South-Central Spotlight: Cities that are surprising hotbeds of talent

When it comes to talent in the South-Central region, there are obvious hotbeds. Right off the top, big metro areas like Dallas, Houston and Austin come to mind in Texas. New Orleans is a gigantic talent pool in South Louisiana and major cities like Little Rock (Arkansas), Tulsa (Oklahoma), Baton Rouge (Louisiana) and Oklahoma City (Oklahoma) also come to mind.

Of course, there are always smaller pockets that produce big talent, and there are plenty of nooks within the South-Central. Here are five off-the-radar hotbeds of talent in the region.

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The River Parishes -- which encompasses areas outside the New Orleans metro area from Hahnville and Destrehan up to to the Bayou Parishes, including St. James, Lutcher, Donaldsonville, Gonzales and Thibodaux outside of Baton Rouge -- has become a major source of talent over the years from the NFL all the way down to the high school ranks.

Most recently, Thibodaux (La.) High School alum Amik Robertson was drafted by the Oakland Raiders after a stellar career at Louisiana Tech. The area recently produced college standouts like Ja'Khi Douglas (Terrebonne High School) -- which is also home to the nation's No. 1 defensive tackle in 2021 Maason Smith. St. James High is home to Rivals250 defensive end Saivion Jones as well as Rivals100 receiver Shazz Preston.

Elsewhere, Ascension Catholic defensive end J'Mond Tapp is a Rivals100 talent in 2022 and there are other prospects such as O'Ryan James (Ellender), Jaylin Lucas (Terrebonne) and Kailep Edwards (West St. John) scattered throughout.

Destrehan has produced current NFL and college standouts from Ed Reed, Justin Jefferson, John Emery, while other notable players from the region Pooka Williams, Lowell Narcisse, Shawn Preston, Jontre Kirklin and Al'dontre Davis, to name a few.

It's hard to ignore the amount and quality of talent that has emerged from this East Texas city about 100 miles out of the Dallas Metroplex. While Tyler is the 38th biggest city in the state, the talent that has emerged recently and in the past decade is substantial.
The most obvious name worth mentioning is, of course, Super Bowl MVP. Patrick Mahomes is a native of Tyler and was a star for Whitehouse High School before signing with Texas Tech in 2014. Before Mahomes, there was four-star Matt Flynn in the 2003 class coming out of Robert E. Lee, which has since been renamed as Legacy High.

Other regional standouts include five-star Trey Metoyer (2011, Oklahoma) and more recently, Loic Fouonji (Texas Tech) and four-star defensive back Kitan Crawford in 2020. Legacy High has a pair of tailbacks in Bryson Donnell and Ja'Marion Miller, who are both top-75 recruits in-state for 2022, not to mention some rising sophomores grabbing college's attention early on.

The three-city makeup of the Golden Triangle includes Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange, and there has been a flood of talent from the high school ranks to make their way into college and NFL stadiums nationwide.

When you think about the Golden Triangle, it's easy to look at former NFL Pro Bowler Earl Thomas out of local powerhouse West-Orange Stark, which was also home to former Alabama safety Deionte Thompson as well as Rivals250 center Demetrius Hunter in the 2022 crop. Port Arthur Memorial is home to former Texas and NFL star Jamaal Charles and more recently Kary Vincent Jr., who will sit out this college football season at LSU to sharpen his tools for the 2021 NFL Draft.

Memorial also produced former Auburn running back Kam Martin and is currently home to Texas defensive end commitment Jordon Thomas and Rivals250 junior defensive back Jaylon Guilbeau.

The Golden Triangle has also produced two current Longhorns in athlete Roschon Johnson and offensive tackle Jaylen Garth. It also includes some standouts from Beaumont, including former West Brook running back Christine Michael and 2020 receiver Thaddaeus Johnson (SMU) and Rivals100 safety Bryce Anderson. Beaumont United 2022 defensive back Chandler Rivers is another to watch.

New Orleans and Baton Rouge are certainly deserving of being labeled as the hotbeds for talent inside The Boot, but the Lafayette area has blossomed into quite a source of elite talent in recent years. There are famed NFL and college standouts that have emerged from the area like Kevin Faulk. In fact, Dallas Cowboys rookie first-rounder and former Sooners wideout CeeDee Lamb is from Opelousas, La.

In the last few recruiting cycles, however, talent is starting to overwhelm the area. Kayshon Boutte was on the cusp of a fifth star in 2020 and is now in contention to start for LSU when it opens the season later this month. The 2021 class is headlined by Sage Ryan, the No. 3 safety nationally out of Lafayette Christian Academy, as well as Opelousas Catholic receiver Keon Coleman (Kansas), Southside receiver Malik Nabers (Mississippi State), Franklin edge-rusher Gharin Stansbury (Arizona State) and Beau Chene offensive lineman Devon Manuel (Arkansas).

The 2022 crop features several of Ryan's teammates in Brylan Green, Jordan Allen and Fitzgerald West, in addition to Rivals250 cornerback Laterrance Welch out of area powerhouse Acadiana. New Iberia Westgate 2023 safety Derek Jones has already established himself as one of the best sophomores nationally.

Texarkana is located squarely on the boards of both Texas and Arkansas and only minutes outside of Louisiana and Oklahoma. Despite being small in size, Texarkana produces big talent per capita.

Among the notable prospects to surface from this small East Texas city includes former five-star quarterback Ryan Mallett, former Oregon standout LaMichael James, former Longhorn outside linebacker Chris Brown, former Baylor guard safety Davion Hall and former Sooners Brandon Jones and John Michael McGee highlight some of the best prospects to emerge from the area.

Now, you can barely drive through the town without stumbling upon big talent, particularly in this 2021 class. Texas High's Clayton Smith, an Oklahoma pledge, highlights the group as the No. 128 prospect in the country. Pleasant Grove's big three of Landon Jackson, Marcus Burris and Nick Martin are among the best defensive triplets in the state. Jackson is an LSU commitment and Burris recently pledged to Texas A&M. Martin is coveted by Big-12 and Pac-12 schools alike.