Perrilloux joins team that beat APSU 42-9.

The addition of former LSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux certainly makes Jacksonville State a — if not the — favorite for the 2008 Ohio Valley Conference football championship.

“Anytime a team gets a talent like that it raises the level of competition in the league,” Austin Peay coach Rick Christophel said. “And not only does it raise the competition level, it makes them one of the best teams in the league. They were a lot better of a team than us last year, and they got even better with Perrilloux.”

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Perrilloux signed with OVC member Jacksonville State Wednesday.

Since he’s transferring to Jacksonville State, a Football Championship Subdivision program, he won’t have to sit out a year as he would have if he would have transferred to a Football Bowl Subdivision school like LSU.

So what if Perrilloux would have been interested in coming to Austin Peay instead of Jacksonville State, which beat the Govs 42-9 last season?

“I think I would have to take a real long look at what went on with him and what was involved with his situation,” Christophel said. “Every circumstance and every individual is different so you’d have to do a background check. You’d want to make sure he would be valuable addition to the team and that he’d become a team player. It could be all about him.”

And adding a talent like Perrilloux could help the OVC gain a little more attention nationally.

“I think it could,” Christophel said. “Whatever happened at LSU is in the past and it’s something they (Jacksonville State) have to deal with. But knowing his athletic ability and after watching him play, he’s going to make a good addition to the conference.”

What it all means for Austin Peay is now they’ll have to game plan for a quarterback who was the MVP of the 2007 Southeastern Conference Championship game and was the leading candidate to start for the Tigers next season.

“We’re just going to have to pray a lot before games now,” Christophel said. “With a guy like Perrilloux, you just have to hope he won’t have too many big plays and if he does, you have to try to keep those to a minimum. We’re just going to have to go out and play good football because they’re going to be good.”

Govs’ challenge grows
By James D. Horne, The Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle
http://theleafchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080515/SPORTS70/805150352/1006/rss04