Football: Cajun red is the color for UL tight end Tatford

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, December 3, 2015

 

Evan Tatford (middle) and Jordan Wallace (second from right) are recipients of the 2014-15 UL Student-Athlete Award. Presenting the awards are (from left): Wayne Elmore, Chairman of the Ragin’ Cajuns Athletic Foundation, University President Dr. Joseph Savoie and Director of Athletics Scott Farmer.(Photo: Brad Kemp/UL sports information)

 

As he made his way to Cajun Field back in early October of 2012, Evan Tatford felt uncomfortable.

Something just wasn’t quite right, and the then-Tulane Green Wave tight end from St. Thomas More Catholic High knew deep down that he had to rectify the situation.

“Coming in on the visitor bus, through all the crowd, seeing my family there, tailgating and all that kind of stuff, then coming out onto the field, looking up on the home side where my family sits and seeing about five green shirts in the sea of red,” Tatford said, “I kind of knew I was wearing the wrong jersey that day.”

Later, as he stood in the area leading onto the field itself where UL’s Ragin’ Cajuns play, Cajun tight ends coach/recruiting coordinator Reed Stringer happened to walk by.

“He was standing at the top of the tunnel, and he was injured at the time, wearing his stuff,” Stringer recalled, “and he told me this: ‘Coach, this is home to me.’ ”

Stringer knew that.

What he didn’t realize was just what Tatford meant, or what was about to come.

Tatford was UL’s male academic student-athlete of the year for 2014-15, and earlier this week he was accepted into the LSU School of Dentistry in New Orleans.

He’s president of the UL Student-Athlete Advisory committee, and is serving a two-year term as Sun Belt Conference representative to the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.

He mentors two autistic schoolmates as part of the UL LIFE program.

Oh, and he’s a two-year contributor on the field with work in all 11 games this season, two 2015 starts in double-tight end formations for the 4-7 Cajuns and appearances in all 13 games including UL’s New Orleans Bowl win over Nevada in 2014.

“I didn’t think anything about it,” Stringer said of his brief 2012 pass-by with Tatford, “and I got an email after the season and he said he wanted to come and meet with me.”

Tatford had secured his scholarship release from Tulane, and now — after transferring and making everything right in his family’s Cajun-centric world — he’ll walk onto Cajun Field for Saturday’s Senior Day wearing the proper attire before UL plays Troy.

Just like the color of the bow ties and sport coats he rocks for Cajun Walks, red on a Tatford simply seems fitting.

“I’ve loved every single minute of it,” Tatford said of performing for UL-loyal family and friends, even if did mean no football games for a year-and-a-half due to NCAA transfer rules.

“It’s meant the world to me to be able to play for the team I grew up watching through the hard times, through the good times.

“It’s been a great honor,” he added, “to finally be able to put on the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns jersey and helmet and come out on Cajun Field and play in front of my hometown and play in front of people I know.”

Better late than never

Tatford had his shot the first time.

But that was before current Cajuns coach Mark Hudspeth ever coached a game at UL.

“I did grow up watching UL, and under Coach (Rickey) Bustle they weren’t really having a lot of success,” Tatford said, referencing Hudspeth’s predecessor.

“I was here through years where they really did struggle, and I was sitting in the stands with my family watching games, watching a lot of losses.”

That helped the decision to sign with Tulane somewhat simple.

“I kind of had that rebellious mindset of wanting to get away from the family, go off to college and play college football,” Tatford said. “But once Tulane played UL my sophomore year, that’s when I kind of knew this was where I needed to be.”

Tatford played 24 games for the Green Wave from 2011-12, making four starts in 2012 and catching seven passes in all including a 38-yarder against Memphis as a freshman in 2011.

He did so as a tight end, which was another factor in his decision to not sign with UL.

“At that time we didn’t really know who he was,” Stringer said of Tatford, who was one of the first recruits he called after Hudspeth hired him. “We knew he was a big kid, and unfortunately I told him I was gonna recruit him as an offensive lineman. He said, ‘See ya, I’m going to Tulane.’ ”

The 6-foot-5 Tatford weighed about 220 pounds, maybe 225, when he played at St. Thomas More, where he was a first team all-state honoree as a senior and helped the Cougars to a combined 28-9 record and three straight state playoff appearances including two district titles.

With 27 catches for 327 yards and four touchdowns on a team that went to the state semifinals his senior season, Tatford was a tight end through-and-through.

“I’m just trying to fathom having to put on 60 or 70 pounds (to play offensive tackle),” he said, “and I was like, ‘This does not sound fun to me.’ ”

With three catches for the Cajuns last season but none this year, the kicker is that Tatford’s biggest on-field contribution at UL has been as a blocking tight end — an extended offensive tackle, some might say.

‘He’s what you’re looking for’

Junior Nick Byrne, UL’s starting tight end, suggests Tatford is the perfect  teammate.

“Evan’s just one of those guys that if you ask him to do anything for this football team, he’s gonna do it,” Byrne said. “He’s the one dependable guy you know is gonna do his job when he’s out there. He’ll do everything he can for the program.

“He’s always there for you if you need anything. He’s ‘that’ guy. … He’s always hyped during practice, jumping around, getting people energized.”

For as much as he has helped on the field, though, it’s off of it that Tatford really has made his mark at UL.

“He just brings that maturity that rubs off on the younger players,” Hudspeth said. “They see how he conducts himself. He does a great job representing our university.”

“Ever since Evan has been here, he’s been a leader, not only university-wise, but in the community … and as a leader of these guys,” Stringer added. “He’s a leader of men. He has a natural ability to speak to people, and when he speaks people pay attention and listen. It’s an awesome ability to have.”

Not everyone does.

“It’s very rare that you find people that have a natural ability of … being out there in the public and having no sense of fear,” Stringer said. “When he talks he usually is saying something that is pretty smart and … pretty important, so people listen.”

The example Tatford sets is one Stringer wishes all Cajuns would follow, which is to say trying to be “not only a good football player, but a good student, a good person.”

“He’s a good son, a good brother, a good friend,” Stringer said. “That’s the type of people we want in our program.”

It’s a program that’s been ripe with Tatfords.

Tatford’s father Lee, a longtime Lafayette Coca-Cola Bottling division vice president, played football at UL from 1973-76, and his mother Doris attended school there, too.

His brother Regan played football for Army, but brother Jefferies played baseball for the Cajuns and brother Byrnes also played UL football.

Following suit made sense.

When he transferred, though, Tatford did so initially as a walk-on.

“He had to earn his way,” Stringer said. “That didn’t take very long at all. He’s what you’re looking for.”

What perhaps impresses Stringer most, though, is what Tatford overcame to play this season.

Just last January, he underwent reconstructive ACL knee surgery — yet somehow he was ready for UL’s Sept. 5 opener at Kentucky.

“He has not missed a practice or a rep,” Stringer said. “That’s a pretty tough kid.”

Revitalized off the field

When Tatford and Byrne arrived at UL simultaneously early in 2013, Byrne saw someone revitalized by his new surroundings.

“He got back into football,” Byrne said, “and started loving it again.

Perhaps what’s motivated Tatford most to not miss a beat has been his work with UL LIFE, a highly personalized inclusion program — Learning Is For Everyone — designed to help young adults with intellectual disabilities by combining academic, life, and self-advocacy skills with college-level socialization.

Tatford works personally with two autistic students as they take courses to prepare for potential careers and independent living.

He accompanies them to class regularly, and helps with homework and projects.

“That’s been a huge reward,” Tatford said, “and a huge way to just kind of give back.

“Shoot,” he added, “I learn more from them than I do from anyone.”

Really, he does.

“Because they just look at life so wonderfully,” Tatford said.

“I may be having a terrible day, or the day before at practice I did terrible, so I’m down on myself, but they just come in and they just have so much joy, and they don’t let the small things get to them and affect them.

“They just love life, and they just have a great outlook on it,” he added. “That kind of just reminds me to embrace life just like they do, and to love it … and to just keep trucking on.”

Next UL president?

With all that in mind, Hudspeth suggested he could envision Tatford returning to UL in another capacity.

“When Dr. Savoie retires,” the Cajun coach said with reference to university president Joseph Savoie, “he’ll be the next president of the university one day.”

Tatford admits it’s a gig he might someday like to land.

For now, though, dental school awaits.

From teammates to trainers and managers, potential patients hoping for free work already are lining up.

They’re not alone.

“Not only am I gonna let him operate on my teeth, but I have a deal with him,” Stringer said. “I have a 7-year-old, a 4-year-old and a 2-year running around, and they’re all gonna need their teeth looked at.”

Before that happens, Tatford must finish the next step in his education.

Academics shouldn’t prove problematic, but there is something concerning.

“The hardest part is that it’s LSU,” he said.

“We’re so UL that for this next four years of my life having to be an LSU Tiger will be a little tough. … But we’re trying to embrace it.”

As long as he remembers that green and purple are mere bookends to the red in between, everyone in the Tatford family should be quite comfy with life’s little sacrifices.

UL Ragin’ Cajuns tight end Evan Tatford does the UL hand gesture while walking through the tailgating area prior to a game at Cajun Field last season. (Photo: Paul Kieu/File/The Advertiser)