This is all I know about Ward, an article from TR. Ward reflects on LSU commitment By Larry Holder, Special to Tiger Rag Date: Mar 9, 2004 La Marque, Texas junior Clarence Ward has some experience holding up a state championship trophy as he and his Cougar teammates captured the Class 4A, Division II crown in dramatic fashion in December. Ward apparently has a fixation with playing for championship programs and wearing purple and gold jerseys. The 6-1, 175-pound free safety verbally committed Thursday to play college football for Nick Saban and the co-national champion LSU Tigers. Going from one champion to another would be reason enough to attend a school. Ward’s reason was a little simpler. “I’ve been a fan of the school since I was 10 or 11 and I just liked the colors,” Ward said. “Ever since then I knew that’s where I wanted to be.” Ward said he received scholarship offers from LSU, Texas A&M and Missouri and interest from Oklahoma, UCLA, Texas, Arizona, Brigham Young, Northwestern, TCU, SMU and Illinois. Ward said that it’s just a blessing that the school he wanted to go to was just as interested in him as he was in it. “Once (LSU) offered me a scholarship, I just wanted to jump at the opportunity,” Ward said. La Marque head coach Bryan Erwin said Ward’s choice wasn’t a difficult one to make. “He’s always wanted to go there,” Erwin said. “It’s been a dream for Clarence to go to LSU, and it was totally 100 percent what he wanted to do.” Ward’s accolades include first-team Class 4A All-State selection, first-team 23-4A All-District and a member of The Daily News’ All-County defensive first team. “He’s a big-time player who makes big-time plays,” Erwin said. “He had over 100 tackles, five interceptions and four defensive touchdowns. “Every time the ball was on the ground, he was in the picture. We called him ‘The Garbage Man’ because he’s there to scoop up the ball. He’s wherever the ball is.” Ward will probably be under enough pressure with the phrase “defending state champion” in front the Cougars’ name this season. He’ll also be trying to fill the shoes of exiting quarterback Larry Kerlegan as the Cougars’ next signal caller. “I’m not going to be playing too much at free safety this season so I wanted to make the decision now,” Ward said. Erwin said by choosing a college now, that decision won’t be one of Ward’s concerns next season. “It alleviates the pressure of the recruiting process,” Erwin said. “If he wanted to look at other places, I don’t think this would have been the right thing for Clarence to do. But it’s been a lifelong dream to go to LSU.”
Keys info Nick Saban has won some big recruiting battles in the months of January and February since he has been at LSU. Now, he is not even allowing other schools to enter the picture. Saban added his sixth commitment to the Class of 2005 when Port Barre (La.) athlete Chris Keys gave his verbal commitment to the 2004 BCS National Champs. “He went this afternoon and he had a good visit so he committed,” said Port Barre coach Donnie Perron. “That was his No. 1 place he wanted to go.” Keys is a 6-foot-2, 210-pound prospect who plays on both sides of the ball for the Red Devils but projects as a strong safety or outside linebacker at the college level. He earned All-State honors as a safety and he picked up the Offensive MVP award in his district last season. “He is such a good athlete for his size,” Perron said. “He is a leader out there and very aware of what is going on. He has a lot of athletic sense and is almost like a coach out there. He is a tremendous athlete.” Schools from all over have expressed interest in the hard-hitting safety, who sports 4.5-speed, but the offer from Saban was too good to pass up. “He’s gotten a ton of letters and requests for tapes from all over the country,” Perron told The Insiders. “Like most kids he liked the Florida schools and Tulane, and he also liked Ole Miss and Tennessee because they were writing him for a long time. But it’s a done deal now.” Sonny’s View: Nick Saban has to be very excited about getting Chris Keys to commit this early in the recruiting process. Keys is the prototypical safety and just the kind of player Saban wants in his defensive backfield. He has good cover skills for someone his size and he is a big hitter who could easily gain another 10 pounds and still keep his speed. Keys is also a good student who projects as a full academic qualifier.
More on Keys' academics Keys is a four sport star, participating in basketball, baseball, and track , to go along with his prowess on the gridiron. He is a very good student with a 3.0 GPA, and will take his first crack in the SAT in April. What is Keys looking for most of all in a school?
Korte info . The 6-foot-2, 225-pound Korte averaged 11.3 yards per carry in 2003, gaining 1,213 yards on 107 carries with 13 touchdowns. He also caught 11 passes for 199 yards. Korte is the son of former Saints offensive linemen Steve Korte, who was an All-American at Arkansas. "I kind of thought he would go there (Arkansas)," Fontainebleau coach Larry Favre said. "But he and his father met with Coach (Nick) Saban during LSU's junior camp last week. LSU really made a push for him. LSU came after him hard. Not everybody has the opportunity to play for a national champion." Korte has a 2.5 grade-point average and runs the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds, Favre said.
