JENNINGS (KATC) – Jennings head football coach Rusty Phelps once told Travis Etienne, a guy who scored 50 times for him as a high school running back, that the only way he could get his picture on his office wall was to do something special. Before Monday night Travis’s photo still wasn’t there, but the coach admitted Tuesday he might have to put him up there now.
Etienne was at the center of Clemson’s national championship run this year. He rushed for 1,658 yards, and 24 touchdowns this season. He score three times in Clemson’s 44-16 win over Alabama Monday.
Etienne, a sophomore at Clemson, is the second player in Phelps’s 25-year career to win a national championship, Alonzo Manuel won one at LSU in 2004 under Nick Saban.
Phelps said Monday students were encouraged to wear orange in support of their former classmate. Phelps expressed excitement for Travis, but also for the entire Jennings community.
“You know I’m so happy for him. I’m happy for our school, our community,” he said Tuesday. “The support Travis has here he kind of put a small town sitting on the side of the highway on the map. Every Saturday you cut it on and watch the pregame show during the week and they’re talking about Jennings, Louisiana or Jennings High School, it’s a great moment for us.”
