An afternoon rainstorm and a boom of thunder disrupted the timing of the Ragin’ Cajuns scrimmage Wednesday. The location changed several times before lightning quickly forced the team indoors. After relocating from Cajun field, head coach Rickey Bustle lifted his megaphone and kicked off the intrasquad competition, a session with which he was very happy.
“The effort was great, and the way they competed was great,” Bustle said. We just have to straighten up, we had some good hits out there, and I thought by the end everyone was playing better.”
The defense committed several costly errors, drawing flags to dampen the otherwise fine job they had done. One defensive pass interference flag came on third down, 39 yards from the end zone, moving the offense 15 yards closer to the goal on what would have been an incompletion. Michael Desormeaux connected with Jason Chery on the next play for a 24-yard touchdown.
“[The defense] made too many third down penalties,” Bustle explained. “They had some stops, and then would make a penalty that would keep the drive going. Then they got a big turnover that was taken away by a penalty. Those are things that are hard to overcome.”
Despite the miscues, Bustle is convinced that the defense stands well poised to become a sound unit before the regular season begins.
“There is no question that these mistakes can be fixed. It's a matter of being in the right position. I think what happens most of the time when you have penalties is that you're out of position, and we have to focus on that more closely.”
The scrimmage consisted of various situations, including punts, field goals and old live plays.
The brief second half saw three two-minute drills, the team a chance to battle it out in late-game simulations.
Each series began on the offense’s 35 yard-line with 1:10 to go and one timeout left for the offense, trailing by two points. Each offensive squad successfully converted a field goal to make the second half an offensive victory, despite several dropped passes and no-gain runs.
The day’s rushing leader was true freshman running back Yobes Walker, who ran six times for 28 yards.
The sluggish running game forced the offense to take to the air. Five quarterbacks took snaps, including the scrimmage’s leading passer Chris Masson. He was 11-of-16 with 115 yards, but did toss one interception. Desormeaux totaled 72 yard on 6-of-7 passing, striking for a touchdown, while Brad McGuire went 5-of-6 with 67 yards and one touchdown.
Chery was the quarterbacks’ favorite target, with four receptions for 64 yards and a touchdown. Louis Lee caught two passes for 33 yards, including a 14-yard touchdown connection. Pierre Hill added a team-long 52-yard catch.
Fall camp officially ended with the final whistle, and now the team’s focus will shift to the season opener against Southern Miss at 6 p.m., Aug. 30 at M.M. Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg, Miss.
RaginCajuns.com
Re: Southern Mississippi secondary not a worry for first-year coach Larry Fedora
Originally Posted by Hammer58
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Re: Southern Miss game
Final Scrimmage of UL's 2008 Fall Practice
