really smart and he’s just a great passer,” Hebert said. “The fact that he’s also a fairly good runner, as well, just makes him so dangerous. He’s going to be very special.”
Then there’s natural ability, a football pedigree and good, ole fashioned DNA, that’s where Hebert comes into play.
The son of former New Orleans Saints quarterback Bobby Hebert, Beaux came back home to Louisiana after a decorated prep career at Greater Atlanta Christian High School.
Hebert has the size of an elite prospect, standing 6-feet, 4-inches and weighing 215 pounds.
But the young quarterback ultimately lacked the polish of Caston and Klann last year, so Hebert took a redshirt year and sat out the 2010 season.
With a year to watch and refine his skills, Hebert said he’s excited to get back on the field.
“It’s been since high school that I’ve gotten on the field,” Hebert said. “I’m ready.”
His teammates and coaches are also excited to see their teammate now that he’s back in action.
They believe Hebert has a little bit of Cajun Cannon in him in between the white lines.
“With Beaux, when the play breaks down, he keeps his eyes down field and he creates things,” Caston said. “He’s the kind of guy that can turn a busted play into a big play.”
“He’s just got that Brett Favre-type of gun slinger thing going,” Klann added with a laugh. “You can’t teach what he’s got.”
Stubbs agrees.
He also sees a like-Father, like-son thing in his quarterback.
“He’s got a little bit of what we call ‘it’,” Stubbs said. “He has a little bit of that swagger in him and I know exactly where that comes from. It’s not hard to guess where, either, his father.”
Forget football, the quarterbacks are ready to push the pigskin to the side after a long day of practice.
It is with the pads put away and each playing having a fresh shower that the truth comes out.
Finally, the topic that divides the group is exposed, video games.
Caston says he is the king of the quarterbacks. He believes it’s such a wide gap between first and second place that he doesn’t even include himself when ranking the players.
“Excluding myself,” Caston says with a laugh. “Beaux’s probably the best.
“Give me Stanford,” he adds to make sure it’s firmly established that he’s No. 1. “Andrew Luck and that offensive line, I’ll take ’em all down, though.”
Hebert disagrees. He believes if he tangled with his elder, a new champion would be crowned.
“If he’s Stanford, I’ll be Washington State and beat him,” Hebert quips. “No question about it. It’d be easy.”
Klann stays out of the argument and says he mostly plays sniper games when he’s at the controls.
“Give me Call of Duty, give me Halo,” Klann said. “I love all of those games.”
Other teammates don’t walk as gingerly around the topic. Some even handicap the Caston/Hebert rivalry.
“LaQuintin would take him,” senior defensive back Bobby Felder said before adding a little more spice to the pot.
“Of course, I’m the best gamer on the whole team, though. I played LaQuintin and he gave me a good game, so I know he’s got some skills. … The last time we played I beat him, in overtime. I won by one point. If LaQuintin can push me like that, he’d take Beaux.”
This conversation could go on for days with the bragging never seeming to end.
Why talk about anything else?
Football’s not a problem for these guys.
They trust in the system and believe the best player will play.
If it’s them, they’ll do their best to drive the team down the field.
If it’s not, they’ll be a willing cheerleader for their teammate and friend.
Three quarterbacks with one, united goal, victory.
Stubbs believes that’s a good problem to have this season.
“We never have problems with them,” Stubbs said. “They just go out and compete. They know I’m going to treat it fair, so because of that, no one’s uncomfortable or feeling like they are getting wronged or anything like that.
“And the truth is, they all need each other. None of them are the total package right now. They all have different strengths in different areas. I really believe if I do it right, and call the game the right way, I can really bring all of their strengths out and allow all of them to enjoy some success.”
