Defensive end Paris Shand enjoying the gumbo and LSU
Paris Shand says he likes gumbo and it took some gumbo weather in Tiger Stadium for him to play his best game.
As temperatures were dropping last Saturday, Shand became more of a force and had a career night with six tackles, 1.5 tackles for a loss, and a pass batted down,
As a kid Shand never envisioned playing in front of 102,000 fans in Tiger Stadium. He’s from Toronto, Ontario, Canada,
He was a basketball player growing up. His dad, Kevin Shand, played college hoops at Duquense, and was a member of the Canadian National Team and played professionally overseas.
Paris Shand is a good hoopster in his own right. A member of Canada’s Under 16 National Team in 2017, winning a silver medal at the FIBA under 16 Americas Championship in Argentina.
Shand, who now stands at 6-3, 280 pounds, was encouraged by his high school accounting teacher to play football.
He had one practice before his first game. He ended up starting because the scheduled starter never showed up. After the game, Canadian coaches told him he should stick to football.
Shand started his college career at Arizona and played 24 games for the Wildcats, making ten starts.
Last season in Tuscon, he had 23 tackles, 2.5 tackles for a loss and 2.5 sacks. After the 2022 campaign, Shand entered the transfer portal and was one of several D-linemen who made the decision to attend LSU.
Shand calls LSU a great institution
“I love the opportunity to play in a big stadium in front of fans that love the team that cheer all day and all night, the opportunity to be in front of scouts week in, and week out, it’s just a great opportunity overall the state of Louisiana is great, so I just feel like that was the big thing that brought me here,” said Shand.
And now he gets to learn from legendary defensive line coach Pete Jenkins, who re-joined the program earlier this month. It might have been more than gumbo weather that go him to produce like he did last Saturday.
“Pete is great, he knows everything, any question about D-line play, he knows the answer, he’s been doing this for 50-plus years,” said Shand.
Shand also said going up against LSU’s offensive line every day has made him a better player.
“Going up against our O-line made me a much better player, if you watch my film at Arizona or even watch my film in the spring it’s significantly different, you see a different player than what you see right now, our offensive line is a big piece of why I’m so much better now, going up against the best every day has made me better, being able to watch the film to see that I didn’t do this right and I didn’t do that right, playing against our guys, you see what they do on offense each week, going up against those guys are great,” said Shand.
Shand is all about football and he hasn’t done much sightseeing since he arrived in Baton Rouge.
“I don’t really leave my house, I like Louisiana, I have been to the levee, but I need some suggestions of things to do, but I really like the food, I think the food is really great here,“ said Shand.
What!?! The Mississippi River levee is coolest thing he’s seen so far. But Paris what about the gumbo?
“I like gumbo that’s good…I don’t know what gumbo season is,” said Shand.
During the bye week, Coach Jenkins might have some time to teach him how to make a roux.