Football season technically is over, but what we all know is that Louisianans have a thirst for the sport that can’t be quenched with just the regular season.

That’s where Tensey Pricer comes in. Pricer runs PelicanPreps.com , a Web site devoted mostly to high school football and recruiting, with a hint of basketball and baseball thrown in. The site is connected with Rivals.com, a national site that has a focus on the recruitment of high schools players.

Pricer, originally from Sulphur, works for The Advocate in Baton Rouge. He has worked in sports journalism since 1991, when he started at the Southwest Daily News in Sulphur. From there, he became the lead prep man at the American Press in Lake Charles, where he stayed for five years. He moved to Baton Rouge to work in the sports department in 2001, and has been at the paper since.

PelicanPreps.com has more than 5,000 registered users, and during the peak of the season, gets nearly 700,000 hits a month. He is a member of the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.

Pricer and HSGametime.com will break down topics, trends and athletes pertaining to recruiting through at least signing day 2008. Check back in for updates.

By Bradley Handwerger / WWL-TV.com

St. James' Luther Ambrose, 22, runs through a tackle in the Wildcats' 16-14 regular season win over Curtis. Ambrose could be a sleeper grab for an in-state school on signing day.

Today's topic: Luther Ambrose is a 5-foot-9, 160-pound all-purpose back from St. James. He runs the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds.

HSGametime: Ambrose is receiving interest from only LSU and Ole Miss among major colleges. But talk with any coach who played St. James this year and Ambrose is one of the guys they had to game plan for. Why the lack of interest?

Tensey Pricer: He falls under that umbrella-type of player of (being) a little bit smaller than what we normally would recruit is what you’d hear a coach say about him. He’s not very tall and he’s not heavy relative to the ideal back that the bigger programs are looking for. That perception has hurt him relative to the big programs. But the smaller programs are taking that to their advantage. He’s certainly a player that can go to a program like Ole Miss. He’s a player that can go there and become a difference maker, at least in the special teams department. His size is the big perception. His size is what is holding back a lot of major programs.

HS: Many smaller backs succeed, especially in the college ranks. Look at Trindon Holliday at LSU. While Ambrose doesn’t have Holliday’s speed, can Ambrose make a similar impact as a change-up running back?

TP: Yes, he certainly could. Whenever you talk about Luther’s speed relative to Trindon, Luther isn’t terribly far behind Trindon. If you would have to rank them, it would be Trindon and not too terribly far away would be Luther, and not far behind him would be a top speed guy. Luther speed-wise is up there with the top players in the country. He definitely has the speed to make a difference at the next level. In the right program, given the right circumstance and right style of offense, he definitely can succeed.

“We see Noel Devine, Trindon Holliday – definitely kids like Luther at his size getting exposure at the highest level of college football. It’s not prevalent. Noel Devine was a recruiting legend by the time he was a junior in high school. He was doing stuff similar to what he’s doing at West Virginia.

“Trindon Holliday set the tracks on fire in the high school level. Luther’s … resume, it’s not quite like a Trindon Holliday or a Noel Devine, but it’s not too terribly far behind.

HS: Who does Ambrose remind you of?

TP: Nothing jumps out at me. He’s really unique in that when you look at him, he looks slight in stature. Not a big person. But he runs a lot bigger than what he is. And he has the speed on top of it. He’s unique in that. I haven’t seen guys his size that can run for power and then run for blazing speed. He’s unique in what I’ve seen.

HS: Other than the 63-yard touchdown run against Curtis, Ambrose didn’t have a strong championship game. Because that was such a big game, will that scare off recruiters?

TP: Not at all. Not whenever you’re playing a team like John Curtis. Curtis knows St. James so well. St. James knows Curtis so well. They (Curtis) knew, ‘We have to take away Ambrose’s big play threat for us to win.’ That defense was really dialed in to ‘Let’s stop Ambrose. Let’s stop the running game.’

“I think that one touchdown really is a testament to how good he is. Despite that much attention from a very good defense, he was still able to get loose. On the stat sheet it doesn’t look good. To have one touchdown and that one touchdown is the good bulk of their yards. To a college coach, they say, ‘Look, he was still able to make a big play despite the defense breathing down his neck.’

HS: Will Ambrose be a “get” for a school?

TP: Certainly. As they always say, you can’t coach speed. That combination with his toughness, I think coaches are going to roll the dice on him here in recruiting and try to sign him. He’s certainly a kid that’s a pretty good gamble on.

HS: How much of a gamble do you truly see it being?

TP: It’s a gamble versus the perception that you have to be big to be a running back at the college level. For college coaches, especially the schools recruiting him, the Ole Miss’, La. Tech’s, UL-Monroe’s, and even LSU keeping an eye on him – you never know what can happen in the days leading up to signing day. They know that he’s not that big of a gamble.

“But for other schools who probably don’t know the area well, like the bigger programs, they’re not going to mine deep into a class sometimes and try to find an undersized kid with blazing speed. The coaches that recruit these areas well know just how talented he is.

HS: Does that mean Ambrose will, in all likelihood, stay at an in-state program?

TP: Ole Miss got in on him early and has stayed on top of him. Ole Miss sees the value in a player like Luther. …Ole Miss appears to be the biggest threat to get him from out of state. Otherwise, it looks like the in-state guys are really on him. Yeah, it looks like he’ll probably stay in-state.