The Book: 2002-03 Louisiana Football season

[Turbine]

This is a great article by Dan McDonald. I copied it for historical purposes.

I like his usage of Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns. He is one of on only a handful of writers who use UL straight up.

---

Dan McDonald / Staff Writer
Posted on April 7, 2002

LAFAYETTE - It can now safely be said ... there were a lot of players on Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun offensive football squad that were concerned when Rickey Bustle was named as the Cajuns' head coach in December.

"The rumor was out there that we were just going to run the ball all the time," said wide receiver Fred Stamps laughed after Saturday's Red-White spring football game. "I guess those rumors weren't true."

Stamps had no complaints Saturday, after he caught five passes for 159 yards during the two-hour scrimmage that wrapped up spring drills for the UL squad. He also had a 61-yard scoring catch from quarterback Jon Van Cleave with exactly two minutes left that helped boost the Red team to a 24-10 "victory."

"Fred's a big-play guy," said Bustle. "He's got to learn to really stay focused, but he didn't give up on himself after he had a couple of drops today. The guys that can make big plays, you want to keep giving them the opportunity."

The opportunities were there Saturday for both the number one offensive and defensive units, both of which had its share of moments in the sun on the warm Cajun Field afternoon.

"Our ones did some good things," said Bustle, whose team wrapped up its NCAA limit of 15 practice sessions with Saturday's drills. "Our defense has to play with a lot of emotion. They didn't have as much emotion as they did Thursday, but we tried to put them in some tough situations to see how they'd do."

The defensive unit had dominated an abbreviated Thursday scrimmage, but the first team offense moved the ball with authority in a second half that saw that unit put up 24 points. Running back Jerome Coleman had two of those scores on runs of one and 18 yards after tallying twice during situational-scrimmage work in the first half.

For the day, Coleman rushed 18 times for 74 yards, and his 18-yard scoring run provided the final score with 11 seconds left before Bustle's whistle signaled the end of the month-long spring session.

Van Cleave, returning as the Cajun starter after throwing for 2,499 yards, a 55.0 completion percentage and 14 touchdowns as a sophomore last season, hit on 7-of-18 passes for 190 yards, no interceptions and the score to Stamps. During first-half situational work, he was 11-of-19 for 139 yards and three scores in skeleton drills.

"I think we've come a long way," Van Cleave said. "It was rough early in the spring when everything was brand new and we were adjusting to the two-backs and two-receivers. It was a learning experience, but we're going to be all right.

"It's a lot easier when you've got six or seven people protecting instead of five, and this is a great receivers group. You put it up there and they'll go get it."

The other Cajun quarterbacks, Matt Lane and Eric Rekieta, didn't have as much success, considering they were operating against the bulk of a number one defense that recorded two sacks, five tackles for minus yardage, a fumble recovery by Marrious Berry and Charles Tillman's interception and 14-yard return that set up Jonathon Knott's 35-yard field goal.

That number one defense set a tone early in the second half after the situational first half after Coleman's fumble gave the White squad a first down at the Red 37. The defense held there, giving the Red team possession at its own 21, and completions of 32 and 38 yards by Van Cleave set up Coleman's one-yard scoring burst.

"We told the defense they had to go out and stop them," Bustle said. "That's a situation we'd worked on this week, and we told them they had to go out and get the ball back. We had a lot of people that stepped up over there and played well."

LINK BROKEN

[Turbine]

Use the "I Love UL" hand sign everywhere you go.

 

[NewsCopy]

Cajun freshman check in for start of fall drills
Dan McDonald / Staff Writer
Posted on August 4, 2002

LAFAYETTE - He's still a day away from seeing his newest charges in workout gear, but UL Lafayette head coach Rickey Bustle liked what he saw Saturday when the newcomer class checked in for the start of fall football drills.

"They made a pretty good first impression," Bustle said after 27 of the expected 28 first-time participants reported to the campus and the athletic complex for physicals and testing Saturday afternoon. "They look pretty good."

The group of 27 included 11 scholarship signees and 16 walk-on candidates. The one missing player who had been expected to check in prior to the team meeting was Tyler Wheeler, a wide receiver signee from Denham Springs.

Wheeler, one of three signees still awaiting approval from the NCAA Clearinghouse, called the Cajun staff Saturday afternoon to let them know he had been detained and would not be checking in until late Saturday evening.

"That always happens with somebody," Bustle said. "It's no big deal."

Bustle was more excited about the looks of his walk-on delegation. The 16 non-scholarship players in camp were all invited by the Cajun staff, and should put the squad numbers at the NCAA-maximum 105 once the returning squadmen check in Tuesday.

"We worked really hard to bring in some quality walk-on kids," Bustle said. "You can tell a lot of those guys are happy just to get a shot, and I'm anxious to see what some of these guys can do.

"We've got some good looking guys in that group, and I'm expecting some pretty good times from some of them."

The newcomers had their first team meal Saturday evening and returned after dinner to the athletic complex for a team meeting and testing in the 40-yard dash, vertical leap and bench press.

"It's an evaluation," Bustle said. "We'll see how they run, see what kind of explosion they have."

Three members of Saturday's check-in group will be hitting the practice field for the first time in over a year when the newcomers begin drills at 4 p.m. today. Scholarship signees Jerrell Carter, a cornerback from Amite, and Bill Sampy, a wide receiver from Carencro, and walk-on running back Dwight Lindon of Comeaux all sat out last season in restoring academic eligibility.

Today's first practice will precede two sessions on Monday with the newcomer group. Approximately 77 returning squadmen are scheduled to check in Tuesday, with practice sessions for the full squad beginning Thursday.

The rest of the Story

---

Babb emerges as leader among UL freshman group
Dan McDonald / Staff Writer
Posted on August 4, 2002

LAFAYETTE - For someone who says he doesn't ask to be in a leadership role, Jerry Babb looks like a leader in the making.

Players were milling around the lobby of the UL Lafayette athletic complex Saturday, nervously waiting for the start of freshman football practice - many of them milling around wherever Babb was standing.

Babb, for his part, wanted to meet as many of his future teammates as possible.

"I was trying to get to know some of the other freshmen," he said. "We're all in the same situation, trying to see how we'll fit in."

Babb is in a slightly different situation. The former St. Thomas More quarterback, like it or not, is a leader of the newcomer group that begins workouts today.

Consider:

* Babb was the first player to commit to new head coach Rickey Bustle and the Cajun staff, that coming only a few weeks after Bustle was hired;

* He was among the first to get his national letter back to the UL offices on signing day;

* He went through all of the voluntary summer practices with members of the returning varsity squad, one of only a handful of freshmen to do that;

* He's a quarterback first and foremost, despite his ability to play several other positions;

* And, he's even atop the newcomer alphabetical roster.

"I don't ask for that role," he said on Saturday. "But a quarterback's going to be in a leadership role no matter what team you're on."

Babb had success in that role at STM as a senior, helping guide the Cougars to the Class 4A state semifinals and within a few seconds of the school's first-ever trip to the Superdome Classic. He rushed for 96 yards including a 31-yard touchdown against Baker in the semifinals, and also contributed with his arm and with two key kickoff returns.

As a senior, he accounted for 18 touchdowns, throwing for 590 yards and six scores, rushing for 537 yards and seven tallies and catching 15 passes for 354 yards and three touchdowns. To no surprise, he earned his way onto all-district, All-Parish and All-Acadiana squads as well as honorable mention All-State.

The rest of the Story

[NewsCopy]

Dan McDonald / Staff Writer
Posted on August 4, 2002

LAFAYETTE - UL Lafayette defensive coordinator Brent Pry isn't the violent type, but that's what he's looking for from his Ragin' Cajun unit.

"We're going to play with violence," he said. "We're going to understand leverages, we're going to pressure people. We're going to make the offense worry about us."

it's big talk considering that Cajun defenses have allowed an average of over 437 yards per game (almost 14 miles over five years, if you're adding) and 39 points per outing to its opponents since 1997.

But this is a new-look defense, all the way down to the basic alignment brought in by head coach Rickey Bustle and a staff he assembled with this philosophy in mind.

"It's a whole new scheme," said Pry, whose defensive unit at Western Carolina last year ranked third nationally in pass defense. "It's letting us get better athletes on the field, people that are capable of using their speed and athleticism to get to more ball carriers."

Fans will see an entirely different formation when the Cajuns line up for practice this week and when UL opens its 2002 season Aug. 31 at Texas A&M and Sept. 7 at home against Minnesota.

UL will run from a 4-4 alignment, with the outside linebackers - monikered "Whip" and "Rover" - giving the unit enough flexibility to appear as an eight-man front on one play and a five-man secondary on the next without changing personnel.

"We're not a 4-2-5," Pry said. "That's basically replacing linebackers with safeties, and that's only a small part of what we do. A lot of people down here are familiar with the 4-2-5, but that's just an offshoot of Virginia Tech's eight-man front which originally came from Washington in the mid-'80s."

All four linebackers - and even the defensive ends - will be a threat to offensive linemen who are locked into a three-point stance.

"We'll be able to apply pressure because of the stand-up guys," Pry said. "We'll blitz a lot because of the up alignments, we'll have lots of movement, and that creates stress on the offensive linemen. We'll be up in their face before the ball's even snapped."

The rest of the Story

[Turbine]

While I would like an outline of the state of Lousiana, I must admit the arch is an improvement over last year.

[Turbine]

Louisiana's freshmen going through pass drills.

[mrcajuns27]

This is the best looking helmet ever at our school.
Not only the helmets but the whole uniforms.
No school, that I know of, has their state on their helmet. I think its a bad idea.
Keep ragin' cajuns on the helmet, it looks great.

[Turbine]

https://forumeus.com/audio-video/200...hmen-0805b.mpg

[snote]

A video of #17 passing to #21

Jerry Baab to Derek Morel

[snote]

A video of Louisiana's freshmen going through pass drills


Jerell Carter covering Derek Morel