Some athletes are more fortunate than others.
While some are lucky and given shots early in their careers to provethemselves, others patiently wait.
For Thomas Ricks, his frame of mind is equal to the smoking doublebarrel shot gun tattooed at the top shoulder blade all the way down to theelbow of his left arm.
Above the tattoo reads, “kocked and ready.”
“Everybody always told me that I have a strong arm,” Rickssaid. “I would hear all the time,’boy you got a gun, you got a shot gun,’ or ‘man you got some strong guns.'”
The 22-year-old LaPlace native will start his first game as the newquarterback for Southern University in their season opener Saturday at A.W.Mumford Stadium against McNeese State University at 7p.m.
Standing in at 6 feet 3 and a half inches, the 212-pound senior hasbeen waiting, watching and practicing for four years at Southern.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Ricks said.
The right-hander has also seen a number of various positions on thefield, playing safety on special teams and as a defensive snapper. Yet, he hasnot thrown one touchdown.
“Ricks has been in the system for two or three years,” said SouthernUniversity head coach Pete Richardson. ”He established himself in the championship game last year and built upconfidence. I think the players understand that this is his football team now.”
“It’s just a matter of him going out and doing what he has to do,”Richardson said.
As the Jaguars went 12-1 last season and won the 2003 Black CollegeNational title in the conference, Ricks played second fiddle to Quincy Richardlast season. But if there are doubts that Ricks can’t live up to last season’steam, he is ready to dispel them. He thinks that he can and will try to do whatever is necessary to helpthe Jags win.
“Quincy Richard was Quincy Richard last year,” he said. “They didn’t expect him to do too much.They didn’t expect us to come out with a decent team. He did his job and did it well, but he has his own style andat the same time I am going to have my own style.”
