Former DHS star now on Saints active roster

Jerico Nelson

The New Orleans Saints have placed starting safety Malcolm Jenkins on injured reserve for the rest of the 2012 season and elevated former Destrehan High School and Arkansas standout Jerico Nelson to the active 53-man roster.

Nelson was placed on the Saints practice squad after being released in the final round of cuts in late August. The hard-hitting safety was on the active roster when the Saints took on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday.

Nelson joins free safety Ed Reed (Baltimore Ravens), punter Mike Scifres (San Diego Chargers) and wide receiver Damaris Johnson (Philadelphia Eagles) as former Destrehan High School players in the NFL.

Those four join former Hahnville stars strong safety Dawan Landry (Jacksonville Jaguars), LaRon Landry (New York Jets), halfback/return man Darius Reynaud (Tennessee Titans) and wide receiver LaRon Byrd (Arizona Cardinals) in the NFL.

Destrehan and Hahnville now share the honors for the school with the most players on NFL rosters from the state of Louisiana with four. It is just amazing with the close proximity of these two schools that each would have four players in the NFL and lead the state in producing players to the NFL.