5 Tigers, 1 Colonel part of 2014 MLB Draft class
June 11, 2014Nicholls inks 2 Norwegian players to contribute to 2014 team
June 11, 2014
It may be the early part of June, but there is no such thing as an off-season for college football coaches.
Nicholls State coach Charlie Stubbs understands this better than most anyone and has been making the most of his time this spring and summer by trying to bring new faces into the Colonels’ program.
To that end, Nicholls recently announced the addition of four players who hope to be wearing red and gray this fall: receiver Keenan Canty, linebackers Lowell Williams and Jarmon Coleman, and defensive lineman Gus Ferrat.
All are expected to report to Nicholls’ fall camp, which begins July 31.
Canty and Williams arrive in Thibodaux from the University of Colorado, where each saw playing time with the Buffaloes during the past three seasons and will have one season of eligibility remaining.
Canty had a standout prep career at Edna Karr High School in New Orleans and went on to play in 34 games as a receiver at Colorado. A year ago, he played in 11 games and caught three passes. He also played on special teams returning punts and kickoffs.
In all, Canty recorded 19 receptions totaling 210 yards over 34 games in his three seasons with the Buffaloes. His best season was in 2011 when he caught 14 passes for 161 yards as a redshirt freshman.
For his part, Williams comes to Nicholls hoping to make an impact on the defensive side of the ball. He played in 23 games over three seasons, mostly on special teams.
Stubbs coached on the same offensive staff as Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre during the mid-1990s when the two were at Tennessee-Martin, and the Colonels’ coach has maintained a strong relationship with MacIntyre through the years. That relationship was one of the reasons he was able to recruit both Canty and Williams to Nicholls, Stubbs said.
“I always stay in touch with all the friends I have in the profession and I also let them know what we’re looking for here,” Stubbs said. “Me knowing those coaches kind of helps because they know how I am as a coach and that I really value their recommendations.”
With Canty and Williams having already graduated from college, both come to Nicholls just wanting to see more playing time their senior season, Stubbs said.
“They would have played for Colorado, but they possibly wouldn’t have been as key a person in their packages as they would be here,” said Stubbs. “Canty had some connections back here and is excited to be here and also get his family to see him play more often. Then we have Williams, who was originally from the Houston area. Getting him here is a real key for us as well.”
Meanwhile, Coleman and Ferrat join the Colonels after spending the last two years at the junior college ranks.
Coleman, a Baton Rouge native listed as 5-foot-9, 215 pounds, spent the past two seasons at Contra Costa College in San Pablo, Calif., where he finished with 47 tackles, nine sacks and an interception en route to being named the team’s defensive MVP as a sophomore last season.
Stubbs described him as “a tackling machine.”
“He’s an active player, a great tackler and plays with a lot of speed and emotion,” the coach said. “Him coming from the Baton Rouge area, he’s very familiar with Louisiana.”
The addition of Ferrat (6-foot-2, 280 pounds) gives Nicholls another interior lineman capable of making an impact right away.
Ferrat finished with 22 tackles and two sacks last season with Pasadena City College. He visited with Nicholls during his initial recruiting process, Stubbs said, but at the time was hoping to be a late signing addition to a PAC 12 school.
“He was being highly recruited so we got a very talented defensive lineman there,” Stubbs said. “You’re always looking for interior defensive linemen. He is a guy that has tremendous strength and also aggressiveness. He can also run, and I really believe the things that happened to us (late last season), when we started having problems, it was usually because of up-front.”
With the Colonels already having announced some new additions to the program, there remains room on the roster for a few more.
For the first time since he’s been head coach at the school, Stubbs said the Colonels could end up signing 30 players, the maximum number the school is allowed.
Reaching that number would be a big help to the team’s depth situation and help them to deal with injuries better than last season. The Colonels got off to a hot start a year ago by going 4-2 in their first six games before fading down the stretch, in part due to injuries at various positions.
“I know our motto for this coming season is going to be: finish,” said Stubbs. “We felt as a coaching staff and as a team that we got a relatively positive start at the beginning of last season but we didn’t finish, and some of that finishing was that we just ran out of people due to injuries.
“By stocking up with more quality athletes and being at 30 (signees), hopefully we can get to where we can overcome those things and not have the things that happened last year.”
Nicholls State University football coach Charlie Stubbs prances the sidelines during a game last season. The Colonels’ coach is ready for the 2014 season – hard at work in the summer months to polish the team’s schemes and roster.
