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Football: Napier – Cajuns ‘met most of our needs’ with signing class

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, Dec. 21, 2018

Most of the coaches say it most of the time: They addressed their biggest needs.

If they hadn’t, they probably wouldn’t be doing their job very well.

So it wasn’t surprising at all when UL coach Billy Napier said Wednesday — the first day of the NCAA’s early national signing period — that “we met most of our needs” and “we did a good job executing our evaluation system.”

Related: Cajuns fend off a few Power 5 schools to sign recruits

Actual confirmation of the evaluation hitting its marks won’t be truly possible for years to come.

But it is apparently true that needs were addressed by UL, whose class of signees was ranked No. 1 in the Sun Belt Conference and No. 65 overall by 247Sports.com as of Friday — higher than all but six other Group of Five programs.

That’s up from No. 105 in Napier’s first season as head coach at UL, a year in which he had less than three months to recruit.

The higher Group of Fives: Boise State of the Mountain West (56); Central Florida (57), Memphis (58), SMU (62) and South Florida (63) of the American Athletic Conference; and North Texas of Conference USA (64).

Also in the top five of the Sun Belt, according to 247, were Troy (74), Arkansas State (89), South Alabama (104) and Georgia State (106), with defending SBC-champ Appalachian State (123rd following a head coaching change, as Scott Satterfield left for Louisville) in ninth and Coastal Carolina at 10th (125th).

More: Ragin’ Cajun recruiting bios

How did UL both fill needs and finish so high?

“I think one of the things we did was we identified high school players that we felt like had an impact at that position — maybe some of those positions where we needed some help,” Napier said.

To wit:

UL signed four offensive linemen for depth on a unit that loses each of its starters — tackles Robert Hunt and Rico Robinson, guards Kevin Dotson and Ken Marks, and center Cole Prudhomme — after the 2019 season.

The additions: Erath High’s Jax Harrington, who picked up a late offer from Baylor; St. Helena Central’s O’Cyrus Torrence, who received an offer from Georgia in November and one from Colorado in December; Neville High’s Logan Newell; and Chalmette High’s Nathan Thomas.

More: UL signing list

It signed four for depth on its defensive line, which loses full-time LaDarrius Kidd and graduate-transfer Garrald McDowell, a frequent starter.

It signed three who can play in the defensive secondary, where depth was thin in 2018 and starting senior safety Corey Turner exits, and four who can play receiver, another area in need of improved depth.

The secondary additions: safety Jaden Henderson out of New Orleans, cornerback Amir McDaniel out of Pensacola, Florida, and cornerback Bobby Holmes out of Dallas.

And notable is that while UL did not sign an overabundance of junior college players and go for the quick fix across the board, two of the receivers it did sign came from jucos: East Mississippi Community College’s Kalem Reddix and Brian Smith Jr. of Glendale (Arizona) Community College.

That’s in addition to two high school receivers UL signed: highly hyped Brandon Legendre from E.D. White High in Thibodaux, who turned down an offer from Notre Dame, and Peter LeBlanc from Catholic High of New Iberia.

More: Reddix, Torrence join UL recruiting pledge list

The Cajuns lose senior receiver Ryheem Malone, who had a team-high 44 catches for 525 yards (second only to the 608 of senior-to-be Ja’Marcus Bradley, who had 40 receptions) and four touchdowns.

Moreover, two of UL’s top five receivers this season were running backs, Elijah Mitchell and Trey Ragas, and the sixth, Earnest Patterson Jr., was a senior.

Some juco transfers could be added later, perhaps a quarterback and also on defense, Napier suggested.

But the Cajuns coach seemed especially pleased by how UL bulked on the defensive line, a unit that seems set for now.

The Cajuns signed Kentwood High defensive end Kendall Wilkerson, West Monroe High defensive tackle Dalvin Hutchinson, Kaplan High defensive end Quintlan Cobb and defensive tackle Shomari Hayes out of Mountain Pointe High in Phoenix.

Hayes signed with the Cajuns after visiting UNLV last weekend, and Cobb picked UL over Houston, which he visited earlier this month. Cobb is the highest-ranked signee, according to 247Sports, with receiver Legendre second, offensive lineman Wilkerson third, quarterback Chandler Fields fourth and outside linebacker Tyler Guidry fifth.

More: UL signs two QBs, loses top transfer target to Georgia

Cobb and Wilkerson both are listed as being taller than 6-foot-4. Hayes and Hutchinson both stand just taller than 6-foot, but both inside linemen weigh in excess of 310 pounds.

So Napier very much likes the size there, he indicated.

The Cajuns also return two defensive linemen signed by Napier and who played in reserve roles as true freshmen, Timaje Porter out of the Mobile, Alabama, area and Masry Mapieu from Nebraska, plus another freshman, highly regarded Texan Sammy Ochoa, who is coming off back surgery that kept him out all year.

The Cajuns additionally will bring back two d-line starters, standout Zi’Yon Hill, who tweeted that his expected postseason shoulder surgery Wednesday “went well,” and Bennie Higgins, who finished with 7.0 tackles for loss including 4.0 sacks.     

“That’s four premium players, in my opinion,” Napier said of the four high school signees.

“That’s about as good as we can do, and one of the positions we are most-excited about going forward.”

Related: Cajuns beat out worthy foes to land Kaplan’s Cobb