NATCHITOCHES – When future NFL cornerback Keith Thibodeaux was anchoring the Northwestern State secondary, it was said that water covered two-thirds of the Earth, and Thibodeaux covered the other third.
 
At Thursday evening's season opening football game in Turpin Stadium, the NSU athletic department will recognize Thibodeaux's achievements as he is presented as the Exchange Bank Demon Great of the Game during the first quarter.
 
The Opelousas native, who now works in health care in Lafayette, was voted to the Top 100 Demon Football Players of the Century team chosen in 2007 during NSU's football centennial season. He played six seasons in the NFL with Washington, Atlanta, Minnesota and Green Bay from 1997-2002.
 
Thibodeaux lettered four seasons (1993-96) as a tenacious cover corner. He was a three-year starter who made 162 career tackles and 24 pass breakups, 10 in his senior season. He was a two-time All-Southland Conference selection who also earned first-team All-Louisiana honors as a senior.
 
A team captain and recipient of the Joe Delaney Memorial Leadership Award for the 1996 team, he was also the Demons' 1996 defensive Most Valuable Player.
Thibodeaux was the 140^th pick in the 1997 NFL Draft, going in the fifth round to the Redskins.

In its first two years, the Demon Great of the Game presented by Exchange Bank and Trust of Natchitoches honored 12 of the most outstanding performers in the 108-year history of NSU athletics. Exchange Bank has been a key supporter of NSU Athletics throughout its long history as the oldest financial institution in Natchitoches.