HOUMA, La. — Vandebilt Catholic overcame what head coach Tommy Minton calls an unbelievable 2021 season to not only earn Division II semi-finals but set a new standard for success for the Terriers football program.
“These kids just took punch after punch, and they just kept coming back from it. One of the remarkable things of it is our seniors, I was their third head coach in four years. So, those guys dealt with a lot, and they gave us great leadership and put us on the right road, and I think allowed us to lay a foundation through all of that,” says Vandebilt Catholic head football coach Tommy Minton.
A foundation to build on with 12 starters returning this fall, including a sophomore sensation at running back in Jaylon Coleman.
“You could just see he’s a special talent. I mean Texas A&M, Mississippi State, SEC schools are offering the kid after his freshman season. So that tells you right there what kind of talent he has,” says Minton.
Coleman started 8 games and split carries last year and still managed 1200 all-purpose yards and 18 touchdowns on his way to a District 8-4A MVP honor.
“The one element that you cannot teach is speed and he has that. I mean as a freshman, he finished 4th in the state in the 100 meters… He’s gotten bigger. He’s gotten stronger this offseason and we’re hoping for big things from him,” says Minton.
Coleman’s success can be attributed to his growing skill set and what coach Minton calls the strength of the Terriers team, the offensive line.
“We started three sophomores on that o-line last year. They’re all back. We’ll start five juniors this year. We’re going to average about 280 pounds on that front and those guys all move their feet really well. So, I’m really excited about the potential of the run game we can have, and we’ve got a quarterback Robert Blanchard that has a really good athletic ability that can add another dimension in the run game also off of Jaylon. So, we feel like that’s going to be our bread and butter right there,” says Minton.
Defensively, Vandebilt Catholic replaces its front seven and will on returning experience at linebacker and in the secondary for what is expected to be a challenging schedule in 2022.
The Terriers open the 2022 season, Friday, September 2nd against E.D. White.