CFC spotlights SFU recruit, Lemar Durant. Lemar has recovered from a knee injury that sidelined him in 2010 and is poised to grasp renewed success on the west coast.
Lemar Durant
Class:
2012
Position:
Wide Receiver, Safety, Quarterback
Height/Weight:
6’3, 215 lbs
Commitment:
Simon Fraser
Teams:
Coquitlam (minor football)
Centennial Centaurs (high school)
UNR Wolf Pack (NCAA)
Fall, 2012, will mark the next step in Lemar Durant’s football career. Though his enrollment at Simon Fraser University is a step forward for Lemar, it is also a return – a homecoming.
A native of Canada’s western most province, Durant will be joining SFU’s football squad after a brief one year stint with the University of Nevada-Reno Wolf Pack in 2010, made all the more brief by a knee injury that shelved the wide out early in the season.
“I attended UNR for a year [and] finished the year off successfully academically,” recalls Durant. “I came back home for the summer and decided that since SFU was now an NCAA school, I would stay in Canada and represent my hometown.”
Playing near his home seems to be sufficient inspiration for Durant, who got started in Coquitlam Minor Football at the age of nine. The star receiver amassed a trove of awards in both football and basketball – Coquitlam Sports Wall Of Fame – Male Athlete Football/Basketball 2010, Centennial’s Grade 12 Male Athlete Of the Year 2009-2010, and Gatorade Provincial All-Star Team Triple AAA Football Player Of The Year QB 2009, to name but a few of more than a dozen since 2006 – before leaving for Nevada.
British Columbia is also the site of Durant’s favourite football memory; winning the BC AAA High School Football Championship, the Centaurs’ first in 43 years.
“It was exciting. It was rewarding mentally because, tragically, we had lost our star quarterback to a season ending injury early in the season, so I stepped in as quarterback, and with all of us pulling together as a team, despite what could have happened, we got it done! They [my teammates] made me proud.”
Durant was named the 2009 BC High-school Football AAA Football Championship Game MVP for his performance in the win.
Check out the top video below for game highlights.
Now that he is back home and back in good health, Durant will be searching for the same type of success at SFU. In addition to his continuing relationship with God, Durant will find renewed familial support from his parents and brother, Julien, as well as the support of his former high school coach, Kevin Phillips, in BC.
Durant was playing high school ball while in middle school, and was heavily scouted by the time he was in grade 10. He was an invitee to several Junior Days hosted by prolific NCAA schools, but chose Nevada for the 2010 season.
“I thought it was the best fit so I committed to them…. At that time I had offers from several schools [for both] football and basketball.”
Though the knee injury cut short his time with the Wolf Pack and kept Durant off the field for the better part of 2010 and 2011, he has not remained idle as an academic. The standout two sport athlete has made use of his athletic hiatus by taking courses at Douglas College to make up credits that were lost in the transfer from Nevada to SFU. Once he begins study at SFU, Durant hopes to pursue a degree in Law and Business.
In addition to developing his academic skill set in the classroom, Durant will be seeking renewed success on the football field in 2012. While he has the package of size, speed, and athleticism attributable to NFL great Larry Fitzgerald, the Clan recruit will look to blaze his own trail.
“I don’t model myself after anyone else. I aspire to be the best ME I can be.”
Durant will seek to help SFU make its mark in the NCAA this fall.
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