Proving Ground: Louisiana Line Camp has become essential for growth across state

by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor

Mike Stant was a standout offensive lineman at Brother Martin who signed with Nicholls State and played four years for the Colonels.

It was during his collegiate career when the Louisiana Line Camp originated in 1987, an event designed to bring quality instruction to the state for offensive and defensive linemen.

During his time at Nicholls, Stant witnessed the birth of the camp that later counted his younger brother Pat (a former Tulane standout) among its alumni for a camp that’s regularly hosted more than 700 campers in recent years.

“The first year there were 50 or 60 campers,” said Stant, who enters his seventh season as offensive line coach at St. Paul’s in Covington. “Coach (Kenny) Ferro always wanted to have a camp for linemen so they could get better. He worked diligently for years to get the camp to what it is.”

Stant will bring 25 of his players when the 37th Annual Louisiana Line Camp begins its four-day run at Nicholls State on June 14-17. 

With more than 60 coaches expected to provide instruction, including former college and NFL guru Pete Jenkins and NFL Hall of Famer Kevin Mawae, the camp will provide high school players with lessons on stance, leverage, steps, and pass protection for offensive linemen.

Defensive linemen also receive expert instruction in the area of pass-rush techniques.

“The quality of the camp is why we’re in this situation,” said Don Rodrigue, one of the camp’s forefathers and entering his 37th season. “That’s why we grow. The quality and integrity of what we teach and how it’s being taught. It’s why people want to come.”

Rodrigue said in the days leading up to the start of the camp this year’s event at Nicholls would host 750-plus high school players ranging from freshmen to seniors. There was also a waiting list to attend the camp where Jenkins, a veteran of 45-plus years of coaching, will be on hand along with Mawae and current New Orleans Saints defensive line coach Bo Davis.

“We want to take a high school kid, we don’t care if he’s a freshman or a five-star, he’s going to be treated the same way,” Rodrigue said. “We want to teach him how to use his hands as well as his feet, go back to his school, and keep on getting better. 

“The motto was to get a kid, teach him technique, get him better at his craft,” Rodrigue said, “so that he could go back and make himself better and make his high school program better.”

Former Catholic High-Baton offensive line coach Matt Shelton, who recently became the school’s athletic director, has long been a firm believer in the camp’s lasting effects. 

He said the Bears will have a total of 50 players who are either linemen, linebackers, or tight ends participating in the camp.

“There isn’t anything like it for lineman on either side of the ball,” said Shelton, who will still attend the camp to watch his son and has been replaced by Dillon Farrell. “This is a work camp. It’s a camp to get better, not to show off. We think it’s so important for what we do that we’ve got to bring all of our guys. We believe it’s an important part of what we’re doing in our program.”

Rodrigue said the camp’s numbers or the byproduct of campers preserving through Louisiana’s heat in June to improve and help their respective teams in the postseason.

The camp is now home to players who will travel this year from Boston. 

“When a coach from Texas comes for the first time and he sees the quality of what’s going on, the work being done, and after we finish the practices and going to the meetings with video,” Rodrigue said of evening video sessions conducted by Jenkins, Mawae and Mark Songy. “They go, ‘Wow, you can’t get this anywhere.’ And the kids go back to their school, say a few keywords, and are doing it (techniques) because they learned at the camp.”

Catholic and St. Paul represent schools that have annually attended the camp, sending their interior lineman for more than expert instruction.

There’s also a sense of chemistry that’s developed over the course of the camp which includes eight practice sessions and 64 separate drill periods.

“It’s Thibodaux in the summer,” Shelton said. “It’s so worth it for our kids and the results speak for themselves. Not just for us, but the teams that are there every year. There are teams that are contenders in multiple states. 

“There are so many fundamentals that are different,” Shelton said. “At Parkview, we were a flexbone team. It’s not the same fundamentals we were doing. E.D. White’s a flexbone team and has a big group of kids there every year. Your kids get to bond, they get to work with other coaches and see how it is to work with different people, be with different kids from other schools.”

Catholic and St. Paul represent the high end of participants in this year’s camp but schools such as St. Amant (31), Thibodaux (28), John Curtis (25), Vandebilt Catholic (24), Prairieville (24), North DeSoto (24), Holy Cross (22), Dutchtown (22), Denham Springs (15-16), St. Augustine (12-15) and Loreauville (10) will be well represented.

Aledo High will be among a couple of schools from Texas taking part in the camp.

“It’s such a great experience for the kids,” Shelton said. “They’re going through some tough times, some adversity, and they’re going through it together and it makes it worth it.”

Shelton shared a camp-related story that warmed his heart. He enjoyed dinner in February with former Catholic High offensive lineman Conner Finucane, who completed his playing career at Army and was leaving the following day to report to Ft. Benning, Ga. to embark on the start of his military career.

“We told stories for 20 minutes about the lineman camp,” Shelton said. “He’s been through everything you can imagine and about to go through more in the Army. He still talks about his days at the lineman camp and what that meant to him and the experiences he had. You can’t duplicate that. It’s a great experience.”

When Stant joined the staff of head coach Ken Sears at St. Paul’s, he took a handful of players to the camp and encouraged Sears and his son Kenny, the team’s offensive coordinator to come take a look for themselves.

“It’s been a rite of passage for our guys ever since,” Stant said. “He (Ken Sears) stood in the middle of the practice field watching the offense and then the defense. Then he walked around and said, ‘OK this is part of the program now.’ 

“We take a lot of pride in what we do,” Stant said. “This a place where you can go and get taught the same thing differently and sometimes it works out better. Our guys come back with different drills every year. We can do things they believe make them better. For us, it’s a major part of our development.”

Because of the level of talented players, Stant said the camp provides a gauge for his players going into the season. It’s also helped transform the program’s mindset to one that prides itself on being able to run the football and stop the run.

“The seniors come together and work hard on the things we’re going to see throughout the year,” he said. “You’re going to see the best offensive and defensive linemen in the state. It’s basically where young boys go to play with men. It’s not an easy place to go. 

“It’s very demanding and for our guys, they come back ready to go,” he said. “We’ve really been able to run the football on the back of this camp. The program is built around physicality. The lineman camp means a lot in building that philosophy.”