Chad Lavalais
By Jordan Renna

It was an oppressively steamy afternoon at a Louisiana state correctional
facility just outside of Marksville, Louisiana.  This 20 year old prison guard
who had spent the last 2 years of his life walking the halls with some of
Louisiana’s finest, finally had a reason to turn in his 2 weeks notice to the
warden.  All of the talk about moving on and going to college to play
football proved not to be just hype.  It was 2 years ago that he was a Class
3A all-state selection at tight end for his football team as well as an all-
district choice on both offense and defense.  2 years ago he was recruited by
college football powerhouse LSU failing only to meet the minimum
standards for eligibility with a low ACT score.  But, after 2 years of studying,
working as a guard and trying to stay athletically fit, Chad Lavalais finally
earned a qualifying score on his ACT and headed off to college.

Chad joined the LSU Tigers for the 2000 season playing in 9 games and
posting 22 tackles and one sack.  By his senior season he had been selected
as a first team All-American and earned the National Defensive Player of the
Year award by The Sporting News in 2004.  Questions about his work ethic
lowered his draft stock a bit and he was selected in the fifth round with the
142 overall pick.  Because he rolled into camp at 320 pounds, teammates
gave him the endearing nickname, Jelly-Belly.  In drafting Lavalais, the
Falcons were looking to create an athletic defensive line and hoped that
Chad would be able to jump right in beside defensive tackle Rod Coleman. 
It took him a while to get back down to a more manageable 290 pounds but
by the start of the season he was ready to go.  

His rookie year he played in every game, starting five of them and recording
42 tackles and 2 fumble recoveries.  He earned the starting slot for the 2005
season and the Falcons looked like they had the steal of the draft.  He
started out the 2005 season with a bang, smashing quarterback Donavan
McNabb in the first game of season, a hit that eventually sidelined McNabb
for the entire year.  But, by the middle of the 2005 season the Falcons were
singing a different tune.  The once quick and athletic Lavalais only recorded
22 tackles in the first 13 games and in the final 3 games of the season he only
earned 4 tackles and a public chastising from head coach Jim Mora.  At the
start of the off-season the nose tackle position was officially declared open
for competition with three players eyeing the position (Chad Lavalais,
Antwan Lake and Darrell Shropshire).

Lavalais is entering this preseason much the same way he did his rookie
season, overweight.  He has earned more ink time compliments of coach Jim
Mora who said he expected more from a player with his talent and
experience.  Lavalais becomes a restricted free agent at the end of the 2006
season which makes this a very important training camp.  Perhaps Chad has
taken for granted the success he worked so hard to achieve or perhaps he
decided to relax this off-season knowing he could work hard at training
camp and catch up by the start of the season.  Either way, this one time
prison guard has come a long way and is definitely one to watch this season.