Recruiting Bash Recap

[ULtimateCajun]

I was kind of hoping they would announce some of the Baseball news but I understand considering it is a football bash. Still wondering if new uni's will be here next season. I was impressed with the Indoor Facility, very very nice. Happy with the class overall even though we lost the 4 star recruit, very unfortunate with the situation with his mother. I'm glad to see we are addressing the defensive side of the ball with some big DB's and some pretty good looking LB's. I like the QB's we landed as well. The 6'3" dual threat QB looks like he might have some game. The 6'6" TE that runs a 4.6 forty looks really good. I liked that everything was free (not to sound cheap). They also raised about $10,000.00 just on the auction, not counting the money donated. I had an overall good experience.

[J-Town Cajun]

My thoughts on the bash:

I have now gone to this event since Bustle's first signing class. For the first time I felt there was no electricity in the air. The auction was kind of embarrasing as TD Smith had to beg people to bid on the gifts. I was also a little disappointed on the announcements. The turf was pretty well known here for awhile and the football scheldule is horrible. The level of competition is great but the first 7 weeks of the season we will have only 1 home game. Most fans are exicited at the start of the season and with the first 5 of 6 games on the road and one bye week there is the potential to start the season with a bad record and we will lose support. Also the end of the season is loaded with home games and the weather will not be as tailgate friendly as the start of the season. Not having this Ragin Cajun Athletic Foundation up and running I just can't believe. Scott Farmer also made it sound like we will hear more in late spring but did not sound like it will be running by that time. How long does it take to start a fund raising foundation. Not hearing Ryan Glazer name was also disappointing but this was out of our control and I wish the Glazer family the best and if things work out for him and the Cajuns that will be great but we need serious Juco help at the DT position and without Glazer we are in trouble. We should have had 2 recruited in that position all along.

The good. The indoor practice facility look awesome. I had seen it a few times in the summer and fall but the finished product looked great. The set up with the free food/drinks, the stage, PA system, and the big screen was first class. Baja Beach grill did a wonderful job as did the ladies from Legends serving drinks. The new field turf looked awesome with ragin cajuns in script at midfield and Louisiana in the endzones with no Lafayette anywhere. The scheldule is very competitive with no D1 AA and a great non confernce home sheldule with UTEP and Kent St. coming to Cajun field and we are on the road at Illinois, Kansas St., and Southern Miss. Although slow to come together it is nice to see a Ragin Cajun Athletic Foundation. Also nice to see an AD with vision and is voicing ideas to the public.

Our recruiting class seemed really athletic compered to years past. Jaron Odem is huge at 6-8 and 340 but needs to reshape his body and lose 20 or so pounds. Our LB's, S's, and CB's look to be the strong point of the class. The secondary has great depth at each and some look to be great players. Gillis, Jackson, Richard, and Sowels are the real deal and I expect a tremdous DB field in a couple years with contributions from these guys in the next year or two. Derrick Dean at the DT position has got some serious speed running a 4.6 40 and is quick as a cat at 275 lbs. The quarterback from Lutcher Gautier looks very promising run/pass and could be a steal. The RB Booker also looks to be a great pick up kind of tall for a RB but has good speed, long stride in the open field, and very athletic. Late commitment LB Jesse Broadnax at 6-5 200 has tremdous height at that position and was very impressive on the highlight film but I just can't see a 6-5 LB so maybe he will play a stand up DE or something. Kyron Benoit was courted by many SEC schools before his knee injury (will be or already 100%) and was still offered by all state schools except LSU, good kid and athlete I just hope we find the right position (LB, S, or QB) for him. Ladarius Green at 6-6 220 could make a tremdous pass catching TE. Green played WR in HS but at that size I project TE. Ruiz will make one heck of an OL very athletic and good technique.

[Cajun Express]

My thoughts on the bash:

The scheldule is very competitive with no D1 AA and a great non confernce hom.

Our recruiting class seemed really athletic compered to years past. Jaron Odem is huge at 6-8 and 340 but needs to reshape his body and lose 20 or so pounds.

Late commitment LB Jesse Broadnax at 6-5 200 has tremdous height at that position and was very impressive on the highlight film but I just can't see a 6-5 LB so maybe he will play a stand up DE or something.

I have to agree with many of your positions on this, but I think you might want to consider the flollowing:

I could have been happy with a 1AA team at Cajun Field instead of Illinois, or Kansas State. This would be giving this team a chance to do well. I don't know, but if David Walker turns up dead, Ricky will be high on the person of interest list. This schedule is more than competitive, it is a coach killer. I am pretty sure most of these guys reworked their resume when they saw this one.

Odom and Broadnax both will be fine with the bodies they have. Body builds that do not pass the sniff test mean nothing. Broadnax, tall, lanky, fast. Kind of like a NFL hall of fame player Ted Hendricks at 6'7" and 225 The Mad Stork in college. I believe he played for Florida in college and was every coaches nightmare.

[RaginFan2]

I have to agree with many of your positions on this, but I think you might want to consider the flollowing:

I could have been happy with a 1AA team at Cajun Field instead of Illinois, or Kansas State. This would be giving this team a chance to do well. I don't know, but if David Walker turns up dead, Ricky will be high on the person of interest list. This schedule is more than competitive, it is a coach killer. I am pretty sure most of these guys reworked their resume when they saw this one.

Odom and Broadnax both will be fine with the bodies they have. Body builds that do not pass the sniff test mean nothing. Broadnax, tall, lanky, fast. Kind of like a NFL hall of fame player Ted Hendricks at 6'7" and 225 The Mad Stork in college. I believe he played for Florida in college and was every coaches nightmare.

Ted was from Miami ("the U"), I believe.

Good talking with you at the bash, Jerry. I'm not sure about you, but I had the distinct feeling that Bustle was a bit subdued. Maybe it was just the end of the recruiting frenzy. Maybe it was the late loss of a couple of prospects. Maybe it was the Glazer situation. And just maybe it was the schedule! Who knows... Overall, I enjoyed it. But it seemed there were higher expectations than what was delivered. I know some of that was due to the anticipated "big announcements", which were over-hyped (on the message boards, not by the Athletic Dept., to be fair).

That was my impression.

[J-Town Cajun]

I also think there is still some hangover from the McNeese loss and the 3-8 season.

[Sonsissymia]

_ Ted was from Miami ("the U"), I believe.

Good talking with you at the bash, Jerry. I'm not sure about you, but I had the distinct feeling that Bustle was a bit subdued. Maybe it was just the end of the recruiting frenzy. Maybe it was the late loss of a couple of prospects. Maybe it was the Glazer situation. And just maybe it was the schedule! Who knows... Overall, I enjoyed it. But it seemed there were higher expectations than what was delivered. I know some of that was due to the anticipated "big announcements", which were over-hyped (on the message boards, not by the Athletic Dept., to be fair).

That was my impression. _

correct.

[Cajun Express]

_ Ted was from Miami ("the U"), I believe.

Good talking with you at the bash, Jerry. I'm not sure about you, but I had the distinct feeling that Bustle was a bit subdued. Maybe it was just the end of the recruiting frenzy. Maybe it was the late loss of a couple of prospects. Maybe it was the Glazer situation. And just maybe it was the schedule! Who knows... Overall, I enjoyed it. But it seemed there were higher expectations than what was delivered. I know some of that was due to the anticipated "big announcements", which were over-hyped (on the message boards, not by the Athletic Dept., to be fair).

That was my impression. _

Thanks for the clarification. Yes indeed I enjoyed our get together. I believe Ricky has been under enormous stress since way before the recruiting season took off. He has lost about fifty pounds. Don't know why but it is one reason he looked tired.

It is a good thing for a coach to feel the heat. Either he works harder or withers like N Stokley. In either case the ultimate outcome is good. I happen to believe Ricky Bustle is a fighter, and in spite of my concerns about the first six games, I think we have the people in place to get to New Orleans. We need some luck, stay healthy, and not let the early season destroy the team focus.

[Cajunsmike]

Thanks for the clarification. Yes indeed I enjoyed our get together. I believe Ricky has been under enormous stress since way before the recruiting season took off. He has lost about fifty pounds. Don't know why but it is one reason he looked tired.

It is a good thing for a coach to feel the heat. Either he works harder or withers like N Stokley. In either case the ultimate outcome is good. I happen to believe Ricky Bustle is a fighter, and in spite of my concerns about the first six games, I think we have the people in place to get to New Orleans. We need some luck, stay healthy, and not let the early season destroy the team focus.

I really believe the schedule will be changed. The conference needs to try and help us move one of those last two home games to Sept. 6th. That will balance things out. I know that involves other schools having to move games.

[cajun4life]

Thanks for the clarification. Yes indeed I enjoyed our get together. I believe Ricky has been under enormous stress since way before the recruiting season took off. He has lost about fifty pounds. Don't know why but it is one reason he looked tired.

It is a good thing for a coach to feel the heat. Either he works harder or withers like N Stokley. In either case the ultimate outcome is good. I happen to believe Ricky Bustle is a fighter, and in spite of my concerns about the first six games, I think we have the people in place to get to New Orleans. We need some luck, stay healthy, and not let the early season destroy the team focus.

I am sorry but I must say if Nelson had the support from the administration and the resources, not to mention being forced to hire certain position coaches he would still be here.

[zephyr]

_ zephyr I can tell you that three different marketing plans were submitted to Athletic Marketing in the Spring of 2007. Needless to say none of the ideas were used. _

Would it be possible for you to outline the three marketing plans? Once I hear from you, I'll call the athletic dept and Gerald Hebert and see what ever happened to these proposals. I just wonder if maybe they do have something in place and its hard for us to see this right now. I choose not to blame our marketing dept about our lack of success. I feel like much of this blame should be placed on the coaching staff. If we had some success recently, I don't think our "marketing" would be a big issue.