Jacksonville, AL – Former Jax State quarterback Perrilloux to be inducted into the Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame in May
By Al Muskewitz
Long before Ryan Perrilloux made his name as the quarterback to take Jacksonville State football to the next level of success, he was a multi-sport star in his home state of Louisiana.
He excelled in all three of the major sports on the high school level and this coming spring those feats will be recognized as he gets inducted into the Louisiana High School Sports Hall of Fame. Two of the coaches who sent letters of recommendation on his behalf are already in the Hall.
He’ll join nine other Louisiana luminaries in the Class of 2024 for ceremonies April 16 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Baton Rouge. Among the other inductees this year is Dr. James Andrews, the renowned sports surgeon who did Perrilloux’ knee surgery and a good friend of JSU coach Jack Crowe, who brought Perrilloux to the Gamecocks.
“it makes me feel so good just to be able to say you know you did something, you accomplished something, and didn’t really know you were doing it while you doing it,” Perrilloux said Monday. “And for the state to come back and appreciate your work, that means the most to me, just the appreciation.
As a high school player, Perrilloux was unparalleled. He ranked fourth on the state’s all-time leading passer list and second in total yardage. On the baseball field, he hit .600 as a senior. Major post-season football recognition came pouring in, and he was considered the top recruit in the country.
All of that led him to LSU, where the expectation was to start as a freshman, but trouble soon followed. When he was ultimately dismissed in May 2008, Crowe brought him on at Jax State, when the Gamecocks were in desperate need of a quarterback.
Perrilloux played two years for the Gamecocks (2008 and 2009), led them to a pair of winning seasons and a near upset in the pouring rain at Florida State, but never made the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs after helping the Tigers reach the BCS National Championship Game his last year at LSU.
He still has JSU’s second and third best passing-percentage games, the second-best single game passing efficiency rating and the record for most consecutive pass completions. He threw for 4,668 yards in his career and is No. 2 on the Gamecocks’ all-time pass efficiency list, second in passing yards per game and third in yards per pass.
After leaving Jax State, he bounced around several NFL camps and a few developmental leagues before hanging up the cleats in France, but he never left the game.
Now 36, among the things keeping him busy are a catering business, serving as a roving passing instructor for several high school programs in the Baton Rouge area and molding the next wave of passers and catchers as director of the Perrilloux Passing Academy.
As he reflects on his life’s path, he says coming to Jax State was the best thing that ever happened to him.
“When I got to Jacksonville State, I learned a very important lesson, and that was to calm down and take care of my business, and Jacksonville State always made my business a little easier for me,” he said. “I believed in them. They let me relax, but not in the classroom, not on the field, but they calmed me down.
“Jacksonville State was the best place I could have went after what happened to me. There was no better place.”
