Spring Football

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&nbsp; Many of the area's high school football coaches got an up-close view of a new-look UL squad Wednesday when the Ragin' Cajuns officially opened spring drills for the 2007 season.

The UL coaching staff, one that includes four new members this year, hosted an evening clinic for the area coaches following Wednesday's two-hour workout session.

"We've done it for a couple of years," said Cajun coach Rickey Bustle, "but this is the first time we've done it on our first day. It's an informal thing, a chance for everyone to meet and talk football."

The 86 returning members of the UL squad finally got a chance to do football-related drills Wednesday, after several weeks of off-season conditioning - the last two weeks featuring the infamous 6 a.m. "red dawn" sessions.

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Dan McDonald
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It was also the first chance for many of the squad members, notably the quarterbacks, wide receivers, linebackers and cornerbacks, to experience practice with their new position coaches.

New staffers Blake Anderson (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks), Kevin Fouquier (defensive coordinator/linebackers), Hurlie Brown (cornerbacks) and Darryl Mason (wide receivers) had their first chances for on-field interaction with their position groups.

"I think the players were well prepared and the coaches were well prepared," Bustle said. "While our guys are learning the plays and the defenses, they've also got to learn the coaches and the coaches have to learn about them.

"Part of the X's and O's is learning each other. You've got to learn that chemistry between the coaches and players, and the guys have to see what type of effort they have to give with our new guys."

The session was held in helmets and shorts and kicked off a series of 15 practices during the spring. NCAA mandates require the first two sessions in shorts including Friday's 3 p.m. practice. UL will don pads for the first time at 9:45 a.m. Saturday, and will hold full-gear sessions next Monday, Wednesday and Friday before a scheduled Saturday scrimmage.

"There weren't a lot of mental mistakes," Bustle said of the 12-period workout. "You always have some on a first day, but it was good to see we didn't have many."





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Originally Posted by crazycajun

still hard to watch a practice at eye level unlike being elevated in cajun field to grasp how everyone looks. at eye level you can only watch one phase of practice at at time.it is alot easier to see the plays develope from above. A defense that is performing poorly can make an offense look really good.

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I was answering your comment, ( its kind of hard to watch practice unless they practice on cajunfield but will definately give scrimmage reports and spring game reports. The practice field is surrounded by bushes so its difficult to see whats going on.) Your comment seem to indicate the bushes were the problem. Now I see you need the sky box view to evaluate the practice. I find that I get a better understanding of what the coaches want in the one on one drills, and if the coach is satisfied. There is nothing imo like being twenty or thirty feet away from the action and hearing what a coach has to say to the participants. Each to his own. Spring drills imo are to learn football, we won't know how well they learn until they compete against an opponent. ;) ;) ;) ;)

Anyone know if Saturday's practice will be on the practice field or at Cajun Field?

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Originally Posted by RaginCajun77

Anyone know if Saturday's practice will be on the practice field or at Cajun Field?

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probably the practice field i would think. i think only the spring game is on cajun field

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Originally Posted by crazycajun

probably the practice field i would think. i think only the spring game is on cajun field

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I cant speak for this year, but in the past most scrimmages (Saturday practices) have been at Cajun Field

I had the chance to watch the Cajuns practice this am. I'm very impressed with our new Coaches. Our new Offensive Coordinator, Anderson, has a lot of fire in the belly. Instantly likable guy. He kept the kids pumped the entire time I was there. Coach 'Fook', as he likes to be called, our new Defensive Coordinator, is very motivational also. He is constantly calling for hustle, and seems to be getting it early from the guys. He will have an attacking, blitzing defensive, and early on, he is installing a zone defense, that early on, looks impressive. The Coaches who remained, Troy, Tim, Shawn and Hudson all looked excited and ready to get after it too.

All in all, I was very happy with what I watched, and next Saturday will be the first scrimmage. Its open, so any Cajun fans in the area, please come by. Many, many of the players, and all of the coaches, from Bustle, to the entire crew, thanked everyone who came. You can tell the kids appreciate the support. I'm glad I went...and please,..if you live in the area, drop by for a while...it means a lot to these kids, who are giving it their very best for us.

Thanks....
BTG

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Originally Posted by BTG

I had the chance to watch the Cajuns practice this am. I'm very impressed with our new Coaches. Our new Offensive Coordinator, Anderson, has a lot of fire in the belly. Instantly likable guy. He kept the kids pumped the entire time I was there. Coach 'Fook', as he likes to be called, our new Defensive Coordinator, is very motivational also. He is constantly calling for hustle, and seems to be getting it early from the guys. He will have an attacking, blitzing defensive, and early on, he is installing a zone defense, that early on, looks impressive. The Coaches who remained, Troy, Tim, Shawn and Hudson all looked excited and ready to get after it too.

All in all, I was very happy with what I watched, and next Saturday will be the first scrimmage. Its open, so any Cajun fans in the area, please come by. Many, many of the players, and all of the coaches, from Bustle, to the entire crew, thanked everyone who came. You can tell the kids appreciate the support. I'm glad I went...and please,..if you live in the area, drop by for a while...it means a lot to these kids, who are giving it their very best for us.

Thanks....
BTG

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Let's just hope Fook doesn't implement that soft zone defense like we used this year. That ate us up alive. But I have a lot of confidence in him and his ability to coach. I expect us to be playing a much tighter zone this year. Where our boys are popping the recievers as soon as they touch the ball. None of this give them a 5-10 yard cushion for them to catch the ball like last year. If you get a good enough pop on em when the ball touches their hands, they won't catch it. That's what we need. And I'm very excited to see the blitz packages. I felt we relied on our line too much to get pressure on the QB, and while they did an outstanding job of containging scrambling QB's, I think we were giving the pocket passers way too much time to throw. That killed us. It's going to be a very interesting and exciting year for Cajun Football fans.

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Originally Posted by Kal

Let's just hope Fook doesn't implement that soft zone defense like we used this year. That ate us up alive. But I have a lot of confidence in him and his ability to coach. I expect us to be playing a much tighter zone this year. Where our boys are popping the recievers as soon as they touch the ball. None of this give them a 5-10 yard cushion for them to catch the ball like last year. If you get a good enough pop on em when the ball touches their hands, they won't catch it. That's what we need. And I'm very excited to see the blitz packages. I felt we relied on our line too much to get pressure on the QB, and while they did an outstanding job of containging scrambling QB's, I think we were giving the pocket passers way too much time to throw. That killed us. It's going to be a very interesting and exciting year for Cajun Football fans.

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He had the corners playing them very tight,..no cushion. He also had the corners taking the recievers out of their routes when possible on crossover patterns. He is implementing a very aggressive defensive, one which we will be knocking the hell out of a lot of people. I was impressed...we look like we are going to attack the quarterback, and pop the recievers on contact with the ball. He stressed a lot at this practice about knocking the quarterback down whenever possible. He really likes the QB on his butt at all times possible. I like the guy already.

<! Daryl Cetnar ->

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&nbsp; Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns enjoyed their third spring practice with a two-hour session on Saturday morning. The Cajuns practiced in full pads for the first time this spring.

The 12-period practice featured a pair of team periods. Weather conditions were sunny and dry with temperatures ranging in the low 70’s throughout practice.

“Everybody looked fast the first two days in shorts,” said Cajuns offensive coordinator Blake Anderson. “But everybody slows down a step when they have to carry the pads for the first time.

“The offense is still a little confused from all the installation we’ve thrown at them in three days, but the effort level and intensity is good and there are bright spots.”

Although the Cajuns strapped on the pads, contact was limited and tackling was not allowed.

The highlighted periods were a pair of 12-play drills covering first and third down situations.

“I thought we were a little rough in the first down period,” explained Anderson. “It appeared we made some mental mistakes and the tempo was sluggish.

“The coaches challenged them to pick it up for third downs.”

The team had one 10-minute period following first downs to regroup before the third down session.

In third downs, Michael Desormeaux converted the first opportunity with a nifty 10-yard run on third-and-three. Connor Morel looked sharp in completing three straight passes en route to three straight conversions. John Hundley also threw two passes to push the offense past the sticks.

“They mixed it up a little bit in third downs,” said Anderson. “To be 6-for-12 in third downs is very good for the first day. We expect to be at 50 percent or better.

“Our biggest goal for the spring is to create an attitude as an offense that we are going to play harder than anybody we face. We may not have fancier plays or even better athletes at times, but we are going to play with more effort and accountability than anybody we play.”

The Cajuns return to practice on Monday at 3:30pm.

<center><span title=" SID Daryl Cetnar "><b>LOUISIANA SI</span>

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&nbsp; The University of Louisiana enjoyed its third spring practice with a two-hour session Saturday morning. The Cajuns practiced in full pads for the first time this spring.

The 12-period practice featured a pair of team periods. Weather conditions were sunny and dry with temperatures ranging in the low 70s throughout practice.

“Everybody looked fast the first two days in shorts,” Cajuns offensive coordinator Blake Anderson said. “But everybody slows down a step when they have to carry the pads for the first time.

“The offense is still a little confused from all the installation we’ve thrown at them in three days, but the effort level and intensity is good and there are bright spots.”

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Although the Cajuns strapped on the pads, contact was limited and tackling was not allowed.

The highlighted periods were a pair of 12-play drills covering first and third down situations.

“I thought we were a little rough in the first down period,” Anderson said. “It appeared we made some mental mistakes and the tempo was sluggish.


“The coaches challenged them to pick it up for third downs.”

The team had one 10-minute period following first downs to regroup before the third down session.



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Originally Posted by BTG

I had the chance to watch the Cajuns practice this am. I'm very impressed with our new Coaches. Our new Offensive Coordinator, Anderson, has a lot of fire in the belly. Instantly likable guy. He kept the kids pumped the entire time I was there. Coach 'Fook', as he likes to be called, our new Defensive Coordinator, is very motivational also. He is constantly calling for hustle, and seems to be getting it early from the guys. He will have an attacking, blitzing defensive, and early on, he is installing a zone defense, that early on, looks impressive. The Coaches who remained, Troy, Tim, Shawn and Hudson all looked excited and ready to get after it too.

All in all, I was very happy with what I watched, and next Saturday will be the first scrimmage. Its open, so any Cajun fans in the area, please come by. Many, many of the players, and all of the coaches, from Bustle, to the entire crew, thanked everyone who came. You can tell the kids appreciate the support. I'm glad I went...and please,..if you live in the area, drop by for a while...it means a lot to these kids, who are giving it their very best for us.

Thanks....
BTG

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Thanks for the update. Looking forward to continued eye witness reports. One of the challenges that faces the new coaching staff is to instill their respective philosophy's and to get the players to buy into it. Should be a very interesting period between now and fall. Looking ahead to next week when me and the boy can make it over there and get some first hand knowledge of whats' going on.

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Originally Posted by Gbbaseball7

Thanks for the update. Looking forward to continued eye witness reports. One of the challenges that faces the new coaching staff is to instill their respective philosophy's and to get the players to buy into it. Should be a very interesting period between now and fall. Looking ahead to next week when me and the boy can make it over there and get some first hand knowledge of whats' going on.

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Spoke to some folks that are normally very reserved in judgement of early spring practice. For the first time since I have been knowing these individuals they gave glowing reports of what they saw.

Certainly not ready to crown UL Sunbelt champs, but they were very impressed, especially with the new coaches on board.

L'Ronte'