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Football: Emerging superstarTim Buckley, The Advertiser, August 28, 2012 <!–individual: 19 numChar :2253
–><!–individual: 33 numChar :2026 –><!–individual: 46 numChar :2107 –><!– TOTAL ELEMENTS IN ARRAY: 57 TOTAL CHARACTERS IN ARRAY: 7402 TOTAL CHARACTERS IN PAGES: 6386 LAST PAGE CONTAINS: 1016 –> When he was a little guy, even before kindergarten, Javone Lawson would run. And run some more. And more beyond that. Then he’d put up his tiny paws, and hope for the best. "I used to go out in our front court with my uncle almost every day," said Lawson, who hails from the Harvey area on the West Bank of New Orleans. "He’d throw it up, I’d catch it. I’d go long, he’d throw it at me, and I’d do the best of my ability to catch the ball." Over, and over, and over again. When he playing pee-wee ball, too, Lawson was always the one pulling in passes, whether lined up at receiver or out of the backfield at wingback. Over the years, all that practice paid off. Big-time. Now integral to UL’s spread offense, an NFL prospect heading into a senior year that starts Saturday night at home against Lamar, Lawson is coming off a 2011 junior season in which he had 63 receptions for 1,092 yards and eight touchdowns. That includes nine catches for 193 yards, the fourth-highest single-game reception yardage total in UL history, and two TDs during the Cajuns’ New Orleans Bowl win over San Diego State. And it ranks as the fourth-best single-season catch count and fourth-best yardage total in school history, both behind those posted in three mid-to-late 1990s seasons by longtime NFL receiver Brandon Stokley. Yet Lawson, listed at a perhaps generous 6-foot-1 and 183 pounds, still is something of a little guy — or at least no bigger than many who do best at the next level what he does rather terrifically now. Not that he sees the knock as any sort of barrier that will prevent him from playing on Sundays. "I don’t think it’s an issue," Lawson said. "Coming up, I was always undersized. So I just go out there and play football how I play football, and let it just come to me." Size aside, Lawson isn’t even the fastest receiver on his own team. Yet he somehow compensates comfortably for both. Credit for that precision route running and work habits on display in full force the last few weeks. "To me, Javone has practiced probably at a higher level than any wide receiver I have ever coached — anywhere," said Cajuns head coach Mark Hudspeth, who previously coached receivers for two years at Mississippi State and coordinated the offense for one season at Navy. "He has come to practice every day to improve. If you watch his work ethic, if you watch the way he is trying to run routes to set up defensive backs, the way he’s coming back framing balls up, just absolutely striving to make plays every time he’s on the field, you can see why he has developed, to me, into one of the best receivers. "I think he’s the best receiver in the Sun Belt," Hudspeth added, "and I think he’s one of the best receivers in (NCAA) Division I college football." Hudspeth, though, seems to sense Lawson may have to prove some pro doubters wrong. But he doesn’t see the question of speed getting in the way of Lawson fast-tracking, whatsoever. "His speed is pretty deceiving," the Cajuns coach said. "He’s fast. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him get caught. He’s got game speed. "But he is a technician with his routes. He knows how to utilize leverage and get open. He’s just a target. "When (Cajuns quarterback) Blaine (Gautier) steps back there," Hudspeth added, "Blaine has got a ton of confidence throwing the ball his way — and quarterbacks always throw the ball better to a receiver they have confidence in than to a receiver they don’t." Lawson’s route-running skills were honed, pre-K ad pee-wee days aside, during his time at Harvey-Helen Cox High. There, he was an All-Metro New Orleans pick playing on a team coached by Willie Brooks. "I try to have good route technique, and catch every pass that comes my way," said Lawson, who had 71 catches for 821 yards and 19 touchdowns as a senior at Helen Cox. "I picked that up in the early years in high school. Coach just beat it into me — told me to have good route technique, because, you know, I’m not faster than everybody either. "So that’s just what I’m living by. I just put my all into it, and go out there and make plays, and whatever happens happens." Plenty has happened for Lawson over a rather short time frame at UL. In 2009, he played in 12 games at receiver and on special teams — and was the only true freshman not to redshirt that year. As a sophomore in 2010, he started the season’s first six games — and missed the next six due to a broken collar bone. Then Lawson came to life last year, earning first-team All-Sun Belt honors after ranking second in the conference in receiving yards and becoming just the third player in school history, joining Stokley and Fred Stamps, with 1,000-plus in the same season. It wasn’t exactly out of nowhere. But it wasn’t totally expected, either. Especially not in the first season of a coaching staff change, with Rickey Bustle and most of his assistants out, and Hudspeth in with Jay Johnson coordinating the Cajun offense and Jorge Munoz working with the receivers. "I just feel like the coaches, the offensive coordinator and the head coach, put me in position to make the plays I’m capable of making," said Lawson, who also credits Gautier for his throws to spots where they can be caught. "It just kind of happened," he added. "I didn’t know what type of offense we were gonna be in. "» I knew we were gonna be able to spread, throw the ball. But I didn’t know we were gonna be so explosive." And now Lawson and the Cajuns, who went 9-4 in 2011, are counting on big sparks happening again. Having much more depth at receiver than they did last year should go a long way in that regard. "I don’t think there’s any pressure at all with the receiving corps we have," Lawson said. "We have players that go out there and make plays. We have people coming off the bench who are going to make plays." And that very depth could put opponents in a pickle. If they double-team Lawson, open arms — including those of fellow 2011 starters Harry Peoples and Darryl Surgent — await. "Just having us three out on the field together — we all just help each other," said Peoples, who had 58 catches himself last season. "Most teams know how deep we are at receiver, so I don’t think they’ll double Javone much. They probably will some, but if they do we have Surg (Surgent), we have (Tulane transfer) Devin Figaro, we have Jamal Robinson, we have myself, we have (tight end) Ian Thompson, we have (tight end) Jake Maxwell." That’s not to mention James Butler, who is back after missing last season with ACL surgery, or Northwestern State transfer Bradley Brown. Both are listed as backups on the UL depth chart heading into Saturday, with Butler behind Surgent and Brown behind Peoples while Lawson has Robinson behind him. All of which, as Lawson sees it, should make his life easier in 2012. "It’s not a burden on me," he said. "We have other players in this offense." The Cajuns have so many receivers, it could mean Lawson’s numbers take a bit of a hit this year. But he’s OK with that, if it’s indeed the case. "I don’t have a problem with coming off and letting someone else go in and make plays," the senior said. "I think we’ll be fine." Not that Lawson doesn’t love to make plays. That, actually, is what he does best. "I don’t set goals and all that for myself. I just go in and play the game, and whatever happens happens," he said. "I try to make the best of every play. Every pass thrown my way, I try to make the best play I can make."
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