With quarterback clearly not the most interesting position for the UL Ragin\u2019 Cajuns entering the spring football season, which position battles are worthy of the most attention during the offseason?<\/p>\n
For the first time in the Michael Desormeaux era, the starting quarterback was a done deal heading into spring.<\/p>\n
So for fans wondering where to shift their focus, there are several options available.<\/p>\n
One good place to start is at running back.<\/p>\n
Last year\u2019s leading rushers \u2014 Bill Davis and Zylan Perry \u2014 are now gone, which opens the door for new leaders to emerge.<\/p>\n
Redshirt sophomore Steven Blanco probably leads the parade, but redshirt freshman Darrell Smith is expected to carry a much larger load this season and 5-10, 210-pound redshirt freshman JJ Garner also appears ready to impress.<\/p>\n
\u201cSteven played really well for us last year,\u201d UL coach Michael Desormeaux said. \u201cWhenever he got in there, he had really good carries, had good production.<\/p>\n
\u201cDarrell didn\u2019t have many carries \u2026 but we\u2019ve seen a lot from him throughout the course of last year and his growth. I think Darrell\u2019s going to be a really good player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fans may remember Garner carrying a group of defenders into the end zone for a score in last year\u2019s spring game.<\/p>\n
\u201cJJ Garner is probably one of the best athletes in that group, and that\u2019s saying a lot to me,\u201d Desormeaux said. \u201cThat group is really talented.\u201d<\/p>\n
And certainly don\u2019t overlook Howard transfer Anthony Reagan.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s come in and he\u2019s got a different gear,\u201d Desormeaux said of Reagan. \u201cWe haven\u2019t seen him in pads yet, but he\u2019s competing and making plays.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another key area on offense with even more questions on the depth chart is wide receiver.<\/p>\n
Yes, Shelton Sampson returns as Winfield\u2019s No. 1 target, but there\u2019s nothing set in stone after him.<\/p>\n
The addition of catch-and-run guys like Russell Babineaux and Trenton Chaney shifts the skill set of Winfield\u2019s targets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really haven\u2019t had the ball-in-hand guy a whole lot \u2014 that has a little wiggle and makes you miss, really, since Ryheem Malone (2014-18),\u201d Desormeaux said.<\/p>\n
The coaching staff has been waiting on redshirt junior KeDarius Wade to take that big step for two seasons and is hoping this is the year.<\/p>\n
Lance Strother was a steady force last season and remains in the plan. Rahji Dennis enters his third season and keep an eye on return specialist Ja\u2019Corian Norris moving from defense to receiver.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a really talented athlete who didn\u2019t quite click on defense,\u201d Desormeaux said. \u201cIt didn\u2019t click for a guy named JaMarcus Bradley either, so we moved him to offense and he ended up being a darn good football player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps the trickiest position is at inside linebacker. Redshirt senior Kailep Edwards is back, but he\u2019s had very few starts in his career.<\/p>\n
Jake St. Andre established himself last season, but such developing players as redshirt junior Micah Johnson and redshirt sophomores Ethan Veal and Connor McPherson will have to take their turn.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a bunch of competition in that room, just not a lot of experience in the game,\u201d Desormeaux said. \u201cEvery year, we\u2019ve kind of had to do that a little bit \u2026 coach (Scott) Stoker does a good job with those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another position in a similar position is cornerback. The staff and fan base were both elated when sophomore Brent Gordon returned.<\/p>\n
After him, there\u2019s a list of unproven options and several of those will need to step up. That group includes redshirt sophomore Avery Demery, redshirt junior Curley Reed, redshirt junior Jeremiah Moses and perhaps redshirt freshman Kevin Malone.<\/p>\n
\u201cAvery Demry is a guy that I think is as talented as any of the guys we’ve had here,\u201d Desormeaux said. \u201cJeremiah Moses is competing really hard right now and it’s time for him. He\u2019s competing really hard, got a really good skill set. He can run. He’s competing the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Malone is \u201cone that I\u2019m excited about as a redshirt freshman. He\u2019s kind of in that Eric Garror and Keyon Martin mold \u2014 little, but he\u2019s a scrappy dog.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With quarterback clearly not the most interesting position for the UL Ragin\u2019 Cajuns entering the spring football season,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":826934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7,4095],"class_list":["post-826933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-hardwall"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116272280924264937","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}