Stamps leaves mark on workout
<blockquote><p align=justify>LOUISIANA La. -- Take University of Louisiana wide receiver Fred Stamps off the field Saturday and there were few offensive highlights.
That, however, wasn't completely bad news for Louisiana coach Rickey Bustle.
"Our defense is ahead of the offense right now and I'm glad they are," he said following the 107-play scrimmage at Cajun Field. "It's obvious the defense was having a lot more fun than the offense did."
Stamps, a senior and All-Sun Belt Conference selection last season, caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from redshirt freshman quarterback Jerry Babb. He also had the scrimmage's most electrifying play, a diving 33-yard catch.
The other scrimmage touchdown came when senior quarterback Eric Rekieta threw a 20-yarder to 6-foot-6 freshman receiver Jordan Jackson.
Otherwise the day mainly belonged to the defense, Bustle said.
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"The defense just flew around and made some plays," he said. "Offensively, we need more consistency. If we can get Stamps in some one-on-one situations like we did, he's going to make some plays."
Bustle said Babb's handling of the first-team offense improved over several days ago when the Cajuns held their first scrimmage.
Rekieta, held out of spring drills because of arm surgery, appeared frustrated sometimes when mistakes occurred, Bustle said.
The Cajuns also got points off a pair of long field goals from sophomore Sean Comiskey. Comiskey nailed a 53-yard attempt after a Babb touchdown run was called back. Comiskey also drilled a 47-yarder.
"There's a lot of difference in (Comiskey) this year," said running backs coach Brian Jenkins, who also handles the kickers. "He doesn't think there's a kick he can miss. If he does miss one, he goes back to work."
Jenkins said Comiskey has improved the speed of his leg swing on approaching the ball.
Defensive coordinator Brent Pry was also pleased with the effort against the offense.
UL-Lafayette's defense could have as many as six junior college transfers and five redshirt freshmen on the top two units, he said.
"The thing that really impressed me (on Saturday) was we got a stop no matter where the ball was," Pry said. "Our defense played the same way on every snap, no matter if the situation was a minus 10 or a plus 10."
Pry said key new faces defensively are tackles Daniel Taylor, George Benson and Kendrick Haynes.
Benson and Haynes are junior college transfers, while Taylor had 16 tackles for ULL.
Another JC transfer, end Travis Bass, also played well, said Pry.
Three junior college transfers also had good afternoons in the secondary, Pry said. Among those transfers earning his praise were rover C.C. Brown and cornerbacks Antwain Spann and Ricky Thomas.
At linebackers, Pry praised the efforts of former defensive end G.W. Rudick along with redshirt freshmen, Tyler Norman and Mack Fair.
Rudick's 2002 season ended when he lacerated a kidney against North Teas State.
Junior David Prater, who redshirted last year after playing at Nazarene University and East Texas Baptist before that, is another key newcomer to the defense, said Pry.
Bustle said the Cajuns currently have eight junior college transfers practicing and all will play significantly this year, he said.
m NOTES: Bustle said offensive linemen Corey Glover and Ronnie Harvey were held out of Saturday's scrimmage. Glover suffered a concussion last week and needs re-evaluation, said Bustle. Harvey experienced cramping on Friday night and did not scrimmage as another precautionary measure, Bustle said ... UL-Lafayette scrimmages again at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday and will use more game-like situations in preparation for the Aug. 30 season opener at South Carolina.
"We'll have the coaches up in the press box with the headsets on and we'll run the game clock," said Bustle ... The team practices at 4 p.m. today and won't work out again until at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday ... Side judge Steve Kleinpeter of Baton Rouge was part of an officiating crew that worked the ULL scrimmage. It was a long day for Kleinpeter and the crew, which also officiated Saturday morning's 160-play scrimmage at McNeese State.
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Practice pictures from Ragincajuns.com
http://www.ragincajuns.com/football/Images/pp7.jpg
Jarvis Murchisson (#81) getting past Michael Adams (#33)
