Football: Cajun QB Hudspeth done due to problematic knee

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, Jan. 13, 2016

After practicing all of the 2016 season and playing his first and only game as a Ragin’ Cajun despite a torn anterior cruciate ligament, UL quarterback Gunner Hudspeth – the oldest son of Cajuns coach Mark Hudspeth – is trading his pads for a clipboard.

Hudspeth, a walk-on and a redshirt freshman this past season, announced Thursday via Twitter that he is done playing.

Hudspeth also indicated he now will become a student coach for the Cajuns.

“I’m sad to say because of my 3rd ACL injury, my playing career at UL has ended,” Hudspeth said in a statement posted on his personal Twitter account.

“Football is not fair and doesn’t owe anyone anything, but nothing can bring a bunch of different individuals together like football can.

“I was able to fulfill my dream of playing college football for UL,” Hudspeth added, “and now I get to start fulfilling another dream of mine, coaching!”

Hudspeth, a reserve QB who also served as a reserve holder for the Cajuns, tore the ACL in his right knee for a third time sometime last offseason.

He did not learn of the injury, however, until August.

Rather than have a third surgery, he opted to play instead.

Usually a scout-team quarterback tasked with signaling in plays, Hudspeth made his Cajun debut with two handoffs in the waning seconds of an Oct. 22 win at Texas State.

“A football player’s everyday life is extremely challenging and often the outside world doesn’t see that,” Gunner Hudspeth said on his Twitter post. “A player goes through many strenuous days throughout the year just to have a shot at his dream a few times a year.

“I will miss running out on the practice field in my pads to warm-up, hanging out in the locker(room) with the guys, getting dressed in the vermillion and white on game day and the other team activities that come with being a player.”

Hudspeth, a product of Kirk Academy in Mississippi, also thanked “coaches, teammates and the fans for their support.”

Mark Hudspeth was one of just seven FBS coaches with a coach on his team last season, along with Iowa’s Jirj Ferentz, Utah’s Kyle Whittingham, Middle Tennessee’s Rick Stockstill, Old Dominion’s Bobby Wilder, Colorado’s Mike MacIntyre and Tennessee’s Butch Jones

Gunner Hudspeth’s decision further depletes a UL quarterback stable that also lost senior backup Jalen Nixon after this past season.

Starter Anthony Jennings, a former LSU QB who played for the Cajuns in 2016 as a graduate transfer, recently had UL file to the NCAA an extension of eligibility waiver on his behalf.

Mark Hudspeth said Thursday that the Cajuns still have not heard if Jennings will get another year.

Jordan Davis and Dion Ray, who played behind Jennings, both return, as does Jake Arceneaux, a scholarship quarterback who redshirted as a freshman in 2016.

UL has two quarterbacks on its current commit list, Levi Lewis of Scotlandville Magnet High in Baton Rouge and Kadon Harrison of Memorial High in Port Arthur, Texas.

The Cajuns also are recruiting a junior college QB, David Pindell of Lackawanna College in Pennsylvania.