Not even Tulane-Nicholls week can alter bond between Monroe brothers

You would be hard-pressed to find a greater mutual admiration society between siblings than the Monroe brothers.

Nothing can shake their bond, not even when older brother Darion, as an assistant coach at Nicholls, faces younger brother Jarius, a cornerback at Tulane, when the teams meet Saturday at Yulman Stadium in New Orleans.

The connection goes beyond blood. Darion, older by eight years, was a safety at Tulane before eventually becoming as assistant at Nicholls. Jarius was a Colonel cornerback before going the portal route and ended up a Greenie.

“It’s kind of awkward. It’s kind of weird. It’s very coincidental,” said Jarius. “I know Nicholls had been wanting to play Tulane again (the teams met in 2018) for a while. They are finally getting that opportunity.

“I’m finally getting the opportunity to play against my brother, which is something I never thought about. We didn’t find out until the summer that we were going to play each other.”

The brothers generally communicate several times on a weekly basis, but the Tulane-Nicholls week has altered the routine.

“I texted him Sunday and told him, ‘Here we come. We’re ready.’ That’s the only communication that we had this week. We are really not talking to each other. We are in a family group text and neither of us are talking in the group text. It’s a family rivalry,” Darion said.

If not talking, the brothers are gaming remotely – but again, not during Tulane-Nicholls week.

“We haven’t been doing that. We haven’t been gaming or talking. I think it’s a little rivalry right now,” Jarius laughed. “I played at Nicholls so some of my best friends are over there. I also had to cut ties with them. I told them I loved them and told them we can’t talk this week.”

The brothers were stars at East St. John High School in Reserve and while there is the Tulane-Nicholls connection, their paths never crossed at the same time at either the New Orleans or Thibodaux schools.

“He actually got in the portal and went to Tulane two weeks before I was hired here,” Darion said of Jarius. “It’s just a crazy situation. It was nothing like Coach (Tim) Rebowe hired me to try and get him back or anything like that. It was kind of just something that just happened.

“An opening came here right after he left, and Coach called me and it kind of happened like that. It was kind of weird because he had just left. It’s good to see him have some success at a school that I was at. I still got love over there. That’s still home for me, being an alumnus. I know he still loves his friends who are on this team right now.”

While the brothers ended up playing for Tulane, Jarius began his journey at Nicholls.

“The decision going to Nicholls, I was a kid at a small high school. I had got some recognition from big programs, but no one wanted to pull the trigger,” Jarius said. “They were scared of what was going on in my neighborhood and stuff during that era.

“Nicholls had always looked at me since my sophomore year. I just decided that was the best decision for me. Once I decided to go to Nicholls, my goal was to get drafted from there. I had no plans to transfer. That was not in my book. I was going to be the highest draft pick in the FCS at corner.  That was my goal. I just worked every day.”

Not all his teammates, Jarius said, had the same outlook.

“I would go out at night and ask guys if they wanted to come with me,” Jarius recalled. “I was lifting tires at 12 a.m. Guys just didn’t have that same-type mentality I had, being under those lights at night, working by yourself with nobody telling you to work. Guys were taking it as the coach had to tell them to work.”

“I just wanted to find somewhere where I could dominate and just go hard – guys on the side of me to the left and right that work just as hard as me and want it as bad as me,” he continued. “A lot of guys at Nicholls felt like they didn’t have a chance and were like, ‘I’m just playing football just to play it.’

“I have a love for this game. My passion for this game runs deep. I feel like football is the biggest part of me. I play with a lot of passion. That’s how I play the game 90 percent of my game is confident and passion.”

Ultimately, Jarius ended up at Tulane, following in his older brother’s footsteps.

“When I entered the portal, I had told my brother, ‘Yeah, man, it would be nice to go to Tulane,’ Jarius said. “That’s the perfect spot for me. I get to stay close to home.

“I got the offer, but it came kind of later. I took my visit and I started to get big offers. West Virginia offered me on my visit at Tulane. I had to call them back and let them know that I was going to stay home and just go to Tulane.”

The close ties of the brothers extend to nicknames. Darion is known as “DeeBoe” and Jarius is “JayBoe.”

“When I was born, it was right around the time the movie Friday came out,” said Darion, explaining the origin of his nickname. “They had the character DeeBo on it. When I was playing ball, my daddy used to always say, ‘you’re out there DeeBoing them boys. It stuck. I became DeeBoe. It came to middle school. It came to high school. I tried to get rid of it going into college. It trickled on to college. I tried to get rid of it going into the career, and now it’s in the coaching career. So now I’m ‘Coach Boe.’”

Jarius remembers the moment he gained his nickname.

“We were at practice in high school. The coaches had also coached my brother. They were calling me ‘Little DeeBoe, Little DeeBoe.’ I wasn’t practicing really good. I wasn’t a great player my freshman year,” he recalled. “One of my coaches said, ‘you are not good enough to be called DeeBoe. We are going to call you JayBoe.’ It just stuck after that.

“That’s a crazy story because it came out of the coach feeling I wasn’t good enough to carry my brother’s name. Now I’m here carrying on that legacy.”

Jarius also carries on his brother’s legacy by wearing jersey No. 2. He began his Green Wave career donning jersey No. 11 before switching.

“I am definitely wearing No. 2 because of him,” said Jarius. “I got here, they gave me 11. I knew I wanted that 2. My brother had it. My brother actually started with passing down No. 2. I think he gave it to Nico Marley. Nico Marley gave it to Roderick Teamer and then it went to Dorian Williams.

“No. 2 is like the guy on the defense. I knew I wanted that number really bad. I wanted to feel like I was carrying my brother’s legacy, and maybe create my own while doing so.”

“When he went over there, he tried to get it, but they had the all-conference linebacker (Williams) wearing it. He kind of waited his turn and when it became available, he asked Coach (Willie) Fritz for it. He granted him it, knowing I wore it when I was there. It’s kind of a situation where it’s passed down.”

Now known as Coach Boe, Darion can offer an assessment of Jarius, the football player.

“Something I see about him that is a plus for him is he had great size and length,” said Darion. “He’s really patient at the line in press coverage. He’s actually faster than I remember. When he gets his hands on a receiver he kind of finishes that route and the quarterback has to go another way.”

“He’s consistent with his feet,” Darion added. “Where he can get better at is being consistent with his eyes. He knows that. It’s something that we always talk about, just being consistent with your eyes. He’s always looking to make a play for the defense.

“I try to preach to him most times, let the plays come to you – play your technique. Play within the scheme and the plays will come to you. He’s gotten better at that this year.”

Size does come up between the brothers. Younger brother Jarius is now the larger brother physically.

“I guess everybody kinds of deals with that in different families where the little brother ends up being bigger than the big brother. My dad is 6-2, so he got the height from my dad. My mom is 5-5, so I’m kind of right in the middle because I’m 5-10. He got all got height. He also got the size, he got all the other stuff, too,” Darion said of Jarius.

Younger brother has been known to have a little fun at the expense of his older brother concerning the size difference.

“Ever since I hit that growth spurt, it’s been a problem. I would get on him about, ‘I’m taller than you. You take the trash out, not me.’ I feel like I can bully him a little bit. He still lifts weights, so he’s still got a little strength on him,” joked Jarius.

One area where Jarius will not surpass his brother is in career tackles. Darion finished his career with 332 tackles. Jarius had 151 entering his senior season.

“We played a different position. We played a lot of cover-3, box safety stuff, so I had a lot of opportunities to make tackles. He can’t catch that one,” said Darion.

Interceptions might be another matter. Darion has six career interceptions in college. Jarius went into the 2023 season with three.

“I got to go get him. I got to go get him. This year is going to be tough. I’m just trying to make the plays that come my way. I’m just trying to do my job. If a play comes my way, I’m definitely going to try to make it,” Jarius said.

For Jarius, the biggest thing is not surpassing his older brother, but emulating him.

“I didn’t have my father in my life. A lot of things my brother did, I just tried to copy. He’s never done anything wrong. He’s always been a perfect human being. That’s what I call him, ‘a perfect human being.’ He’s done everything to the T of what you are supposed to do as a man. Just trying to become my own man, learn what I like and who I am, he helped me a lot with that. That’s what I respect him the most for. He showed me a path when there was no path.”