There were so many times UL Ragin’ Cajuns fifth-year senior Rodney Gillis could have folded.

After anterior cruciate ligament knee surgery in 2009, which cost him all of his redshirt freshman season. After another ACL injury in the same right knee, sustained in the spring just like the first one, that cost him all of his would-be sophomore season in 2010.

After playing somewhat sparingly in 2011, once he was finally healthy for his junior season.

Gillis, however, didn’t even consider it.

Not for a nanosecond.

"Quitting never crossed my mind," he said. "My parents (father Rocky and mother Kimberly Gillis) always taught me: Once you start something, you should never quit. Never stop doing something you love.

"I love football more than anything," Gillis added. "That was my biggest motivation."

Now comes the reward.

Gillis will make his first collegiate start Saturday night, playing safety when UL opens its 2012 season against Lamar at Cajun Field.

"It means everything to me," he said. "You know, I’ve been here working five years, working hard."

Notice has been taken, too.

"That’s a lot of character," Cajuns defensive coordinator Greg Stewart said this week. "Because there were a lot of times over the last years that that boy could have said, ‘I don’t want to play.’ "

"He is the perfect example of perseverance. As a coach the last 20 years, I’ve seen a thousand players come and go their first two years — because ‘Aw, I’m not getting to play; I’m still on scout team; I think I’ll just quit,’ " UL head coach Mark Hudspeth added. "But he has stuck it out, has worked hard, continued to develop, and now he’s gonna start in a Division I college football game."

When he does, Gillis — a product of St. Thomas Aquinas High in Fort Lauderdale, where as a senior he had five interceptions on a Florida Class 5A state-title team — will do so with a wealth of knowledge.

It’s been gained over the last four years, mostly while watching and simply soaking things in.

"He’s been in a lot of meetings," Hudspeth said, "so he could practically coach the secondary."

Gillis played last year on special teams and as a reserve in secondary that regularly started Melvin White and NFL-Drafted Bill Bentley on the corners, and Jemarlous Moten and Lionel Stokes at the safety spots.

As he bided his time, the 5-foot-11, 186-pounder learned a lot by listening to then-senior Stokes.

He leaned a lot as well on one of his best friends, then-senior linebacker Devin Lewis-Buchanan.

And now he’s heeding the advice of senior and NFL prospect White, the leader of a unit that is likely to also start Moten as its other corner and former Ole Miss signee Tig Barksdale as its other safety.

"Me not starting and not playing so much last year was just motivation for me to work even harder — just go down that right path, and just keep working," said Gillis, who had nine tackles, including six solo stops, over 11 games during a 9-4 2011 season capped by a New Orleans Bowl win over San Diego State.

"It did get rough at times, but I just try to hang around positive people and keep positive thoughts in my head.

"He (White)," Gillis added, "never lets me get down on myself."

Instead, Gillis focuses on the good things, like finally heading into — despite being banged up a bit during preseason camp — a second straight season with a sound body.

And that goes a long way toward a healthy mind, especially for someone who sat two straight years while nursing the same bad knee.

"I feel as strong as I’ve ever been now," Gillis said. "Fast. I’m moving good. The team has come together, so everything’s coming together."

Almost everything, that is. Because some things, it seems, are just now coming to an end. Like the chapter in a story about a kid who wouldn’t stop coming back until he finally got his start.

"I," Hudspeth said, "almost want to tell every one of those thousands of players that quit, ‘Here you go. This guy did it. You could have too.’ "