|
Football: They’re baaaackTim Buckley, August 2, 2012 After UL football players posed for a team photo Wednesday afternoon at Cajun Field, senior quarterback Blaine Gautier helped write the caption. "Last year, going into the year," Gautier said, "a lot of teams, and a lot of players, they put us behind the eight-ball. "But this year, we’re definitely gonna be that team that’s gonna put it on a lot of people. We’re gonna be a 10-plus win team. "We’re gonna continue to do that," Gautier added, "by getting better this offseason right now." Ragin’ Cajuns coach Mark Hudspeth, after hearing the declaration on the heels of a 9-4 2011 season that ended with a New Orleans Bowl win over San Diego State, appreciated the enthusiasm. But he doesn’t want the sultry summer days of preseason camp, which officially opens today with an 8:55 a.m. practice, getting to much to anyone’s head. "I hope our attitude is always like what it should be, and like it was last year — taking it one game at time," Hudspeth said. "You know, we’ve got a one-game season — and that’s Lamar." The Cajuns open their season Sept. 1 at home against Southland Conference-member Lamar. Preparations for that game, and the rest of a schedule that includes visits to Oklahoma State and Florida, officially got under way when players checked into dorms and reported to preseason camp Wednesday. Hudspeth said the Cajuns will have 20 walk-ons to go with their 85 scholarship players for preseason camp, and all 105 both took summer classes and took part in training-oriented summer practices. All of those 105 reported as expected Wednesday, Hudspeth said. Many of them did so with one Hudspeth-run preseason camp already under their belt, something some see as a big boost heading into season No. 2 for the Cajuns coach. "They’re just a lot more familiar with the way we do things, they’re more familiar with our expectations," Hudspeth said. "And they just know the lay of the land." That they do. "Us doing it once, we know how it is. We know how hard it’s gonna be," senior receiver Javone Lawson said.
"I think our team is prepared to get through it, and come out a better team." "Last year we were starting new plays and all that," Lawson added. "We’re just trying to get better at our plays this year, and put points on the board." Gautier — who threw for 2,958 yards last season, a whole boatload of them to leading receiver Lawson — readily concurs. But he’s ready for some surprises, too. "You know, we have been through one (preseason camp) with coach Hud," he said. "But there’s a lot of energy and a lot of excitement coming up into this year, so you never know what’s to be expected." Senior cornerback Melvin White, anchor of a secondary that lost fellow cornerback Dwight "Bill" Bentley to the NFL, knows too that little can be anticipated when it comes to Hudspeth and his staff’s sometimes-unconventional ways. In fact, White doesn’t seem to buy at all into the notion that experiencing last year’s camp under Hudspeth will make this year’s any easier. Not even if the terminology is down-pat. Not even if so many of the schemes are the same. Not even if now the coaches know practically everyone by name. "It’s never easy. Never easy. Never easy," White said. "It’s going to be 10 times harder than it was the year before, because you always want to do even more and even better. "So we’re expecting more, and it will be even worse," he added. "You’re always gonna expect more. Regardless of what you did in the past and did before, you’re always gonna expect more."
|