By LEE BRECHEEN, Louisiana Football Magazine
The Class of 2023 is deep with quarterbacks to watch in the Shreveport-Bossier area, with another versatile athlete who will interest college recruiters in two-sport Haughton competitor Colin Rains.
Rains has what coaches and recruiting analysts like me call the “IT Factor” in a QB. He can sling it, he runs the offense to perfection and he can run when needed because he’s strong and sturdy, like an athletic outside linebacker, so he can take hits like a QB must, and he can give defenders something to keep in the back of their minds coming up to tackle him. He might deal out more punishment than he receives.
I love his upside because he is still growing and learning. Rains has slimmed down a bit (6-2, 195) and he’s gotten faster and stronger for his senior year. He plays in a quality program and in tough competition in District 1-5A. He and his Bucs hit their stride in the middle of the season last fall and are going to be in the thick of the race this year.
Like a lot of young QB’s, Colin will have a decision to make because he will get offers to not only play football, but also he’s going to have opportunities to play baseball in college.
“You asked me which sport I like better, football or baseball. That is a hard question because I love both sports,” he told me. “I know I’ll have to make a decision this next year to pick one sport. I know that a lot of the other area QB’s play only football, which gives them an advantage. That just makes me work harder off the field.
“I am playing with Team Louisiana Baseball this summer. I would love to attend some football camps this summer to get my name out there, but it’s hard with my summer baseball schedule to do it all. I am traveling as far east as Atlanta and west to Dallas.
“This fall, we will face some tough competition in our district, but I am very excited about our team. We have a lot of young talent coming up this year along with the returning upperclassmen,” he said.
Haughton’s head coach, Jason Brotherton, described why we say Rains has the “IT Factor.”
“Colin is a true competitor. He is always going to outwork everyone around him. If we need two yards, he always seems to get three. If we need five yards, he gets six.
“He has the size and skill-set to play college football, but he is also a really talented baseball player and may have opportunities there.”
One of his former Haughton Bucs baseball teammates, Peyton Stovall, has just helped the Arkansas Razorbacks on a postseason run back to Omaha for the College World Series. Rains isn’t the MLB Draft baseball prospect that Stovall was, but he’s going to have lots of eyes on him this summer and next spring.
This spring on the diamond, Rains posted a batting average of .436 with 51 hits, including 19 doubles, a school record for a single season.
