Joshua Parrott, Daily Advertiser, Friday’s football practice notes

4/3/2011 6:22 PM CDT

My football practice notes from Friday are a bit late, but still plenty of info to digest:

 

***Already tweeted/blogged about it, but the Cajuns have added another verbal commitment in former Northwestern State/Capitol High receiver Bradley Brown. More transfers could be on the way soon.

***Senior CB Dwight “Bill” Bentley continues to respond to the challenge from the coaches to be a leader. He makes at least a few big plays every practice. On Friday, he jumped a pass route to pick off a Chris Masson pass intended for Pierre Hill. A few minutes later he knocked the ball out of Daryl Surgent’s hands at the last second on what would have been a catch.

***Sophomore WR James Butler was as impressive as I’ve seen throughout spring drills Friday. Twice he beat CB Trevence Patt for impressive catches. Later he burned CB Eddie Williams for a long TD reception and made a nice tip-toe grab along the sideline. Butler made some big plays in limited reps last season. In the fall he’s going to have to make plays against experienced DBs. It helps that fellow WRs Surgent, Andrew “Rico” Joseph, Javone Lawson, Ross Goodlett and Boris Anyama have made plays in the spring. Now they need to stay healthy and produce in the fall.

***Was told that signee Harry Peoples, a receiver who played the past two years at Holmes Community College, is the team’s projected punt returner for the fall. Peoples was first-team all-region and first-team all-state as a sophomore at Holmes CC with nine TDs and averaged 30.5 yards per kickoff return (with one score) and 19.7 yards per punt return (two TDs). He is still finishing up his coursework to earn his associate’s degree before arriving on campus this summer. Peoples is expected to attend next Saturday’s spring game. The Cajuns should be dangerous with Peoples returning punts and Lawson, Surgent and maybe even Bentley bringing back kickoffs. They were 58^th nationally in punt returns (8.27 yards per return) last season but last in kickoff returns (17.64 yards per return).

***Senior LG Kyle Plouhar (ankle) was still on crutches Friday. First-year coach Mark Hudspeth told me Wednesday that he hoped to have Plouhar back for Sunday’s workout, but I honestly just don’t know how that’s going to be physically possible.

***Always steady senior Brad McGuire is now seeing time at quarterback and fullback with junior QB Blaine Gautier banged up. He had recently been limited to fullback due to a sore shoulder. I don’t care where he plays next fall, but McGuire is the type of guy that needs to be somewhere on the field. He’s a tremendous leader and a playmaker, whether it’s as a QB or FB.

***Senior S Le’Marcus Gibson (knee) was set to graduate in May but changed his major, so he will finish up in the fall. Tweeted/blogged about it a few months ago, but Gibson hopes to get another year of eligibility due to medical hardship. He suffered a torn ACL and torn meniscus in his left knee one game into the 2007 season at Hawaii. He missed the final five games last season with a season-ending knee injury that required surgery. Once healthy, he’ll have every chance to fight for that second safety spot next to senior Lionel Stokes. Sophomore Cooper Gerami and redshirt freshman Earnest Gardner haven’t done enough yet to win that job.

***Junior K/P Brett Baer has been solid with his double duty as a punter and kicker in the spring. Baer placed his kickoffs deep in the corner inside the 5-yard line, some at the goal line. He is trying to improve on last season when he had only one touchback. The Cajuns were 58^th nationally a year ago in kickoff returns (21.35 yards per return) but 110^th defending punts (13.26 yards per return).

***Redshirt freshman Brock Guidry, an Acadiana High grad, recently left the team. That leaves the Cajuns with two deep-snappers with Matt Gore and Matt Autrey already leaving: junior Matt Rosenbalm and redshirt freshman John Broussard. Rosenbalm is the returning starter. Broussard is a Lafayette High product and the son of former Cajun player and coach Gerald Broussard.

***Hudspeth has been impressed with junior RB Yobes Walker, who signed with the Cajuns after turning down offers from Texas A&M and Alabama early in the recruiting process. Walker was the team’s second-leading rusher (412 yards) as a redshirt freshman in 2009 before moving to fullback and getting only one carry for two yards last season. He is a physical runner, and Hudspeth likes that quality.

***Former Rice offensive coordinator Ed Zaunbrecher stopped by practice Friday. The Rayne native worked for the Owls at the same time as current Cajuns head strength and conditioning coach Rusty Whitt. Zaunbrecher also served as ULM’s head coach from 1994-98 in addition to spending time at Purdue, Marshall, Illinois, Michigan State, LSU, Wake Forest and Arizona. He now runs the “Ed Zaunbrecher QB School."

***The Cajuns football team will hold a closed practice/scrimmage on Sunday. Hudspeth said it’s going to be a “game-day dress rehearsal for everyone. It will be live and intense” and will include “everything from pregame routines to game communication and substitutions.” I’ll share whatever I can whenever I hear it.

***Also here are two new pics of the glass doors for the room outside Hudspeth’s office and a new-look helmet I’m hearing we’ll be seeing for the Cajuns in 2011. At the end of this blog link I’ve got a bunch of pictures of the new offices.

One picture of the new glass doors outside Hudspeth’s office.

Another picture of the new glass doors outside Hudspeth’s office.

Been told by a few people close to the football program that we could see this helmet worn by the players in 2011.