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Over the summer, Phillip Nevels stayed plenty busy and did more than just prepare for the upcoming football season.
Nevels, a senior safety, attended this year’s NCAA Student-Athlete Development Conference from May 24-27 at the Walt Disney World Coronado Spring Resort in Orlando, Fla.
The Dallas native was one of 700 student-athletes selected from the three divisions of NCAA athletics who have been tabbed as current or future leaders on their college campuses. The conference served as a forum to enhance leadership and decision-making skills and provided a chance for the discussion of important issues in intercollegiate athletics.
<center> <a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20090808/SPORTS/90808001/1006/UL-Notebook--Nevels--leadership-expands-past-field-" target="_blank">The rest of the story </a>
Joshua Parrott •
jparrott@theadvertiser.com • August 8, 2009
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“It went well,” Nevels said. “It was good to see the NCAA outside of just compliance and drug tests. We were able to put together what we’ve learned over the years and talk about what we wanted to see in the future from the NCAA.”
Nevels, named four times to the Sun Belt Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll List, played wide receiver during his first two seasons with the Ragin’ Cajuns before moving to safety in the spring of 2008.
As a junior, Nevels appeared in all 12 games as a reserve safety and on special teams. The anthropology major finished with seven tackles last year.
Practice update
Friday’s practice marked the second for the Cajuns in shorts and helmets. They will add shoulder pads (shells) for workouts today and Monday before going in full pads on Tuesday.
“Guys are eager to put the pads on,” said second-year offensive coordinator Ron Hudson. “They’re not bored, but the drills are tedious.”
The biggest fans
By the time UL players and coaches took the field Friday, two Powerfoil X fans from the Lexington, Ky.-based business Big Ass Fans had been installed in the Leon Moncla Indoor Practice Facility. One was located near the east end zone and the other at midfield.
A third fan was installed in the west end zone during the workout.
The fans, installed to help circulate air within the facility, cost about $30,000, according to UL sports information director Daryl Cetnar.
Odds and Ends
Lafayette native and St. Thomas More graduate Paul Toce was added to the roster on Friday. The true freshman defensive end wore No. 51 at practice … Phillip Walker, a senior fullback, worked again with the linebackers on Friday … Newcomers Tyrell Gaddies and Robert Robinson were back on the field for Friday’s practice after missing most of Thursday’s workout due to the heat. Gaddies is a sophomore defensive tackle originally from New Orleans but spent the previous two years at Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College. Robinson is a true freshman offensive lineman from Delray Beach, Fla. … Redshirt freshman running back Draylon Booker, redshirt freshman offensive lineman Evan Ruiz and true freshman defensive end Justin Anderson wore black jerseys on Friday, meaning that they were banned from contact … Former UL wide receiver Jawanza Mitchell has transferred to Prairie View A&M, a FCS school in Prairie View, Texas. The Mesquite, Texas native redshirted as a true freshman in 2007 and did not make any catches in 2008 … Former UL president Ray Authement attended a portion of Friday’s practice. Authement was the university’s president from 1974-2008 before stepping aside in July 2008 for Joseph Savoie.
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