LSU wide receivers coach Mickey Joseph said there was no discussion of a boycott from New Orleans high school coaches.
On Tuesday, SEC Country reported the possibility of a boycott in New Orleans, stating that area high school coaches were displeased about the reassignment of former running backs coach Jabbar Juluke.
Juluke, a New Orleans native, worked as an area recruiter.
“We don’t know how it [the boycott] started and how it got out there,” Joseph said. “It was never a meeting about that.”
A meeting was set to discuss recruiting and financial aid for high school players attending college football camps, he said.
“One negative got written out, and it just carried on,” Joseph said. “It was never going to be that.”
Joseph said he’s already begun to call coaches and make connections with those both in and out of the state.
Coach Ed Orgeron said he feels confident in the New Orleans native’s recruiting abilities, especially because pf Joseph’s close ties to the area.
“[Joseph is] from New Orleans, Louisiana. People respect him around the state, around the country as a football coach and a great recruiter,” Orgeron said. “He’s going to do a tremendous job for us. Mickey is going to bring a wealth of knowledge to our staff.”
Joseph, an Archbishop Shaw High School alumnus, said he’s known Orgeron for 30 years. Joseph said he almost signed with LSU before choosing the University of Nebraska.
Joseph was heavily recruited by LSU, and defensive line coach Pete Jenkins left a strong impression on Joseph’s mother.
“Back in that day if my dad would have listened to Pete Jenkins, I would have been a Tiger,” Joseph said. ”My mom was on board when Pete came in. She really loved Pete.”
Keeping Louisiana recruits home is a priority for Joseph.
“With a high school kid, 95 percent of them, they walk out that locker room, and they go home to a family,” Joseph said. “When you leave the state and you go play away from home, when you come out of that locker room after the game, there’s nobody there. I did that for five years, and that was one of the reasons I wanted to come back to the state of Louisiana.”
Joseph has experience coaching every offensive position. The 48-year-old was previously the wide receivers coach at Alabama State in 2000 and then worked as a quarterbacks coach at Nicholls State for three seasons. He later worked as the running backs coach at Central Oklahoma.
Joseph’s brother, Vance Joseph, was recently hired as the head coach for the Denver Broncos in January and presented Mickey with the opportunity to coach on the professional level.
Joseph, however, elected to stay in the collegiate ranks and now has the “top job in America.”
“At the end of the day, LSU [is the] top job in America,” Mickey said. “When he [Orgeron] gave me the call, it was ‘yes.’”