It's earlier than they had anticipated, and they've had to scramble a little bit, but the University of Louisiana's 2005 football squad will officially open spring practice today with the first of 14 scheduled workouts.

Ragin' Cajun head coach Rickey Bustle blows the first whistle at 12:30 p.m. for what he expects to be the most competitive set of drills since his arrival four springs ago.

"We've got a depth chart right now that has seven positions without a first-team player," he said Friday. "We're not giving anyone a position just because they were the backups for a senior last year.

"And that doesn't mean the other positions are safe, either. I'm pretty sure we're going to have the greatest competition all over the field since we've been here."

The Cajun squad had originally planned to begin drills on March 1, but moved the start date back in order to miss conflicts with late classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Now, the squad plans practices on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com