Perfect fit

 

[rl]

AUBURN, Ala. | Dual-threat quarterbacks have excelled in Gus Malzahn's offense.

Cam Newton led the Tigers to a perfect season and BCS Championship in 2010. Three years later, Nick Marshall brought Auburn an SEC Championship and within seconds of another National Championship.

Lowell Narcisse hopes to follow in their footsteps. The 2017 quarterback from St. James (La.) High committed to Auburn Monday.

"I think Auburn is getting a perfect fit in what they do offensively," St. James coach Dwain Jenkins said. "He's a perfect for Coach Malzahn's offense -- a guy who can pass and run equally as effectively. He's a big kid at 6-3 and probably 210 now. He's been extremely productive his first two years and has all the intangibles to be extremely productive quarterback on the college level.

"He's got those things you can't measure. The way he carries himself, he has that air about him that he's confident he can make plays but he also does a good job of getting guys to play well around him."

Narcisse threw for 3,127 yards and 31 touchdowns and rushed for 1,402 yards and 18 more touchdowns as a sophomore. He's already accounted for 88 touchdowns in two years as a starter.

"He's impossible to defend because he's patient enough to take what the defense gives him," Jenkins said. "If you decide to drop eight into coverage, he's going to tuck the ball and run. If you try to put pressure on him, he'll give the team an opportunity to hurt somebody being able to pass the ball deep down the field. He's also shown the ability to control the game with his arm and pass the ball efficiently and effectively against teams that sit in zone coverage. He can pick them apart.

"In the second round of the playoffs this past year, he had a 24-for-31 game and he threw for 387 yards and five touchdowns, and he did that after spending the whole week prior to that in a walking boot and not practicing because he had injured his ankle. The week before he rushed for over 200 yards."

Narcisse, rated the nation's No. 56 overall prospect in the 2017 class, chose Auburn over LSU and a dozen other offers.

"He really sat down and weighed out what the pros and cons were," Jenkins said. "He didn't hide the fact that he grew up an LSU fan and he loves LSU and I think Coach (Cam) Cameron and Coach (Les) Miles did a great job recruiting him.

"But when he sat down and really look at what his future would hold and what gave him the best opportunity to reach some of the goals he set for himself, I think Coach (Rhett) Lashlee and Coach (Gus) Malzahn did a great job recruiting him and making him feel comfortable. He saw that as a place where he could go and be comfortable, grow as a man and have a great opportunity to reach the goals he's set for himself in football."

Jenkins expects LSU to continue to recruit Narcisse but there are some good early signs he'll be sticking with Auburn.

"He's already started contacting guys that are on Auburn's radar and that they're recruiting and I know they've been talking," Jenkins said. "There's some 2016 and 2017 guys he's been talking to. I know he's trying to get them committed as well."

Narcisse will miss his junior season after tearing the ACL in his knee during his spring game and undergoing surgery. He plans to be back 100 percent for his junior year and then graduate in December. He's on track to enroll at Auburn in January of 2017.

"From all indications he's ahead of schedule," Jenkins said. "As soon as the injury happened and we knew he needed surgery, we went ahead and tried to eliminate any thought of him playing this year. We didn't want him to try and stress to get back by a certain date but to really take the season off and make sure he's healthy.

"The last thing we want to do as a staff in high school, and me personally, is put him in a situation where his future could be put in jeopardy."

Narcisse's Sophomore Highlights