Notebook: Bustle happy with productive first week

[duggie85]

_ I understand your thoughts and don't necessarily disagree with them but I'll give another prospective. First, you may not see Aurienne returning at all this year due to the lack of depth at his position and the fact that he is one of our best cover CB's. It would be very damaging to lose him to injury on a 10 yard punt return. Second, the other guys you mentioned may have speed but they may lack the instincts and vision to return kicks
or punts. They may not be as secure with the ball either which could cause more turnovers. Robert Walker is going to be the quickest back and possibly player we have and he will be amongst the fastest. He may even turn out to be our best back. We haven't seen him in the backfield yet and the team has only been practicing for less than a week. I think he will get into the mix much more than you think and I think the coaches want him to add the Jason Chery component to this team that we will likely lack. All of the other players are basically as unproven as he is so he is not at a major disadvantage here. _

I do not disagree with what you said as well, but its not like this guy is gonna step in and return 10 punts and kickoffs for touchdowns and average 40 yards a return. It would be great if im proven wrong, but i doubt it. As for as yours points as a running back, won't argue with that...Jason cherry didn't even do anything electrifying in the return game (except against the worst team in the country) and from what i've seen this last week, jason was alot quicker than robert. Then again, time will tell if he has better vision and other qualities.... And who knows how the other guys will do (miller, lee, joseph) in the return game, they are unproven in that position as well.

[duggie85]

I also need to say that i'm not arguing for him NOT to be a returner, b/c i think he will be good at it. I just don't want it to happen as a true freshman and that be the only spot that he gets significant playing time. I would just prefer him redshirt if he is not gonna get at least 8 reps per game at running back.

[J-Town Cajun]

I would not be surprised if Robert Walker was promised that he would not redshirt his freshman year if he came to UL. So redshirting may not be an option.

[zephyr]

_ I also need to say that i'm not arguing for him NOT to be a returner, b/c i think he will be good at it. I just don't want it to happen as a true freshman and that be the only spot that he gets significant playing time. I would just prefer him redshirt if he is not gonna get at least 8 reps per game at running back. _

The thing is that he may very well get those touches at RB. We are unsettled at the RB spot to say the least. I know that the coaching staff announced that Sails is the starter but its not because he stepped up and earned it, it was mostly by default with all the youth at the position and that Sails knows the playbook and blocking schemes and handles the ball well. He is probably the least talented of all of our backs so I think the job will probably be some form of a committee but who makes up that committee is up for grabs.


While I'm not saying that Walker is necessarily quicker or faster than Chery as not many people are, he was every bit as explosive at least during his high school career and is very difficult to bring down in space which would make him a good candidate in the return game. Louis Lee and Marlin Miller will likely be our #1 and #2 WR's this year and I'd prefer them not return kicks especially since Lee is no quicker or faster than many of our other skill people. We will need his leadership at the WR position.

I also don't disagree that Walker would benefit greatly from a RS year and if Fenroy was here, you'd probably see him do that. However, as stated, we don't have a clear cut depth chart right now at the RB position which makes his prospects for playing time pretty strong.