Crowley High’s (and former Gueydan Bear) Davante Bourque and Kaleb Cormier signed National Letters of Intent to play college football next year at a ceremony held at the school Wednesday. Bourque is headed to Tennessee, While Cormier will play at McNeese State University. On hand for the signing were, seated from left, Connie Bourque, Davante Bourque, Caleb Cormier, Nora Cormier; standing, CHS coach Josh Fontenot, Kirk Landry, Jude Cormier and CHS Principal Jim McKeiver.
Offers began to pour in from colleges across the country and Texas A&M seemed to be the initial winner of the Bourque lottery.
LSU then stepped in and pulled Bourque away from the Aggies not a month after his commitment.
Meanwhile, Tennessee waited in the wings.
And when Bourque suddenly rescinded his commitment to the Tigers last month, the team that had made the initial sales pitch ended up winning the star running back’s services after all.
Bourque made it official yesterday on National Signing Day by signing a binding letter of intent to play for the Tennessee Volunteers.
“You know, they (Vols) made me my first offer in the middle of my junior season,” said Bourque, who is the No. 14-ranked athlete in the country and 191st-ranked player overall by Rivals.com. “They stayed with me through my commitment with Texas A&M and LSU and once I decommitted from LSU, they really came at me hard.”
Bourque gave Tennessee his verbal commitment after his official visit to Knoxville three weeks ago, giving the Vols of Derek Dooley a huge boost in their recruiting efforts.
“When I first saw him on film, I was really excited about his athleticism for his size,” said Tennessee running backs coach Jay Graham of the 6-foot-1, 210-pound Bourque.
“He has great speed and great ability to be elusive in the open field. And he also has power; that’s the thing that I liked about him as a runner. And when I met him, he’s also bigger than I thought he would be.
“The more I got to know him, his mentality, his focus and how much he loves football, that’s a great combination for a player with his type of ability.
“We’re really excited up here for what we have in Davante Bourque.”
A major factor in Bouquets’ decision was his desire to play running back in college. A number of the other schools recruiting him wanted to use the multi-talented athlete at wide receiver.
“We signed him as a running back and that’s what I want him to be for me,” said Graham. “He’s going to get bigger, he’s very strong and he’s capable of playing and playing early.”
Bourque did make one last official visit after giving the Volunteers his verbal commitment. He visited the University of Miami two weeks ago. He had one more trip lined up, but he canceled that visit after the trip to Coral Gables , Fl.
“I had a good time visiting with all the coaches who recruited with me,” said Bourque, who had in home visits with Nebraska , Miami and Ole Miss in the last three weeks. “But the love that Tennessee showed me had them at the top of my list above everybody else.”
Davante is the son of Kirk Landry and Connie Bourque.
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