Cottonwood's Cate commits to LSU

Cottonwood's Alex Cate has always dreamed of playing in a major college football conference, and on Sunday that dream became a reality.

Cate verbally committed to LSU Sunday evening following a busy week last week that included visits to Oklahoma State, Nebraska, LSU and Arizona. LSU is one of the premier programs in the SEC, and was a co-national champion with USC two years ago.

"The main reason were the coaches," said Cate, who will be a senior at Cottonwood beginning this fall. "I felt real comfortable with the coaches. They were real nice."

Les Miles took over as the new LSU head coach in January after Nick Saban left the program to become the Miami Dolphins' head coach. In addition to playing for Miles, Cate is excited about the opportunity to play for LSU offensive coordinator Jumbo Fisher.

The trait LSU's coaches like most about Cate is his decisionmaking.

The son of a coach, Cate passed for 3,437 yards and 40 touchdowns while leading the surprising Colts to the 5A state championship game, before coming up short against Davis.

Cate will have enough credits to graduate from Cottonwood midway through the 2005-06 school year, enabling him to enroll at LSU at the beginning of 2006 to begin participating in spring practice.

By his own admission, the 6-foot-2 Cate says he has above average arm strength and average mobility, but he's very good at reading defenses.

His high school coach, Tom Jones, is excited about the prospects of Cate stepping into the SEC.

"He has a great presence, and an outstanding understanding of the game," said Jones. "He makes the right reads, finds the open people. He does things that are amazing to me sometimes."

Cate's parents, Scott and Michelle, accompanied Cate on his four recruiting visits but left the entire decision up to him. Scott Cate has been coaching his son for years, and took over as Cottonwood's offensive coordinator when his son entered the program as a sophomore.

Cate really wanted to make a collegiate decision early so he could focus on his senior season of high school football.

"I didn't want to have to worry about it during the season," said Cate. "We have a good team again this year."

Even though Cate will be the only quarterback LSU offers a scholarship to this year, he's still entering a very competitive situation, one that will no doubt last for a long time.

In addition to sophomore returning starter JaMarcus Russell, freshman Ryan Perrilloux is also entering the mix. Last year's USA Today Offensive Player of the Year, and Louisiana native, Perrilloux originally announced he was going to sign with Texas but changed his mind shortly before signing day.

"I thought it would be fun to go in and challenge myself, and see how I do," said Cate.

With such depth at the quarterback position, Cate seems like a likely candidate to redshirt his first season before competing for the starting job with the Tigers.

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E-mail: jedward@desnews.com