SU seniors cap season, careers with thrilling victory

NEW ORLEANS -Southern University seniors Jarmaul George, Gerard Landry and Darren Coates went out with a win in their final Bayou Classic Saturday in the Superdome.
Coates led the way for SU and helped give his team an early 14-7 cushion as he and quarterback Bryant Lee orchestrated two consecutive 80-yard scoring drives to open the game and had the clutch catch going down the stretch in the fourth quarter that led to a 37-yard Josh Duran field goal which iced the game.
Coates finished with 20 carries for 107 yards and a touchdown with four receptions for 46 yards and a touchdown.
“This game was just like a championship game for us so we came out and played with our hearts and got the victory,” said Coates. “Grambling thought nobody in the SWAC could beat them but they hadn’t played Southern yet, so we had to come out and show them who we are.”
“Before the game coach (Orlando) talked to me and said that it’s my last game of the season and to go out and leave everything on the field,” Coates said. “He told me I was going to have to play big catching and running the ball. He got me the ball and I just did the rest.”
Landry had five receptions for 72 yards as he still felt the effects of the right ankle sprain suffered in the Jackson State game.
And although the season may not have ended the way it began for Landry, he still had a fabulous career. In fact, Landry finished second place all-time on SU’s receiving list with 159 receptions for 2,040 yards and 20 touchdowns. He passed Calvin Magee Saturday (135 receptions for 1,973 yards and 23 touchdowns) and trails only Michael Williams who had 3,056 yards and 30 touchdowns in his career at SU.
George didn’t do bad either. He was named Southwestern Athletic Conference preseason Defensive Player of the Year and a Buck Buchanan Award watch list finalist and has live up to the hype. George had three tackles and a blocked kick on a field goal attempt Saturday. He also had 65 tackles on the season and ranks third in the SWAC with four interceptions.
“The win was great,” said George. “That’s what all the seniors wanted to go out with, that’s what we focused on doing and that’s what we did. No senior wants to lose the last game of their collegiate career, so being able to go out with a victory feels good.”
“This game was our championship game,” Coates said. “We’re seniors so we had to go out with the win.”