(WGNO) – He is the River Parish version of the Natural. St James quarterback Lowell Narcisse just looks the part.

The ball comes out of his hand with ease, and is deadly accurate. He’s only a sophomore.

For two and half years, opponents got to look at this: In five games Narcisse has rushed for 590 yards and 7 touchdowns. And, he has thrown 12 touchdown passes, against only three interceptions.

Head coach Dwain Jenkins raised a few eyebrows when he handed Narcisse the job, at the start of his freshman year.

“It was kind of a lot of pressure because people were saying I was too young to do it. I wasn’t good enough, and wasn’t going to be ready,” Narcisse said. “So I wanted to prove to people how good I can be on the next level.”

Last year, the freshman quarterback went through some growing pains.

“What the doctors said was it was growing pains. He had grown so much, so fast, the muscles hadn`t caught up,” explained Jenkins. “He had a lot of tightness in his lower back and it affected him being able to run and perform at a high level.”

Narcisse said the pain in his back and hamstring made his work harder in the weight room, and it made him more of a leader.

And, he says, it made him faster.

Lowell Narcisse of St. James is our New Orleans Voodoo athlete of the week.