Fresh Looks Behind Center: St. James, Lutcher installing new quarterbacks

Published 12:01 am Saturday, August 5, 2017

ST. JAMES — St. James football coach Robert Valdez says he and his cross-river counterpart, Lutcher coach Dwain Jenkins, don’t have much in common.

“We have so many differences,” said Valdez, who replaced Jenkins at St. James last year after Jenkins took over his alma mater.

“I’m bigger than he is,” Valdez continued. “He has hair; I don’t. He drives a white Yukon, I drive a black Yukon.”

There is something the two men have in common this football season, though — both are adjusting to life after the graduation of a star quarterback.

St. James quarterback Lowell Narcisse and Lutcher quarterback Jontre Kirklin stood out on their respective teams. Now both have graduated and gone on to LSU — Narcisse as a highly-touted dual-threat quarterback and Kirklin as a potential defensive back.

Back at home, their respective coaches have their new quarterbacks all lined up.

St. James will start senior DeMarcus Williams, who may have more experience than any other backup high school quarterback should ever expect to.

When Narcisse tore his right ACL in May of 2015, it was then-wide receiver Williams who started the season and helped lead the team to the Class 3A state championship game.

When Narcisse tore his left ACL in the 2016 jamboree game, Williams stepped up again. The team reached the playoffs, but lost in the first round to Peabody.

This year, Williams knows exactly what he is — the starter.

“It’s actually very exciting,” he said. “I’m very comfortable in my position now because, the last two years, I didn’t know I was going to play quarterback. This year I know I’m the quarterback.”

Valdez said things are returning to “normal” after Narcisse, who brought a lot of attention to the program.

“Everybody wanted to talk to Lowell,” Valdez said.

“National publications were here. ‘We want to see Lowell in our product. We want to take pictures with Lowell.’ It was unbelievable. It’s easy for the other kids to take a second fiddle or backseat. The kids so idolized him that sometimes they just got caught in the amazement of him. It was like, ‘Ok. We’re hoping for Superman to bail us out.’ For the first time we actually get to be St. James High School and not Lowell Narcisse and the St. James Wildcats.”

Across the river at Lutcher, things were a little different.

Kirklin didn’t get as much attention but quietly broke records and led the Bulldogs to back-to-back state championships. He also missed only two games due to a concussion.

Those two starts went to Kolby Bourgeois, a very talented member of the Lutcher baseball team well-known to Jenkins. The youngster lived just down the street from Jenkins’ sister, Danielle.

Shortly after it was announced that Jenkins, the longtime Lutcher assistant football coach who spent three seasons coaching across the river at St. James, would succeed Tim Detillier at Lutcher, there was a big party at Danielle’s house and Bourgeois was there.

Said Jenkins: “I knew he was a baseball player but I said, ‘Hey Kolby, now that I’m the coach at Lutcher are you going to come out and try out at quarterback?’ He said he would. He did and there he is. He’s our guy. We’ve been preparing for this. We have full confidence in him that he can get the job done.”