Not sure how to say this:
Not sure how to say this but I have had an opportunity to see this season's UL football team a couple of times & I have no choice, but to voice my opinion on how I believe this years Cajun football team will do. Throughout my life I have had the opportunity several times to witness several preaseason & sring season training camps of colleges as well as professional football teams. I have never in my life time witnessed a more professionally run well organized camp than coach Mark Hudspeth & his outstanding coaching staff are running the spring. I hope the people who read this post do realize that I am not strong on sugar coating or making things sound better than they are. I have a propensity for stating what I observe many times at the risk of being disliked or having my thoughts anger those who may be very close to a program.
Having stated the above, I believe this season will be the greatest ever, by far in the history of the UL football program. To compare, last season it was easy for me to see that there were some standout football players on the UL roster. However, the distance in talent level between the top players on the team & the next level seemed to be great, too great. Basically I witnessed three talent levels on the field. There were the studs, there were the ok to pretty good players, & there were the guys who brought up the rear. It was obvious to me that there were 7 or so stand out players who could play for just about any shcool. There were another 10 or so who were fair lower college level players, & it apeared that there was major work to do for everybody else to become solid contributing D-1 level players.
I hate to make these comparrisons, but it is the only way to get the point out that I am attempting to make about this season's team. To be sure there are some STUDS on this year's roster. But the studs don't stick out nearly as much as last year. Not because they are not as good, in fact I think the studs of this years program are going to be better than any group of great players UL has ever had. The difference is the lower level players are performing at a level that is leap years ahead of where they were last year & where I have seen them play in years past. Make no mistake about it. This football team is deep. It is deep because they have guys playing at a level that I don't think anyone would have anticipated they could ever produce at. This football team is focused, motivated, & organized. They know where they are going & what they are doing. They are on the same sheet of music with their coaching staffs & each other. They can switch out guys & for the major majority of the time not miss a beat. For a team replacing so many key guys this is an incredible feat to me. There is no doubt in my mind that this season's Ragin Cajun football team will be one of the biggest, if not the biggest most talked about football story in college football this fall.
Having said that, I would like to point out some guys who I believe will be great contributors this season. Since I am doing this on the fly, I will be using some numbers instead of all names.
O line has two guys that I really like. Number 72 & number 71. Both of these guys have great size & can move laterally & engage defenders when they get to where they are going. Number 86 is going to be a stud tight end. He might not have LG's speed or jumping skills, but he has incredible hands & runs like a bull with the footaball.
At RB the tandem of Alonzo Harris & Montrel Carter are going to become the greatest tandem of backs the SBC has ever seen. I had the opportunity to play with & block for a guy named Clarence Verdin. Old time UL fans know the name. I can tell you now that Monrel is better than Verdin was. He is every bit as fast, but has incredible instincts in traffic & can cut on a dime. I saw his high school film & couldn't help but think, sure he could do that kind of stuff on the high school level, but I doubted very seriously whether he could do it at this level. Today my thinking was proven wrong. Montrel will be to Harris what Darren Sproales was to Ladanian Tumlinson. The only difference is Alonzo Harris is not LT. He is more like Chuck Muncie. This young man still has a ways to go to fulfill his potential, but I believe if he does. By the time he graduates he could possibley be the first running back to be taken in the NFL draft. That's right. I said it. This guy is a BIG man who could play for any team in this country. He has great size, power, speed, & some of the best hands for a big running back I have ever seen. He is running with a lower pad level & is learning to find the hole, gets on his best blockers back side & follows & allows his blocking to develop. He is also learning how to cut back more every day & developing into a bruising punishing style of runner that is becoming more & more rare in college football today.
At reciever this team is just plain old DEEP. Harry peoples is going to play in the NFL one day. He will not only play in the NFL, but he will be a great NFL player. This guy is just fearless. He is so much like Steve Smith its scary. Javon Lawson is a flat out freak. This is type of guy who go out & practice twice in a day & then play a college double header. He is just flat out a super conditioned player who is a work out junkie. He would make a great Navy Seal or Delta Force guy. Number 84 is a Super stud & has the type of size & atletic ability of Alshon Jeffries, but has trouble hanging onto the ball. If he ever gets to the point where he becomes a great catcher, then look out.
Blaine Gautier has earned his job & still looks great at QB, but Broadway is a stud & top flight QB also. He just continues to impress with both his feet & his magnificent arm. There is no doubt that this team has two quality starting calliber QBs & number 13 has been very impressive as well. I don't know who this young man is, but he has come light years from where he was this time last season.
Defensively, number 51 was standout. I'm not sure who this guy is, but he is a true stud. Number 93 also played very solid as well as 95. Number 47 looks like the fastes guy on the defense & is going to be an impact pass rusher along with number 51.
Overall I am extremely impressed, very much more so than I thought I would be with the Defensive line & Offensive line play as units overall. I am also impressed by the coverage skills of the the LB corps & defensive backs. This might sound like just a bunch of homerism, but as I wrote earlier, I am not any good at that skill. I just can't find anything bad to say about this club. I am overwhelmed by what this team is showing me. They are just going to be that good.
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Originally Posted by Hammer58
