The Cajuns are past the halfway point of spring football after Monday’s one-hour and forty-five minute practice. Monday’s practice, the eighth of 15 spring workouts, started late to allow players and coaches additional video time to review Saturday’s scrimmage.
“We had a lot of corrections to make (from the scrimmage),” linebackers coach Tim Rebowe said. “We ran a lot of plays, so we wanted to spend more time going over it.”
The Cajuns plan to use this week of practice installing their red zone, short yardage and goal line packages. The installation process started in the film room prior to practice.
“We took some time during practice to do some installation,” Rebowe said. I think we are introducing some new concepts, so it may not look as sharp as it would after working on it for a few days.
“We did some good things in the scrimmage. Defensively, we ran to the ball and made plays. Our motto is tackles and turnovers and we need to continue to do that.”
At linebacker, the Cajuns have 11 players on the roster, most of which have playing experience. The position is talented and deep considering seven of the current linebackers started at least one game in 2008. Coach Rebowe indicated that the wealth of experience has helped the defensive unit get stronger.
“We had a lot of good young linebackers get a lot of reps and a lot of playing time last fall,” Rebowe stated. “I’ve told them that there are no excuses (for the linebackers). We have two pretty good guys (Richard Brooks and Grant Fleming) sitting out due to injury who are chomping at the bit to get out here (on the field) and compete.
“The competition at linebacker is only going to make the position strong and in turn the defense stronger.”
Injury Update: An X-Ray to Julian Shankle (hand) and an MRI to Rodney Gillis (knee) confirmed that both players will miss the rest of the spring. Shankle, who was battling for the vacant job at running back, saw limited time in the fall (27 carries for 117 yards and 2TD) and missed most of last spring with a broken ankle. Tim Jackson broke his hand in practice last Friday and was held out of Saturday’s scrimmage. He will be re-evaluated on Tuesday and there is a chance he could finish the spring with a cast. His status is officially listed as doubtful. Both Gillis and Jackson are redshirt freshman cornerbacks who were trying to secure spots on the two-deep.
UL Press