Louisiana QB ready for spotlight
One of the top quarterbacks in Louisiana has an early list of schools that
reads like a "Who's Who" of academic and football powers.
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St. Thomas More's
Jefferies Tatford says education will play a key role in his ultimate
decision.
"It's real important to me," he said. "I'd list the school's academic
prestige as the No. 1 thing, then combine that with their athletic program."
With that in mind, he's put together a list of favorite schools that includes
Stanford, Harvard, Michigan, Ohio State, Southern Miss, Auburn and LSU.
"Being close to home would be nice. I'm pretty much a home boy, so I'm
thinking a lot about LSU," Tatford said. "But if somebody like Stanford offered
me, it would be hard to pass up."
When asked about the inclusion of Harvard on his list, he said: "That would
be cool, but I need to work on the ACT a lot more if that's going to happen."
Tatford currently maintains a 3.85 GPA and has scored a 22 on his first ACT
attempt. "I'm going to take it a few more times, see what I can do," he said.
His busy summer schedule will also include visits to the Southern Miss senior
day camp, Southwestern Louisiana's quarterbacks and receivers camp, Tulane's
camp and perhaps trips to Auburn and LSU.
Then it will be on to preparation for the 2002 season, which will see Tatford
(6-4, 212, 4.63) take over full time at the Cougars' quarterback position. In
each of the last two years, he split time with star Jerry Babb, who went on to
sign with Louisiana-Lafayette.
"I'm really excited to show what I can do as the starter," Tatford said.
"This is a huge year for me."