More often than not in sports, if a player does the right thing and works hard, he gets the opportunity to play.

Westgate receiver Brandon Gonsoulin is example one of that philosophy come to fruition.

The WHS senior-to-be put in the required work the past couple of years and was rewarded with some playing time as a junior. Now, he is slated to be one of the starting receivers for the Tigers come the fall.

“Brandon is a great kid,” said WHS coach Brian Fine. “He works hard every day and worked himself into a position where he played for us a little bit last year.

“We expect him to be one of our starting wideouts this coming year.”

Fine said that while Gonsoulin is not a vocal leader, he certainly leads by example in showing up and working hard to make the football team better.

“I think it’s his attitude,” said Fine. “He’s unselfish in doing what we ask him to do.”

The WHS coach listed several attributes including the ability to make a block in space, running precise routes and making the catch when necessary all add up to make him a valuable member of the football team.

“I’m certainly glad we have him on our team,” said Fine.

Gonsoulin said that so far, spring football has gone well for him and for the football team. What he and the rest of the team have worked on is making sure that the timing between the quarterbacks and receivers is good along with making sure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to running the offense.

It’s taken some work for Gonsoulin to get to this point and he definitely paid his dues to work himself into starting position.

“It’s been a good experience,” said the WHS receiver. “I had to start off where everybody else started off. 

“Put in the hard work and stay after practice to understand what I was needed to do.

“Now It’s starting to pay off because I’ve been able to work myself into a pretty good situation. It’s always been a matter of working hard.”

Slated to be the No. 1 receiver in the offense, Gonsoulin takes his position seriously as he makes sure to keep up the tradition of other top receivers that have played football for the Tigers, including Lellande Davis and Diontae Spencer, currently playing receiver at McNeese.

“I’m definitely trying to keep up the tradition,” said Gonsoulin. 

“The hardest part is the stay focused on the goal of keeping the position up and keep improving.”

Gonsoulin would like to have a big senior season because he has dreams of playing in college like so many other Westgate football players have done.

In fact, from the first day he started playing football, it’s been a dream to play college football

“I keep up with what the other players have done in college,” said Gonsoulin. “That would be a dream to be able to be mentioned in the future with those players.”