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Louisiana’s Mike Desormeaux (pronounced dess-uh-mo) doesn’t consider himself a quarterback, despite statistics to the contrary and comments like these from Kansas State coach Ron Prince:
“… You hear a lot about dual-threat quarterbacks, and I think about all of the ones I have seen — this one might be the best one. Legitimately an unbelievable passer, very accurate, has tremendous sense of timing on his passes… He can pass from within the pocket and on the move.
“And then, he is the leading rusher among quarterbacks in the country.”
<center><p><a href="http://blogs.kansas.com/kstated/2008/09/24/closeup-mike-desormeaux/" target="_blank">The rest of the story</a>
By J-Mart
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Desormeaux realizes it’s a compliment.
It’s his current position, and he’s thriving there, completing 64 percent of his passes while leading the Ragin’ Cajuns in rushing at 112.7 yards per game. But he believes he’s more than that, although playing quarterback would be enough for most.
“I’m a football player,” he said Tuesday. “I just love to play the game.”
He has lined up at wide receiver and nickel back. He has participated on special teams, and he’s no joke — he has been named first team all-conference for three consecutive seasons as an all-purpose performer.
But for the time being, he’s a quarterback. A pretty good one, too.
Listening to Desormeaux, who is amped about the opportunity Saturday presents for himself, the Ragin’ Cajuns and the Sun Belt, this is a team on the rise. He wasn’t making excuses about a season-opening 51-21 loss to Southern Miss, but the reality is that the program was likely preoccupied with all things Hurricane Gustav — an emergency declaration was issued Aug. 29, one day before the Southern Miss game, but Louisiana elected to play anyway.
“You have to get past it,” Desormeaux said. “It’s something you have to get used to. It’s better than the tornadoes you guys have up there… We didn’t do a good job against Southern Miss. It’s not an excuse because my freshman year, we dealt with Katrina and Rita, struggled early but had a good season afterwards (6-5, Sun Belt champs).
“The week before Southern Miss, the focus wasn’t there.”
A bye week followed, and Desormeaux said the focus was back to basics, being more fundamentally sound.
Doesn’t that sound familiar?
Instead of following up the bye with a dud — on national television, no less — Louisiana was competitive with No. 21 Illinois, extending the Illini until the final seconds in a 20-17 road loss.
“We had a little success early offensively, but then we struggled in the middle of the game,” Desormeaux said. “Our defense kept us in the game. We had a chance to win it at the end… We improved dramatically from the first game to the second. I think it carried over to last week.”
And instead of searching for answers after a heartbreaking loss, as K-State is attempting to do, the Ragin’ Cajuns carried the momentum into last week’s home opener against Kent State (note the initials — KSU) and thumped the visitors, 44-27.
Anything is possible Saturday, Desormeaux says.
He didn’t travel to K-State with Louisiana in 2004, when the Ragin’ Cajuns lost in Manhattan, 40-20. He was a redshirt, but he consulted with several former players to find out what he should expect.
“Classy, knowledgeable fans,” he said.
He saw the Wildcats on Wednesday, and he came away impressed, chalking up a lot of the carnage to “a couple of big plays,” which again, sounded eerily like members of K-State’s defense this week.
But it also made it clear the Ragin’ Cajuns aren’t scared.
“It’s a challenge, but it’s something we’re looking forward to,” Desormeaux said. “We’re going in as the underdog, so all you have to do is go in and play your game.
“We feel like we’re playing well.”
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