Senior Spotlight: Julien Gums

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Running back and Interdisciplinary Studies major Julien Gums is going into his fifth year as a Colonel and has been very productive in his time at Nicholls State University. Gums’ resume includes: 2020-21 All-Southland Second Team, 2019 All-Southland First Team, 2019 All-Louisiana Second Team, and 2019 HERO Sports FCS Sophomore All-America honorable mention. In addition to his already captured awards, Gums was named to the 2022 Stats Perform FCS Walter Payton Award Watch List. 2022 is also the year Gums could break a few of the university’s records.

Julien Gums started his football journey at an early age. Gums played on youth teams in New Orleans, his first team being the Easton Playground Rhinos.

“I’ve been playing football since I was five,” Gums said. “Some of my relatives [were] into it and I just continued to play.”

After his youth football career, Gums went on to play high school football at De La Salle. Gums started his Junior and Senior years as a quarterback and led De La Salle to an 11-1 record and LHSAA DII Championship, the school’s first in 56 years. In his senior year, Gums had his most productive season with 1,181 pass yards, 13 pass touchdowns, 1,203 rush yards, and 15 touchdowns on the ground. Coming out of high school, Gums was rated as a two-star prospect by 247 Sports.

 

Gums would find himself at Nicholls in 2018 after high school and was switched to a full-time running back as a freshman.

“The biggest [gift] they’ve [Nicholls] given to me is an offer. Coming out of high school, I didn’t have any offer,” Gums said. “[Nicholls] was the only school that gave me a chance to show off my talent.”

As a freshman, Gums made an impact early on with two 100-yard rushing games in his freshman season and a playoff win. His sophomore year, however, turned out to be what many consider his best. In 2019, Gums set both the Nicholls single-season rushing yardage record with 1,232 yards and the single-season touchdowns record with 16 rushing touchdowns. Gums was also instrumental in the school’s first-round playoff win against the University of North Dakota, running for 172 yards on 16 rushes.

“Thing I learned most about [at Nicholls] is being coachable, learning the plays, and outcomes of those plays,” Gums said.

Like many college players, Gums dreams about playing professionally and has taken inspiration from Jonathan Taylor and Saquon Barkley, who have become established running backs in the NFL to get himself there. After his football career, Gums has a big focus on his family and maybe starting his own down the road.

Gums will have the chance to break the career rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, and total touchdowns records in the Colonel’s upcoming game against Jacksonville State.