He came on a promise and a prayer, hoping to change the universe — UL’s world, at least — but not necessarily expecting anything like what the Ragin’ Cajuns have been doing lately.

Boy, is starting linebacker Le’Marcus Gibson glad he left Hawaii in the rearview mirror, and Duke in the glad-he-never-did-make-it-there pile.

"The first season, I saw the talent we had," said Gibson, who came to UL as a walk-on junior-college transfer in spring 2010. "We didn’t lack much last year — probably a little discipline, and just the right attitude.

"But to me, to be in the position we are now, it’s something I set out on before I even went to college. What I really wanted to do was to turn something around."

At 5-1 with five straight wins under head coach Mark Hudspeth, and North Texas coming for a Saturday homecoming game at Cajun Field, about-face really does seem to be the order of the day.

Home attendance is up to an average of more than 28,000, which is 10,000-plus more than a season ago.

Attitudes are up.

And, at the rate they’re going, the Cajuns — 3-9 in 2010 — might be up for some sort of turn-around-team-of-the-year award.

"To be here and to know that I’m a part of something — it’s big right now," Gibson said. "I’m not just changing a team, but a community. That’s the biggest thing. We’re changing the whole outlook."

Roundabout path

How Gibson and his head full of dreads got where he is now is a tale of pitfalls, patience and

persistence.

Coming out of Harrison Central High in Starkville, Miss., where he starred as a defensive back, the 6-foot, 205-pounder could have gone to Vanderbilt.

But he had circulated a recruiting highlight tape, and then-Hawaii coach June Jones like what he saw.

Two games into his career as a free safety with the Warriors, during a 12-1 season that ended with a Sugar Bowl loss to Georgia, Gibson tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

It happened, coincidentally, during a 45-44 overtime win over Louisiana Tech in Ruston.

In time, Gibson would return to Louisiana. Before he did, though, it was back to the main island for rehab and reflection.

Oahu.

The beautiful beaches, and lovely people, of Waikiki. Sparkling water everywhere. Palm trees, too. Super shopping down in the tourist district.

A view of Diamond Head — Honolulu’s iconic volcanic tuff cone — through his dorm-room window.

There was a lot to like.

Jones, however, wound up leaving Hawaii for SMU after that 2007 season. Gibson had a call to make.

"Things kind of changed a little bit," he said. "It didn’t feel like home, so I decided to transfer."

Huh?

Transfer from "¦

Hawaii?

"There was a lot there I wasn’t going to do anyway," Gibson said. "Like surfing. I’m not a real big beach person."

So it was back home to Mississippi, where Gibson enrolled at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and played one season in 2008.

He sat out 2009, though, planning the whole time to transfer to Duke. That never happened, though, in large part because he missed that ’09 season, leaving Gibson looking for a place to play in spring 2010.

He was stressed to the max.

"Anytime you don’t know your next move — it’s the most dark feeling ever not to know what’s going to happen next," Gibson said. "To not have a plan, and kind of be out on my own at the time, was kind of scary."

No worries, though.

A former coach knew then-UL defensive coordinator Kevin Fouquier, one thing led to another, and Gibson soon headed to

Lafayette.

He did so with little more than a promise in his pocket.

"I had a handshake," Gibson said. "They told me to come down, and if you’re still the Le’Marcus Gibson we know from high school "» if you’ve still got some of those qualities "» we’re sure you’ll be on

scholarship.

"All I needed was the opportunity. They gave it to me, and seemed to show a lot of interest, so I just decided to make my move. And it was a good move."

About two weeks after his arrival, then-Cajuns coach Rickey Bustle gave Gibson his scholarship.

"It was like ‘everything happens for a reason,’" Gibson said. "It was one of the most blessed times in my life.

"He said he gave me a scholarship pretty much just based on my character, just the way I went about myself — ‘yes sir, no sir; yes ma’am, no ma’am.’"

Another obstacle

Yes, Doc. No, Doc.

That’s what Gibson was back to saying when he tore the ACL in that same left knee yet again, this time in the eighth game of UL’s 2010 season.

Earlier in the year, things were going so well.

Scholarship in hand, still playing safety, he was in on eight tackles, one for a loss, and came up with an interception in a loss to then-No. 22 Oklahoma State.

He managed another pick one outing later, while making his first start for the Cajuns, against Troy.

Then came the Oct. 23 game against Western Kentucky, No. 3 amid a seven-game losing streak, and the reinjured ACL.

Before long, Fouquier and Bustle were out, Hudspeth and new defensive coordinator Greg Stewart were in.

It was spring, and the Cajun coaching staff was looking high and low for linebackers to man their new 3-4 system.

It wanted to convert Gibson from safety to outside Bandit linebacker.

Gibson, who was rehabbing his knee like a madman, didn’t know whether he should transfer again or try to answer the

challenge.

But he quickly decided, "No matter where I went, it was going to be the same ol’ story."

He would have to prove himself, yet again.

"Why leave something," he wondered, "where I’m already established?"

So Gibson stayed.

New attitudes

It didn’t take long to realize year No. 2 at UL would be decidedly different than the first.

Hudspeth cracked down from the get-go, demanding more from his players than most ever experienced, and Gibson loved it.

"I’m not a stranger to hard work, so there’s nothing he did, or he’s doing, that was gonna make me run away from this," he said. "And I’m glad I didn’t, because I’m proud of what we’re doing."

The Cajuns’ current success, Gibson suggested after having previously dissected the topic with teammates, rests squarely with the coaching staff.

"I think we take on the mentality of our coaches — the head coach and the D-coordinator," he said.

"From Hud, it’s, ‘Don’t let up. Don’t ever let up, because if you let up that’s when somebody’s gonna pass you.’ For us, last year, we would probably be complacent right now, thinking, ‘Aw, OK, 5-1, all we have to do is get one more (win to become bowl eligible) and (then) we can be kind of lackadaisical.’

"But, right now," added Gibson, who is UL’s

fifth-leading tackler this season with 28 in all, including 16 solo stops, "we’re working like we haven’t even won a game."

The philosophy of Hudspeth and Stewart has contributed, Gibson believes, to a defense that yielded 399.4 yards per game last season to one allowing 369.5 this season.

That currently ranks UL 57th nationally in total defense. It’s about middle-of-the-pack, but much improved compared to 82nd in 2010.

"With Hud and Stew "» ‘You can mess up, but if you mess up, do it going 100 miles an hour and try to make a play. Just try to make a play,’" Gibson said. "We take up that mentality, and they let us play.

"They don’t try to confuse us too much, and they let us use our talent. They’re the reason our defense is playing the way we’re playing."

It’s also one of the reasons Gibson is happy he toiled like he did in rehab, enabling him to be fully healthy for his senior

season.

"This is my last one, so it was either give everything I’ve got now and leave with no regrets or be the sour guy sitting on the couch on Sunday saying, ‘I used to do that,’" Gibson said. "I just didn’t want any regrets, so I gave everything I had this summer and worked real hard to get back.’

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