Brother. Husband. Soon-to-be father. Teammate. Graduate. South Alabama football player. Darrell Luter Jr., has many titles, but they all play an important role in making him who he is today. 
 
Luter, a Hattiesburg, Miss. native, started playing football when he was five years old. He wanted to play so badly, he tried to tell the pee-wee football organizers he was older than he was so he could play with his brothers. He soon was able to join the team and loved sharing football with his family. As he grew up playing on everything from rec fields to neighbor's backyards, a love for the game started brewing. 
 
As he went from rec football to middle school and then his freshman year of high school, he did everything he could to be around the game of football – from playing on his middle school team to being a water boy for his brother's team at Oak Grove High School. As time went on, Luter's love for the sport became the most important thing in his life.  
 
"I just fell in love with everything about football, from working out to playing on the field," Luter said. "I never wanted to give up on it." 
 
Luter dabbled in other sports during high school, but his heart was set on football. He saw others succeeding in the sport and decided to seriously pursue a career in football. Luter's dreams were set – play college football and then hopefully in the NFL. 
 
Like most things in life, that dream did not come easy. As Luter wrapped up his high school career, he only had three offers, all of which were junior college offers. As six of his Oak Grove teammates signed FBS scholarships, to schools like Ole Miss and Mississippi State, Luter watched from the background, discouraged and let down. 
 
"There was a time I thought maybe football wasn't for me, but I trusted the process and promised myself I was not going to leave football," Luter said.
 
Luter contemplated his football future for months, then took a leap of faith and signed to play football at Pearl River Community College in Poplarville, Miss., and his junior college journey began. 
 
"As soon as I got there, I saw people I knew that had played at Oak Grove, and I fit in pretty well," Luter said. "I had a roommate who loved to work out, so the same day I moved in, we went to the sandpit and started working out and getting better every day and I just fell in love with improving." 
 
As his freshman season went on, Luter got playing time here and there. He got his first start at the very end of his first season and started the two after that. Once Luter was able to show off his skills on the field, things shifted. 
 
During his sophomore season, Luter got attention from Division I schools, and South Alabama quickly emerged as a top contender. 
 
"They showed me a lot of love, and when I came on an official visit and the staff showed me around, I fell in love with it," Luter said. "I wanted to make a name for myself at South. You don't have to go to those big schools to get famous. You can get drafted from anywhere, and I planned to do that."
 
Despite having an offer from his hometown college of Southern Miss, Luter wanted a fresh start with new opportunities, so he signed with South Alabama and a new chapter of his life began. 
 
As Luter prepared for the shift from the junior college level to Division I, the foundation and preparation were already there. The work he put in junior college prepared him more than enough for life at a DI program. 
 
"JUCO is what made me the player I am at South; it was a lot of hard work," Luter said. "JUCO made me tough. You have to have extreme effort and work your tail off every day." 
 
When Luter arrived in Mobile, he earned playing time, but not as much as he wanted. The biggest adjustment Luter faced was the speed of game play, but he wasn't scared of facing the challenge. So, he did the only thing he knew – he put in the work and things soon shifted in this favor. 
 
Following the 2020 season, a new coaching staff came to South, led by head coach Kane Wommack. The new coaching regime brought a lot of changes to the program, one's which benefited Luter. He quickly formed bonds with Wommack and assistant coach Dwike Wilson, his new position coach. 
 
"Luter has such maturity for a guy his age," Wommack said. "He does everything right off the field and gets rewarded because of the production he has on the field." 
 
Wilson came with Wommack from Indiana, so he met the team and his position players quickly, and they hit the ground running. 
 
"When we took this job, they were immediately our kids," Wilson said. "I was excited to coach Darrell and he was excited to have someone that was going to give him a fresh start." 
 
That mindset led to a bond between Wilson and Luter that helped create the elite cornerback he is today. 
 
"Coach Wilson trusted me and put me to work ASAP," Luter laughed. "That was my moment, I got a fresh start. I did overtime work on the field before they even got down here because I was aiming for the starting spot and I had to have it." 
 
And he got it. Luter went on to start 10 games during the 2021 season, only missing the final two games due to an injury. 
 
The 2021 season was his breakout season, something he had been waiting for since his days at Pearl River CC. 
 
Luter recorded 21 total stops with four interceptions and 10 other passes defended. He led the Sun Belt Conference in passes defended per game and was second in the conference for interceptions per game, and was named the league's defensive player of the year. 
 
Luter's recognition also stretched past the Sun Belt, as he was named second-team All-America by Pro Football Focus, was a Phil Steele Publications and Pro Football Network honorable mention All-American, and finished the season ranked 24th on PFF's College 101 list. 
 
Entering the fall, Luter's name was put there with some of the top college football players as he was named to the Bednarik Award Watch List, the Jim Thorpe Watch List and the Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List, while also being selected Fourth-Team All-American by Athlon, as well as preseason first-team all-Sun Belt honoree by both the coaches and several other publications.
 
In everything that Luter has experienced at South, from insane football experiences to walking across the graduation stage, he experienced a little differently than other student-athletes, because he experienced them as a married man. It's no surprise that being a married student-athlete is nontraditional, but Luter wouldn't have it any other way.   
 
For some, being married could make being a full-time student-athlete difficult, but Luter focuses on the benefits instead. 
 
"The coaches see me as more mature and we have unique bonds," Luter said. "I stick to myself and focus on football and family." 
 
If being married wasn't nontraditional enough, the Luters have a baby on the way who is due in the spring, and the father-to-be secretly wants a little girl. 
 
"When she told me she was pregnant, I started screaming and running around the whole apartment," Luter laughed. "It was nothing but joy coming out of me. I'm going to be a real proud father." 
 
With a baby on the way in March and the NFL Draft in April, Luter will have his hands full. He hasn't quite wrapped his head around it all, but that doesn't mean he's not excited. He is already thinking about life as a pro football player and family man, and he is even already scoping out family cars. 
 
"Everything's going to change, but I'm excited and ready for the change," Luter said. 
 
With all the good, the bad and the crazy changes that are about to come as a husband and a soon-to-be father, Luter is handling it with tremendous grace. Coach Wilson laughs and says it's because Luter has the personality of an old man, but it truly comes down to a higher level of maturity and consistency. 
 
Luter and his wife have a schedule, and they stick to it. He wakes up at 5:15, does his devotion, eats breakfast, goes to the football facility, goes through practices, stays after to do extra work, goes to any classes he has, goes home, eats dinner and then wakes up and does it all again the next day. 
 
"Every day he is the same dude," Wilson said. "You don't get the young kid blues with him. He's totally committed to consistency. I know the same guy every day is coming to work at practice." 
 
That consistency is what sets him apart from others on the field. Wommack and Wilson can constantly count on Luter to do his job, no questions asked. 
 
"His consistency and his attention to detail every single day allow him to be a great corner and be such a great product on game day," Wommack said. "He is a total pro in everything he does. He's going to work a little harder than the next person. You match his consistency with his hard work and professional mentality, you get the incredible leader he is for our team." 
 
His consistency has definitely shown up on the field again for the Jaguars as he has recorded 14 tackles and an interception, while also being credited with three pass break ups. 
 
Entering Saturday's Homecoming game against ULM, which is set to kick off at 6 p.m. at Hancock Whitney Stadium, the senior cornerback is tied with four other players in career interceptions (5) and is fifth in pass break ups (15)
 
In everything Luter has experienced as a Jaguar, one moment sticks out – playing UCLA in the Rose Bowl. Walking around Santa Monica Pier with his teammates and practicing at the University of Southern California are moments Luter will remember for a while. 
 
One of the sport's iconic settings, the Rose Bowl is something most college football players dream of, and Luter got to live it. 
 
"We walked in the stadium and I just kept turning my head all around thinking how crazy it was being there," Luter said. "What else can you say about it? What better feeling is there than playing in the Rose Bowl." 
 
All the crazy experiences Luter has had in the last two years at South pale in comparison to what he will experience in the next two years of his life. 
 
In a year's time, Luter sees himself playing on Sundays and spending time with his family in their new house in whatever city they land in. That's the vision now, but when Luter was a senior in high school at Oak Grove on his way to Pearl River Community College, this felt impossible. 
 
But Coach Wilson isn't surprised Luter's dreams are coming true, as he saw Luter's strength and dedication shine through from the moment they met. 
 
Luter's path to success was full of rocky patches and twists and turns, but he had dreams of playing on Saturdays and Sundays and was going to do whatever he could to achieve that dream. 
 
The junior college route was not what he had in mind growing up on the pee-wee field, but it helped Luter in ways he never imagined. 
 
"I got reassurance at the junior college level," Luter smiled. "JUCO helped me realize football was my destiny and I wanted to do this. Sometimes you have to take a different route, but there's a reason for everything." 
 
As Luter finishes up his senior season and gears up for the NFL Draft, he will always look back on that "different route" that led him from the Hub City to the Port City and be grateful he took it. 
 
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