Ross & Justin, Overcoming the Breaks
<blockquote><p align=justify><b>Cajuns duo are veterans on field, in training room </b>
LOUISIANA La. -- Under normal circumstances, the collegiate eligibility clocks for Justin Venable and Ross Brupbacher should have expired long ago.
Armed with University of Louisiana undergraduate degrees, the two could be moving on at this stage.
Instead, the defensive veterans are back as fixtures on the practice field, beneficiaries of careers extended perhaps beyond expectations.
For Venable, that longevity might as well be measured in light years and may be borrowed time.
Injured in similar fashion during the same half of ULL's 36-17 loss at Houston on Sept. 14, Venable and Brupbacher, then seniors, appeared to have played their last college games. But earlier this year, the NCAA thought otherwise.
Venable and Brupbacher, roommates since their freshman seasons in 1998, were each granted a sixth year of eligibility after appealing their medical situations.
Venable said Friday the NCAA has granted him two more seasons in addition to the sixth one that started this year.
"I talked to a guy from a national magazine about it and if I play all eight seasons, it would be some kind of NCAA record," Venable said. "The most anyone has played so far is seven."
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By BOBBY ARDOIN
Special to The Advocate <!--
Their ages and the time spent in the program have become somewhat of a joke between Brupbacher and Venable.
"It's like we're the oldest guys around here, especially compared to some of the players just coming into the program. We joke about it," said Brupbacher, an inside linebacker.
Venable, a defensive end, has undergone three knee operations since the first one in the 1998 Louisiana High School Coaches Association's All-star football game.
That first knee injury allowed Venable to take a medical redshirt his freshman season. He also redshirted in 2000 after tearing the left knee again before spring drills.
The following year, Venable again ended his season early after suffering a broken jaw against Southern Mississippi.
Venable's third knee injury -- this time to the right knee -- came in the Houston game when two linemen rolled onto his leg as he sprinted to make a tackle.
"Another knee injury and that's it for me," said Venable, who has entered UL's graduate school of business. "I have no more right patella, because they opened it up and took it to repair the left knee during the second operation.
"For the right one last year, they grafted part of my hamstring. The first knee injury used a part of a tendon. It's like I'm out of spare parts right now."
Brupbacher's broken right fibula last year was the first major injury of a career in which the three-year starter had 143 tackles.
"I really don't like to think about the injury," Brupbacher said. "It's something I've put behind me. It was a freak occurrence, since Justin and I have been so close. We went down about 20 minutes apart. Mine happened right after I was there on the sideline, trying to console him."
Brupbacher said he's aware he could be doing other things than playing an extra season.
"I just love to play football," he said. "When you think about it, I've been here a long time. You think about it and you realize we haven't had many wins here. That should have made it hard to come back."
The two point to the staff of UL coach Rickey Bustle for deciding to stay.
"They have it going in the right direction and I think we have a chance to have a good season," Brupbacher said.
Defensive coordinator Brent Pry said Brupbacher played in the spring and looked good, while Venable's recovery could be longer.
"When we lost those two last year, it was a pretty heavy hit," Pry said. "They play the game like you want. They are leaders and they lead by example."
mþNOTES: Former Broadmoor High standout Johnathon Raush, a four-year offensive lineman (1999-02), said he is a student assistant coach this season. A mechanical engineering major, he said he wanted to see if he liked coaching. ... Bustle announced the arrival of 6-foot-3, 290-pound junior-college defensive tackle George Benson. Benson did not report Sunday as he was completing a summer-school course at Fresno City (Calif.) Junior College.
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Louisiana practices in full pads
<blockquote><p align=justify>LOUISIANA La. -- Louisiana hit the field in full pads for the first time this fall Friday, practicing for a little more than two hours.
The Cajuns will begin two-a-day practices today with a morning session from 8-10:15 a.m. and an afternoon slate from 4-6:15 p.m. The practice is open to the public.
"The players have to learn how to run all over again," said Cajuns wide receivers coach Brian Crist. "When you're not in full pads you just catch the ball and run untouched. Now after you catch the ball you have to turn, protect it and lower your shoulder in preparation for a hit."
Crist was happy with the way the defense played against his receivers.
"Our defense is not shy about hitting anyone," Crist added. "We need to learn how to compete a little more. When the offense goes against the defense there has to be a pressure to succeed and make plays."
With nearly a full week of practice in the books, the coaching staff is impressed with the ability of the older players within specific schemes and their aptitude in helping to progress the newcomers at an accelerated rate.
"There has been a lot of retention from the spring," said Crist. "We are working so many more things this fall as compared to last. The ability to adjust is much better.
"The younger players have elevated the competition. Fred Stamps and Eric Bartel are the hardest working receivers on the team and now the only thing the young guys know is to work hard.
"The new players are all playing well enough that the coaches feel the team wouldn't miss a beat if they went in."
</blockquote><b><i>LOUISIANA SI</i>
Ross's playing days are not over yet
<blockquote><p align=justify><b>Brupbacher’s career extended by NCAA medical hardship rule</b>
LOUISIANA La. — When the stabbing pain in his right leg finally relented a little, Ross Brupbacher thought about his football career.
More specifically, he thought about the end of it, figuring it had just happened.
The U-Louisiana senior linebacker was on the sidelines at Houston’s Robertson Stadium, his right fibula broken just above the ankle during the third game of the 2002 Ragin’ Cajun season.
“When they told me it was fractured, the first thing I thought of was that was it,” said the ex-Lafayette High standout. “I thought my career was over.
“I didn’t know much about the rule.”
“The rule” was the NCAA’s medical hardship rule, which allows players who become injured in the first half of a season and who have played in only a small percentage of a season’s games to apply for an additional year of eligibility.
It’s not automatic and it isn’t always granted, and Brupbacher had already used his redshirt year in 1998.
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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com <!--
He played in only one game that season before an injury prematurely ended that campaign.
By the time word came that he’d gotten a reprieve this spring, Brupbacher already had a plan in place to fulfill the high expectations he and others had for him in the 2002 season.
He had earned All-Sun Belt Conference second-team honors in 2001 for a club that was only 3-8, recording 78 tackles including 12 for minus yardage and 4 1/2 sacks. He was on the watch list for the Butkus Award prior to last season, and had 11 tackles and a fumble recovery in the Cajuns’ first two games last year.
Those expectations came crashing down at Houston.
“Any time you can’t perform at your highest level, it hurts,” he said. “I took it pretty hard. I take a lot of pride in my performance.”
That’s no surprise to Cajun defensive coordinator Brent Pry.
“That was a heavy hit when we lost Ross and Justin (Venable),” he said. “They play with a nose for the ball, and those guys are leaders.”
It was some of that leadership, and a good dose of family pride, that motivated him through rehabilitation, spring drills and summer off-season conditioning — not to mention graduating with a degree in general studies this year.
“He’s 100 percent recovered,” said Pry. “The quickness and the acceleration, they’re there. We’re an aggressive defense, and he’s going to be a big part of that again.”
Brupbacher got some of that ability genetically, with father Ross a former standout at Lafayette High and Texas A&M before a professional career with the Chicago Bears.
“He affected me a great deal,” said the junior Brupbacher. “He started my interest in football, but I kind of took it from there and ran. I played because I wanted to play.
“My dad was always very humble about his playing. He never really showed off his trophies and things like that. I remember taking and putting some of his trophies up in my room when I was a kid, but most of them are packed up in boxes somewhere.”
He’d like to add a more updated trophy — a Sun Belt or New Orleans Bowl one — to that collection, and he thinks his squad now has the horses to chase that hardware.
“Coach (Rickey) Bustle and the staff have done a great job of recruiting,” he said. “We’ve got a lot more depth. Last year when someone went down hurt, it wasn’t a good situation.”
He knows about players going down first-hand, but he also knows there’s a rule in place that helps that situation.
“I think it’s a great rule,” he said with a big grin. “It’s a great opportunity.”
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