The Nicholls State University football team restocked their roster for the 2015 season with the addition of eight experienced transfer student-athletes.

Seven of the eight transfers come from a school competing in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Nicholls competes in a level below the FBS in the Football Championship Subdivision.

“A lot of the guys already have ties to the area,” Tim Rebowe, head coach, said. “Our coaches already know these kids through recruiting. It becomes about the relationships we have established in that process.”

One connection that brought these players to Nicholls, from campuses as far away as Utah and as close as Baton Rouge, is home. All but two of the new transfer players played high school football in Louisiana.

The first of the new additions that most fans will notice upon entering John L. Guidry Stadium this fall is 6’6,’’ 330-pound left tackle Jonah Austin. Prior to Nicholls, Austin attended Louisiana State University, where he became the first member of his family to earn a college degree.

“Football is life right now,” Austin said. “After I graduated I decided to transfer here to play, and that keeps me and my daughter happy.”

Austin prepped at St. Augustine High School in New Orleans, which has provided education and athletics for young black men from some of the most crime-affected areas of the city. Austin said he hopes to inspire the youth of the New Orleans to escape the violence around them and focus on education and sports.

“A lot of people don’t make it out from where I’m from,” Austin said. “I have to do something in life with the abilities God gave me and show the kids in my city the potential that football has for them.”
Joining Austin on offense are wide receivers C.J. Bates, Charles Henderson, Jarell Rogers, Daijuan Stewart and running back Altee Tenpenny.
If that last name sounds familiar to some, there is good reason. Tenpenny was the top-ranked player coming out of the state of Arkansas and signed with the University of Alabama. Tenpenny has two years of eligibility at Nicholls.

The Colonels made one addition to the defense via the transfer route, bringing cornerback Jeff Hall back to Southeast Louisiana after the Reserve native spent two years playing for the University of Colorado.

“It’s a great feeling being home,” Hall said. “My family is forty minutes down the road, so they can see every scrimmage and game. That was a big factor for me.”

The last name mentioned in this article is one that any college baseball fan is undoubtedly sure to know.

On Sunday, March 25th 2012, while playing centerfield for LSU, Chris Scambria chased after a fly ball in the centerfield of Auburn University’s Plainsman Park. The Baton Rouge native leapt for the ball, rolled onto his back and slid into the wall neck first. He suffered two non-displaced fractures in the C-1 vertebrae of his neck.

Sciambra recovered 100 percent and went on to hit a memorable walk-off homerun against the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in the first game of the Baton Rouge Super Regional last season. Sciambra is using his last year of college eligibility to win a job of place-kicker, punter or kickoff specialist for the Colonels.

Along with playing closer to home, these transfer student-athletes all echoed the sentiment of being “All In” for Nicholls and buying into coach Rebowe’s “Renew Movement”.

“There would be no better feeling than to start a winning tradition here,” Bates said.