According to ESPN: In Mississippi, a state that was crippled by racial intolerance, the Jackson State fans don't care that he is different from them. The fans don't care about the trouble in his past and the manslaughter charge that was attached to him.
Casey Therriault was 18 years old and home from College of the Sequoias, a California junior college, on Christmas break. He'd been in a nightclub, the Margarita Grill in his hometown of Grand Rapids, with some buddies and some friends of those whom he didn't really know. He hadn't been drinking, he said, but trouble followed them out the door when they left.The drunk guy was grabbing at them, trying to start something. Someone in the group directed an insult at the drunk, and Therriault laughed.
That's when the drunk guy hit him. And he hit back. And then he was scared, and he got out of there.
What happened next would change the life of everyone out on the sidewalk that night. Some of the other guys in the group jumped on the drunk guy. Kicking. Stomping.
They beat him into a coma. Two weeks later, when the phone rang back at junior college in California, the prosecutor's words were incomprehensible: Therriault was wanted back home for questioning in the death of Jonathon Krystiniak.
Charges eventually were filed against five men, Therriault included: manslaughter.
In May of 2010, Casey decided he would attend but felt akward at first when Jackson State University recruited him out of Grand Rapids because it was a black school. Then he started getting cold feet, thinking about moving that far away from home. But on July 5th, he and his father packed up and left Michigan for Mississippi. What followed was an unlikely but perfect marriage of player and program. Casey's 3,600 yards of total offense and 41 total touchdowns (31 passing, 10 running) made him the Southwestern Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year and the first-team all-SWAC quarterback. He was second nationally in the Football Championship Subdivision in passing yards and total offense, leading Jackson State to an 8-3 record and a share of the SWAC East title.
A proud school with a passionate base and a gilded football heritage, having produced Football players likes of Walter Payton and Lem Barney, Jackson State had never had a standout white football player before. There were a few lesser players who came and went, but nobody with the ability of Casey.
The fans adored him. They nicknamed him "White Tiger." Teammates called him "Blue-Eyed Soul Brother."
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