Football: Stover takes over new starting roles – Broadway’s Status – Congratulating Browning

Tim Buckley, Daily Advertiser, Dec. 3, 2013

UL’s Hunter Stover (45) has been handed all the kicking duties for Cajuns as of now. / Leslie Westbrook/The Advertiser

After UL’s 31-28 loss to UL Monroe last Saturday, Ragin’ Cajuns’ coach Mark Hudspeth dropped a telling one-liner.

“Need more confidence in our field-goal unit right now,” he said.

On Monday, Hudspeth announced a change he hopes will aid in that regard, benching sophomore Stephen Brauchle, who has handled both field goal and PAT duties all season long, and saying kickoff specialist Hunter Stover will handle all kicking chores, including field goals and PATs, in the Cajuns’ regular-season finale Saturday night at South Alabama.

“He’s gonna do it all – until he shows me he can’t,” Hudspeth said of Stover, a junior from Notre Dame High who has had two ACL knee tears since coming to UL as a linebacker in 2010.

“Hunter works awfully hard. And Brauchle works hard, and it’s important to him too. But we’ve got to find some success in the field-goal game, and we’ve got to get some confidence in it to where we can line up and kick field goals consistently.

“We’re gonna try another guy, just like when your right guard, your cornerback – whatever the case may be – is not performing, you slide somebody else in. Kicker is no different,” he added.

“Everybody’s competing. Everybody’s competing for a job, to improve. And competition makes you better. So we’re just gonna try somebody else, and see if we can get a little more success.”

Brauchle, a junior in his first year at UL after transferring from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, was the successor to record-setting Cajun kicker Brett Baer.

He went into Saturday’s game 47-of-49 on PATs, and went 4-of-4 against the Warhawks to leave him two makes shy of tying Baer’s 2012 record for most extra points made in a season.

But Brauchle also was 8-of-12 on field goals before Saturday with no makes from longer than 38 yards, and prior to Saturday he was 0-for-1 in the Cajuns’ last three games combined.

His first four misses came from 27 yards in UL’s season-opening loss at Arkansas, from 40 yards in a September win at Akron, from 28 yards when he was 3-of-4 in a mid-October win at Arkansas State and from 37 yards in UL’s mid-November win at Georgia.

The final straw evidently was a missed 48-yarder than clanked off the right goalpost on his only attempt against ULM, and it came with UL trailing 31-21 with just more than 12 minutes remaining.

“It’s just one of those games where you look at the stats, and we were phenomenal on all special teams units with the exception of field goals – and that was a big difference,” Hudspeth said Monday.

“That missed field goal was three points. There’s a tie ballgame right there. So, we’ve got to improve there.”

Stover, an all-state kicker at Notre Dame, has handled or shared kickoff duties since his redshirt freshman season in 2011, but he’s never attempted a field goal or a PAT for the Cajuns.

He leads all UL special-teams players in tackles this season with 10, including five solo stops.

BROADWAY’S STATUS

As expected, UL starting quarterback Terrance Broadway underwent surgery Monday on the arm he broke Saturday night against ULM.

“Everything went well,” a Cajun spokesman said via text message Monday night.

Hudspeth said Sunday that a plate would be inserted to protect, and promote faster recovery time, on “a smaller bone” in Broadway’s right forearm.

Hudspeth on Monday said the injury was “not a severe break” and reiterated expectations that the junior can return in time for UL’s appearance in the Dec. 21 New Orleans Bowl.

“I’m optimistic,” he said even before receiving word the surgery was successful. “I think the doctors are optimistic he’ll be back.

“We’ll always plan otherwise, and then if he does that will be just icing on the cake,” Hudspeth added. “But I am optimistic he will be.”

CONGRATULATING BROWNING

Hudspeth and other Cajun staff members greeted ULM quarterback Kolton Browning after Saturday’s game and offered kind words to the senior quarterback who returned from what was supposed to have been a season-ending quad injury.

“I … congratulated him on a fine performance,” Hudspeth said. “He’s had a great career, and he’ll go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks at that university.”

Hudspeth suggested Browning, who was 18-of-28 passing for 247 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, was a difference-maker Saturday as ULM snapped its five-game series losing streak against UL.

“The plays he made in the first half were all broken plays where he scrambled out, bought some time and found somebody open – the things we did not want to happen,” the Cajun coach said.

“He was able to get outside of us, and we knew when he did that it was dangerous. And we let it happen. Give him credit.”