LION-HEARTED—Southeastern senior defensive back and Hammond native Trey Douglas, center, signs a schedule poster for Taylor Kinnison of Hammond at the Lions' Fan Day/Strawberry Jam Tuesday. Also signing for the Lions are Marquis Powell, left, and Miles Abrams, right. Photo by Mike Kiral

Southwest Mississippi Community College has enjoyed a steady stream of football talent coming north from Tangipahoa Parish.

But when local juco grads complete their two years in Summit, Miss., and they're eligible to return and play their final two years at Southeastern, the southbound spigot slows to a trickle.

But that's the path former Hammond Tor Trey Douglas took to play for the Lions, and for him, it was just the ticket.

“I'm very glad how it worked out,” the Lions’ senior free safety said. “It's been a struggle. I went to Southwest for two years, but I was lucky to end up at Southeastern.”

Douglas, a 6-foot-1, 190-pounder, played two years at SMCC, then came home last season to make an immediate impact with the Lions. Douglas appeared in all 11 games and by week four had bulled his way into the starting lineup.

His 34 tackles — 27 solos — were eighth-most on the team, and he delivered his share of big plays as well. He had one sack among his three tackles for losses, picked off two passes, broke up six more, and also forced a fumble.

And he's versatile, too — so much so that with the Lions thin at cornerback, they think his coverage skills might allow them to use him on the corner occasionally.

“Trey Douglas has had an awesome summer,” Lions head coach Mike Lucas said. “He has not missed a workout, his strength numbers are up. We expect a great year out of Trey.”

Trey also expects a great year out of Trey, because this is it for him, the end of a long and winding road that he wanted to start in Hammond as well as finish there. Well, Hammond or Hattiesburg, Miss., which was the other college location he was eying when he graduated from Hammond High in 2004.

But his ACT test score fell short of freshman eligibility — agonizingly close, but short just the same.

“Yes, it was,” Douglas said. “I wish I would have taken it one more time; I would have made it.”

He decided to go to Southwest so he could continue to play. But unlike so many local players who go up to Summit, Douglas was determined to play more than two more years of football. And when Lucas got the film and scouted him out, he knew he still wanted Douglas back to Hammond, too. And so he went out and sold Douglas on the program.

“Coach Lucas, I felt more comfortable with him,” Douglas said. “He came to me like a father figure, he talked to me, sat me down and let me know the basics and I just felt more comfortable with him.”

And so Douglas became the latest ex-Tangi Bear to turn Lion, a list that includes two other former Tors in Birk McGee (2003-04) and Marvin Jones (2003-04), Kentwood's Rudy Johnson (2003-05), Sumner's Jonathan Broussard (2003-04), and Oak Forest’s Kent Smith (2003-04).

“My family and me, we just looked at it differently,” Douglas said. “We took it as an opportunity to better myself education-wise, and education comes first. I just took football and used it for what it's worth and I ended up here.

“A lot of people don't make it out of Southwest. People I went to high school with, a couple of them didn't, but a couple of them did. I just looked at it as an opportunity to make it.”

Douglas credits the late SMCC defensive backs coach Kenny "Snake" Miller — who coached at SMCC for 16 seasons before he died of a heart attack in 2006 — for helping develop his skills in junior college.

But Douglas said the biggest thing wasn't his continued growth as a football player, but as a man, one who hopes can inspire his siblings, two sisters and his brother Collin, a junior basketball player at Hammond High.

“He looks up to me a lot,” Trey said of Collin. “I really do (feel a leadership responsibility).”

“It just made me appreciate a lot more things,” Douglas said. “It helped me become a man, how to handle things, appreciate things. I grew up real fast up there. I was away from home. I was home all my life, and I just went away from two years and it made me grow up.”

Now Douglas’ college career is ticking toward midnight. He has just one more year to make an impact, and one more chance to do something he's never done — win.

“My senior year, we went to the playoffs, but I never have really won anything,” Douglas said. “Going to Southwest, they really don't have a good tradition of winning. I just want to come out of this season with a conference championship ring — to go out with a bang.”