4 minute read
BACK TO HIS ROOTS
FORMER PLAYER WILL COACH ON THE SIDELINES
BY HUNTER CLOUD | THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT
FERRIDAY — Devante Scott was in The Natchez Democrat’s 2008 football preview as a player on the Ferriday High School football team. Ferriday’s head coach Cleothis Cummings Jr. was an assistant coach at the time. 14 years later they are coaching alongside each other.
It was an opportunity Scott had waited for in the eight years since he left college. He worked jobs in the oil field and trucking but had always wanted to coach football.
“I had always kept a relationship with him since he coached me here. I supported him when I got out and he was the one I talked to a lot,” Scott said. “He was a mentor to me after getting out of high school. He treated me like family and I was one of the ones who went to him for advice. Cummings was in a position to put me in a position.”
Scott was a four-year starter with the Trojans and played football at CoLin before suffering a knee injury his sophomore year. He was committed to Mississippi State prior to the knee injury but was forced to go to the University of Alabama in Birmingham.
After spending a spring there, he moved closer to home and finished his football career playing two seasons
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with Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. He is second in SELA’s all-time individual receiving yards with 1,064 yards.
Returning to Ferriday, he will be a science teacher at Ferriday Junior High School. Some of the kids know him from playing at Ferriday and saw him play. Others have found his highlights on YouTube from his college years. Now, he has a chance to mentor them like Cummings did.
“It’s a blessing. I tell them ‘You can do the same thing too.’ I just want to mentor and lead these kids in the right direction,” Scott said. “They need someone to show them care and love. If you come out to football that is what you are going to get. We want to teach you life lessons and that is what we try to install in our kids.”
Those life lessons are about being competitive, being solid and holding your teammate accountable. Ferriday’s motto this year is brick by brick because they are building a strong foundation for the program.
Scott is part of their brick by brick as a young coach. He will be the wide receivers and defensive backs coach this season although Cummings is trying to develop him into an offensive coordinator.
Cummings said it will be nice to coach with a former player especially as they transition into a new program.
“There are a lot of things I see when I look at him. It is like I’m looking at another me. He knows what is to be expected,” Cummings said. “He knows the game and he knows life. The important part about him is he gets the culture already. Life got rough on him. He is here now and thank God for him. He is someone we watched as coaches.”
A former player, Scott is aware of the pressure kids experience playing in Ferriday. It is a football crazy town with high expectations. He said they hope to rebound to a strong winning team after a rough 2-7 season last year.
Players will need to block out any negativity from the community and stands this season. They will have to show discipline in practice and stay on the same page as a team. Scott said the players need to be dependable like bricks because the more bricks you have working together the harder it is to break them.
“It needs to be the same way with the community too. Once your town is stronger than everything else gets stronger,” he said.
Scott is already looking forward to the first Friday night of the season when Ferriday plays Richwood on Sept. 2, 2022.
“It is so exciting. I get excited watching the players be kids and having fun. It’s fun watching them do that,” Scott said. “We want to show the town we aren’t one hit wonders. We want to show them we can get back on that same path towards a state championship.”
Devante Scott is a new assistant coach for the Ferriday High School Trojans. He was a former player there under head coach Cleothis Cummings Jr. and is excited about the future of the program.
Devante Scott played college football for Co-Lin and was committed to Mississippi State before suffering a knee injury. He went to UAB for a spring camp and then Southeastern Louisiana University for two seasons.
COURTESY PHOTO | SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA ATHLETICS
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— Sidney Davis
