Celtic, Shawn Loiseau is the kid from Merrimack College, right? They have a fantastic hockey program -- tiny school doing big things in the elite Hockey East.
I watched a little bit of the East/West game online and Mike Mayock was speaking glowingly about him. That was the first time I had seen or read about him...It was amazing, there was a black DT from some school in Canada that was recruited by LSU and weighed like 350 pounds that the DWF's are probably salivating over. Mayock mentioned during the game that he thought the sumo wasn't good enough and wouldn't be worth anything more than a 6th or 7th rounder -- said he was a long range project....About two minutes after saying that, he was throwing huge amounts of praise at the kid from Merrimack -- called him the top defender at practices. Based on what he was saying, I thought he would have a chance to go in the top 5 rounds...a Senior Bowl invite could get him into round 3, we can hope?
P.S: Speaking of Mayock, he was also heaping a ton of praise at the WR from Fresno. Said he was "explosive' and "ankle breaker" on punt returns. That's another guy I hope gets a latter week invite to the Senior Bowl, if there's a roster opening.
Mayock's a fair announcer and there is no denying he has a huge amount of football knowledge. I read an article about him on draftdaddy a while back and mentioned in it was how we was an underdog as an analyst because he wasn't a big name player. So instead of knowledgeable guys like Mike Mayock announcing games we get stuck with babble mouthed idiots like Shannon Sharpe lol.
And ya Akiem Hicks I believe his name was. I'm not buying into the hype there is no way he'll be able to take of his weight and body to have a productive career. Here's a good article about Loiseau, I misspelled his name the first time around.
[h=1]Shawn Loiseau, linebacker star at Division II Merrimack, hopes to make big name at East-West Shrine Game[/h] By
Greg Auman, Times Staff Writer
Greg AumanTampa Bay Times In Print: Friday, January 20, 2012
Shawn Loiseau had never flown on a plane or had a per diem before this experience.
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ST. PETERSBURG — For all the big-time colleges with familiar logos gracing the sides of helmets at the East-West Shrine Game on Saturday night, there is also the obscure blue-and-gold "MC" proudly worn by linebacker Shawn Loiseau of Division II Merrimack College.
For small-school obscurity, it's hard to top Loiseau, who has never played before a crowd of more than 3,000 in his life and hadn't flown in a plane until he took one here.
Coaches have taken to calling him "Rudy," after the Notre Dame walk-on of movie fame, even though this Rudy is 6 feet 1 and 242 pounds, with 254 tackles in the past two seasons.
"It's incredible. My whole life, I've been told I wasn't good enough to play versus these guys," said Loiseau, who didn't have major-college interest coming out of high school in the Worcester, Mass., suburb of Shrewsbury. "It feels great to be surrounded by great players. I'm watching these guys on TV, and now I get to have them as my teammates. I'd never been on a plane. I'm used to 12-hour bus rides for away games. This whole experience is incredible."
Loiseau was a two-time conference player of the year at Merrimack, with an enrollment just more than 2,000 and located in North Andover, Mass. He helped the Warriors
win the Northeast 10 conference in 2009. His college experience is unlike most of the players in St. Petersburg this week, but it was everything he hoped.
"I got told I would play early, win a championship and be surrounded by great guys, and did all three of those things. I couldn't ask for anything more," Loiseau said.
Merrimack never has had a player drafted since launching its program in 1996, but Loiseau is on the NFL radar; there may have been 1,134 fans at his final home game,
but there were also 27 NFL scouts, coach John Perry said.
"One of my biggest things is I never want to be outworked," he said. "No matter what it is, whenever I step on a football field, I never want to be outworked by anybody. I come from a small school, so (Saturday) I just want to go out there, fly around and make plays."
If there's anyone who can appreciate the small-school star, it's East linebackers coach Sam Mills III, who starred at Division II Montclair State, just as his late father, Sam, did before a 12-year NFL
career.
"This is a big week for Shawn. It reaffirms his thinking that he can play with these guys on this level, and it's good for us as coaches to see him play with guys at this level," said Mills, now an assistant with the Carolina Panthers.
"Whenever you get a guy who has that many tackles as he has, you like to bring him here to confirm that there's no transition for him. He's fine."
There are some big transitions for Loiseau this week. His father called with news of 4 inches of snow in Shrewsbury, so Loiseau is the one walking around in a tank top while his Florida teammates are in jackets. And the idea of getting paid to play football — even $150 in walking-around
money this week — is a novelty in itself.
"It doesn't even make sense to me. The thing called 'per diem.' They've got this thing, you show up and they're like, 'Shawn, here's your per diem,' " he said. " 'What is that?' They're like, 'This is money.' I said, '
What do you do with it?' They said, 'You can do whatever you want with it.' "
Loiseau gets a huge spotlight Saturday with a chance to show he belongs, not only with the major-college stars but as an NFL prospect. The early impressions in practice this week have been promising.
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You see his attitude and intensity. Humongous," Mills said. "You see his leadership. He can run with guys, he can tackle. He's a big hitter. Once you get lined up, football is football. You see the guys that make plays. Shawn has shown he's a guy who can make plays."
