The Book: 2003 Football

[GreyGoose]

What about the old scoreboard? Some of the players are asking about it. If you dont know it is all right. But
I would like to know.

[Cajun1997]

Good to see you back Ryan. Are you coming in for 9-6?

[TuffGuy84]

Get someone at cajunfield who is willing to eat a red hot jalapeno pepper for each point we score, much like i think Tex AM does pushups for each point they get. we score 30 points, and someones throats gonna be on fire.

Tuffguy

[Turbine]

Only 4 players on the list under 6' tall.

Is that an alltime low?

[Crawfish]

Note: The following is my alway uninformed and biased report on football pratices I attended this week. Take it for what it is worth.

Guys and gals, I am trying my best to not get too excited about the football team, because I know in my heart we still have some positions that need some help, BUT.

Man, this weeks practices have been encouraging. There are several positive things that are hard to ignore about this team, at least from a Crawfish point of view. Here are a few of those:

The huge JC kid that plays on the defensive line who is wearing # 5 in practice. I am guessing his name is George Benson, who is listed at 6'3" 290. Guys, this fellow is almost another a monster, he is so big and MEAN! I stand corrected on the name, this guy is Kendrick Haynes (6" 4' 285).

The line on both sides of the ball is more lean, faster, yet still has adequate size.

The wide receiver corp is the deepest I have ever seen. If teams double team Stamps, one of the several speedsters will burn them up. Then again, Stamps is a ball vacuum that will pull in one from 5 yards away. He will play on Sunday next season.

The running Back corp is much improved over last years group. If I were to guess, I'd say Lindon will be the starter at tailback, but that could change as well.
Both of the Tight ends can catch the ball, and I expect they will be getting thrown to more this year for short yardage and as a relief valve.

Babb is looking more like the starting QB all of the time. Today he took 90% of the snaps. I would say that if we were going to have a QB controversy, that Rekeita would be splitting more practice time by. now. Babb was hitting all of his receiver today in practice, especially Fred. Fred was involved in several long pass plays today, and most of them were completions.

The defensive secondary has improved immensely since the spring, some of this is due to additional players being available. The one player that no one can cover is Stamps.

The conditioning of the teams is light years better than in years past. After a couple of hours of practice in the blazing sun, the guys are still fired up and hitting with gusto.

These are some of my observations from attending 4 practices this week. Of course I am no expert, and I do not know how this may convert into wins. I will say this though: As of today, this is a much better team than I have seen in a 1st week camp in a number of years. They are in better condition, they know there roles better and they are more enthusiastic. Who knows whether that will mean more wins.

[Cajun1997]

Great report Don, I think #5 is Haynes not sure but it seems at the recruiting bash that they had his number as 5. But I could be wrong.

[TuffGuy84]

Thanks for the report, I was starting to wonder if practices were dull, cuzz i remember this time last year, there as much more talk about the practices. Also, I want to say that the articles in the paper that one of the players is writing (cant think of this name, I wanna say lawrence) is awesome, From that I get a feel that this team is getting more and more pumped up. I still keep hearing that line in my head from last year after we lost to ULM that coach Bustle said "this will never happen again", and the more I read, the more I have faith that he has gotten us in a position to win more games.

Tuffguy

[TheScout307]

I dont think it really matters how many guys are 6ft its all about how "big" they play . I can tell you this much you got 11 guys who can play some good ball and are willing to go that inch for each other . Screw the weight,height or anything else its all about making the play, getting to the ball first and being aggressive and I can assure you our D is very aggressive. Go cajuns! Our D is right this year

[NewsCopy]

Friday Aug 8th
I think the both the offense and the defense got something out of the work we put in Friday. Offensively, I feel like we got much better, especially on the offensive line. I think we put in a much better effort.

One-on-one drills are a test of strength and fortitude between two players. It is a one- on-one dog fight. Whoever plays with a lower pad level and more strength usually wins. I feel like we did much better in this part of practice.

Guys are starting to understand technique matters now. As a player in the trenches, you cannot just fire off the ball and hit the guy in front of you. You could get away with that in high school (believe me, I know), but now you have to have use certain types of footwork on certain plays.

The rest of Lawrence Johnson's football practice report

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. — When the heat index is over 100, it can be hard to remember what the weakside linebacker is supposed to do against a flare pass.

Simply recalling your name can be a challenge in those conditions.

So, if Louisiana's players can know what they’re doing two hours into drills, chances are good they can execute a fourth-quarter blitz when games arrive this season.

“I don’t want them to just try to survive practice,” Head Coach Rickey Bustle said. “When you do that, you cut too many corners. We want to practice to get better.

“Our practice schedule is set up to get the most out of them. There are sessions where they know they need to turn the wick up, and others where they can turn it down to more of a learning mode.

“I’ve been pleased with the focus and the competitiveness the players have shown.”

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

Cajuns duo are veterans on field, in training room

LOUISIANA La. -- Under normal circumstances, the collegiate eligibility clocks for Justin Venable and Ross Brupbacher should have expired long ago.
Armed with University of Louisiana undergraduate degrees, the two could be moving on at this stage.

Instead, the defensive veterans are back as fixtures on the practice field, beneficiaries of careers extended perhaps beyond expectations.

For Venable, that longevity might as well be measured in light years and may be borrowed time.

Injured in similar fashion during the same half of ULL's 36-17 loss at Houston on Sept. 14, Venable and Brupbacher, then seniors, appeared to have played their last college games. But earlier this year, the NCAA thought otherwise.

Venable and Brupbacher, roommates since their freshman seasons in 1998, were each granted a sixth year of eligibility after appealing their medical situations.

Venable said Friday the NCAA has granted him two more seasons in addition to the sixth one that started this year.

"I talked to a guy from a national magazine about it and if I play all eight seasons, it would be some kind of NCAA record," Venable said. "The most anyone has played so far is seven."

The rest of the story

By BOBBY ARDOIN
Special to The Advocate

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. -- Louisiana hit the field in full pads for the first time this fall Friday, practicing for a little more than two hours.

The Cajuns will begin two-a-day practices today with a morning session from 8-10:15 a.m. and an afternoon slate from 4-6:15 p.m. The practice is open to the public.

"The players have to learn how to run all over again," said Cajuns wide receivers coach Brian Crist. "When you're not in full pads you just catch the ball and run untouched. Now after you catch the ball you have to turn, protect it and lower your shoulder in preparation for a hit."

Crist was happy with the way the defense played against his receivers.

"Our defense is not shy about hitting anyone," Crist added. "We need to learn how to compete a little more. When the offense goes against the defense there has to be a pressure to succeed and make plays."

With nearly a full week of practice in the books, the coaching staff is impressed with the ability of the older players within specific schemes and their aptitude in helping to progress the newcomers at an accelerated rate.

"There has been a lot of retention from the spring," said Crist. "We are working so many more things this fall as compared to last. The ability to adjust is much better.

"The younger players have elevated the competition. Fred Stamps and Eric Bartel are the hardest working receivers on the team and now the only thing the young guys know is to work hard.

"The new players are all playing well enough that the coaches feel the team wouldn't miss a beat if they went in."

LOUISIANA SI

[RaginRash]

Takes alot to keep coming back like that.

[Turner]

"The line on both sides of the ball is more lean, faster, yet still has adequate size."

That sounds a lot like a Virginia Tech team. Last I saw they were in the top 10

[Crawfish]

Thanks for the correction Swampfox, Kendrick Haynes is number 5.