Louisiana QB Douglas Part of Home-School Football Movement

Stevie Douglas is a diamond in the rough – with the accent on “rough.”

Despite playing quarterback for a home-school football team in Louisiana, the 6-foot-4, 190-pound junior is making inroads toward earning a Division I college scholarship.

Douglas, who lives in Clinton, is beginning his sixth year as the starting quarterback for the Baton Rouge Christian Patriots. Last year – when the team was winless in nine games against its toughest-ever competition – Douglas completed 73-of-195 passes for 647 yards and four touchdowns in a run-oriented offense. He also threw 10 interceptions.

When he was in eighth and ninth grade, though, his team compiled a combined 14-3 record and twice won the championship in the Louisiana Christian Schools Athletic Association.

Still, it isn’t easy when close to half of his team graduates every year – and almost none of the newcomers have played football before. Therefore, he not only has to work hard to improve his own talents, but by necessity also must fulfill a major coaching role.

“It’s really hard,” Douglas told MaxPreps. “My spring training is teaching those (new) guys from the ground up. Our coaches do a great job, but I also coach a lot. To a degree, it’s burdensome, but football is an 11-man sport and just how it has to be. I could get frustrated or take advantage and try to be a leader.”

This year’s team has 20 players and a 10-game schedule. For the first time, three of the players are not home-schooled. It has no home field, so games are spread around the Baton Rouge area. Opponents include several teams from the Mississippi Private School Association. Crowds range from 150 to 500.

Douglas is optimistic about the 2009 campaign, which opens Friday against Wilkinson County Christian Academy, because he’ll be protected by his best-ever offensive line, which averages 250 pounds. He also has a very talented sophomore running back, Ronald Brown (5-6, 175), whom he calls “our wonder man. On paper we look really good.”{VIDEO_1a404f5c-f6f7-43fc-bc92-c667f809e0e2,floatRightWithBar}

Stevie’s father, Steve Douglas, a former college player and high school coach, is the Patriots’ head coach. Though each player must pay $250 to compete (includes insurance, etc.), Steve Douglas foots the bill for most of the team expenses. He also does all the scheduling and is the trainer because, as his son puts it, “He’s the only one who knows how to tape ankles. We wouldn’t be where we are without him.”

The senior Douglas noted that home-school football is “really starting to catch on here – there are 8,000 home-schooled students in Louisiana. There probably will be more in the future. I think it’s going to continue to grow. It’s probably not the best way to get publicity (for a scholarship), but it’s more for teaching the Christian world view.”

Steve Douglas, who put a nerf football in his son’s hands five minutes after he was born, has done everything he can to direct him toward a college football career. That means sending him to every camp and combine that he can find to achieve maximum exposure.

The big one so far has been the Dave Schuman National Underclassmen Combine in Baton Rouge. He played so well that he earned sophomore MVP honors over many more experienced players.

“I hoped to go out, do a good job and get a good 40 time,” he said of his combine expectations. “The last thing they announced was the combine MVP. I hadn’t won the quarterback MVP and I wasn’t paying any attention, because I knew it wasn’t me.”

Needless to say, he was shocked when he was named overall combine MVP in the sophomore class.

Director Dave Schuman told MaxPreps, “I didn’t know anything about him. I was actually surprised he was home-schooled. He was spectacular in individual and one-on-one passing drills. He has amazing footwork. He has a spectacular delivery and gets it out of his hands very quickly and on a rope.

“He looks very polished. He is one of the best quarterbacks I saw all year long in his grade and I saw 15,000 players this year. He’s an unbelievable player and is a big-time Division I prospect.”

In his situation, Douglas quickly concedes, “The best way to get publicity is to attend camps and combines and talk to the coach yourself.”

Therefore, he’s already attended camps at Mississippi, Vanderbilt, Southeastern Louisiana and LSU. He also has taken an unofficial visit to Wake Forest.

At the nearby LSU camp, offensive coordinator Gary Crowton “was very encouraging,” Douglas recalled, even though he played with an injured ring finger on his passing hand.

His desire this year actually was to play for a regular school for the first time in his life, but it didn’t happen. Nearby Clinton will not accept home-schooled athletes. He also approached Christian Life Academy, but state rules would force him to sit out his junior year because he does not live within the school’s boundaries.

“I was really interested,” Douglas said of his attempts to play for a school team. “It was frustrating, because a lot of coaches ask if I can compete at a higher level.”

He has received correspondence from such colleges as UCLA, Hawaii, Memphis, Alabama, Mississippi and LSU, but the big question always lingers about his competition.

He carries a 3.65 GPA and needs just eight more credits over the next two years to earn his high school diploma. He’ll also be taking some college courses before he graduates.

Meanwhile, the talented teenager will continue to work with his private coach, Don Griffin, who operates Don Griffin’s 18:21 Skills Camp.

When he first met Douglas, one and one-half years ago, Griffin “immediately noticed his great gifting and potential, but he was raw. He needed a little tweaking. During instructions, he always said, ‘yes, sir’ and he could execute. He listens so well and would do it on the next repetition. He has a great ability to translate information. He also has the ability to self correct.

“Footwork was first. It’s the most important thing for the quarterback – feet are everything. He’s gained greater control of where to place his feet.

“A lot of kids are interested in throwing with a lot of velocity. He has bought into throwing under control and working on fundamentals. I’ve watched him mature. Now strength is coming and he throws the ball on a rope – bam – and it’s right where it needs to be.”

Most of all, Griffin loves his protégé’s “coachability. Sometimes I have to run him off the field. He did a two-hour high school workout in unbelievable heat (103 degrees) and then asked to be in my drills. I just had to stop drilling (after about an hour) and say, ‘Stevie, get off the field and get out of the heat!”

On another occasion the teenage workhorse drove 50 miles right after competing in a camp at Southeastern Louisiana to take part in Griffin’s drills at 5 p.m.

Griffin estimates that he’s forced Douglas to leave workouts “four or five times. A lot of that is work ethic, but if somebody wants him to stay late (and throw to them), he just wants to serve. We work very, very hard. The quarterback throws 300 balls.

“It’s a joy to coach a kid like that. He has such an engaging way about him. He can tell his peers what to do and they receive it. Everybody loves Stevie. He’s a natural leader.”

Douglas returns the compliment. He says Griffin “really has helped me progress as a quarterback. He’s helped me a ton.”

Though Griffin concedes that Douglas “will have some catching up to do (as a collegian),” he predicts, “He’ll be a solid Division I kid. He can go as high as he wants to. He’s going to work and work and he’ll rise to whatever level he plays. I think he can play with the big boys. He has no idea how good he is.”

Home-School Football Hotbeds

Home-school high school football is not well known around the United States, but it is beginning to emerge from the shadows.

There actually is a small “hotbed” based in the Atlanta, Ga., metro area with eight teams making up the Glory For Christ Football League. Four of them are strictly home-school teams and four are private Christian schools which allow home-schooled players to participate.

The potential pool is large because an estimated 100,000 students are home-schooled in Georgia.

Director Hank St. Denis started the program seven years ago as the Georgia Football League. He told MaxPreps there are an estimated 400 players participating this fall. They represent the cities of Cartersville, Canton, Dalton, Buford, Conyers, Marietta (two teams) and Roopville.

The first year he had just one team, but the league ballooned to eight the very next year. He estimates that the league has produced “around 10” players who since have participated in college football at some level.

“The talent level has improved greatly,” he said proudly. “A few come from high school programs to play with us.”

St. Denis says his program is necessary after athletes out-grow the younger recreational leagues “because the Georgia high school association doesn’t allow home-schooled players to play for public high schools. In high school, all kids want to play sports. Football is a huge draw in the state of Georgia. A lot of parents ended up putting their kids in public schools just to play football.

“We provide an (alternate) opportunity. We knew some kids wanted to go above and beyond (to earn college scholarships). We’ve seen kids make themselves into top-level athletes because the opportunity was there.”

St. Denis believes that Maryland and Virginia have enough teams to form a combined eight-team league of their own.

Last year, St. Denis started the National Home-School Football Association Tournament, which was held at Panama City Beach, Fla. There were five high school and three JV-middle school entries.

At the high school level, teams came from Springfield, Mo., Richmond, Va.; Baton Rouge, La., Canton and Buford, Ga. Springfield won the title and St. Denis believes it boasted “four or five college prospects.”

This year’s national tourney will return to Panama City Beach, Fla., and will run from Nov. 18-22. St. Denis hopes to have entries from Michigan, Missouri, Georgia, Virginia and Louisiana. He also is inviting teams from Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin.

“I would dearly love to have the top 16 teams in the country,” he said. “We would end up playing three or four games and staying for a week.”

As for the future, he added, “I don’t expect a great explosion, but I see it continuing to expand. A lot of private schools are starting up. They’ll all have that need for sports.”