Football: Hudspeth Uses Spring Practice To Teach Cajuns A Lesson

Contact: Brian McCann

LAFAYETTE, La. – The ups and downs of the spring practice season continued for the Ragin’ Cajuns on Tuesday when UL held its seventh of 15 practices during the month of March.

After a spirited intrasquad scrimmage in their last practice on Saturday that pleased second-year head coach Mark Hudspeth, the Cajuns took a minor step back today and didn’t accomplish what Hudspeth expected.

“This was not one of our better practices,” Hudspeth said.  “It lacked the intensity that we have had in other practices and that is a concern.

“We’ve got a relatively young team right now and one of the lessons that it needs to learn is that we have to be ready to give our best on every down.  If we don’t, we will not be able to achieve our goals.

“Looking back, the reason we won the New Orleans Bowl last season was because we were able to dig in and give our best when things got tough.  Had we played with the effort and intensity that we had today, we would not have won that day,” Hudspeth added.

Always the teacher, Hudspeth elected to take advantage of the lack of intensity to teach the Ragin’ Cajuns a lesson late in the practice.  In a period normally set aside for conditioning, one which usually features a number of sprints back and forth across the field, Hudspeth paired the Cajuns up in twos and had them work together on a conditioning drill.

“I talked to the kids about being accountable,” Hudspeth said.  “It goes way past football.  They need to be accountable in the class room, with their family and friends and in their daily lives.  We had accountable players last year and it showed.  Now it is time for the sophomores and juniors from last year to step up and become leaders and teach the younger players.”

Despite being disappointed with aspects of the practice, Hudspeth remained optimistic about things.

“This is only the seventh practice of the spring,” he said.  “We’ve got eight more practices this spring and a lot more time before we take the field against Lamar.  I am confident that we will be able to elevate our play and be ready for the season.”

UL will take the next two days off from practice, focusing instead on conditioning and the weight room, before returning to the field for practices on Friday and Saturday (March 16-17).

RaginCajuns.com