Some say certain children are born with silver spoons in their mouths. Senior linebacker Dustin Gisclair was probably born with a football in his hands. Gisclair has been around football ever since he was young boy; that’s because Gisclair’s father is Tommy Gisclair, head coach of the South Lafourche Tarpons.

“Growing up around football gave me a love of the game that I’ll always be grateful for,” Gisclair says. “Being around football so much gave me a better understanding of how to be a better player.”

Gisclair says when he was growing up, playing youth football and going to high school practices with his father made him want to be a Tarpon football player when he got older.

“Looking up to the older guys really motivated me to continue playing football when I got to high school,” he says. “I remember that I couldn’t wait till I was older and could put on a Tarpon football jersey.”

When Gisclair started playing for the Tarpons, his father was the defensive coordinator, but Gisclair says he never felt any pressure from him to be a great player.

“When I was playing for him, I loved every second of it,” Gisclair says. “He knew I wanted to play, and he never pushed me too hard.”

In the last regular season game of his senior year, Gisclair tore his Anterior Cruciate Ligament and had to miss the playoffs that year. Most of the schools recruiting him that year lost contact with him except for Nicholls.

“That was devastating, and I didn’t know if I would be able to play again,” he says. “Nicholls stayed with me and gave me an opportunity to play.”

Gisclair was given a partial scholarship to Nicholls after he graduated from high school and has earned his way up to a starting position this year. He says working his way into a starting role on the defense has taught him how to attain the goals he has set for himself.

“It molded me into the man that I am today, and it taught me how to work for what I want,” Gisclair says.

Even before he was a starter, Gisclair got ample playing time his junior year but was once again hampered by an injury where he suffered damage to his knee and missed the playoff game against Furman.

Using the off-season to recover, Gisclair has played in every game this season, is fourth on the team in tackles with 42 and has two forced fumbles.

“I knew that if I could come back from the ACL injury, I could come back from this, and that was all the motivation I needed,” he says.

Playing in a defensive backfield with players such as senior linebacker Cory Vavala, senior defensive back Toney Edison and junior defensive back Jermaine Boggan, Gisclair says he never felt out-shadowed by his teammates and wanted to play whatever role would help the team win.

“I’m a team player, and I did whatever my coaches wanted me to do,” he says. At the end of the day, its about the 11 players on defense working together to win games.”

Vavala says Gisclair has always been the kind of player anyone would want to have on his team.

“He’s a player that you can always count on, and its great to have a person like that on your side,” Vavala says.

Defensive Coordinator Steve Ellis says in his short coaching career he sees Gisclair as one of the greatest defensive players he has coached.

“I almost wish we could have red-shirted him his freshman year so I could have one more year with him,” Ellis says.

When his football career is done, Gisclair says he wants to coach either at Nicholls or someplace that will let him carry on the traditions his father and family passed on to him.

“I want to coach somewhere here, or maybe with my godfather Ed Orgeron at Ole Miss,” he says. “I want to look back on my life and say that I helped guide others the same way that my family and friends guided me.