Lester Ray Ricard, Jr. (born December 11, 1983) is a former college and professional American and Canadian football

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. He was signed by the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2007. Ricard was also a member of the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

and

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Comm ...

. He played college football at

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

and

Tulane Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

Early years

Lester Ricard attended

Amite High School Amite High Magnet School is a public high school in Amite City, Louisiana, United States. It is governed by the Tangipahoa Parish School Board. Haynesville Senior High athletics competes in the Louisiana High School Athletic Association, LHSAA. ...

Amite, Louisiana Amite City ( or ; commonly just Amite) is a town in Tangipahoa Parish, of which it is the parish seat, in southeastern Louisiana, United States. The population was 4,141 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Hammond Micropolitan Statistical ...

and was a letterman in football, basketball, and track. In football, as a senior, he passed for 2,421 yards and 23 touchdowns, led his team to the semi-finals of the Class 3A playoffs, was named the District's Most Valuable Player, earned All-America honors from Parade Magazine, was a SuperPrep All-American, and named as a third-team All-South selection by BorderWars. After his senior season, he was rated as the nation's No. 5 quarterback by Rivals.com, selected as a member of the

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of countie ...

Advocate Super Dozen as well as the

Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the '' Galvest ...

Super Southern 100. In basketball, he was a four-year varsity letterman. Ricard graduated from Amite High School in 2002 with a 3.0 GPA.

College career

Ricard signed with

out of high school and redshirted in 2002. At the end of fall camp in August 2003, Ricard transferred to

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pu ...

. He played at Tulane through the 2006 season.

Professional career

Jacksonville Jaguars

In the 2007 preseason game against the Miami Dolphins, Ricard completed 6 of 9 passes for 80 yards. Ricard was a member of the Jaguars' practice squad until he was waived on April 30, 2008.

Carolina Panthers

On May 19, 2008, Ricard was signed by the

. He was later released by the Panthers to cut down the roster.

Edmonton Eskimos

Ricard was signed by the

on May 13, 2009. He was a final cut on June 25, 2009.

Semi-pro football

After a poor performance for the

New Orleans VooDoo Louisiana Voodoo (french: Vaudou louisianais, es, Vudú de Luisiana), also known as New Orleans Voodoo, is an African diasporic religion which originated in Louisiana, now in the southern United States. It arose through a process of syncretism ...

in a March 2011 scrimmage, Ricard signed with the New Orleans Jazz of the

Stars Football League A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

in summer 2011. Ricard served as the Jazz's starting quarterback. The Jazz played only two games during the league's abortive 2011 season, with Ricard leading the team to two victories. After the Jazz franchise was mothballed, Ricard signed with Team Louisiana of the Exclusive Football League. Much like its SFL predecessor, the EFL team in Louisiana was also quick to disband, breaking away from the league after one game (a 25-20 win over the EFL's Texas squad).

Coaching career

In 2014, Ricard was on the football coaching staff at

De La Salle High School (New Orleans) De La Salle High School is a private, Catholic secondary school run by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in New Orleans, Louisiana. The school's campus is located at the picturesque St. Charles Avenue in uptown New Orleans, ne ...

as quarterbacks coach. On March 20, 2014, Ricard was named head football coach at St. Martin's High School in Metairie, Louisiana. In 2016, he accepted a teacher position at

Hahnville High School Hahnville High School is a public high school located in Boutte, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the St. Charles Parish Public School System, serving grades 9 through 12. J.B. Martin and R.K. Smith Middle Schools are the feeder schools for ...

. In 2017, Ricard was named head coach at Walker High School in

Walker, Louisiana Walker is a city in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2010 census the population was placed at 6,138 (up 28% over the past decade), making Walker and Denham Springs the only parish municipalities classified as cities. Histor ...

and in September 2018, resigned from the position.

References

External links

Jacksonville Jaguars bio

LSU Tigers bioJust Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ricard, Lester 1983 births Living people American football quarterbacks American players of Canadian football Canadian football quarterbacks Players of American football from Louisiana LSU Tigers football players Tulane Green Wave football players Jacksonville Jaguars players Carolina Panthers players Edmonton Elks players People from Denham Springs, Louisiana People from Amite City, Louisiana