Louisiana UnLimited: Over a decade of bonding for Trahan, Quibodeaux
Maybe Bralen Trahan and Jourdan Quibodeaux can find a flag football team that would like the services of two college football standouts.
Maybe the two will revert to their earliest athletic roots, and once again team up to play in an adult baseball league.
Or perhaps Bralen will follow through on an idea to get into officiating, and drag his long-time teammate Jourdan into also donning a striped shirt. Quibodeaux, for the record, wasn't quite as keen on that idea.
"I'd like to stay close to the game some kind of way, coaching, refereeing, whatever," Trahan said. "Whatever it is, I hope it's with him. You play together that long, it's just a blessing."
Trahan and Quibodeaux have precious few games remaining in the UL football careers, both of which began back in the 2017 season. They'll be a big part of Senior Day activities on Saturday when the Ragin' Cajuns take on Sun Belt Conference rival Troy, one more home game the following Thursday against Georgia Southern, and then two road games to wrap up the regular season.
They're hoping for yet another bowl appearance, the Cajuns' 10th in the last 12 seasons, and Quibodeaux even has the site picked out.
"To go play in the New Orleans Bowl again, with the two of us and a lot of the other Acadiana area guys on the field with us," he said, "to play in New Orleans with our community around us, that would be a perfect ending. But whatever bowl we can get to, winning it and finishing the season off for the senior class, that would be great for the guys that are coming up so they have something to believe in next season."
That kind of belief has always been there between the two Lafayette products, who have been playing football together since their days at L. J. Alleman Middle School. That's a dozen years, not including the time they were both in the lineup for their youth baseball teams.
"It's not often that you get to play with someone for 12 years," Quibodeaux said. "I knew he (Trahan) was a special athlete back then … not a lot of middle school guys are catching interceptions with one hand. I'm lucky to have shared that with him for such a long time together."
"It was just an immediate chemistry," Trahan said of the bond they forged early. "We'll still give each other that look and we'll know what we're going to do. Plus if one of us isn't feeling it that day we pick each other up. If he makes a good play I'm the first one there to congratulate him."
The two have made a lot of plays in the 2022 season, since they rank one-two in tackles on the Cajun squad. It's Quibodeaux' first year as a full-time starter after seeing regular action for the last two years, and he's made the most of it with 70 tackles through the first eight games. Twice this year he's had 14 tackles in a game, against both Rice and Marshall.
Those kind of numbers run in the family. Quibodeaux's father Dale Thomas was a ball-hawking defensive lineman for the Cajuns four decades ago, enough to where he was named to the Southland Conference's All-Decade Team of the 1980's.
Trahan ranks second on the squad and first among defensive backs with 20 tackles, while also picking off a team-high three passes as part of a defense that ranks fourth nationally with 13 picks. That total is already three more interceptions than the storied 2021 Cajun team had for the entire season (10).
The two have also keyed a defense that has forced 19 turnovers, tied for fifth nationally, and UL ranks 13th nationally in pass defense and 31st nationally in scoring defense.
But it's more than numbers for the former Acadiana High Wreckin' Rams. It's an attitude, and one that developed early when the two were freshmen at Acadiana and played for legendary Ram coach Ted Davidson. That attitude helped the Rams win five state championships in the second decade of this century.
"The first day as a freshman and Ted Davidson has you tackling to the ground," Quibodeaux said. "It's a specific part of practice designed to see who's going to hit and who's not going to hit, and it didn't matter if you were a freshman or a senior. It's a tough transition to college, but doing all that at Acadiana helped both of us.
"If you come into a school with the mindset that you're going to be aggressive, it helps when you've done it all through high school. It really helped us in the physical aspect … we didn't have to get over getting used to the physicality. The physical aspect for us was a lot easier."
"He was always aggressive on the field," Trahan said of Quibodeaux, who came to UL as a walk-on and earned a scholarship from then-coach Billy Napier. "I'd watch him and I'd know he was going to make a play, and he knew if he wasn't able to get there I was going to be right there behind him. It was a matter of just being there for each other on the field."
Their leadership was badly needed this year with UL's coaching transition, but it helped that both were recruited by now-head coach Michael Desormeaux while he was on Napier's staff. The two would love nothing more than to send Desormeaux to his second bowl, after he was elevated to the head position just prior to last December's R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl victory over Marshall.
"We'd love to get to a bowl game for him," Quibodeaux said. "The leadership and the caring that he has, that's one thing about Coach Des, he cares about us with his heart. He doesn't do anything for show."
"Finishing off the season right, getting to six wins and getting into that bowl, and then winning it going out as seniors," Trahan said, "that would mean so much for us and for Coach Des. He deserves that."
After that, their futures are up in the air. Quibodeaux will finish his MBA degree this spring and will pursue a second master's degree in the field of industrial organization. Trahan, who also has his degree, is looking to pursue a coaching career. Both plan to go through UL's Pro Day in the spring to see what happens.
"It's just crazy that it's coming to an end," Trahan said. "We talked about it at practice this week. It's very emotional and it's going to be emotional Saturday, seeing Jourdan's family for the last time in football."
"It's the end of this chapter, but we're going to have a bond the rest of our lives," Quibodeaux said. "Our moms went to high school together, we played baseball as kids. We were a sorts family but it turned into a family family. I thank God for that."
"Whatever happens, I'm happy for him," Trahan said. "I think both of us have strong character and football had a lot to do with that. But whatever happens, I know he's going to be a very accomplished man and person."
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Re: Louisiana UnLimited: Over a decade of bonding for Trahan, Quibodeaux
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