Football: Ragin Cajuns receiver Surgent relocates

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, March 21, 2013

The move has been made.

There still are a few boxes to unpack. And there may be a visit or two back to the old neighborhood in the season ahead.

But four sessions into spring practice Ragin’ Cajuns receiver Darryl Surgent has officially relocated, from the outside and inside to 2012 senior Harry Peoples’ vacated home in the slot.

It’s a somewhat familiar locale for Surgent, a senior-to-be who as UL’s wideout opposite also-departed senior Javone Lawson pulled in 61 passes for 892 yards and four touchdowns over the past two years — 27 for 323 yards and one TD in 2011, and 34 for 569 yards and three TDs a season ago.

"Just from being in high school, and the way my high school coach (Chris Gatlin) used me — I was kind of like a utility player," said Surgent, a product of Alexandria Senior High. "Bringing that here … I think that would better suit me, as much as helping the team. That’s what I’ve been thinking about it."

The decision to move Surgent was prompted partly by the understanding that Peoples’ backup last season, senior-to-be Bradley Brown — a transfer from Northwestern State who played his first season as a Cajun in 2012 — can’t do it alone.

"Both of those guys are going to battle it out," Cajun coach Mark Hudspeth said.

"Bradley Brown demonstrated last year, the second half of the season, that he’s very capable. "» So, we like both those guys (Surgent and Brown), and definitely want to play both those guys."

The switch for Surgent also was made partly because of the wealth of talent the Cajuns feel they have on the outside.

Jamal Robinson averaged 24.2 yards on his 26 grabs last season, and some within the Cajun program suspect he can be a 1,000-yard receiver in 2013.

Junior-to-be James Butler, who returned in 2012 after missing all of 2011 due to ACL knee surgery, went into the spring atop the depth chart at the receiver spot opposite that of Robinson.

UL also plans to perhaps rotate in Carencro High product Ricky Johnson, a transfer from Tulsa whose first season with the Cajuns also will be his last, and highly regarded Jared Johnson, a 6-foot-7 target who was redshirted as a freshman last year.

"We’ve just got to get them all on the field," Hudspeth said. "They’re all good."

Surgent seems to understand that as well as anyone.

"Last year with James (Butler) and Jamal (Robinson) being sophomores, they were still as talented as they are now," he said. "They only difference is now they’re just older.

"With that being said, anybody last year could have been the guy of any given game. That’s the same thing this year."

The bigger concern for the Cajuns, then, seems to be addressing the loss of Peoples, who went a step beyond good in his two years at UL.

The junior-college transfer from Mississippi had 58 catches for 679 yards in 2011, and a team-high 64 receptions for 817 yards and five touchdowns last season.

"That’s a lot of productivity that we’ve lost," Hudspeth said.

"We can’t forget about Bradley Brown, and how effective he was," Cajun offensive coordinator Jay Johnson added. "I have all the confidence in the world in Bradley. But all of a sudden we lose Bradley, then where do we go?"

Enter Surgent, who led UL in all-purposes yards last season with an average of 102.1 yards per game.

He struggled in the return game last year, averaging 19.1 yards on kickoffs but failing to break one for a touchdown on a combined 51 punt and kick return attempts.

But Surgent went 97 yards for a TD with a kick against then-No. 22 Oklahoma State as a freshman in 2010, and he took a punt back 87 yards for a score in UL’s 2011 New Orleans Bowl win over San Diego State — not to mention his memorable one-handed catch along the sideline in the fourth quarter against the Aztecs.

"Surg is one of the best athletes on our team. He is the fastest guy on our team," UL quarterback Terrance Broadway said. "So, just getting the ball quick in his hands and letting him make plays with his hands and his speed and agility is gonna be good for us. Him and Bradley."

"To me," Hudspeth added, "our inside receivers have to be guys that can run the bubbles, run the screens, can run the jet sweeps. And he (Surgent) sort of fits that mold."

Going inside should allow Surgent to combine speed, which perhaps is best attribute, with quickness, which could be Brown’s.

There are, however, adjustments that must be made when sliding to the inside after having spent so much time on the outside.

"Some of the blocking is a little bit different, some of the techniques," Johnson said. "But I do know that he (Surgent) is a very explosive football player with unbelievable skills."

The biggest change, according to Surgent, will be "fighting with the linebackers."

"Being outside," he said, "mainly all you’re doing is going against corners and once in a while safeties. But now, safeties and linebackers — it’s all day during practice."

With the Cajuns scheduled for their fifth session of the spring today, though, Surgent’s conversion has been so-far, so-good.

"He’s a little bit ahead of where we thought he might be," Hudspeth said. "And, you know, he’s a veteran guy, so the transition hasn’t been too hard for him. He’s got a lot of quickness, things you look for in an H (receiver), so we’re real pleased."

"I’ve gotten really comfortable with playing it and learning it, with coaching and the rest of my teammates," Surgent added. "So, it’s become very easy to me."

By the time the Cajuns are ready their open their 2013 season against Arkansas on Aug. 31, Broadway said he could "envision" Surgent playing both inside and outside.

Such flexibility could catch an opponent off-guard, and Hudspeth does not rule out the possibility.

"He can play both," the Cajun coach said. "He knows both."

Surgent is open to the notion too.

For the time being, though, he simply wants to get accustomed to new surroundings.

"I wouldn’t mind it," Surgent said. "But right now I’m just trying to make sure I learn this."