The Book: 2003 Football

[NewsCopy]

The Offense
One in a series of articles previewing each 2003 USC opponent.
Head Coach: Rickey Bustle (2nd year)
2002 Record: 3-9
Returning Starters: 9 (5 Offense, 4 Defense)
Strengths: WR
Weaknesses: RB, CB
Fun Facts:

UL Lafayette is a state school with an enrollment of 16,000.

Head Coach Rickey Bustle will be facing the Gamecocks for the first time since he was South Carolina's offensive coordinator for one season in 1994.

The Ragin' Cajuns program has been Division I-A since its inception in 1908. (1901

UL Lafayette has an all-time bowl record of 1-1. Its last post-season appearance was in 1970, and its last Sun Belt Conference championship was in 1994.

The first quarter was not kind to UL Lafayette in 2002, with opponents out-scoring the Cajuns 113-26.

Don't call them Lafayette or ULL. My personal favorite, U La La, is out as well. The proper reference is either UL Lafayette-Lafayette or UL-Lafayette. They are the Ragin' Cajuns, and they're coming to Columbia for the Aug. 30 season opener.

The Offense. The Cajuns lived by the pass last season, finishing second in the SBC with 228 yards per game. But they may find the going much tougher this season.

Quarterback. Three-year starter Jon Van Cleave left school after setting several school passing records. His most experienced backup, senior Eric Rekieta, has missed the spring and summer with a broken hand and surgery on his elbow. Behind him is RS freshman Jerry Babb.

The rest of the story

Tim Covil
GameCock Central

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[EVCajun12]

Speaking of Levier, I saw in the Advertiser that he is still rehabbing. He will not play in the LHSAA all-star game. Any word when he will be ready, if he will be ready this season?

[CDeb]

I think this is going to be typical of most "oustide" previews that we will see. Most are going to assume that we will lose a lot on offense with JVC gone. I tend to think that we'll be just fine with Rekeita if he's healthy. I'm not as sure with Babb, but I think Jerry will bring some things that Jon just didn't have.

[NewsCopy]

One in a series of articles previewing each 2003 USC opponent. Today we look at the UL-Lafayette defense and special teams. For an overview and offensive preview of the Ragin' Cajuns,

From 2001 to 2002, UL-Lafayette went from sixth in the conference in penalties to first.

The Cajuns turned the ball over 10 times in their 2002 season opener.

UL-Lafayette limited its opponents to 36.6 percent on third-down conversions (South Carolina's stat: 47 percent).

The Cajuns have not returned a kickoff for a touchdown since 1998.

The Cajuns blocked seven kicks last season, third-best nationally. But six of those seven blocks came from two players who are no longer with the team.
The Defense
Backs and Safeties.

UL-Lafayette is having to re-work its defensive backfield after losing two starters to the NFL and two others to graduation. Senior rover safety Jamal Smith is the only player on two-deep with more than a year of experience at either cornerback or safety.

Defensive Line. It gets just a bit better along the defensive line. The two starting defensive tackles must be replaced, but former backups Daniel and Justin Taylor do have several years of experience between them. Among the 11 JUCO transfers Bustle has recruited, three are in the interior of the line. Darryl Blappert, Travis Bass, and George Benson will be counted on to get up to speed quickly, but whether they're ready in time for the season opener is a big question.

Linebackers. Things are most solid for the Cajuns defense at linebacker. The leader of the unit is sixth-year senior Ross Brupbacher, who missed all but three games in 2002 after being on the pre-season Butkus Award watch list.

Starting Eleven

LE - Antonio Floyd Sr. 6-1 237
RE - Eugene Kwarteng So. 6-4 235
LT - Darryl Blappert Jr.-JC 6-7 275
RT - Daniel Taylor Sr. 6-1 281
LB - Stanley Smith So. 6-1 234
LB - Ross Brupbacher Sr. 6-1 231
S - Patrick Lamy Sr. 5-10 195
Whip - Wes Simon Fr.-RS 6-0 200
S - Jamal Smith St. 5-10 190
Rover - C.C. Brown Jr.-JC 6-2 205
S - David Prater Jr.-RS 5-11 205

The rest of the story

Tim Covil
Gamecock Central

[NewsCopy]

Special Teams
The Cajuns started a true freshman field goal specialist last season. Sean Comiskey was 9-of-18 with one 50-yarder, missing just three kicks under 45 yards.

When you're UL-Lafayette, you punt... a lot. Grant Autrey booted it 78 times in 2002 for a decent 39.8 average. The Cajuns will need to find someone new to handle kick-off duties. They'll also be looking for better production in the kick return department, as they managed just 18.8 yards per return. Bill Sampy, Fred Stamps and Chester Johnson are likely to resume their kick-off return duties unless Bustle wants to experiment with the newcomers. In the punt return department, Jerrell Carter is the only returning player with any experience in that area, as he returned six punts for 44 yards.

Starting Specialists
P - Grant Autrey Sr. 6-2 192
K - Sean Comiskey So. 5-9 168
HLD - Matt Lane Jr. 6-0 191
SNP - Jacob Junkin Fr. 6-4 210
PR - Fred Stamps Sr. 6-0 184
KR - Jerrell Carter Jr. 5-8 185

The Bottom Line
With just four starters returning on defense, UL-Lafayette will be looking for a lot of young players to grow up quickly in the backfield. Since it takes time to develop the discipline to play the corners, The Cajuns should be very susceptible through the air on August 30. Gamecock QB Dondrial Pinkins couldn't ask for a better opportunity. And if Skip Holtz is truly free to do things his way, Pinkins may take to the air early and often, at least until a comfortable lead is established and the running game can take over.

Next: The keys to victory.

The rest of the story

Tim Covil
Gamecock Central

[DestinCajun]

So, how about giving us some good poop on SC-Columbia.

[Turbine]

From Python of the Gamecock Central board:

"Rickey Bustle was one of the smartest Offensive Coordinators we've ever been around. Hopefully he doesn't have enough talent to make us squirm...Cause this dude can really make you guess allot!!! Lousiana-Lafayette will be very interesting to watch. We better not take this guy lightly or he'll make you wish you had never played him..."

source

[Cajun1997]

How about some nominations for preseason 2003 MVP, lets do one for both offense and defense. Once we have enough nominations we can start the poll

[Cajun1997]

Great interview by Bil

[Turner]

OFFENCE Stamps DEFENSE Brubacker

[Turner]

Nooooo What did they talk about?

[Cajun1997]

I am going to go with a couple of newcomers

offense- Josh Harrison

defense- Daryl Blappert

[Cajun1997]

Coach talked about how he thought all the realignment would shake out, (that all the conferences would end up working together to become more regional), talked about the starting QB (said that ER would be competing for the starting job with Babb), also mentioned that Jarvis Murchisson was going to play this fall, he was a prop last year. He said Ross B. and ER were doing well, Justin V. was working his way back into shape as is G.W.

[TuffGuy84]

Brupbacher will be the overall MVP, and the Defensive of course, and I will say that Eric Rekieta will be the offensive MVP after fighting back to win the starting job in the fall and leading us to new orleans.

Tuffguy

[Turbine]

Offense

Joerg, Josh
Johnson, Lawerence
Bartel, Eric
Crist, B. J.
Babb, Jerry

I'll narrow my choice down when the poll starts.