Zeon Chriss

[zeppelincajun]

And he was 100% the starter next year.

This is the only part I’ll push back on. I think he clearly should have. However, it actually happening, I’m not positive. Des is a loyalist. Look what he did in the bowl game. I’m sure Burton’s performance was injury related, but it was killing us having him out there when Fordham started the game snapping the ball just fine. Thats how Des was brought up though. Bustle was a loyalist to Babb when he was too timid to run after injury. He was a loyalist to Des when Des was injured but still playing. Bustle couldn’t make the move off of Masson even though everyone could see the burst the team got when McGuire played. I could see Des having a real hard time sticking a 6th year senior on the bench.

[Redgineer]

This is the only part I’ll push back on. I think he clearly should have. However, it actually happening, I’m not positive. Des is a loyalist. Look what he did in the bowl game. I’m sure Burton’s performance was injury related, but it was killing us having him out there when Fordham started the game snapping the ball just fine. Thats how Des was brought up though. Bustle was a loyalist to Babb when he was too timid to run after injury. He was a loyalist to Des when Des was injured but still playing. Bustle couldn’t make the move off of Masson even though everyone could see the burst the team got when McGuire played. I could see Des having a real hard time sticking a 6th year senior on the bench.

I see that Des is overly sentimental. This does not make for a good coach. Knowing when to cut losses is where he is lacking.

[cjr3888]

Didn't JB just leave Memphis because he wasn't getting the money he was told he'd get?

Exactly. That's the main issue I have with NIL & the Agents behind the scenes. The shady ones are taking advantage of players to line their own pockets. These players need advisors that have their best interest in mind. They need to sign contracts & not just transfer on the promise of future money.

[CajunNation]

If we can’t compete playing the same way other teams with more money do, we need to play a different way. Run an option style offense where you don’t need the greatest athletes or biggest linemen. Then spend the NIL money you do have on defense. As long as we run an offense like we do we will lose our top players to bigger schools. At least this way we only have to try and keep half our players.

Yes. Option or Air Raid. Spend NIL money on defense.

[CajunNation]

I see David Leblanc (STM) basically begging us to giving their players a chance. There’s a lot of good hs football played in Acadiana. Should we look into STM, Acadiana, SMSH, etc. more than we already are? Loyalty to home and more fan interest? Just spitballing at this point.

YES.

[cajuns80]

YES.

No. STM only pushes their FCS kids to UL coaches.

[CajunNation]

No. STM only pushes their FCS kids to UL coaches.

Not saying that is true, but look around. This is what we have been talking about. Coaching up FCS guys will be the way forward.

[zeppelincajun]

YES.

That’s a two way street. They say they want us to look at their players (I have no issue with this), but then when they have a stud we are back to just being the local school and not even considered. When you only want us to consider your guys who aren’t getting looks at the D1 level elsewhere but then funnel your top level guys to P5s, is that really something we should be interested in? Look at the guys we’ve gotten in baseball where we were their fall back after it didn’t work out in BR.

We definitely have missed on some local talent though with success at the G5 level. The wide out for Tech comes to mind.

[JamesTheJeweler]

Not sure if you’re kidding but Zeon is a projectable talent with professional frame. His upside was easy to see.

And he was 100% the starter next year.

Yep. Des has always been a heck of a recruiter. You look at our top 5 highest rated commits ever, and all 5 are Des recruits. And 6 of the top 10. Not including Zeon, who wasn't ranked that high, but certainly at least as talented as those on the list.

[Cajunrunner]

That’s a two way street. They say they want us to look at their players (I have no issue with this), but then when they have a stud we are back to just being the local school and not even considered. When you only want us to consider your guys who aren’t getting looks at the D1 level elsewhere but then funnel your top level guys to P5s, is that really something we should be interested in? Look at the guys we’ve gotten in baseball where we were their fall back after it didn’t work out in BR.

We definitely have missed on some local talent though with success at the G5 level. The wide out for Tech comes to mind.

There's always been a dislike (or at least as long as I can remember....1996ish) of USL/UL by STM football coaches. It runs deep, too. Was hoping having someone like Coach Leger on our staff might help with that, but I don't know if he or anyone else can still break that code.