It’s hard to forget those acrobatic catches Keon Coleman made as an Opelousas Catholic wide receiver or his flamboyant windmill dunks that often lifted Vikings’ basketball fans from their seats.
With that ability you always knew that Coleman — a consistent two-sport prep highlight reel — was eventually headed to perform on a much larger athletic stage.
Now 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, Coleman gets his chance to perform before a national audience Sunday night in a 2023 season-opening game against LSU.
The ABC-televised game will also serve as an audition for Coleman, who signed two years ago to play wide receiver and perhaps a little college basketball at Michigan State.
Coleman is now a featured wide receiver for No.8 Florida State after entering the college transfer portal and leaving East Lansing.
After starting last year for the Spartans, Coleman evidently became a coveted recruiting commodity after entering the portal April 30 and later signing a NIL contract with a national marketing firm..
The Osceola.com reports that Division 1 programs like Arkansas, Louisville, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Southern Cal all sought to sign Coleman.
That’s a pretty impressive list of suitors for a former Class 1A all-state performer in two sports, who was once regarded as the No.8 top high school football prospect by 247Sports.
What apparently turned Coleman to Florida State was his familiarity with Seminoles’ head football coach Mike Norvell, who once heavily recruited Coleman at Opelousas Catholic.
Norvell recently recalled an episode involving Coleman that was recounted in the Osceola.com story,
The Osceola.com story describes how Coleman entertained his Seminole teammates.
While still wearing street clothes, Coleman grabbed a basketball, headed towards the rim and completed a thunderous windmill dunk that left many of the Florida State players stunned.
However Coleman probably won’t be playing basketball in Tallahassee as he did his freshman season at Michigan State..
After catching 58 passes for 798 yards and eight touchdowns last year for Michigan State, Coleman is being teamed with Seminoles’ receiver Johnny Wilson, who had similar receptions last year.
As he explained in a June interview with MLive.Spartans, Coleman said he’s now focused on a possible NFL career on a FSU team that has been heavily redesigned with portal transfers.
“They (FSU) have a chance to do something very special and I wanted to be part of that,” Coleman said during the published interview.
The game with a 6:30 kickoff (CST) against No. 5 LSU should also be interesting.
Florida State won 24-23 last year after blocking an LSU field goal attempt with no time left, while Tigers’ quarterback Jayden Daniels and Mark Travis for FSU are considered potential Heisman candidates.
Norvell thinks there also could a spotlight cast on Coleman, much as it was when Coleman drew attention at OCS catching footballs from Vikings’ quarterback Jessie Roy and providing dunking exhibitions at Vikings’ basketball games,
“His size, his speed, his movements, that I have had a chance to watch. I think he’s going to bring a great dynamic to our team,” Norvell.
Although most of St. Landry will evidently be cheering for LSU, it might be hard to overlook the introduction of a local athlete to the primetime college platform.
————————————————————————————————-Publisher’s Note: Today we introduce Keeping Score, a new sports column by our own Bobby Ardoin. If it is about sports, written by Bobby Ardoin, you know it will be great. Let us know what you think.
