Former Hahnville High School standout wide receiver LaRon Byrd has always had the skillset to develop into one of the top receivers in college football for the Miami (Fla.) Hurricanes.
This week new Hurricane offensive coordinator Jeff Fisch, who was the quarterbacks coach for the Seattle Seahawks, said that he is anxious to get to work with the 6-3, 215-pound senior-to-be receiver.
“Just from watching film on Miami I can see that we need to do a better job developing and using the talents of LaRon Byrd,” Fisch said. “I worked with a receiver this season in Seattle similar to him in Mike Williams and I can see where we can do some things with LaRon in that same manner. He has great size, good leaping skills and he is aggressive going after the ball.
“My job is to make sure we get players like him more involved and more productive. LaRon has to work at his game more, but I see where he could be a breakout performer for us this season.”
Fisch, who has coached NFL football for Mike Shanahan in Denver, Brian Billick in Baltimore, and recently with the Seahawks, was hired by new Miami (Fla.) head coach Al Golden in an attempt to restart an offense that has been very inconsistent over the past five seasons.
Byrd caught 4 passes for 47 yards in Miami’s 33-17 loss to Notre Dame in the 2010 Sun Bowl.
Rachal Verbally Commits to Nicholls State
One of the top football players in the River Parish Region over the past two seasons has been Riverside Academy High School quarterback Darnell Rachal.
Last week, the Offensive MVP on the Louisiana Sports Writers Association Class 2A all-state team verbally committed to play for head coach Charlie Stubbs and the Nicholls State Colonels.
Rachal, who played quarterback for Riverside, will sign with the Colonels as a slot wide receiver and probably play some quarterback out of the “Wildcat” formation.
Riverside head coach Mickey Roussel says that Rachal would have been a nationally recruited player if he were 6’2 or 6’3, but that his lack of great size (5’8) scared off some schools.
“He just loves the game of football,” Roussel said. “If he were bigger every school in the country would have been after him. But he’s only 5’8. That doesn’t take away from the fact that he is a special football player. Darnell’s very athletic and the best quarterback I have ever coached.
“He has the skills to be accurate throwing the ball both long and short, but his real strength is running with the ball in the open field. He threw for over 1,500 yards this season, but he ran it for 1,800 yards and scored 32 touchdowns.”
The word from many members of the Nicholls State coaching staff is that they have spent much more time recruiting the River Parish Region schools – Destrehan, Hahnville, St. Charles Catholic, Lutcher and Riverside – now than any other time in the school’s recent history.
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