Quigley Aims to Earn His Stripes at LSU

Scott Quigley is accustomed to playing football before perhaps 1,000 people, many in portable bleachers. But he dreams of increasing the size and scope of his stage in the next few years.

Quigley, who starred as a 5-foot-11, 170-pound quarterback at Calabasas High and was the Frontier League’s 1996 player of the year, said he will walk on at Louisiana State. He hopes to make the team during 1998 spring practice.

Quigley will not participate during the upcoming season because he was only recently accepted to LSU. His Calabasas transcript lacked three courses required by the school, and to compensate, he took the Scholastic Assessment Test three times this summer before achieving a score high enough to be admitted.

He now turns his thoughts to the daunting prospect of survival in one of the nation’s top college programs. LSU (10-2) finished last season ranked 12th by The Associated Press and has enjoyed a resurgence of its long and storied tradition.

“I sent film of myself [to LSU] because I heard it was the greatest place in the world to play,” Quigley said. “Those Southern people are crazy about football.”

Tiger Stadium, LSU’s home field, seats more than 80,000 people and is known as “Death Valley. It was ranked as the most-dreaded road game site in a poll of college coaches by The Sporting News.

Former USC All-American Brad Budde said it “makes Notre Dame look like Romper Room.” On Oct. 8, 1988, Tiger fans roared so loudly at a game-winning touchdown pass that they generated a tremor that registered on a seismograph meter in the geology department.

Quigley hopes he one day has to strain to make his signals heard above the stadium’s din.

“There’s no reason not to try and make the squad if the coach tells me I have a chance,” Quigley said. “They’ve told me to come and show them what I’ve got.”