MISSOULA, Montana — Frank Scelfo knows quarterbacks.
And the quarterbacks the Southeastern Louisiana head coach and his Lions bring to Missoula have impressed him so far this season during the third playoff appearance in SLU history.
After spending 15 years as a high school coach, Scelfo joined his younger brother Chris’s staff at Tulane in 1996. Between that first season and 2006, Scelfo helped mentor NFL Top 50 draft picks like Shaun King, Patrick Ramsey and J.P. Losman. During his two seasons at Arizona, Scelfo helped coach Nick Foles years before Foles went on to win a Super Bowl MVP with the Philadelphia Eagles.
During a three-year stint in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Scelfo coached former first-round draft pick Blake Bortles.
That consistent string of quarterbacks also helped Scelfo, more about Southeastern Louisiana. During those years in Tulane, the Scelfo brothers helped orchestrate the Manning Passing Academy with former New Orleans Saints quarterback Archie Manning and, sometimes, his All-Pro quarterback sons Peyton and Eli Manning. The camps were held at Southeastern Louisiana’s stadium.
And the influx of talent at quarterback at SLU has been key to the Lions’ return to the playoffs for the first time since 2014 and the third time ever.
Chason Virgil threw for 445 yards and three touchdowns last week to help SLU rally from a 17-point deficit for a 45-44 win over No. 8 Villanova. The former Fresno State transfer — he threw for nearly 2,900 yards and started 14 games for the Bulldogs — earned All-Southland Conference honors by throwing for 3,355 yards and 21 touchdowns this season.
He’s also helped lead the Lions to eight wins and a berth in the Round of 16 in the FCS Playoffs. SLU plays at No. 6 Montana on Saturday afternoon.
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“He got here about the same time I did about a year and a half ago,” said Scelfo, who most recently was the offensive coordinator at Texas-San Antonio before taking his first college head coaching job at the age of 60. “Chason played well as a junior but he was up and down. We were going through a culture change around here and he was caught inside of it. He wasn’t sure how to handle it.
“But when the season was over with last year, we finished 4-7 and he took control of our football team. He took control of the locker room. He started making his move into spring and really did such a great job commanding this team, stepping up and holding people accountable and being a leader for us.”
That leadership is also reflected in Virgil’s wiliness to split snaps. In the off-season, Scelfo brought in a slew of FBS transfers — SLU has a total of 34 transfers on its roster, including 20 with FBS credentials — including Cole Kelley. The 6-foot-7, 260-pound former four-star recruit played in 18 games and started six at Arkansas over the span of two seasons, most memorably leading the Razorbacks to comeback wins over Ole Miss and Coastal Carolina.
Multiple coaching changes led to a change in scenery for the hulking, strong-armed former blue chip prospect.
During the middle of SLU’s 6-3 Southland Conference run, he threw 12 passes against Stephen F. Austin, 24 passes (for 273 yards and a touchdown) against Central Arkansas) and 17 passes against Abilene Christian. But it’s been as a runner out of Wildcat formations in short-yardage situations where he has done his most damage. He has scoed a team-best 10 rushing touchdowns this season.
The big kid, the Arkansas transfer, they use him a little bit more to run it,” Montana head coach Bobby Hauck said. “He’s a big guy. He’s tall but he’s big. He has been a little bit more of a runner. He has 10 (rushing) touchdowns on the season, leads them in touchdowns and he played in the first half last week, didn’t play in the second half.
“Cole has some unique qualities because of his size,” Scelfo added. “We can run it with him more but he’s also an accurate thrower. We give different looks and it forces defenses to prepare for us in two different ways. They are going to have to do that because if they don’t, we are going to take advantage of it.”
Having a four-star recruit serving as a backup has never been a problem this season, Scelfo said. And he credits his quarterbacks for that dynamic.
“They compliment each other,” Scelfo said. “These two guys live together. They room together. They are in the meetings together. They support each other. They are pulling for each other when the other one is on the field. They are both good leaders. They have good qualities about them.”
Looking up and down Southeastern Louisiana’s depth chart, the Lions have a distinctly SEC flavor. It makes sense because Hammond, Louisiana is in the heart of SEC country, about an hour drive from both Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
Left tackle Pat Allen, a first-team All-Southland selection, started his career at Georgia. Explosive senior punt returner Devonte Williams led the Big Ten in kick return yards as a freshman at Indiana. Junior inside linebacker Trae Drake formerly played at Alabama. All-Southland senior defensive back Xavier Lewis got playing time at LSU as a freshman.
The roster also includes transfers from places like South Carolina, Wisconsin, Virginia, Texas A&M, Southern Miss and Louisiana Tech.
“They are good up front on both sides of the ball as well as being extremely skilled at all the skill positions,” Hauck said. “It will be a real test for us. A lot of good looking athletes on their film.”
Scelfo said his staff has “done a great job of researching the background of why a kid is leaving.” The staff understands that kids might get homesick or the program might have a coaching change or an athlete might simply want a change in scenery.
“But we run a structured program,” Scelfo said. “There’s not a lot of leeway or freedom in our program. We set rules and that’s what we do. We have guys coming and going at times. Some people really don’t like it but that’s ok. They can move on.”
When scouting the Griz, Scelfo said he noticed right away that only senior quarterback Dalton Sneed (formerly of UNLV) and junior safety Gavin Robertson (Arizona) have previous FBS experience. The Griz model of recruiting and developing is one Scelfo wants to replicate.
“Montana builds their program with high school guys,” Scelfo said. “And that’s what I want to get to. I want to build it like that. We signed 23 last year, my first season here. We want to build this with high school kids and grow them up and develop those guys for four or five years and supplement it with transfers.”
On Saturday, the Lions will perform at Washington-Grizzly Stadium after making a trek of more than 2,000 miles from the other side of the country for the first matchup between the two football programs. And regardless of the historic nature of Scelfo’s second season — SLU’s only previous FCS playoff win came in the second round of the 2013 over Sam Houston State, 30-29 — the head coach knows taking on the Griz will be a great measuring stick for his program.
“There is such a great history in Montana,” said Scelfo, who will play a Griz team making their record 24th playoff appearance. “This is the first time I’ve been at the FCS level so learning the teams has been interesting. When I started researching Montana’s history, man, what a great, storied past of long-term success.
“That what we are trying to build here at Southeastern Louisiana. We want the reputation that Montana Grizzly football has. And that’s knowing you are going to be preparing to play this time of year every year. And when you don’t, you are really disappointed.”
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Photos by Brooks Nuanez or noted. All Right Reserved.
