The homecoming queen’s got a strong right leg

I love this story.

[Mary Morlan] Isom, who is also LSU’s reigning homecoming queen, has been trying out this week for a spot on LSU’s football team as a placekicker. If she makes it, she would be the first woman football player in school history.

However, Isom said she knows not everyone is keen on the idea of women playing a historically male sport.

“There are definitely people with varied opinions about it,” she said. “Whether those individuals like it or not, I’m still chugging along and pursuing this goal.”

As for family and friends, including the football team, they’re behind her 100 percent.

Isom said Wednesday that the football players, many of whom she already knew because the soccer and football teams use the same facilities, were supportive of her ever since she approached the team with the idea in January 2011.

Isom even joked that she’s “just one of the guys.”

“Those upperclassmen have been by my side for three, four years now,” she said.

Isom was the goalie for LSU’s women’s soccer team for four years. Having graduated and enrolled in grad school, NCAA rules allow her a year of eligibility in another sport. The challenge for her here is especially great because LSU’s returning placekicker was 16 for 18 on field goals last year, so they don’t exactly have a screaming need there. Nonetheless, I wish her the best of luck in her quest, and hope that others follow in her footsteps.

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