For as long as he can remember, Lindsey Scott Jr. knew he would play on Saturdays in Baton Rouge.

Scott led Zachary High School (La.) to a state title in 2015 and was subsequently named Louisiana’s Gatorade Football Player of the Year. Scott’s lifelong dream was realized when he signed a scholarship that year to play for LSU.

“I was born and raised in Baton Rouge, so going to school there and playing football there was like a dream come true,” Scott said. 

But after redshirting in 2016, Scott entered the 2017 season as one of five quarterbacks on the Tigers’ roster. He soon began to explore other options. 

“We were in fall camp at LSU, and I just felt like it was time for me move on somewhere else,” he said.

Enter Scooba, Miss.

Like many others, Scott became familiar with East Mississippi Community College after Netflix’s “Last Chance U” catapulted the school to national prominence. Lions head coach Buddy Stephens’ fastbreak-style offense helped launch the Division I careers of Bo Wallace, Chad Kelly, De’Andre Johnson and others, so naturally, the destination appealed to Scott. 

Scott and his father, Lindsey Scott Sr., made the trip to Scooba one Sunday two weeks before East Mississippi’s season opener. By Monday, he enrolled.

“The show gave it some exposure, so I kind of knew what to expect a little bit,” Scott Jr. said. “It wasn’t really a shock; I was just ready to play.” 

The arrival

In January, Stephens brought former Lions standout Bo Wallace on staff as quarterbacks’ coach. Wallace in 2011 led East Mississippi to a perfect regular season and an NJCAA national championship behind a record-setting 4,604 passing yards and 53 touchdowns. Like Scott, Wallace transferred to East Mississippi, but from Arkansas State, where he also redshirted.

From Scott’s first moment on campus, he and Wallace poured over and studied East Mississippi’s playbook in preparation for the Jones County opener.

”He got here about a week and a half before the season, so the start of the season was just sort of cramming and trying to teach him the offense and get him comfortable,” Wallace said.

Although Scott didn’t play at LSU, the time he spent with the coaching staff soaking in their knowledge of the advanced terminologies and intricacies of the game, and just being a part of high-level Division I football program, proved invaluable.

“I think it helped him out so much sitting in those meetings at LSU more than it does a high school kid coming straight into JuCo,” Wallace said. “He’s heard the terms I’m using at meetings, and he knows the split coverages and things like that. The biggest thing was just the terminology — us calling the coverages the same thing, because everybody calls a blitz differently. Once he picked up on that, I think he’s been awesome ever since.”

Part of Scott’s quick grasp of the Lions’ offense can be attributed to the cerebral approach he takes to things off the field. He graduated from high school with a 3.8 grade-point average and would like to major in software engineering and perhaps work at Google one day and create his own software. He’s applied that same cerebral approach off-the-field approach to the game, and it has paid dividends for him at this point in the season. 

Back in the saddle

On Aug. 31, Scott took the field for the Lions in his first game as a starting quarterback in a year in a half. He likened waking up that morning to “waking up on Christmas.” By the end of the night, he said he knew the decision to transfer was the right one. He threw for 429 and four touchdowns and two interceptions and also ran for 62 yards in East Mississippi’s 47-34 win against Jones County.

“It was truly a blessing,” he said of that first game back. “Any chance that you get to step on the football field is honestly a blessing… It’s kind of like shaking off the cobwebs.”

Scott’s performance against Holmes Community College last week suggests he’s had no problem shaking off the year-and-a-half’s worth of cobwebs. He went 32-for-39 for a season-high 452 yards and five touchdowns to go along with 50 rushing yards and a touchdown, and through six games this season, he’s thrown for 1,844 yards and 15 touchdowns against four interceptions while also rushing for 282 yards and three touchdowns. Tuesday, he was named the MACJC Offensive Player of the Week. 

Scott, however, isn’t focused on his current accolades. His goals, he said, are more of the team variety.

“First of all, a national championship,” Scott said. “No matter what level you’re on, if you tell me that I get to play for a national championship, then that’s exciting. Striving for that every week is definitely motivating me. Just winning each week is motivation alone. You have to take care of the tasks week by week.”

His performances thus far have netted him offers from Western Michigan, Tulane, Texas-San Antonio and New Mexico State. Indiana, Virginia and Idaho have also reached out.

“I just want to go somewhere where I’m comfortable with the offense and the coaches, and somewhere where I can play within my game,” Scott said. “Somewhere where my unique talent fits in.”

Family first

Although Scott’s zip code has changed, he said he feels at home at East Mississippi in large part because of the support of his family. His father attends every game, and his mother, Sonja, and his siblings always watch from Louisiana. Scott said his family’s support throughout the transfer process gave him the peace of mind to proceed with confidence.

“Change makes people a little uneasy,” Scott said. “Just knowing that you have your parents behind you backing you up, and that they believe in you, I think that makes making the next step easier. When I decided to transfer, knowing that my mom and my dad were on board, and that no matter what happens that they’re proud of me and still love me, I think that support group is really big. My sister and brother watch me every week, and they text me after the games. It’s really a good feeling knowing your family is supporting you 100 percent in everything you do.”