Even his name — Harry Coleman — does not sound like that of a football player. It sounds more like he is a plumber from Toledo. Then there's his hometown of Baldwin, which is near Franklin on Highway 90 between Lafayette and Baton Rouge. It has not exactly been a pipeline of LSU football players over the years. And there's his high school, West St. Mary, which only opened in the last decade and claims him — Harry Coleman — as its first Division I football player.

But there he was — Harry Coleman — at the BCS national championship game — an unexpected conquering hero in LSU's 38-24 win over Ohio State on Jan. 7. And he may be in the starting lineup at strong safety when LSU opens the 2008 season against Appalachian State on Aug. 30. But here's the real surprise. Coleman has been around LSU for years. He first signed at LSU in 2004 and has been on campus since January of 2005. He redshirted in the fall of 2005, played special teams in 2006 and started to surface on the field in 2007. In the last two seasons, he was an All-American backup, or, to put it more correctly, a backup to All-American safeties LaRon Landry, then Craig Steltz. Read the rest of the story from Shreveport Times


LSU's Harry Coleman (43) stepped in and delivered a key
play in the national championship victory over Ohio State.