LAFAYETTE — Even while recuperating from minor out-patient surgery this weekend, Rickey Bustle couldn’t help but display his exhilaration about the start of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette football season.

Judging by the preseason expectations, Bustle has a legitimate reason to be encouraged about meeting the UL players who report at the athletic complex today.

The Cajuns are picked to win the Sun Belt Belt Conference, and the 82 scholarship players are the most in Bustle’s five years at UL.

Also, a new multi-sport indoor practice facility is under construction adjacent to the football practice fields.

“I feel that we’ve gotten to the point in this program where we can say that we’ve turned the corner. If it’s not this year, it could be next year,” said Bustle, whose 6-5 team in 2005 won a share of the SBC title.

Bustle, whose three previous UL teams had won only 11 games before the Cajuns won the final five last season, said he’s been patient in building a team that could compete in the conference and at the Division I-A level.

“I think we’ve made progress in building the type of program that you want to build, one that isn’t going to be a flash in the pan,” he said. “I’ve tried to do it brick by brick. Sometimes when you put one brick in, it’s going to break, or fall out.

“We’ve had to have a lot of patience, but we’re getting to a point where we’re on more solid ground now and we’re moving forward with this program. When I got here, there were 48 scholarships and academically we’re so much better.”

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By BOB ARDOIN
Special to The Advocate