For the last time of the 2024 off-season, Gridiron Football put on an elite camp this time at St. Edmund High School in Eunice, Louisiana. When it comes to the players, it was their last time to put some work in while also trying to get on Gridiron Football’s radar, and for some, it was an opportunity to be evaluated for the upcoming 2024 Gridiron Football All-American, which will be held at the end of the year in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Although it was a small camp for Gridiron Football’s standards with only 18 players in attendance, what lacked in quantity was certainly made up for its great quality of talent at the camp. It also gave the players more reps, opportunities to be seen, and even more 1 on 1 coaching.
The talent showed early as the combine portion of the camp, which featured the 40 and the shuttle. The 40 showed off the group’s speed with 13 of the 18 players cracking into the four second zone. Pacing the group was St. Edmund 2025 WR Blake Moran, who ran the second fastest 40 of the entire camp series with a 4.5, and Pineville 2025 S Jacob Miranda, who ran a 4.51. Right behind the two were St. Edmund 2026 Nathan Zaunbrecher (4.58), Southside 2026 RB Ashton Labit (4.63), Eunice 2027 WR Johnathan Laday (4.63), Eunice 2027 S Tommy Black (4.64), Iota 2028 QB Dace Fuselier (4.65), and Eunice 2026 QB Montana Brown (4.67). Even the linemen were showing their giddy up with Iota 2025 DT Trevor Ruffner running a 4.89.
At the shuttle, Blake Moran continued to show off his lateral quickness by running the fastest shuttle time of the series with an incredible 4.11 time. Ashton Labit (4.21) and Jacob Miranda (4.27) also broke into the 4.2’s.
With only four defensive backs in attendance, Jacob Miranda, Tommy Black, Brame Middle School 2029 LB/S Justin Miranda, and Alexandria High School 2028 DB Jemal Gibson not only got a lot of reps, but also showed their durability in taking on rep after rep. There were a couple of PBUs highlighted by two interceptions from Tommy Black. Jacob Miranda was in control of the defense by lining his teammates up and making it tough for any receiver he was going up against.
Still, the offense stole the show. Peabody 2025 ATH James Lucas made his return to the Gridiron Football Elite Camp stage and showed immense improvement with his deep ball as he connected with Blake Moran twice for touchdowns. Speaking of Moran, the St. Edmund receiver showed off his combination of savviness and quickness by consistently getting open and scoring touchdowns. Another receiver that displayed his speed quite often was Johnathan Laday, who scored three touchdowns and ran away with defenders on a consistent basis. Perhaps, the biggest highlight was a touchdown throw by Dace Fuselier, who lobbed one in the back of the end zone where Ashton Labit came out of nowhere and hauled the pass in. Not only the long passes were effective, but when the quarterbacks threw short, they could look towards the two big tight ends in Walker’s Nathan Ray and Berchman Academy’s Gabriel Menard, who used their big frame to box out defensive backs.
There were only four linemen at the camp including Rayne 2025 NG Wendell Price Jr., Pine Prairie 2027 DL Seth Ramsey, Trevor Ruffner, and St. Edmund 2026 OL Charles Sonnier, but they all got great 1 on 1 fundamental coaching from St. Edmund offensive line coach Paul Franklin Orr. Finally, for the first time ever, every player got involved with the tire pull challenge.
At the end, the small camp turned out to be a big success as players got to get their reps filmed, got to learn a lot not only on the field, but also in the recruiting process, and finally, two players including Jacob Miranda and Blake Moran received official invitations to play in the 2024 Gridiron Football All-American Bowl Game.
Later on our website, we will breakdown the top performers in our Gridiron Football Elite Camp Series, which was another successful series with camp stops not only in Louisiana, but also in Texas and Florida.
Check out all of the camp highlights below!
Check out all of the interviews by our own Alex Allison!
Check out all the photos taken by Jason Saucier!
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