By TEDDY ALLEN/Designated Writers

I was innocently standing around at Louisiana Tech football practice last week, about 10 feet from the sideline around midfield, when one of Tech’s cornerbacks, Amik Robertson, jumped high in back of a receiver who’d run what we used to call a flag route toward my sideline. He reached over the receiver and, at the height of his jump, picked off the pass without touching the guy the pass was intended for. Amik’s hands, attached to his 5-9 body, were just a little higher than the receiver’s hands.

He landed. With the football. And, with the play dead because it’s practice, he laughed.

Spectacular play.

But just another day at his outdoor office for the junior from Thibodaux, who was named Pro Football Focus (PFF) First Team All-America Monday, and that’s saying something because here’s how PFF picks its team:

“Utilizing our play-by-play grades of the every player on every play of every game, our list of All-Americans takes into account every player’s actions on the field on Saturdays while also utilizing our wealth of signature statistics to determine the list. The strength of opponent and consistent play also factor into our selections detailed below.”

Doesn’t matter where you play or where you’re from. I like that.

Second Team is Elijah Molden of Washington. Third team is Ahmad Gardner of Cincinnati. And Honorable Mentions are Jaylon Johnson of Utah and Alabama’s Patrick Surtain II.

The other first-string corner is Derek Stingley Jr. of LSU. (LSU QB Joe Burrow, frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy, is first team at his position.)

Two years ago, Robertson earned a spot on the Football Writers Association of America Freshman All-American Team.

He’s the real deal. And getting real-er.

Here’s what PFF said about him. It’s just the facts, ma’am…:

No cornerback made more plays on the ball than Robertson did during the season, breaking up 17 balls and intercepting five more to record just a 53.7 passer rating into his primary coverage. Limiting himself to just two penalties all year, Robertson played a sticky but safe brand of coverage and dominated at the catch point. His 19 total forced incompletions led the nation as he allowed a catch just 52.6% of the time into his coverage, all leading to his national-best coverage grade of 91.3. He was terrific across the board but not just against the pass.

Robertson also made 24 total defensive stops, ranking eighth among all cornerbacks, and that went as far as timing blitzes with near perfection, getting home with pressure on a third of his pass-rushes.

He jumped early once this year on a deep ball and, instead of getting an interception, gave up a big catch. Saturday in the final win of Tech’s 9-3 regular season, he made a bad decision as a punt returner and cost his team a touchdown. He’ll take a risk now and then and come in second.

But he practices hard and he plays hard and he’s saved Tech’s bacon more than once. He took over the North Texas game back in October. And he’s a big reason the Bulldogs have a chance to win their sixth bowl game in six consecutive years.

By the way, Amik is his mom Kima’s name, spelled backward. “I didn’t like it at first,” he said a couple of years ago when I asked him. “I kind of like it now.”

It’ll be a bummer if Tech fans won’t hear it again in Joe Aillet Stadium. Hopefully he’ll stick around for his senior season. He’s given no indication he won’t. Because of his talent and work and heart for the game, and because of the position he plays, he’s one of those “he alone is worth the price of admission” guys. And a Team Guy all the way.

In Tech’s 45-30 victory over Southern Miss in October, Robertson picked off three passes, added two pass break-ups, made a tackle at the 17 on a kick cover play, and knocked out USM’s leading rusher with a legal but vicious tackle. In the post-game press conference, he was asked what his favorite play of the night was.

“Winning,” he said. Then he waited for the next question.

You can find the rest of the PFF team here:

? | bit.ly/2r3UUdI

-30-

(This column first appeared in The Times and the News-Star World in December, 2019. PICTURED: Isaiah Graham, starting wide receiver on Louisiana Tech’s All Old Testament Team, hauls in a 39-yard TD pass that gave the Bulldogs the lead for good in their 41-27 victory over UTSA Saturday night to complete a 9-3 regular season. Tech went 6-0 in The Joe this fall for the first time since 1973. Winners of five bowl games in straight seasons, the Bulldogs will find out by Sunday which bowl they will play in during this BowlFest Season. PHOTO CREDIT: Tom Morris, latechsportspix.com)

The time has come for a subtle suggestion concerning how Louisiana Tech’s football program can win its sixth straight bowl game in six seasons, an idea I started fiddling with a couple of weeks ago when Tech was on an 8-game win streak. But when the Bulldogs lost a couple, the situation demanded we get next-level serious, and in a hurry.

If Tech wants to get serious too, it can quit fooling around and field an Old Testament team that has shouldered the load with little problem for the past 6,000-plus years.

I’m just a layman, not a miracle worker and not clairvoyant and not a coach, but I lettered in Vacation Bible School so … just hear me out; this is the divine time to get the band back together again.

Here are my guys, the position(s) they play, and their hometowns. He who has ears, let him hear:

Center: Abraham Delfin, Plaquemine.

Guards: Ethan Reed, Orange, Texas and Joshua Moat, Oak Grove.

Tackles: Jonah Brewster, Frisco, Texas and Noah Pitre, Geismar.

See what I’m talking about?

Quarterback: Aaron Allen, Missouri City, Texas

Running Backs: Israel Tucker, Metairie and Elijah Hines, Port Arthur, Texas.

Wide Receivers: Isaiah Graham, Bastrop, Joshua Matthews, Baton Rouge, Joseph Walker, New Orleans.

That’s Old (Testament) School.

So Abraham hikes it to Aaron, who hands it to Israel, who throws a halfback pass to Isaiah. The sea parts, Isaiah scores, and that’s a wrap.

Glory!

Keep in mind that we are making this happen without a David or a Daniel on the team. If Tech had a David or a Daniel, they could be co-captains, practically by default. I will talk to the coaching staff about this, an uncharacteristically underachieving effort from that bunch. Don’t you always sign a David or Daniel, just by accident? Sigh…

And still, with our hand to the plow, we soldier on and play some defense with some slight adjustments …

Line: Mykol Clark, Fort Worth; the spelling is different but the pronunciation, “Michael,” is the same.

Line: * Brett Pope, Leesville, a true freshman and offensive lineman pressed into duty here because Tech’s coaches failed to recruit better names. Pope’s in the ballpark though; I’ll give them that.

(An * like the one above means I cheated — but only a little; recruit me some Davids, for heaven’s sake.)

Noseguard: * Christian Henderson, a redshirt freshman offensive lineman from Greenwood, Mississippi, is going to have to bow up (what does that even mean?!) and help us out here. He’s 6-5, 299, sort of Goliath-like; he can handle it.

Linebacker: James Jackson from Haynesville. It’s a familiar New Testament name, but in Greek, James translates to “Jacob.” And I wanted somebody from Claiborne Parish on the team, for reasons sentimental.

Linebacker: Ezekiel Barnett of Benton. Ezekiel of the Bible was one of the Four Major Prophets; Ezekiel of the Bulldogs is one of the Four Major Linebackers.

Linebacker: Isaiah Windmon, Marrero.

Linebacker: Jacob Adams. He’s my All-State fullback from West Monroe but smart and tough enough to play here. Just point Jacob to the field and give him a general idea of what to do and he’ll be fine.

Cornerback: Michael Sam, New Iberia. Double trouble here — Michael the Archangel and Sam, short for First and Second Samuel. You’re welcome.

Cornerback: Aaron Roberson, Shreveport. We have depth at Aaron!

Safety: Christian Archangel, Lafayette. Another Daily Double. I think I just found our defensive captain.

Safety (moved from cornerback): Ephraim Kitchen, Batesville, Miss. If he can gather up the other 11 tribes of Israel, that would give us some much-needed depth.

Salty bunch.

My special teams truly are. Noah White from Ruston can deep snap and placekicker/punter Jacob Barnes from Baton Rouge can kick the PAT. Real-life first-string kicker Bailey Hale could kick it but when is the last time you’ve turned to the first chapter of the Book of Bailey? (Technically I could put Bailey on the team because his last name rhymes with a biblical word; after he makes a field goal it’s always fun to say, “Hale? YES!)

Kick returner: Ishmael Landers, true freshman running back, New Orleans.

Punt returner: * Praise Okorie, a wide receiver and team psalmist, Houston.

Kick returner and punt returner: Smoke Harris. There’s no Smoke in the Old Testament, you say? Not to sound holier than thou, but Mount Sinai, Sodom and Gomorrah, the temple…There’s three.

Offensive Coordinator: Zach Hannibal, a junior cornerback and special teams whiz from Monroe. Although Hannibal isn’t named, he and other generals are alluded to in Daniel 11, a prophetic chapter about Alexander the Great and the Greeks running the table and scoring about 60 a game in the late third century B.C. This was shortly before Hannibal and the Carthaginians showed up in the early second century B.C. to give the Romans, the New England Patriots of their day, all they wanted. Considered one of the greatest generals ever, Hannibal took more than 60,000 soldiers and 40 war elephants across the Alps to surprise attack Italy. And remember, that was before your solid Adidas footwear and with very spotty cell service. If a guy can take elephants over the Alps, he can run the spread for me anytime. And twice on Sundays. Zach’s my guy.

Defensive Coordinator: Alex(ander the Great, see Hannibal above) Zayed, a linebacker and special teams stud from Destrehan.

Head Ball Coach: You’re really asking me that? It’s an Old Testament team! But if we’re sticking to mortals, how about Tech’s present coach, * Skip Holtz. “He maketh them also to skip like a calf…” Psalm 29:6. (And there’s your pregame speech! Or maybe not. Sigh…where’s an Adam or a Obadiah when you need one?)

First Coach Off the Bench: Joe “Joseph” Sloan: Tech’s for-reals assistant head coach.

First Dude Off the Bench, Offense: Receiver Jake (Jacob) Norris, West Monroe.

First Dude Off the Bench Defense: * Milton Williams; John Milton wrote Paradise Lost and Milton, a defensive lineman from Crowley, is having a whale of a year — and is just a sophomore. Paradise Found.

And that, sports fans, is an All-Old Testament Team for the Ages. Joy! And Amen.

-30-