Football: Flood cleanup was jaw-dropping for Cajun football team

Tim Buckley, The Advertsier, Aug. 19, 2016

They practiced Tuesday morning, then had meetings Tuesday afternoon.

Nearly two weeks into preseason training camp in preparation for their Sept. 3 season-opener against Boise State, they were tired and sore.

Then they went to work early Tuesday night, volunteering in Youngsville to help victims of disastrous Louisiana flooding clear and clean their damaged homes.

And with that, members of the the Ragin’ Cajuns football team — especially those in a group guided by UL cornerbacks coach Melvin Smith, including Savion Brown, Simeon Thomas and Christian Goodlett — seemed to catch a second wind.

“They just got a freshness about ’em,” said Smith, an assistant coach previously at programs including Auburn, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Alabama and Ole Miss who now is in his second season as UL’s defensive coordinator.

“They had what I call ‘a humble sweat.’ They went to work on that house … and I’ve never been prouder of a group.

“It was really touching for me to see our kids in that light,” he added Thursday, “and for people to see our kids trying to help, trying to give back. … It’s one of the highlights of my life, and, you know, I’ve been around for a little while.”

Before helping out at the homes of local residents they did not previously know, some Cajuns helped Smith in his own house, which was damaged by flood waters as well.

Later, 100-plus UL players and staff members fanned out in Youngsville.

“When the people saw us,” Smith said, “they didn’t really know what to expect.”

Neither did the Cajuns.

“I think they were a little bit like me,” UL head coach Mark Hudspeth said of his team members, many of whom live in somewhat of a cocoon as they move from the dorms to their practice facility and back to their dorms during preseason camp.

“It was just heavy rain, the way it felt … around our university. It just seemed like it was big, heavy rain that just wouldn’t stop.

“So we head out there (to Youngsville)… and everybody’s jaw just dropped,” the Cajun coach added. “It really hit home fast.”

From standing water still where it shouldn’t be to debris seemingly everywhere, the picture was not pretty.

Hudspeth, who pitched in personally, described what it was like walking into a flooded home.

“It took it to a whole ’nother level,” he said, “with two or three inches of water still sitting on their floors and the carpet is halfway pulled up and you’re knocking down all the sheetrock and you’ve got all wiring and all the installation and everything’s wet.”

Even two days later Brown, a first team All-Sun Belt Conference pick at cornerback, appeared to be especially moved by the experience.

On Thursday he called it “real humbling,” and called himself “sad.”

“When you see those people, when you see what happened to them, it brings you back down,” said Brown, who calls Shreveport home. “It brings you back down to the world. It brings you back down to the Earth.

“Because it can happen to anybody. It can happen in the blink of an eye.

“I really love the fact (that) me and my teammates, we went out and helped those people,” Brown added. “I wish I could go back and help them right now.”

Flood victims, however, weren’t the only ones who benefited from the convoy of help, which UL director of football operations Troy Wingerter organized with the assistance of others in the Cajun athletic department.

Cajun players gained something, too.

For them, it was a bonding experience.

“Those types of things bring you together,” Brown said. “They make you closer, more than (happens) just through football.”

It was only a few hours’ worth of work, but when multiplied a hundred-fold with everyone from kickers and punters to hulking linemen it amounted to a lot getting done quickly.