When Jean Breaux stepped on the Acadiana High campus four years ago as a freshman, signing a college football scholarship one day was the farthest thing from his mind.

For one thing, Breaux had never played football before. Secondly, soccer had been his sport of choice.

With some encouragement from the stepfather, however, Breaux would soon give football a try and he's never really looked back.

Breaux has more than held his own in keeping up Acadiana High's long-lasting legacy of top-notch kickers and will have the paper to prove it on Wednesday when he signs a football scholarship with the McNeese State Cowboys.

"When I was a freshman, I wasn't thinking anything about football," Breaux said. "At that time, I was thinking I wanted to try to get a scholarship to play soccer."

As early as his sophomore year, though, Breaux began noticing his potential. He was a backup to Cody Mandell, who punted for the national champion Alabama Crimson Tide this past season, and held his own in daily competitions with Mandell.

"I kept up with him at some practices," he said. "That's when I started to realize."

Breaux shined in every phase of the kicking game for the Wreckin' Rams. He was the All-Acadiana punter with a 43-yard average and terrific hang time. He was a top-notch kicker, making 3-of-4 tries and his booming leg quickly made approximately 95 percent of his kickoffs touchbacks.

"Honestly, I like to kick better than punt," Breaux said. "I feel more comfortable kicking, but I've always done both."

Breaux said the Cowboys have a senior placekicker, so he'll be in position to handling the punting and kickoff duties and then take over the kicking duties as a sophomore.

"They didn't really talk to me about hang time, but to me, in college hangtime is more important than distance," Breaux said.

There figures to be a transition ahead for Breaux. College kick off from farther back than in high school and field goals must be booted off the ground without a tee.

"I kick off the ground every day in practice," Breaux said. "At every camp I go to, I kick off the ground too, so I'm not real concerned about that."

Breaux made his official visit to McNeese State on Jan. 13-14. UL talked to him, but wasn't offering a scholarship right away, which is the practice of a lot of programs when recruiting kickers and punters.

"I waited a little while after McNeese first made the offer, but I had to reserve my scholarship," Breaux said. "I really liked it when I visited. I liked the school. It's not too big, but it's also not a town where there's nothing to do either."