Signing Day at Comeaux High School!

Signing Day at Comeaux High School!

by Jace LeJeune

What a day for Louisiana High School football yesterday as some of the best football players signed their letter of intent to the college of their choice. There are so many talented players in the entire state of Louisiana, and it is great that they are recognized for not only what they do on the football field, but in the classroom as well. For National Signing Day, Louisiana Football Magazine covered four different schools. Yesterday, we covered Parkview Baptist and Woodlawn (Shreveport). Today, we covered Comeaux High School. The Spartans experienced some of their ups and downs this season, but for this senior class, it was all worth it. The Spartans went 5-6 this season. The team did not necessarily have the success that Parkview Baptist and Woodlawn (Shreveport) had in terms of winning district championships and making it far in the playoffs, but this season was a big step for the program. Before this season, the Spartans posted back to back 3-7 seasons that prevented the team from making the playoffs. This season broke the 3-7 curse and gave the Spartans a chance to make a push in the playoffs. Comeaux High School played tough teams such as Sulphur, Barbe, Acadiana, and played them all tough. They even had a chance to beat their first round opponent Ponchatoula, but fell short in a great effort 20-17. This senior class really turned the program around and making it better than when they first arrived on campus. Seven of those seniors will try to continue their career in college football. They are OL Shane Vallot, WR Tanarious Achan, DT Antonio Bourgeois, FS/LB Latrevian Thomas, DT Desmond Monette, WR/FS Jestin Bertsch and TE/LB Kody Duhon. These seven guys are really underrated players that colleges would really love to have on their perspective teams. We caught up with Comeaux Head Coach Doug Dotson as he talked about what those kids mean to the Spartan program and what kind of players that these colleges are getting. Below are the players and where they have committed to:

OL Shane Vallot (6’1, 295)

• Signed with Louisiana Lafayette
• Shane Vallot is one of the most underrated offensive linemen in the entire state. What is it not to love about him. First of all, he is a great leader and teammate. Second of all, he is a great student of the game and lastly, he is a really good football player. Vallot was named to our 2nd All-Louisiana team at the beginning of the season and did not let that get over his head. He turned down plenty of offers to stay home at Louisiana-Lafayette where he was not offered a scholarship. Shane Vallot is going to walk on Louisiana-Lafayette, but he might not be a walk on for long according to his head coach.
• Coach Dotson: “Shane Vallot is one of the best kids that I have ever coached. I have really gotten to know him with my son Brett Dotson being really good friends with Shane. He is a great leader that leads by example. He is only 6’0-6’1, which is crazy that is considered small now a days. If Shane was 6’4, he would be a national recruit.”

WR Tanarious Achan (5’9, 150)

• Signed with Riverside Community College in Riverside, California
• Athletic Tanarious Achan was the main offensive weapon for the Spartans this season. What he lacks in size, he makes up for it in speed. Achan can run a 4.40/40 and looks even faster than that. He is a great athlete that made a lot of plays over his career and may transfer to a big college in two years.
• Coach Dotson: “Tanarious Achan is a tremendous athlete with lots of  speed. He was responsible for a lot of our offense in the past couple of years. I do believe that he will go through this process again with a bigger college in the next couple of years.”

DT Antonio Bourgeois (6’2, 275)

• Signed with Riverside Community College in Riverside, California
• If Shane Vallot was the key guy on the offensive line for the Spartans, Antonio Bourgeois was the main guy on the defensive line. Bourgeois looks the part of a defensive tackle/defensive end at 6’2, 275. He has good hands and makes it tough for offensive linemen to hold their blocks for long. If he can continue to grow in college, Antonio Bourgeois is going to be very dangerous.
• Coach Dotson: “Antonio Bourgeois was a really good defensive tackle for us. He gets off blocks quickly with the use of his hands.  He has also blocked a couple of passes as well. Like Tanarious, Antonio will go through the process again.”

 

 

FS/LB Latrevian Thomas (6’1, 185)

• Signed with Riverside Community College in Riverside, California
• Latrevian Thomas is one of those hybrid players that you see now a days. He played safety for most of his high school career, but Coach Dotson moved him to linebacker this season. Thomas looks the part of a D-I safety at 6’1, 185 and he hits like one too. Latrevian Thomas is an aggressive player and that will help him in the long run when he plays in college.
• Coach Dotson: “Latrevian Thomas played free safety for us, but this year, we moved him to linebacker. It was a good move for him because of the way he plays the game. He can play inside or outside linebacker so he was a very versatile guy for us.”

 

DT Desmond Monette (6’4, 280)

• Signed with McNeese State
• The Spartans had some pretty talented players on both lines of scrimmage this season as Desmond Monette was another guy on the defensive front who made a big contribution to the team. Like his fellow counterpart, Antonio Bourgeois, he is over 275 pounds and is tough to block because of his length. Monette was a late addition to the program, but once he came over, he helped make the Spartans better. Monette signed with McNeese but as a walk-on. However, like Vallot, he has a chance to change that.
• Coach Dotson: “Desmond Monette is a guy who came late to our program. He is a really good athlete at 6’4, 275 pounds. Desmond was really good for us on defense and is another sleeper on this team. McNeese got themselves a big pickup in the long run.”

 

WR/FS Jestin Bertsch (5’11, 174) and TE/MLB Kody Duhon (6’0, 198)

• Both signed with Louisiana College
• We also want to acknowledge Justin Bertsch and Kody Duhon who were both dependable players for Coach Dotson and were both program guys. Coach Dotson said that it was great to have those kids around the program and be leaders for this team. It’s great that these two guys are going after their football careers and could serve as really good players for the Wildcats in the future.