Rickey Bustle had a talk with his University of Louisiana senior football players Sunday, but it wasn't about football.

Instead, it was about leadership, and who's going to lead the Ragin' Cajun squad into the 2006 season.

"I told them what I expected from them," Bustle said. "I wanted to let them know that they're going to be the guys, and this was their team."

In past years, Bustle had leadership by committee, with players on an appointed committee acting as liaisons to the coaching staff.

This year, he's contemplating turning that over to his 22-man senior class.

"I asked if they wanted to take that role," Bustle said, "and that we'd talk about it more later."

Those 22, including 18 scholarship seniors, were among 103 total check-ins Sunday when the Cajuns opened training camp. The team will hit the field for the first time today at 8:45 a.m.

"It's pretty much a boring day," Bustle said. "But it's things you have to get done. You can tell that they're all ready to start. Just having everybody back here gives me a good feeling."

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com