Football: Ragin’ Cajuns Fall Camp Report – Week 1- Including Saturday Practice

LAFAYETTE – The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns football team put on pads on Saturday for the first time during fall camp, working out for just over two hours at the Ragin’ Cajuns Practice Facility.
 
Louisiana, which will open its season on Sept. 3 against Boise State at Cajun Field, continued installing its offensive and defensive packages while going through a controlled tempo in 11-on-11 drills. Ja’Marcus Bradley and Jared Johnson each caught TD passes during team drills while Gabe Fuselier and the redshirt freshman tandem of Jarrod Jackson and Carlos Robinson made key grabs during team drills.
 
"It was a solid day the first part of practice, but I was a little disappointed the way the practice ended with our team setting today," head coach Mark Hudspeth said. "We’ve got so many new guys that have never practiced with us, and they’ve got to learn how to practice, especially when we’re in our controlled tempo. We’ve got too many guys on the ground … every time that happens, you’re risking somebody getting injured or rolled up."
 
Jordan Davis, Anthony Jennings and Jalen Nixon continued to direct the No. 1 offense for the Ragin’ Cajuns with Elijah McGuire, Jordan Wright, Darrius Hoggins and freshman Raymond Calais each picked up carries out of the backfield.
 
"The effort was pretty good again today, but we’ve got to practice smarter and come out a little more focused," said Hudspeth, "but we had some pretty good attitudes for the most part. A couple of guys always stand out here or there, but overall it was an average day. We’ve got to do a better job tomorrow."
 
Louisiana returns to practice on Monday at 8:45 a.m. at the Ragin’ Cajuns Practice Facility. The Ragin’ Cajuns will work their first workout in full gear on Tuesday.
 
Each day fans will be able to watch the opening periods of practice live through various Ragin’ Cajuns Facebook accounts. To get the video alerts fans will need to follow the Cajuns on Facebook at facebook.com/ragincajunsathletics/, facebook.com/ragincajunsfootball/ or facebook.com/ulcoachhud/.
                                                                                             
Head coach Mark Hudspeth‘s post practice interview session will also be broadcast live on Cajuns All-Access via Facebook Live.
 
Links to the video will also be available on all of the following twitter accounts: @ULRaginCajuns, @RaginCajunsFB or @ULCoachHUD. Check RaginCajuns.com for updates and info on 2016 Ragin’ Cajuns Football Training Camp.
 
Season tickets are available by calling the Cajundome Box Office at (337) 265-2357 or visiting on-line at RaginCajuns.com/Tickets.
 

 
PRACTICE #2 | Friday, Aug. 5 | Helmets
The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns football team held its second practice of fall camp on Friday, working out for two hours in helmets that included the latter half in the Moncla Indoor Practice Facility.
 
Louisiana, which will work out in shells on Saturday for the first time during camp, continued work on fundamentals while continuing to install its offensive and defensive schemes.
 
"It was a really, really outstanding day," said head coach Mark Hudspeth, "a lot of times on the second day, that’s when you put in more installation and sometimes you start seeing guys going the wrong way. And as installation continues, until they get it down … but I’ll tell you, I thought day two installation went pretty good. I thought they picked up things well. I thought it was a solid practice."
 
With temperatures in the low 90’s and the sun beating down, the Ragin’ Cajuns opted to move the latter half of their 24-period workout inside, where the offense showed flashes of brilliance with quarterbacks Jordan Davis, Anthony Jennings and Jalen Nixon splitting snaps.
 
"You can’t beat the heat here, but you can beat the sun a little bit," Hudsepth said. "For us, we want to get everything put in. We don’t have to be in (football) game shape tomorrow, but we do need is to have everybody there to learn what to do and to get the reps to get better."
 
Redshirt freshmen Ja’Marcus Bradley and Jarrod Jackson each made key contributions on offense with Bradley catching a pair of TDs during 11-on-11 drills.
 

PRACTICE #1 | Thursday, Aug. 4 | Helmets
The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns football team held their first workout of fall camp, working out for nearly two hours in shorts and helmets Thursday morning at the Ragin’ Cajuns Practice Facility.
 
Louisiana, which will open the season on Sept. 3 with a late morning contest against Boise State at Cajun Field, held their first workout as a team under hot and humid conditions. The first practice of fall camp saw the Ragin’ Cajuns introduce 32 newcomers, including LSU transfer Anthony Jennings along with highly-heralded running backs Raymond Calais (Cecilia HS) and Trey Ragas (Archbishop Shaw HS).
 
"You could tell it was the first day," Hudspeth said. "If you’re not excited about the first day of practice, then you don’t have a heartbeat. I thought our guys were excited to get out there for the first day, especially the new guys. We pushed them really hard … I thought we came out quick and we faded with the heat late. We pushed through it (the heat) for the most part."
 
Quarterbacks Jennings, Jordan Davis and Jalen Nixon each took turns running with the No. 1 offense with Elijah McGuire and Jordan Wright getting the majority of snaps out of the backfield.
 
"All three quarterbacks had a pretty good first day, at least knowing what to do," Hudspeth said. "It was an easy (offensive) install. We didn’t do too much in the first day, only a few simple concepts in the run and pass (game) were put in, but they executed well and did pretty good."