JACKSON, La. - Whenever a former player of East Feliciana head football coach Darius Matthews comes back to the program to join his coaching staff, that lets him know that he's doing something right.

Two names in particular have seen some of the biggest stages that football has to offer. But before they went under the bright lights of the NFL, Danny Johnson and Kendell Beckwith starred at East Feliciana with the Tigers. They never forgot their roots.

"That's how we are," said former LSU and Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Kendell Beckwith. "This town means everything to us."

When Johnson was done playing with the Washington Commanders, he came back home to East Feliciana and joined coach Matthews' staff as the wide receiver coach.

"Being around what I came from, and I'm just trying to make kids around here better and help them get to that next level like I did," said Johnson. "There are a lot of kids who deserve the opportunity, and I think if they put the work in, they could be at that same point. I feel like it's my job if I got that opportunity to come back and try to help them out and get that same one."

It took a bit longer for Beckwith to get homesick, but eventually, he joined the Tiger coaching staff as well, with lofty goals in mind for his new career.

"It takes being away and getting a different perspective and then coming back; there's just more experience," said Beckwith. "One day I wouldn't mind being a head coach. I would like to work my way up way down the line, because I'm nowhere near ready. I hope to one day be able to work my way up to that point, and hopefully it's right here."

Johnson and Beckwith's East Feliciana background and success in their respective careers give them both a unique perspective; one that they share with their players who may one day be just like them, or maybe even better.

"Anything that I've thought that I've done well, I feel like there's always room for improvement," said Beckwith. "There are always ways to coach it better or do it better, so that's what I try to pour back into these kids."

Even after time in the NFL, Johnson's East Feliciana DNA comes out whenever he's coaching.

"It's not many of us that get a chance to make it from here," said Johnson. "So I think me being from here and just trying to represent that, and show that we do have talent here. It may be small, it may be few, but there's a lot of talent here, and I just wish everybody could see that for these kids."

For 2026, the Tigers look to improve on a 10-4 record and a run to the State quarterfinals.