2007 Football preview and offseason fan talk

[CajunCharlie]

Not a mention of the up tempo offense installed this year. Any comments on this, please!

[NewsCopy]

  LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) - Louisiana-Lafayette has a new starting quarterback and two new coordinators, but the Ragin Cajuns expect more of the same from junior running back Tyrell Fenroy.

Junior Michael Desormeaux gives coach Ricky Bustle a more mobile quarterback, and new offensive coordinator Blake Anderson plans to speed up the ULL no-huddle attack.

Fenroy, who rushed for 1,197 yards and 10 touchdowns last season, needs 1,086 yards to surpass former NFL runner Brian Mitchell as the schools all-time leading rusher. He'll again be the focal point of the offense. With Fenroy leading the way, the Cajuns have ranked in top 15 nationally in rushing yards each of the last two seasons.

``I see how hard Tyrell works,'' Bustle said. ``As long as he stays hungry, you always expect good things from a guy like him. The best thing about him is you know what you're going to get from him, and not just on Saturdays.''

The Cajuns finished 6-6 and 3-4 in the Sun Belt Conference last season after losing four of their last six, all in league play. They'll need Fenroy to have another 1,000-yard season and an improved pass defense to improve their standing in the league.

Last season, Desormeaux was ready to line up seemingly anywhere, playing quarterback, wide receiver, defensive back and special teams.

The rest of the story

NCAAFootball.com

[NewsCopy]

Many years ago, when the "run-and-shoot" offense began drawing attention, the joke was that the Ragin' Cajuns had their own version - run three times and shoot the offensive coordinator. That may be an exaggeration, but UL football fans have gone through a generation of skepticism and hand-wringing about the Cajuns' offensive attack. UL hasn't had a seven-win season since 1993, and even when it hasn't been the offense's fault, the perception is that it's been the offense's fault. It's way too early to tell, since the 2007 season is still three weeks away, but that perception may soon change. Saturday's first scrimmage was a coming-out party for UL's new-look attack, and even the most skeptical fan had to find something to like. The Cajun tailbacks and fullbacks ran for 205 yards and averaged well over five yards per carry. The quarterbacks completed over 67 percent of their passes for 345 yards. Sixteen different players caught passes. UL's tight ends saw more balls come their way than all of last season combined. The rest of the story Dan McDonald

[NewsCopy]

For a first scrimmage, the UL football team will take Saturday's early-morning workout and walk away happy. With the notable exception of some uncharacteristic penalties, the Ragin' Cajuns were surprisingly mistake-free in the first full-scale scrimmage of fall camp. The new up-tempo offense and the refined defensive schemes, in their first true tests since last spring, both got passing grades from coach Rickey Bustle. "It was OK for a first time," Bustle said after the 117-play scrimmage that included nine kicking plays. "It was hot and it was the first time we've worked with the coaches off the field. The offense had good tempo early, and our defensive guys came back and did some good things later on." The offense had only one turnover, that coming from walk-on freshman tailback Jarrell Grant after a big first-half hit. The defense, after giving up a quick-strike TD on the fifth series, didn't allow a play of 25 or more yards in the workout's final 82 snaps. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

COLUMBIA --Stephen Garcia took his first, nervous steps at South Carolina, the highly regarded passer tossing a touchdown during the Gamecocks' scrimmage on Saturday. Garcia completed 5 of 8 throws for 50 yards, including a 5-yard TD pass to tight end Jared Cook in the team's workout at Williams-Brice Stadium before about 6,000 fans. "I was a little bit nervous, a little bit of butterflies out there," Garcia said. "But I was glad to get out there and get a chance to play." Garcia was supposed to be further along by now. After all, he was the centerpiece of coach Steve Spurrier's incoming class, a strong-armed, cocky, productive quarterback who looked like he was just what the ball coach wanted to rebuild South Carolina. Garcia enrolled in January and planned to soak up as much of the Gamecocks attack as he could. However, two arrests in his first two months got him booted from spring practices and the team's annual Garnet and Black game this past April. So supporters had to sit through a soppy, South Carolina afternoon to see their football future throw his first pass. "Stephen Garcia did some good things, threw a beautiful pass there at the end," Spurrier said of the touchdown. "Threw it down, guy's wide open, that's all we ever ask them to do." Spurrier's first scrimmage of preseason camp was designed for backups and reserves. And no matter what Garcia does in camp - the Gamecocks open Sept. 1 against Louisiana-Lafayette - he may ultimately wind up watching this fall as a redshirt. The rest of the story Pete Iacobelli

[UL Ragin Cajun]

As a reminder that today is Fan Day.......I think we should all be flying our UL Ragin' Cajun house/car flags ! !


Fan Day Extravaganza August 12th

[Just1More]

The first and currently most important game of the new season. Geaux Cajuns!!!

[Just1More]

There are a lot of elements that I would like to see improvement on from last year's squad. One of the key improvements must be our D-line penetration. Last year, we rarely had anyone in the backfield pressuring the QB. I hope our new DC can elevate the skillsets of players, swimming thru blocks and getting an open line to the QB.

[Clutch0364]

Well I wanted to put my 2 cents in about what I thought about the scrimmage.

Offense - On the offense I love the new speed that the team is working at and I believe it can be the best weapon we have if our guys can keep up with the pace when they are worn in the 4th quarter. I have no worries about the skill guys keeping up the break neck speed but the o-line will have a hell of a time with it. The passing game look good and I like that it is a lot more underneath routes that let our recievers run after the catch. This new offense gets the ball to the playmakers and lets them make plays, which I think hurt us last year. OHH, Desmo can throw :-) and if he is running the ball less I think it makes him more dangerous because now it will surprise a defense more when he breaks outside. Running game looked good. I even like what I seen out of the younger back in Shankle and Jerrell Grant I believe his name was. Levier even made a nice run. One problem I see which is very correctable is that the QB's put a little bit to much air under the ball on screen passes to the RB's, which can lead to turnovers are leaving the RB out to dry when he has to go into the air after the ball.
* My favorite play f the day had to be the roll out to the right and QB at the time ( can't remember who was in) turns back and throws a screen pass to the left to the TE (Erik Jones if I remember right). Love the TE being used like this because it can open up a lot of things for the WR and RB.

Defense - I don't think the defense played well early but they made up for it late. I liked seeing a lot of the young guys stepping up and playing big roles. Other than that I don't have much to say about the defense because I think they will play better in the next scrimmage. I will judge the defense more by what I see next Saturday and less on what I seen yesterday.

* My favorite play on the defensive side of the ball would have to be when Grant Flemming came around the right side unblocked and would have had a kill shot on the QB if he would have been allowed to hit Desmo.

[Big Buds]

Man that sounds great. I truly hope or O-line can stay with pace. How many seconds would you say it is between the whistle and snap on any given play?