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Scott Keepfer
The Greenville News
Donnetta Etienne, the mother of Clemson star running back Travis Etienne, said she is being inundated with disturbing talk heading into Clemson’s showdown against LSU on Jan. 13 in the College Football Playoff title game in New Orleans.
The Etiennes live in Jennings, Louisiana, a small town about 1 1/2 hours west of the LSU campus in Baton Rouge.
“We from Louisiana,” Donnetta Etienne wrote in a post on her Twitter account on Monday. “We are getting all kind of threats. Sad but true. God is in control. Nothing can penetrate the blood of Jesus. We are blessed!!”
In an exclusive interview with The Greenville News on Tuesday, Donnetta Etienne confirmed the threats.
“One person said we had less than 24 hours to get out of Louisiana,” she said. “I didn’t take it serious; I just got off social media.
“LSU fans are kind of over-the-top. We have nothing against LSU; it’s not LSU, it’s LSU fans. They have a big desire for LSU to win the game. The only thing I didn’t like about it is it’s not Travis playing LSU, it’s Clemson playing LSU. But LSU fans started going crazy, and we haven’t even played the game yet.”
Travis Etienne, a 5-foot-10, 210-pound junior, has been Clemson’s primary rushing threat each of the past three seasons and is only seven yards shy of becoming the program’s all-time leading rusher. Etienne has 1,536 yards on 192 carries this season for a gaudy 8.0 average per carry and has 3,960 career rushing yards, second only to Raymond Priester’s 3,966.
LSU coach Ed Orgeron, who was an assistant and later an interim coach at LSU when Etienne was a senior at Jennings High School, said Tuesday that LSU recruited Etienne, but it “was too little, too late.”
“It was something we should’ve done a better job of,” Orgeron said. “He was one who got away. Every time I see him having success, I’m sick to my stomach.”
Randy Phelps, who was Etienne’s coach at Jennings, said he’s proud of what Etienne has accomplished at Clemson.
“I know there were some hard feelings about it, but Travis made an adult decision and stuck by it,” Phelps said. “No matter what the negativity about it was, you’ve got to be proud of the young man. I just think he’s done a lot not only for southwestern Louisiana and Jennings, but he’s been a great ambassador for the state of Louisiana.”
Scott Keepfer
The Greenville News
Donnetta Etienne, the mother of Clemson star running back Travis Etienne, said she is being inundated with disturbing talk heading into Clemson’s showdown against LSU on Jan. 13 in the College Football Playoff title game in New Orleans.
The Etiennes live in Jennings, Louisiana, a small town about 1 1/2 hours west of the LSU campus in Baton Rouge.
“We from Louisiana,” Donnetta Etienne wrote in a post on her Twitter account on Monday. “We are getting all kind of threats. Sad but true. God is in control. Nothing can penetrate the blood of Jesus. We are blessed!!”
In an exclusive interview with The Greenville News on Tuesday, Donnetta Etienne confirmed the threats.
“One person said we had less than 24 hours to get out of Louisiana,” she said. “I didn’t take it serious; I just got off social media.
“LSU fans are kind of over-the-top. We have nothing against LSU; it’s not LSU, it’s LSU fans. They have a big desire for LSU to win the game. The only thing I didn’t like about it is it’s not Travis playing LSU, it’s Clemson playing LSU. But LSU fans started going crazy, and we haven’t even played the game yet.”
Travis Etienne, a 5-foot-10, 210-pound junior, has been Clemson’s primary rushing threat each of the past three seasons and is only seven yards shy of becoming the program’s all-time leading rusher. Etienne has 1,536 yards on 192 carries this season for a gaudy 8.0 average per carry and has 3,960 career rushing yards, second only to Raymond Priester’s 3,966.
LSU coach Ed Orgeron, who was an assistant and later an interim coach at LSU when Etienne was a senior at Jennings High School, said Tuesday that LSU recruited Etienne, but it “was too little, too late.”
“It was something we should’ve done a better job of,” Orgeron said. “He was one who got away. Every time I see him having success, I’m sick to my stomach.”
Randy Phelps, who was Etienne’s coach at Jennings, said he’s proud of what Etienne has accomplished at Clemson.
“I know there were some hard feelings about it, but Travis made an adult decision and stuck by it,” Phelps said. “No matter what the negativity about it was, you’ve got to be proud of the young man. I just think he’s done a lot not only for southwestern Louisiana and Jennings, but he’s been a great ambassador for the state of Louisiana.”
