While Destrehan High School offensive guard Ashton Duhe has verbally committed to SMU, Hahnville High School halfback Alfred Blue has verbally committed to LSU and Hahnville High School safety Brion James has verbally committed to play for Tulsa University, the recruiting of Hahnville High School wide receiver James Butler has started to heat up quite well.
Butler, the speedy 6-1, 180 pound senior end, has attracted the attention of Tulsa, SMU, Memphis, Tulane and most of the in-state schools in Louisiana.
One out of state coach told me recently that he feels as though Butler is a “sleeper” player in the state of Louisiana and he feels as though the big-play receiver will develop into an impact player in college football.
Saints win, but don’t dominate
It won’t go down as the most dominating victory of the 2009 season, but when the New Orleans Saints defeated the Atlanta Falcons 26-23 they again turned the page on their version of history in the NFL.
In defeating the Falcons the Saints won 13 games for the first time in club history. The victory for the Saints also clinched the team a first round bye for the playoffs. The 59 touchdowns they have scored this season is the highest total in Saints history.
But more importantly the Saints joined the 1934 Chicago Bears, the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the 2005 Indianapolis Colts, the 1998 Denver Broncos, the 2007 New England Patriots and the 2009 Indianapolis Colts, as the only teams in NFL history to ever start a season 13-0.
As usual the Saints cast of star performers is long.
Quarterback Drew Brees was outstanding again against Atlanta passing for 296 yards and connecting on 3 touchdown throws.
Halfback Reggie Bush had his best game of the 2009 season totaling 102 yards of total offense and he caught 2 touchdown throws from Brees.
When writing this chapter of the 2009 season the real star of the Atlanta game will be middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma. The Saints defense as a unit did not play well against the Falcons, but the former Miami (Fla.) All-American linebacker had an interception late in the contest and he was in on 6 tackles against the Falcons.
But no tackle was more important than the openfield stop the former All-Pro middle linebacker made on a fourth-and-two situation with 1:12 minutes left in the game. Vilma read the pass play over the middle perfectly and he dropped Falcons running back Jason Snelling right in his tracks, one yard short of a first down conversion.
Vilma has made a host of big time plays throughout the past two seasons, but the openfield tackle on Snelling tops them all at this stage and it gave the Boys in Black and Gold a page in NFL history and with a shot to write a few more chapters.
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