MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / August 19, 2000

BATON ROUGE – Making the adjustment from high school football to the college game can be a big adjustment. The players as a whole are better,the game is quicker and the media attention is more prevalent.

When LSU held its annual Media Day Sunday morning, three freshmen with local ties – St. James’ Corey Webster, West St. John’s Donriel Louis andRummel’s Derron Parquet, a relative of former Destrehan and LSU star Rondell Mealey – got to soak in the atmosphere of Tiger Stadium. They tookin the scene, watching as much of the attention was focused on the upperclassmen, knowing that one day it could be their turn.

Webster has been working with the other incoming freshmen and the rest of the returning team when they reported last month.

“It’s been pretty good,” Webster said of the first couple of weeks. “Thereis a lot of running. They keep you running from station to station, sessionto session. You adapt to it after a while.”Webster said he has also gotten help from the upperclassmen in making the adaption from high school to college.

“They treat everybody nice,” Webster said. “They help you fit in better.”Besides making the transition from one level to the next, Webster is also having to make the transition from quarterback, where he played his final three years in high school, to wide receiver.

“It’s alright,” Webster said. “I just started playing quarterback in my10th grade. I played receiver in ninth grade. I’m looking forward to it.”Webster will be a partial qualifier this season, meaning he can practice but cannot play. He had the option of going to a prep school but decided toremain with the program.

“I wanted to get my 15 hours in, start working toward graduation,” Webster said of the decision. Freshman usually don’t get to play anywayand I get to practice football and basketball.”Webster will have to sit out the 2000-2001 school year in both football and basketball but would get the year of eligibility back if he shows he is making sufficient progress toward graduation.

Louis, also a receiver, came in for two days during the summer to work on weight training. He, too, is quickly getting used to the change from highschool to college.

“The first two days were kind of rough because I didn’t know all the plays,” Louis said. “Now that I know the plays, it’s ok.” Like Webster, Louis has been getting help from the returning players.

“They really help you out,” Louis said. “If you don’t know something, theyare the first ones to let you know.”Webster and Louis have gotten to work with the three quarterbacks – Josh Booty, Rohan Davey and Craig Nall – who are locked in a tight battle for the starting role. Both were impress with all three’s abilities. “They are all good,” Louis said. “They are all consistent and throw the ballwhere it needs to go.”Webster noted that all three have one thing in common.

“They all throw the ball hard, real hard,” Webster said.

Parquet is in the mix at running back and could see playing time in 2000.

He rushed for a Catholic League record 2,211 yards and 25 touchdowns in his senior season with the Raiders in 1999.

“The game is a lot faster now,” Parquet said of the adjustment to the college level. “You have to read a lot of things. It’s not just runningthrough a hole anymore.”Parquet is competing with sophomore Domanick Davis, a Freshman All- American last year, redshirt freshman LaBrandon Toefield, sophomore Elice Parker and fellow incoming freshman Devery Henderson for playing time at tailback. But Parquet the group is a close knit one.”It’s been pretty good,” Parquet said. “We’ve been competing, try to seewho’s going to be the man. But we’re able to accept the roles of being thesecond tailback or the third tailback. We’ll support whoever is in there.We’re all friends, we’re not turning our backs on each other.”Those backs will be looking to improve on last year when the Tigers ranked 10th in the Southeastern Conference with an average of 82.5rushing yards per game.

“Right now we need to just play together,” Parquet said. “The offense justneeds to play together and jell and then we can see what happens. As faras last year, that was in the past. We can’t concentrate on that, we needto concentrate on the future.”

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