The Louisiana Ragin' Cajun football team has kept things within the family in obtaining its first verbal commitment for the 2006 recruiting class.
Catholic-New Iberia fullback Matt Desormeaux, a 6-foot-1, 210-pounder and a two-time All-District 6-3A selection, gave UL head coach Rickey Bustle a verbal pledge Tuesday evening.
"It was so close to home, that was the big thing," said Desormeaux, who helped lead the Panthers to a 9-1 regular-season mark and the 6-3A title. "I wanted to stay close to home. It's nice to be able to get home when you want to."
Carrying more weight in his decision, though, was having older brother Michael Desormeaux already on the UL squad. Michael, a redshirt freshman quarterback this year, started four games and saw significant action when returning starter Jerry Babb injured his shoulder, and the older Desormeaux finished as the Cajuns' second-leading rusher.
"I've wanted to play with him again ever since the Parkview Baptist game his senior year," said the younger Desormeaux, who was a sophomore in Michael's senior year at CHNI. "It'll be amazing. He told me to go where I felt I should go and do what felt right."
"He's very different from his brother," said Catholic head coach David Comeaux. "Michael is such a great athlete and has such a great mind for the game at the quarterback position. Matt is more of the animal type, a pure football player, very physical and very aggressive. He's got more heart than just about any player I've ever coached."
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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com