The 6-foot-4, 280 pound left tackle announced via twitter Friday that he was committing to Louisiana Tech. He played a vital role into Edna Karr’s high powered offense last season protecting starting quarterback Leonard Kelly’s blindside, which averaged 38 points per game. 

Bannister is a 3-star prospect & currently holds 19 offers from schools like Mississippi St, Kentucky, Louisville, Arizona St, Colorado, Texas Tech, & many more. 

What Led Bannister To Louisiana Tech???

"It meant a lot to me when Coach Brock Hays offered me first,” Bannister said. “We instantly clicked & built a relationship. The whole entire staff recruited me hard & that showed me a lot. Coach Mac(McFarland) really took the time to show me how they plan to use me & how he’ll develop me over my next three to four years.” 

Why Louisiana Tech Over Power 5 Programs??

"Most schools only talk to you about football,” Bannister said. “A lot of kids get caught up with facilities, uniforms, the conference, & stuff like that. Don’t get me wrong that plays a part but it’s not everything. I plan to major in mechanical engineering & Louisiana Tech is one of the best schools in the country for my major. I just feel like this was the best place for me to be successful on & off the field.” 

Life After Football??

​"My dream is start a business when I’m done with football & open up my own mechanic shop,” Bannister said. “I’m really into cars & fixing them. Most kids don’t know what they want to do with their life other than football, but I have a plan & Louisiana Tech is going to help me with that.” 

This past season Cook went over 3,000 points for his career & averaged over 30 ppg. 

​He’s ranked the No. 2 prospect in Louisiana for 2020 behind point guard and Virginia signee Reece Beekman of Scotlandville.

Smith is currently ranked the No. 1 DT in the country & No. 6 overall for the 2021 class according to Rivals.com. He finished his junior campaign with 10 sacks, 24 TFLs, & 82 tackles. 

On February 13, Smith committed to play in the Adidas All-American bowl in San Antonio January 9.

Austin Claunch joined the Nicholls basketball program in June 2016 as an assistant under Richie Riley and was named the head coach on March 29, 2018. He was also the youngest head basketball coach in the country at the age of 28. 

The second year head coach has had stops at George Mason(2012-2013 & Clemson(2013-2016) as an assistant coach. 

In Claunch’s first year as head coach his team went 14-17 overall & 7-11 in conference. His second year the team improved to 21-10 overall & 15-5 in conference along with finishing second in the Southland Conference. 

Claunch did a zoom interview with G-Sportz discussing the direction of the Nicholls State program & some of his expectations going forward. 

Robertson, a two-time All-American for Tech in college, has all but cemented himself as one of the top cornerbacks in this year’s draft. The 5-9, 187-pound cornerback finished his career at Louisiana Tech with 14 interceptions and 48 passes defended. Oh & by the way he finished in the top 3 of seven categories for cornerbacks in this year’s draft in Pro Football Focus. 

After an impressive pro day, that included Robertson running a 4.45 in the forty could have very well landed him in the second round for sure. Many of the mock drafts have him getting drafted between the second & fourth rounds. 

Robertson did a zoom interview with G-Sportz discussing the draft & some of his expectations.

The talented St. James prospect currently holds 21 offers from schools like LSU, Alabama, Georgia, Miami, Florida State, Texas, & many more.

Preston is currently ranked the No. 7 receiver in the country & No. 38 overall for the 2022 class. He caught for 1,072 yards & 10 touchdowns this past season. 
​
The 4-star prospect took the time out & did a zoom interview with G-Sportz discussing many of his accomplishments. 

Zachary’s Chris Hilton is one of the top wide receivers in the 2021 recruiting class. 247’s composite rankings have him at No.

​11 among the position group.
He’s the No. 65 overall player in the class, and fourth in talent-laden Louisiana.
On last Sunday(April 12), Hilton narrowed things down. 
He has 21 offers, per 247. Only 6 of those programs find themselves in the top group for Hilton though.

There isn’t a great sense for which program may be the leader of this group of six as of right now, but many believe it’ll be LSU when it’s all said & done. 

“I’m looking forward to seeing LSU’s offense now that Joe Brady is gone,” Hilton said. “I still feel good about how the offense will look, but we’ll see when the season gets here.”

Hilton says he doesn’t have a commitment date as of right now, but expressed that he wants to take some more visits before he makes a decision. 

“I really want to go visit Georgia, so soon as everything goes back to normal I’ll make it up there,” Hilton said. “I feel like I have the best relationships with LSU, Alabama, Georgia’s coaching staffs. My relationship with the coaches, academics, & feeling like a place like home are my biggest factors when picking a school.”

Wherever Hilton lands, he’ll be going into an elite program. At 6-foot-1, 175 pounds Hilton is one of the most gifted athletes in this class. Hilton cleared 6-10 in the high jump last season in track for the LSU Indoor Qualifier & was only a sophomore. He’s also a pretty good basketball player as well & known for his high flying dunks. Oh & by the way this kid carries over a 3.0 grade point average, which is why he says academics will play a big factor into the school he chooses. ​

One of the state’s best point guards decided to commit to Neosho Junior College on Saturday via Twitter. Buggage will be taking his elite scoring 12 hours away to compete in the best junior college conference in the country, which is the Kansas Jayhawk Junior College Conference. 

Schools like Nicholls St, Hinds Junior College, Stillman College, Seward Junior College, Baton Rouge Community College & some others had been pursuing the talented guard over the last month, but he felt like this Neosho was the best situation for him. Had it not been for the coronavirus, Buggage would have had a bevy of more schools recruiting him.

“I love how they (Neosho)showed me how much they wanted me there,” Buggage said. “The head coach (Jeremy Coombs) was very passionate on the phone about how he want me to come in & contribute early. Knowing that Neosho competes in the best junior college conference in the country played a big part into me wanting to go there. If I want to show how good I am, I feel like I need to go against the best of the best.”

Buggage said having Louisiana native Justin Fairman on the coaching staff made his decision even more easier. Fairman is going into his fourth season as Neosho’s assistant coach. 

“Coach Fairman been recruiting me hard & we’ve built a really good relationship,” Buggage said. “I feel real comfortable with him especially with him being from where I’m from. I can relate to him a lot.”  

Neosho head coach Jeremy Coombs has produced 6 All-Americans, 2 players of the year, 30 NCAA D1 players, & 22 All-Conference players in his 13 years as head coach at the school.

It’s no secret that Buggage was extremely overlooked during his recruiting process because of his 5-foot-9 stature. Finishing his senior year with a 1st-team 5A all-state selection, District 7-5A MVP, & a 26.4 points per game average seem to still not be enough. 

“I know a lot of schools seen my size & looked over me,” Buggage said. “I just use stuff like that as motivation to prove them wrong. I know the work that I put in when nobody is around & that’s what I pride myself on.”

Over the last 3 years fans have seen Buggage shoot deep three pointers from a couple feet in front of the half court line like a layup. Many from the Tri-Parish feel that he’s arguably the best shooter to come out the area.

An anonymous district 7-5A head coach expressed his thoughts on Buggage. “He’s the best pure shooter I’ve ever coached against,” he said. “Anytime he comes across half court you know it’s a really really good chance he’ll make it. We sent double teams at him, picked him up 94 feet, ran a box & one, you name it we did it. But he’s just so gifted as a scorer & the way he gets his teammates involved is very underrated.” 

Buggage says what he does in games is like muscle memory for him because he practices those shots for hours in the gym.

“My dad has been training me since I was six years old,” Buggage said. “We’ve spent so many hours in the gym over the years that it made me have a strong work ethic. I’m thankful I have a dad that was willing to get in the gym with me like that. A lot of kids don’t have that so it’s just a blessing to have him pushing me the way he did all these years.” 

This makes the third guard in the last 4 years from H.L Bourgeois to sign a basketball scholarship. Rayshawn Mart signed with Xavier University in 2017 & led them in scoring this past season 16.8 points per game.

A.J Rainey Jr. signed with Blinn Junior College in 2018 & was the second leading scorer this past season with 14.2 points per game. Rainey has also committed to Nicholls State University for his last two years. ​

“We have a lot of talent that’s coming from H.L Bourgeois,” Buggage said. “I think it’s special because a lot of kids from our area don’t sign basketball scholarships often. So for my high school to put out 3 prospects in 4 years is big. I’m looking forward to coming back & watch some games because we have some young talent coming up behind me.”

Most kids don’t have a clue what they want to do with their life after they are finished playing ball, but Buggage says he knows exactly what he wants to do. 

“I want to come back to my area & help develop kids in basketball,” he said. “I know how important training is because I did it all my life & it paid off. I want to help kids reach their full potential & get them recruited by colleges. I wouldn’t mind being a coach, but I know I would enjoy developing kids much more.” 

2021 Edna Karr receiver Destyn Pazon released his top 5 schools on Twitter last Sunday(March 29) with LSU making the cut obviously. Florida St, Florida, Oklahoma and Alabama were the others to make the cut.

This past week, Pazon told GSportz that LSU has been very persistent in getting him apart of their 2021 class. So does the hometown team have the best shot to land Pazon???

“I really love how LSU’s offense looked this past year,” Pazon said. “With Joe Brady leaving I’m anxious to see if the offense will look the same come next season. LSU has had my attention for a while & Coach Mickey(Joseph) has played a big role in that because of the relationship we’ve built so far. 

​Florida State could be the sleeper of the five schools when it’s all said & done. Pazon expressed how impressed he was with the program under new head coach Mike Norvell when he visited about a month ago.

“You can see the affect that coach Norvell has on the players already when I was there on my unofficial,” Pazon said. “I like coach Norvell & I’ve heard really good things about him from my former high school teammates that played for him at Memphis. Adding coach Dave(Johnson) to the staff was big to me. He gave me my first offer when he was at Tennessee & we have a really good relationship. Florida State is somewhere I can definitely see myself playing at.” 

Florida are pushing hard to land Pazon & he loves the attention he’s receiving from the Gators. 

“Florida has done a great job recruiting me especially with coach (Greg) Knox,” Pazon said. “I loved my unofficial visit up there & the whole staff showed me that they really wanted me. Coach Mullen is definitely a player’s coach & I like that about him a lot.”

When it comes to offense, Oklahoma has one of the best in the country hands down which has Pazon really intrigued with the Sooners. 
​
“Oklahoma produces really good receivers & it’s a pass first offense,” Pazon said. “Any receiver would love to play in a offense like that. Coach (Lincoln) Riley & I had a real good talk when I visited up there. He cares about his players & that’s the kind of coach I want to play for.”

Alabama was one of Pazon’s first power five offers dating back to last May. It’s no secret that they are arguably the most premier program in the country over the last decade. 

“Alabama is a big time program that competes for national championships every year & that’s what I’m use to,” Pazon said. “They put out first round receivers consistently every year. They recruit the best of the best so it’s an honor to get recruited by them. Coach Pete(Golding) has been on me hard & I like the way they do things there.” 

Pazon stated that USC was his dream school, but he elected not to have them in his top five schools. 

“I’ve always loved USC since I was a kid, but after really evaluating the situation I thought it was best that I didn’t include them in my top schools,” Pazon said. “I feel like stability of the program is up in the air with their head coach. That’s too far from home to go into a situation like that.” 

The 6-foot-1, 187 pound Pazon finished his junior season with 54 catches, 1,047 yards, & 14 touchdowns. He was also clocked at 4.32 laser in the forty at the Army All-American National Combine this past January. 

Pazon states that he won’t play his recruiting process too long because he wants to focus on winning another state championship when the season arrives. 

“I plan on committing to a school in a week or two,” Pazon said. “Playing time, the offense & my relationship with the coaches are the most important things to me when it comes to picking a school. Even after I commit I still plan to take my five official visits when the season comes. I kind of know where I’m going to end up, but I just want to make sure.”

Jalen Cook led all scorers with 30 points for Walker, Brian Thomas poured in 22 points, & Donald Butlerfinished with 19 points. 

Deondre Buggage closed out a spectacular career leading the Braves with 25 points. 

Walker will take on number 4 Bonnabel Wednesday night in the semifinals at 8 pm.