Across the nation, the raging Cajuns will.

Be a source of pride for this.

University, for the alumni, fans, and donors.

As we achieve success in the classroom.

In the competitive arena, and in the community.

It's about to get really fun.

We're looking for dudes that will stand up.

Well, Coach, let me tell you, today I'm here, and I'm ready to stand up.

And I challenge you, raging Cajun nation, to stand up with us.

Stand up with us.

Let's lock hand in hand, and let's walk through the gates of Omaha.

Hey, I love y' all boys.

Let's grind every day starting today.

Let's do it.

Y' all ready?

Allah.

Allah.

Ready.

Who's your team?

Ready.

Who's your team?

Ready?

That's.

I got one thing to say right here.

Cages win.

Foreign.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Ragin Review.

It's Josh, it's Lane, it's Cole, and I think Jerry has graced us with his presence.

Oh, there he goes.

Got his updates figured out.

Thank you for joining the show today.

I am not Nick.

Nick has some.

Some business to attend to today.

So you get me.

Like old days.

It's like 2023 all over again.

Or no, maybe the last time was like 2022.

So I want to say I apologize in advance for the hiccups that are coming.

They will be plenty, I'm sure.

But we're gonna talk defense tonight.

And of course, you all know that that's one of my favorite things to talk about.

But first and foremost, we'll get to all the rundown, we'll get the bills paid, we'll do all that stuff.

But how.

How is it going, boys?

I know we don't typically do the introductions like we used to in the past, but I'm a creature of a habit, so I'm gonna see what my guys are up to.

Lane, I know you got some good news today.

You shared with the folks what's going on.

Yeah, it's good news.

Other than having to spend fourteen hundred dollars to fix my car.

I finally announced that I have a new job back in the sports industry.

So I'll be at the Bruce Art Sports complex full time as well as the podcast.

So looking forward to seeing what we come up with in the next several weeks and months and looking forward to getting things rolling.

Hell, yeah.

And I've been.

I've been pushing Lane.

We turned this thing into basically a part time job.

So he's gonna have two jobs now.

G, what's going on, dude?

What's what's happening in the A bear household today?

Back to school.

That's kind of the big topic around the house.

I'm sure you guys, especially Cole and Josh, I know the kids are going back to school.

So that's kind of the new thing.

Right?

Back to school.

So, you know, I never really understood it as a kid.

I hated going back to school.

I didn't.

I enjoyed the summer so much.

I was always depressed when school started.

But now as a grown up and as an adult, I kind of like it.

There's a sense of normalcy and back to a routine.

So other than that.

And it also kind of hints that football is almost here.

So everything's going well in the Aber household.

Everything's on schedule.

Going good.

Yeah.

And look, you see Cole's picture is nice and robust.

It's.

The pixels are good, the processing speed is proper.

We got it all figured out tonight.

So kg, I know we got.

Got you hooked up with some, some new equipment, but what's the report?

That's what I was going to say, man.

I was going to thank you for, you know, hooking me and laying up with some, some quality equipment here.

Got R junk.

Judy's fiber Internet, that is.

That was called.

We threw that as far in the tall grass as we could, man.

We, we, we upgraded here.

But no, same.

Same as Jerry said, man.

You know, settling into a routine.

Caroline just started a kindergarten at Ridge Elementary.

Love that.

So we're, we're getting back into the routine of a household, you know, getting the kids bathed and fed and all that good stuff.

But for me personally, it's been two weeks since I've been on with you guys.

If, you know, for anybody that tuned in last week, they saw the technical difficulties.

I almost threw my laptop through the freaking shed wall.

But yeah, so I'm happy to be back with y'.

All.

It's been a minute and I'm coming from Fatima from parent orientation myself.

So, yeah, if you got kids, you know, it's like for some of the parents, it's like this is the greatest time of the year.

We sending them back to school.

Other people get to raise them for eight hours.

And some people are just starting to figure out what that's like.

So shout out to all the parents out there before we get too much into it.

I kind of wanted to bring this up, and I know this is not on the rundown, but I want to thank everybody who has answered the call to come and help us build this new message board that we've been working on over the past three days.

The numbers are absolutely insane.

Never in a million years would I have guessed that this many people would be this invested in something so new and fresh.

It's called Cajun Threads.

We've shared it on our social media accounts and we are going to open up to the public on Friday.

That's the goal.

We've got about 90 not followers, but contributors that are helping to give feedback, putting really good ideas into just making a board that's for the 21st century and that's no shot at Pagin.

They've done great work for 20 years and I got the utmost respect for John and all his mods.

But you know, Threads is just something that we can all latch onto.

It's.

It's a little bit more of a user friendly platform.

I've been extremely happy with it so far and we've made a monetary investment into that website.

So if you haven't heard our used threads just yet, wait until Friday and we're gonna send out some invites and kind of open it up to the public.

Anybody have any feedback on the forum so far?

Cole, we'll start with you.

I love it, man.

You said it just a second ago.

User friendly.

I've never been on a site that has been so easy to follow along with, especially with that little tab that says latest.

So just to kind of let you know how I use it, I keep it up on my work desktop, right.

So I'll get to work in the morning, you know, sign in and kind of see what I missed throughout the afternoon.

I try to stay off in the afternoon, hang out with the kids.

But, you know, I'll get to work tomorrow morning.

It'll show me exactly what everybody's talked about since I've been gone.

And I love that.

Very easy to follow along with the categories and the subcategories.

We talked about it earlier today, the messages, the DM features.

I mean, you have so many things on that app that you can utilize.

It's just such a fresh, you know, it's a fresh start and I think that's what it needed.

Like you said, Shout out to Rage and Pageant for doing it for so long.

But sometimes upgrades are needed and a new site is needed and Disco Discourse has done.

Done a great job providing what we need, you know, to, to keep the ball rolling.

Agree.

G. What's been your experience so far?

Yeah, I gotta admit, I was one of the OGs on the old deli forums at like 12, 13 years old back in like 2001.

So I've, I've gone through the evolution of Cajun message boards and you know, the last 20 years I've been a member of Raging Paging.

Know, John, you know, Turbine has done a fantastic job with that.

I think one extra step to evolving has been Cajun Threads.

And you know, Josh, a lot of credit goes to you, man.

You know, you were very much up to date, up to the minute on the updates.

You were very open to getting feedback from people that have gotten the invite.

I mean, I was getting text messages, we were getting dms, we were getting all kinds of requests over the last three days to join Cajun Threads just to kind of see what it was all about.

And I like the fact that the, the, the conversations and the topics are very interactive.

They're very up to the minute.

And so I, I think it's been great so far to Cole's point.

I do the same while I've been working.

I have the tab open and if you have, if you're not open to the page, it shows you the updates, how what you've missed, what's on the chat and all of those, those things.

And so it's become really user friendly.

Took me about a day to figure it out, but man, it's been great and the reception has been outstanding.

I want to thank everybody who, who did this trial run with us.

You know, nothing but great feedback and thank you for the feedback.

We really appreciate it.

And I know we're just going to keep evolving with it.

We're going to keep doing UPD states and try to make it as user friendly as possible.

So when, you know, most people come on, they won't have, they'll have a great experience.

And so no, Josh, a lot of the kudos goes to you, man.

You've been really, really invested in this over the last week or so.

It's been fantastic.

I'm just, I'm just playing a small part, man.

Playing a small part.

Lane, what's been your experience?

What do you think of Threads so far?

I like it, it, like Jerry said, it's really user friendly.

It's up to date.

I mean, you outside, hopefully we don't have trolls, but I'm sure we'll get a couple here and there.

But I really like it so far.

There's tons of different topics to go through.

I think there's a topic about books and music, food culture and obviously Cajun sports.

So looking forward to seeing how it grows in the future.

Yeah, look, every, every home has roaches, so you're gonna have to, you're gonna have to fight it off.

You know, that's just part.

The thing is though, is that, you know, obviously Cajun's athletics is what is the cornerstone of the website.

But to Lane's point, you got a book club thread in there.

You got cooking and music.

You've got, you know, we got some politics in there.

We've got some Sunbelt Conference topics every.

I mean, we even have Olympic sports, soccer, you name it.

We got a high school football thread.

So we got the Rucker Rams, we got the Bears.

No, Jerry, there's no New Orleans threads in there.

No, I don't even have to ask what high school y' all went to.

Y' all created it for me, so thank you.

I don't even have to bring it up.

Y' all did it already.

So it's not just Louisiana athletics.

It's going to be a little bit of everything.

And my hope is that we can bridge the gap from three or four different generations of, of Cajun fans, because I've got, we've got some old timers in there that are knocking on 80 and they've got some great history, their knowledge of, of Louisiana, usl, sli.

Honestly, history is great.

And it, it can educate new generations of Cajun Cajun fans.

And that's kind of the, the, the, the hope there.

Like we can get all together and make it a big soup and, and, and just share all of our different experiences.

We're going to talk about some tailgating that's coming up.

There's just all kinds of things in there.

One of my favorite topics that has popped up is old raging page and threads that have been taken down over the years because they were too inflammatory or too taboo.

We're going to tell some stories from that.

You know, after you've done this for 20 years or so, you can kind of tell, you can tell those stories with, with some plausible deniability.

You know, all you got to do is just throw in there.

Well, you know, it's hard to remember.

I think we talked about this and I think this happened and you can tell the story that way if people can read between the lines.

But yeah, I just want to say thank you to everybody who, who has got in there, especially Andy.

Special shout out to Andy, who's been integral in, in getting that thing off the ground and, and showing my boomer ass how to do things, because I guess I, I'm not as technically inclined as I thought.

And again, public launch will be Friday.

That's the Goal.

That's the, the hope.

I don't see why that would be derailed.

I think we're on track.

In fact, I could probably launch it right now and it'd be just fine.

But like I said, we're almost at 100 users already and it's been at a limited launch.

It's been super successful.

I, I can't, I can't.

I can't say that I expected it to go any better than that.

I even told Jerry today.

I was like in, in my wildest dreams.

I didn't think this was going to work this way.

I thought it would take weeks to at least get any amount of momentum.

And it's already just.

I mean, you can't log into the website and there hasn't been 10 messages.

So it's, it's been great.

But anyway, all that being said, I got to get the bills paid.

I know you guys all understand, but the people who pay our bills happen to be pretty awesome.

So.

Shout out to Darren Domingue and Lafayette Roofing.

My buddy Jeff Robertson, Big Cajun fans.

They've been working in, in Lafayette, Acadiana, actually.

They even have an office in New Orleans area for years, for decades.

So they are not going to be one of these fly by night contractors that come in, do a shoddy job and leave after the hurricane season.

These guys are here to stay.

They offer, they offer a lot of things, but they offer families that may not necessarily have a big chunk of change to spend on a new roof.

They offer them payment plans, which I think is very unique in their industry.

And I applaud Darren and his people for doing that.

That's a big help to families and households.

Lafayette Roofing, you need a roof, you need anything.

They contract too.

They do interior work.

Give Darren a call.

Go check them out.

Lafayette-roofing.com Huge R Caf supporters.

Huge Cajun fans.

I want to give a special shout out to my girls over at yes, please.

They've been a marketing firm that don't necessarily support the show monetarily, but they have been working behind the scenes for quite a while now.

I mean, it's probably going on four or five months, helping us to get in the door with some very high level sponsors, very, very esteemed sponsors, people that you all would recognize in an instant.

Danielle and Courtney, we've become friends and we've gotten to know those folks a little bit.

If you need marketing services, if you're a small company and you need a small firm that has great ideas or if you're a very large company and you need something fresh.

Yes, please.

A fantastic group of marketing folks.

I just think that they do a really great job and they're very likable people.

Let me see.

I do this every time.

It's not, it's not EAT Lafayette.

We, we sponsored.

We are sponsored by.

No, no, it's not Lafayette Travel.

It's EAT Lafayette.

That's who sponsors.

Same guy, Ben Berthalot.

Cajun fan to the core.

I saw him today on campus at Fatima.

Great guy, great organization.

I laughed with Jerry the other day.

We sent a message to them, kind of just checking in.

We like to talk to our sponsors on a regular basis.

And we actually got a reply back from none other than the Olympic goat, Hollis Conway.

It was cool.

You know, I even, I even told him in the response.

I was like, you know, thanks, man.

It's not every day you get a response from a Cajun legend, an Olympic legend.

So that was a pretty cool, you know, something I didn't, didn't expect.

So working with the guys over at Eat Lafayette has been amazing.

Again, we keep talking about the segment that's coming up.

We now have the entire concept pretty much figured out.

I think it involves a lot of eating that's coming up.

I think we're all going to take our turns on the, on the eating circuit and bringing you some great stories from around the Acadiana area.

I mean, from gas stations to five star Michelin restaurants, we have it all.

Some of the best food in America.

Some of the best, best food in the world, honestly.

And Ben does a great job promoting our culture.

So I just want to say shout out to them.

And, and we're just thrilled to have them as part of our family with the sponsor role.

It's just awesome to be a part of it.

So we got Elf yet?

We got, we got Darren in them.

We got.

Yes, please.

Who am I forgetting?

Jerry, help me out.

Drop Ragin.

Hydration has been an awesome sponsor.

I want to give them their last shout out.

We had a limited partnership with them.

They're going to go off and do an nil deal and I think they're going to be invested in that now.

So, you know, great, great.

Getting to meet Kyle was cool and his little company is.

It's a great model.

I think there's a huge need he should go out to the tailgate and just go around to each tent.

Just get people full of IV before we move on.

And then also award master.

They've been great partners with us.

I'm sure they'll jump back on for now.

They're going to go ahead and and put investment dollars in other and other avenues.

So thank you, Sarah, and and Adam, for being part of the family at Raging Review.

We very much appreciate it.

You've been an awesome part of our team.

And then, of course, Brett Venable, the chiropractor that you need to talk to.

After we get the Cajun mafia together and we're breaking chairs and tables over each other's heads and everything is on fire, we'll have Brett set you aside and fix your back and get you all masseused up.

He's got a great team at Recovery Chiro Med.

Awesome.

Very, very, first of all, very accomplished guy individually, very impressive guy, very professional.

When you meet him, you know immediately this is a very serious person.

He runs a great business.

Couldn't thank him.

And we appreciate him so much for being part of our team and helping us get the bills paid.

It's been a great partnership and we appreciate him.

Very, very respected chiropractor and team that he's put together is second to none.

So shout out to Brett, shout out to recovery Chiro Med.

All right, it's football time and it's defense time.

And you guys know it's near and dear to my heart.

Defense championships, it still holds true to this day.

You can throw the ball around the yard, but if you can't stop the ball from being thrown around, you can't win games.

My boy Cole knows that.

They run the veer, they play defense hard nose.

The Karen Crow Bears have been good on that same formula for years.

Jerry, you know, Shaw, I know, you know, I know you're not a big Shaw guy, but Shaw won a lot of games like that over the years.

It's a recipe that wins.

So tonight we're going to highlight the defense.

And I know, I know Cole did a lot to prepare last week, and then the technology failed him.

So we're going to give him the floor first.

And I gotta tell you, looking at his worksheet, the man prepares like no other.

I thought he was taking the act, I gotta be honest.

So, Cole, we're gonna start off with you, buddy.

Take it away, educate us.

I mean, doing the broadcast for Acadian, Ohio, every Friday, this is how I prepare, man.

You can't go into a show if you're not prepared.

You ran out of things to talk about too fast.

But no, I'll start with the defensive line, of course.

Defensive coordinator Jim Salgato in his second year, and defensive line Coach Dennis Thomas in his third year this year.

I always like to start off with stats.

So I'm going to talk about some of the defensive line stats from last season and how we can build on them.

I won't sugarcoat it.

You know, last year's defense was ultimately, I would say an above average defense, but it was mainly because of the defensive backs.

It was not because of the front seven.

We were 47th nationally, allowing 348 yards total per game.

We were ranked 77th nationally, allowing 154.2 rushing yards per game.

That comes out to 4.5 yards per carry.

Not very good.

And then ranked 87th in the country with only 20, 24 sacks.

And then this is the stat that I was shocked with, honestly.

Ranked 118th with 60 tackles for loss.

That equals out to 4.3 tackles for loss per game.

I'll be honest with you right to the point.

If we're going to be any better defensively, that number's got to change drastically because being ranked 118th and, and you, you know, tackles for loss is unacceptable.

That is, that is way too low if we want to get to where we're going.

Especially I'm shocked that we were ranked that low and we were still a 10 win team.

If I'm being quite honest with you.

And, and I'll be honest with you, I think that probably three players had the majority of those tackles for losses.

And I would, I would gap.

And I'm.

This is just me not knowing the stats.

It's probably Cam Whitfield and Javon Lawson.

It's two of the three.

That's two of the three.

You're exactly right.

A couple of more game notes and this is, this was surprising, but I found this out today.

We were 0 and 4 last year.

Keep in mind, we finished year 10 and 4.

We were oh and 4 last year when allowing 7 plus yards per carry.

That's pretty obvious, but that was a shocking, you know, a shocking thing to me.

And we've, we only had three total sacks and the games in which we lost.

So the four losses that we had, keep in mind, last year we had 24 total sacks.

We only had three losses, three sacks in the games in which we lost.

That is, that's on, that's, that's unreal.

You got to get out to the quarterback a little, a little bit better.

But that being said, a couple of key departures for this defensive line.

Defensive tackle Mason Narcisse, 37 tackles last year, three and a half sacks.

Also Defensive tackle Antoine bayless, he had 22 tackles last year in two sacks.

And defensive tackle Kyron Mims, he had 28 tackles last year.

So that's three guys off the bat that you're gonna have to replace on a defensive line that was kind of shaky to begin with, but here are some of the key returners.

You said his name just now.

Senior defensive end Jordan Lawson.

64243.

Dude's a monster.

Okay.

2025, preseason all Sun Belt.

2024, second team all Sunbelt selection, 14 starts, 44 tackles, 10 and a half tackles for loss, five and a half sacks, one force fumble, and one pick.

So like you said, he is the key to the defensive line.

The, the defensive line is gonna, gonna go on him.

He is the captain.

He might arguably, and you'll argue with me because there's one other guy that you're going to be talking about in a little while.

He might arguably be the best.

The best player on this team.

You know, we'll put a pin in that for now.

Yeah, exactly.

You're gonna get to your guy.

But honestly, he may.

He.

He's the captain of that defensive line for sure.

And possibly, like I said, the, the most talented player on this entire team also.

Fifth year, fifth year guy Kadarius Miller, 6, 2, 3, 10, right there in the middle.

He had 14 starts, 24 tackles, tackling a half for loss and a half a sack last year.

Gonna need a little more production from him.

I would like to see him up that tackle, you know, up those tap the total tackles significantly.

24 tackles being right there in the middle.

I'm gonna need you to suck up some more room.

You know, we, you know, if we want to bring that, that yard per carry down per game, it's going to start at that nose guard position and, and that's where he's gonna have to take up some space and create some more tackles and tackles for loss, ideally.

And then we have a projected starter on the opposite defensive end.

That's gonna be sophomore Chase Edwards.

Six, seven, 271.

Last year he appeared in 12 games, no starts.

He had eight tackles, one for loss and a sack.

But man, six, seven, 271, that's a big kid.

That's a big kid.

So like I said, he's a projected starter.

I'm gonna give you guys some players to watch for real quick.

I'll give you three, and then we can go around the horn and kind of talk about the defensive, you know, line players to watch this year.

Junior defensive tackle Fitzgerald West Junior 6 2, 290 last year he appeared in 13 games, 22 tackles, two and a half tackles for loss.

In one sec you have grad senior.

Excuse me, grad student.

This guy's a transfer and I've heard some great things about him.

Read some great things about him.

Grad student, Defensive tackle Jalen Kreider, 633-10.

He's transferring to us from Young Talent state.

He had 10 starts over there where he had 16 tackles, six tackles for loss and four sacks.

And so he's gonna bring some.

Apparently having a phenomenal camp.

Awesome.

Well, and that was going to be my thing.

We need guys, especially the transfers or younger guys or whoever.

My biggest thing is he tackles for tackles for loss and sacks.

And I just read he had four sacks last year, so hopefully those are numbers that he can build on as well.

And the last guy that, that I want people to keep their eye on is freshman defensive tackle Ashton Wright.

6 3, 291 last year he had five appearances and three tackles.

But I expect his role to be much larger this year because as we mentioned, we had those three guys that, that were having to replace on the defensive line.

But that's pretty much all I got for you as far as the defensive line.

Let's go around the horn.

We really want to hear about what you guys think about this front unit.

Let's go with ug.

We'll start.

Yeah.

First of all, when you lose a guy like Mason RC said, that's, that's never fun.

But at the same time, it's good when you have guys coming back.

And I'll talk a little bit about that when I start talking linebackers.

When you have returning starters that have significant play time, I do think you have a little bit of senior leadership.

But I gotta tell you, man, you know, y' all talked about some of the younger guys, but I mean, when you have older guys like Darius Miller coming back, you've got Jordan Lawson.

I mean, the presence he has created over the last few years on that defensive line, that presence he had is great, but it's also complimented.

Like he talked about Cole from Youngstown State, Jaylen Crider, I mean, I want to see what he can do.

Josh, you said he had a good fall.

You're going to need to kind of fill that gap when you lose someone like Mason Narcisse.

Of course he talked about Ashton Wright.

He's a red shirt freshman.

I expect him to get more play time and do some things.

Fitzgerald west, he moved from the offensive line, correct?

He's defense now over the last year, so that's going to be interesting.

I kind of want to see how he blends in now because I know he's going to get some significant play time along with Chase Edwards.

So there's gonna be the beauty of.

Of the way.

I kind of find that, like, in a position group like this where there's a lot of guys that coach DEZ as like, just like Billy Napier used to do.

He plays everybody.

He plays everybody and he knows when to put them in certain packages.

So I'm hoping that even with the older talent, some of those younger guys and those newcomers can fill that gap, because I think defensive line this year is going to be very crucial.

It's gonna be very crucial with the offense we have.

They're going to score.

I think our offense will score fast.

Guys, in some drives, you're going to need that defensive line to step up and be able to keep up on the other side of the football and maybe for some turnovers and stop some drives.

How about it, Lane?

Yeah, I think Chase is going to be one of the guys that I feel like is going to step up big and power the defense.

Like Cole said, we.

We definitely have to be able to stop the run game because that has been our weak point, but also feel like Salgado has.

Is able to have his players in versus the first year he was defensive coordinator.

So I feel like that's going to be a big key to our defense as well.

Yeah, man, I gotta.

I got a couple of points.

Before we go any further, I want to give a shout out to my boy, Phil Martin.

If I remember correctly, Phil's working the door at the Goat, and we are.

We are patiently waiting for Tim to.

To jump on board.

We know he's ready.

We've had the.

We've had the meeting.

So tell Phil.

Phil, you tell Tim.

We're ready, baby.

We're ready to sign on the dotted line.

No, but it's great to have Dino's back at the stadium.

Should have never left.

The way that it all went down was so absurd.

Thank you so much for.

For coming back and giving him another shot.

And from what I understand, Sodexo on their way out, or let me rephrase that, they're gonna be.

Sodexo has been told to leave the vendors alone.

From what.

From what I can gather from the conversation that I had, the vendors will be left alone.

So Dexo is probably on their last leg, but that's a conversation for another pot back to defense, shout out, Phil.

Join the pot anytime, bud.

What I love about the interior of the defensive line this year, and y' all mentioned Fitzgerald West.

Fishera west was always defensive line to transfer from lsu.

He's got a ton of potential.

You know, I think he was a four star recruit out of high school.

Guy has everything.

He has a motor, he's athletic, he's obviously big.

I got to see more out of Fitzgerald West.

Don't, don't waste your potential, man.

Don't waste your ability.

It's ridiculous how good you could be in this scheme.

But the interior, the defensive line has got to be better.

Cole mentioned it like at one point we were giving up like six point some odd yards per carry and I know we improved upon that, but a lot of that was because of the different offenses that we played.

The defensive line especially the interior, was too soft.

I need physicality.

I need more physicality.

And now to Lane's point, Salgado's got a lot of his guys in there.

You're going to see a lot of four technique rather than the three technique that we saw a lot.

So it's going to be a lot more 4, 3 than 3, 4.

Obviously we're going to incorporate the star and we'll talk about court line in a little while.

Courtland, however, said, but, but I just want to see, God, I want to see 12 guys you can run out there because that is when we're at our best.

And, and under Lamar, we kind of stripped our defensive line of that.

They wanted strength, excuse me.

They wanted speed and they wanted agility.

Salgado has gotten back to the size, strength and, and, and pushing the middle, pushing everything outside.

The speed at linebacker and you'll cover this, but the speed at linebacker is really null and void.

If everything isn't going outside, you can't, you got to be able to force things outside.

You can't just be soft in the middle.

So I guess my, my, my real question is, and you guys made mention of some names that I'm very intrigued by.

Are we going to have some physicality up front?

Are we going to have twos and threes that can relieve starters that are going to put pressure on an offensive line.

I think that, I think the defense can be really, really good.

Even though we're a little bit less experienced in the back end and in the, in, in, in the linebacker crew, we're a little less experienced than we were last year.

Does is that defensive line going to impact games?

Because too many times we were just Too soft, too many times they were back on the heels.

And I know we're better than that.

And I know we had a few injuries on the line, and I knew.

I know we were kind of young last year, but we can't say that this year.

So this is what I want to see.

I want to see guys get down on all fours and push the line, like, get down and dirty in the trenches and force run games outside to where our linebacking speed on the outside can make plays.

To Cole's point about tackles for loss, you don't get tackles for loss when all you got to do is lay over for three yards.

That just doesn't happen, you know?

And you guys know that.

That's.

That's easy.

But.

But guys like Fitzgerald west have got to step up.

He was a nice sign.

Nice transfer.

It's got to bear fruit.

And I'm not singling him out.

I just know what he's.

I know what he's got in that tank.

And he's.

He's earned his degree, by the way, congratulations to him this past semester.

Look, dude, you don't got class.

You ain't got nothing to worry about.

Stay away from Taco Bell and stay in the gym.

That's all you need to do.

And you can be a force on the field.

So.

I don't know, Cole, that's my thought, man, I hope we can run 10, 12 guys out there who can be impactful.

I don't want every.

I don't want the production to fall off after that front.

That front four has to get a blow.

We talk about it all the time.

How do you win football games as an offense?

You have the ability to run the ball, right?

So how do you win games as a defense?

You stop the run and I know you're going to get to the defensive backslider.

I know that your guys.

Imagine this.

Imagine if.

If our front seven this year, our defensive line can create so much habit that you shut down a run game and you force the opposing team to throw to the defensive backfield that we have that, that, you know, had 16 picks last year.

I mean, dude, if you can make a team one dimensional, if you can find people to step up and to your point, it's not just going to be the starters.

It's not just going to be Jordan Lawson.

You know, you're gonna have to find guys on the bench that can step up and really make noise in these football games because, I mean, same thing with the offensive line that y' all talked about.

Last week, it's all about depth.

Add the line, add the position in the trenches.

You need death, you know, a depth.

And you know, injuries are going to happen, you know, knock on wood.

But injury is going to happen.

You need people, unexpected people, people that maybe we didn't even talk about tonight.

Somebody's got to step up and make some noise and.

But bottom line, for me, it's going to start with creating more sacks.

Got to get after the quarterback much better.

And really, really, really gotta, gotta improve that tackle for loss number.

I think we went six weeks, maybe Jerry remembers.

I think we went six weeks without a sack last year.

We started.

I think we played half a season without a sack.

And guys, that just can't happen.

If I'm not mistaken, I think our first sack was like against Texas State.

And that was the midway point through the year.

If I'm not mistaken.

It just can't be.

I know that Jim wants to play a more attacking style defense, and again, I know that he's had an off season where he got some of his guys in.

And you can go and look at our recruiting class and you can go and look at our young guys.

It looks totally different than two years ago.

And some of them are on the defensive line.

In this day and age in college football, you got to be able to progress, you got to be able to develop quickly.

To me, I can't.

There's no way I'm going to spend a whole lot of capital on a project like at this point with Nil and the Portal and all that.

I got to get guys in here that I know that have projectable bodies, but also you got to be able to know the game quickly and you got to be able to be on the field quickly.

So good camps matter, guys that are studious matter and from whatever.

And I know this is not the defensive line.

Good, good choice.

I know this is not the defensive line that I did the research on.

But I'm telling you, like from the coaches that I've spoke to for the research for this episode, there's a lot of guys in that building that do a lot of film, a lot of film prep, a lot of film study.

I'm just telling you, we have some good leaders on this team so far.

That's.

That is kind of the prevailing knowledge right now coming out of Camp G. You have any last thought before we go?

I just think last year, like the loss against Tulane, a lot of it had to do with the fact that a lot of our defensive linemen were in position, they just couldn't make tackles.

You got to finish.

That's all I'm asking.

And, and with the depth we have, and I think we have younger talent, we kind of had the same last year and there were opportunities in games where a lot of our defensive play, a lot of the strengths of our defensive play came from our outside linebackers and our defensive backs.

Well, if you add in the defensive line and you in add in the effectiveness of that, that can shorten drives more, that can force turnovers.

So I think that that first level is very important on defense.

Right.

We had a really good backfield and a good second level, but that first level is so important.

And I think if we can get some pressure on the quarterback, like you guys said, it took a while to get some sacks, get some pressure on the quarterback and shorten drives.

Shorten drives.

A lot of our weaknesses last year we would just give up little drive after little.

Oh my God, we were atrocious on third down.

Atrocious two years in a row.

And short yardage too.

Like not even passing, but like get.

It's third and three, they run the ball, get five or six yards.

You gotta stop that.

If you stop that this year, again with the offense we have, that's, that could be, that could be a recipe for a lot of success.

So I just want to see consistency on the defensive line because last year I felt like we had to depend on the second level a lot to make the plays and, and make it happen.

Put some pressure on the quarterback, knock some guys out in the backfield, do that.

Save some of the, save some of the work from the secondary and the second level and the linebackers.

And then in the third, fourth quarter, you got the game under control.

At that point, I think shout out.

To a group of five guys for they do a great job and their episodes are always interesting and informative.

Jen Taylor in the space tonight or in the.

In the episode tonight, mother of Cajun pitcher Will Taylor.

I'm pretty sure that's correct.

It's not.

Dang, I forgot her first name.

Messed that up.

I'm going to need Nick to edit it out, but either way, still a good comment.

She said the question who's to watch on defense?

And one of them said, UL's defensive line, they know that's going to be a good unit.

And when I say unit, I mean defense as a whole.

The group of five guys know that our defense as a whole is going to be a good unit.

It can be a great unit.

If the defensive Line grows up a little bit and.

And does it pretty quickly.

Well, there can be a legit shot that Jordan Lawson wins defensive Sunbelt defensive player of the year.

That's why they're saying, watch this D line, because he's gonna be the guy that says, get on my back and let's make some noise.

I absolutely love that.

I need.

I need sacks, I need pressure, I need.

I need quarterback hurries, which is now a official stat, which is hilarious to me.

Gee, we're going to move on to linebackers because this.

We're going to just probably go chronologically, I guess.

And in the front seven, obviously, the next.

The next level is linebacker.

So what do you think about the linebackers?

What did you learn in your research and what can you tell the boys?

Well, I will say they do have a lot of experience.

And, you know, look, the.

The big guy we have to replace in the linebacking core obviously is Kcosai.

I mean, the guy was literally the guy on defense last year.

When you.

When you have to replace someone who had 115 tackles and you average eight tackles a game, that's a big loss.

And not only was he an effective linebacker, he was a fast, physical, and athletic linebacker.

Of course, he's showing off his skills for the Houston Texans right now.

Had a fumble recovery last week in the first game of their preseason.

Congratulations to.

To KC Great guy, great leader.

So when you lose a guy like that, obviously you have to fill that void.

Luckily for the Cajun linebacking corps, we have a bunch of talent coming back, which is really good to see.

I have some of these names highlighted that I wanted to kind of talk about a little bit more.

I'll start with the.

The linebacking positions at linebacker position before going into the outside linebackers.

Sort of like the Hybrids, if you will.

I'll start with Jaden Duggar.

He's a senior, six five, 239 pounds.

Of course, he came from Georgetown in 2024.

Last year, he had 37 tackles, four tackles for loss.

He had a sack, a force fumble, a few quarterback pressures, and a few breakups.

So he really played a big role coming in quickly.

I've noticed the physicality of Jaden.

He's a quick guy coming off the edge.

I was very impressed by his gameplay.

Usually when you come from a place like Georgetown, you're thinking that next level at the FBS level is a little bit of a challenge.

He fit in quite well, and he made himself a household name for the Cajuns.

And of course, I think he's going to be one of those guys that can replace a Casio size type leadership because he can set that example being a senior.

So I look forward to seeing what Jaden can do.

Of course, let's not forget Terence Williams.

Red shirt senior, 6, 1, 2, 23.

He was a running back for a few years, if I'm not mistaken.

Dating back to I believe 2021 and 2022.

He was second on the team in rushing yards and then he became a linebacker.

I believe it was either 2023 or 2024.

I'm sorry, no, it was in the spring of 2024.

Last year he played in all 14 games and he earned one start against TCU and he finished with five tackles in the New Mexico bowl and he recorded 20 tackles on the season with a quarterback pressure.

So anytime you move from a running back, obviously he's got some speed.

I look forward to seeing what he can do on certain blitz packages and I know he's going to be putting pressure and being in play to make some tackles.

Of course, let's not forget Khalid Edwards, redshirt junior, 6ft 224.

Last year he was mostly a reserve linebacker, played more special teams.

He played in the first four games of the season before missing the remaining eight games due to a red shirt.

So you know, he had a little bit of a break last year.

But his sophomore year he had 35 tackles.

So he was actually more of a presence two years ago than this year.

Let's talk a little bit about number 31, Draynon fight, redshirt junior 6, 4, 2 3.

He was a transfer from SMU after the 2022 season.

He played in all 14 games and he made five tackles on the season with a fumble recovery.

I expect him to get some significant play time as well.

And of course, let's not forget Caleb Caboti, red shirt senior, of course, brother of younger brother of Jacob Kaboti, 6, 1 2, 27.

He played in all 14 games last year, 15 tackles with a tackle for loss interception and a pass breakup.

And he also recorded six tackles against Tulane.

And he was really, really a huge presence last year.

I expect him to be one of the guys as far as leaders go in the linebacking corps.

He's going to be really, really crucial in the success of that second level, especially at the linebacker position.

And of course we got some newer guys that didn't really get as much play time, but I'll mention their names.

Redshirt freshman Connor McPherson.

He appeared in six games during the year.

He recorded two tackles on the season.

Of course, redshirt sophomore Micah Johnson, who is a reserved linebacker.

He played in 10 games mainly on the kickoff coverage unit.

Didn't really record any tackles or anything like that.

But when it comes to special teams he really is a big plays a big role there.

Natori Brown, redshirt freshman.

He played against Arkansas State and tcu.

He had a tackle against TCU in the New Mexico Bowl.

He's a redshirt freshman.

I expect him to get some, a little more play time this year.

I want to see if he can get some.

I mean he's 65228.

I want to see if he can get some, some more reps. Kind of like some of the guys on the D line that Cole was talking about.

I expect Notori Brown to be one of those guys in the linebacking core.

Jake St. Andre, redshirt junior 61220 another reserve linebacker, special team standout.

Played in all 14 games, seven tackles with a force fumble.

And rounding out the linebacking core is Hayden Darbonne, redshirt sophomore, 6 foot 223 and he played against scrambling in Kennesaw State, mainly kickoff coverage, but didn't record any tackles or anything like that.

So that's basically your linebacking core.

The main guys here to me, Caleb Kaboti, Draynon, Fight Edwards, Terence Williams and Jaden Duggar, those are the guys that you definitely want to watch out for.

They're going to be a big presence on this linebacking core.

And of course let's talk a little bit about the hybrids.

The outside linebackers got to start off with the probably the guy in the outside linebacking core.

Cameron Whitfield, redshirt senior, 63241 he was the Walter Camp defensive national player of the week at one time during his career and he was a two time Sunbelt Conference player of the week and he was second on the team and ninth among Sunbelt players in sacks.

He had five and a half sacks last year.

40 tackles on the season, seven and a half tackles for loss.

Started in all 14 games.

And I mean look, he was name defensive player of the week against Southern Miss.

I mean his presence has been unreal the last two seasons.

Cam Whitfield's going to be somebody I think that's going to be really, really important on the edge, whether it's blitz packages, zone defense.

He's one of those guys that offenses are basically going to be gunning when they look at film they're going to be looking at him going, all right, what's he doing?

So they know where to, whether they go left or right on their plays.

So he's definitely going to be somebody that is going to be really, really important.

On the edge, of course.

Ashley Williams, last season, red shirt sophomore, 6 5, 225.

He was the one that transferred from Arizona State in 2024.

He played as a reserve defensive end and he really had an impressive season first year at Louisiana, 17 tackles and two and a half tackles for loss.

And rounding that out on the outside is also AJ Spencer.

He's a freshman, six four, 210.

He was a three star recruit and he should be somebody that'll get some reps. And red shirt sophomore Lester Jones as well.

He played in the game against tcu.

I'm sure he'll be getting reps as well.

So Ashley Williams and Cam Whitfield on the outside, those are going to be guys to look out for.

This linebacking core as a whole.

I like the, just like the defensive line.

I like the guys coming back.

I think they really had some significant play time.

You know, it was nice to see that we only lost Casey Osai, even though it was a big presence.

But with some of the names I just mentioned right now, these guys have significant experience.

And some of the other guys in there that may not have started, whether they're playing special teams or playing in cleanup time, they also have more experience and I expect them to step up even more.

One of the guys, like I said that I'm really, really curious about, outside of guys like Jaden Duggar and Terence Williams and, and Cam Whitfield, I want to, like I said, I want to see what someone like, like Natori Brown's gonna do.

He looks like somebody that'll get some play time.

I also forgot to mention one more name.

Ethan Veal.

He'll be a sophomore.

He played four games as a true freshman, mainly on kickoff and a kickoff team.

So you're gonna have some of these guys that played special teams.

And look, our kickoff coverage has been pretty good.

These guys played a role in that.

So they obviously have speed, they obviously have physicality.

They know how to play their gaps.

I expect some of these guys to get some play time on defense as well.

So let's go around the horn real quick.

I just want to hear what you guys think, what your thoughts are.

Cole, I'll start with you.

I like some of these names.

I like the depth, I like the returning experience.

What are some of the things you see on this, on this linebacking course so far, and what do you expect this year from these guys?

Yeah, when I did my homework on them, I was surprised at how many guys not starters, how many reserves had so many appearance.

So I'm.

Look at my list.

I'm looking at right now, there are five guys, not starters, that had.

That played in every game last year.

5.

And like I said, like you were talking about, we're a lot deeper at linebacker than we are.

I did.

You know, the defensive line that we just talked about.

So that's a part of that front seven.

I mean, if that's.

That's a part of playing complimentary football with your defensive line.

So you're a lot deep, you're a lot deeper there, which is a blessing because the same.

I'm going to say the same thing because it's true with all positions.

You're going to need some unexpected guys that are in a reserve role to step up and fill holes and, and create havoc.

And I mean, like I just said, you got five guys that are not even starters of last year that played in every game.

So, I mean, you got, you got a bench to pull from there.

I was surprised that you didn't talk about Carmichael Glass or if you did, I didn't hear you.

We lost him to Houston as a transfer.

He.

He was third on the team with 75 tackles last year.

And we have.

That's another guy that we really have to replace and that we're going to miss.

Carmichael, Carmichael was all over the field last year.

He was exploding.

Yeah.

And he's so versatile.

Just to give you an idea, kcosai was number one on the team in tackles with 115.

I mean, that's crazy.

And then Carmichael Glass was third on the team in tackles with 75.

So you are.

You are having to replace two guys, two of your better guys on the, you know, the entire defense.

But it's a good thing when you have a.

An entire roster on this bench that has experience, a lot to play with.

I talked to you guys earlier today in the, in the text message that we have.

I think Cam Whitfield is going to be the X factor for this football team.

I think as a front seven and as the defense goes.

Cam's gonna have to have a really, really good year if we're gonna get where we need to go as a defense.

He.

I think he's gonna have to be like an unsung hero kind of behind Jordan Lawson.

And I'm Sure.

You know, Josh is going to talk about a little bit later.

There's three guys on this defense that.

That catches our eye, and I'm gonna let him talk about his guy a little bit later.

But, Jerry, that's.

That's my thoughts on that.

Really deep at the linebacker position.

Really excited for a line, the linebackers as a.

As a unit.

And I just think it's going to come down to Cam Whitfield and Ashley Williams.

What you got, Lane?

Like Cole said, I. I feel like our linebackers are real.

The core is really deep, but the two guys that really performed last year are going to be the.

The ones that we need them to step up and make up for the.

The two that we lost, like Cole mentioned, and we'll see how that helps our defense going forward this year.

Yeah, man, I.

You know, what's great about this particular defense is you have a rock star at every single level, and then you have a number two that could be a rock star at every single level.

And we're gonna.

We're gonna make our way out there.

But, you know, talking about Carmichael Glass.

Carmichael Glass is a.

Is a humongous loss.

And he was young man, and like I said, he had a projectable body, and.

And I should have mentioned him, guys.

I totally missed it.

It's all good.

My bad.

Can I say something real quick?

Yeah, I actually.

So for the.

For the championship game, they had some Ulm players that came in and they were watching, you know, Carmica, his brother actually sat next to me right underneath the press box on the away side, and I got to talk to his brother for, like, a half a football.

Really nice kid.

But, yeah, going back to what you said, that's a big loss to me.

I mean, I. I really enjoyed the Glass family.

You could see his mom and dad around the stadium wearing, you know, the jersey and whatnot, and he was just a good presence to have on the team.

But, you know, Houston got a good one.

That's all you can do.

Tip your hat.

Yeah, they got a couple of our good ones.

I'm about to talk about one.

Cam Whitfield's got a lot of Kendra Gant in him, and I. I think.

I think the separation between the two is.

Cam.

Cam is a playmaker.

He is.

I mean, he's all over the field.

He's fast.

He's.

I'd like to see him about five pounds heavier, but you never know what he's gonna look like when he comes out of camp, so maybe he is.

I'd like to see him wrap up a little bit better this year.

Year.

He.

He's disruptive.

Go ahead, Lane.

I do think that our speed at the linebacker position, like Jerry mentioned, having a former running back at that position is going to really help with the flow of the game as well.

I think our outside linebackers are fast, as fast as we've had here in a long time.

But as far as Ken Whitfield, he.

He understands the game.

He has a nose for the football.

I got to see him wrap up a little bit better this year if he can do that and become a complete, complete linebacker.

Because when you look at him on the field, he kind of looks like a hybrid.

Like the star buck position, I thought he might have.

Might have fit there, but.

But I think if he can just be a little bit more physical and wrap up a little bit better, man, the sky's the limit for that guy.

And we might be talking about at the end of this year trying to keep him here.

So.

Cam Whitfield has all the tools and he is the rock star of the linebackers for crew as far as I'm concerned.

I think top to bottom, this is the most complete set of linebackers we've had.

Oh, gosh.

Since Farad Gardner was like a sophomore.

I mean, these guys can all play and they can all play at a high level and there's not going to be.

We talked about the drop off when it comes to twos and threes on the defensive line.

I think in the linebacker crew, there's not a whole ton of drop off when you get your twos and threes in the game.

And it's unfortunately one of those positions where you get cluster injuries.

And I hope to goodness that that doesn't happen here.

But if it does, I feel really good about our depth.

I just do.

Caleb Edwards.

Y' all mentioned Caleb Edwards.

Caleb Edwards, to me was the biggest injury that nobody talked about last year.

Caleb Edwards, since he's been on campus, has been waiting for that breakout moment.

I expect Caleb Edwards to be an absolute wrecking ball once he gets comfortable in his role, once he has a lot of.

He's still young as a player.

He's not young as a guy.

He's been in the program, I think three years now, but on the field reps wise because of injury and things like that, he just hasn't gotten into a groove.

He hasn't come into his own yet.

I think Caleb Edwards is a name that is going to become a regular on the stat sheet.

I think that he can play inside, outside.

I think that he's fast.

I think that he's physical.

You want physical linebackers, and I think he fills that role.

Ashley Williams on the edge.

Somebody said it already.

I think Ashley Edwards coming into his second full year in the program and understanding his role even more fully into Jim Salgato, I think that Ashley can.

Can.

He's a defense changer as much as Cam Whitfield can be a playmaker.

I think actually Ashley Williams can do the same thing.

He is definitely built.

He's got tools.

Another four star recruit out of high school.

Yeah, there's really no limit to what that guy can do on the field.

He's a very interesting player to me.

I don't know where we were going to put the star buck linebacker.

Where we're gonna put it in the defensive backs.

It belongs in the linebacker crew.

Cortland Flowers.

Fellas, I got a chance to talk to Tyree when he was a freshman, and I said, tyree, who's good?

Tyree Skipper.

I said, who's good on the team?

He said, cortland Flowers is best football player I've ever seen.

Cortland Flowers, the best football player on his defense.

That was three years ago.

I'm telling y', all, that dude, he's a thumper.

He is the prototypical guy you want in that buck star position.

I hope they let him free.

I hope they let him roam.

I hope they trust him enough to just kind of let him do his thing on the field.

That guy.

I know we keep talking about Cam and we talk about Jordan, and I'm gonna.

I'm gonna make the case for Tyrese Skipper here in a minute.

But I think Cortland Flowers, man, that guy might be an NFL safety.

He.

He's got a whole lot of.

Oh, the kid from Plaqueman who's at Washington Commanders?

Oh, damn it.

It'll come to me.

Percy.

He's got a lot of Percy Butler in him.

He does.

He's a thumper.

He knows the game, knows for the football.

He's a turnover machine when you let him free.

And I think that he is.

He is matured in his game enough and they trust him enough.

Coaching staff trust him enough.

I think there's going to be a whole lot more reaction rather than think and react.

And if you let that guy loose on the field.

I don't know.

I don't know.

I. I don't want to get too excited.

Obviously, I'm a student of defense, and I just love the way that we're Rounding out from top to bottom defense to the back end, Cortland Flowers is probably the most intriguing player on the team for me in his role and fill in that star, that star linebacker role.

So G. Any, any final thoughts on that?

On that, on our, our thoughts about your thoughts, Thoughts of thoughts?

No, I just like the depth.

I like the depth.

I like the fact that there's a bunch of reserve linebackers, like Cole said, that have experience.

So.

And I totally.

I can't believe I forgot about Camica Glass.

I mean, he had.

That was a huge loss for us.

You're absolutely right.

But I like the fact that we have guys coming back that have had significant play time even though they haven't started.

I think that's going to be a huge, huge factor.

And this is where it really becomes important.

Right?

You're in a game against JMU on the road, it's the third or fourth quarter, you need that depth.

Your starters are getting tired.

That's where those reserve linebackers come in and kind of fill that role and can play some significant minutes.

I think that's very important.

I like the fact that some of these guys have made some plays on special teams.

So obviously, again, they know how to follow, they know their gaps, they know where they're going, they know their lanes.

It's kind of the same thing on defense.

I hope that we can take advantage of our depth and we can take advantage of the guys who have some returning, starting, returning experience because some of those younger guys are, I mean, look, they're going to get play time, they're going to get play time this year.

So looking forward to it.

Again, it needs like, if the defensive line can step it up and the linebacking crew can compliment them, that would be really, really important.

And I'm, I'm excited to see what those guys can do.

And look, the young talent is very good.

I look forward to a lot of these freshmen and red shirt freshmen making an impact on special teams because, you know, to your point, this was the number two special teams unit in the country last year.

And look, winning the Lou Groza helps and having a high net punt helps, but we didn't talk enough about kick return coverage and punt return coverage.

We didn't and it was excellent for the first time in a long time.

Now, I didn't love kicking the ball out of bounds on kickoffs and I and complain about that every single game, but as far as the way that we defended teams, I mean, it's gonna be hard not to take a Step back because it was so damn good.

So it's good to have young talent, get them on the field, let improve themselves.

You know, some people want to be household names.

We're going to give them opportunities to do that on teams.

So.

All right, I'm going to do my absolute best to not be annoying with how nerdy this rundown is going to be, but again, they gave me defensive backs with safety, so I'm probably going to talk too much.

Gave yourself defensive backs?

Let's be clear, Lane.

I voted.

I voted.

I requested.

And Nick's.

Nick granted me the request.

I mean, listen, we.

This is a.

This is not a dictatorship over here.

We were a chirocracy.

All right, Nick.

Nick made the final decision, so I'm in the clear.

Listen, we're going to be good on the back end.

I'm going to just tell you right now before we leave the linebackers, I'm gonna just say I think the linebackers are probably the most underrated unit in the conference.

I know everybody is all in love with jmu, and everybody thinks Troy's gonna be good again this year, and people think that because Marshall's team moved to Hattiesburg, they're gonna be good.

I'm just telling y', all, I think that our linebackers are gonna be really, really good.

And I think our defensive unit might even be the strength of this team.

I love the offense, and we talked about it last week, but I think.

I think there's a chance that this defense is our calling card this year.

I'll be honest.

We'll see.

But listen, thanks to Cole for relaying this to me, because I was already two hours deep into my own research, and he let me know that the 24 defensive back unit ranked 14th nationally with 16 interceptions and 33rd nationally, only giving up 194 yards passing per game.

If you watch.

If you watched our games, we.

We struggled against the run, but we played a lot of offensive units that wanted to throw the ball around the field, and we got into a couple of shootouts because we continued to score on big plays.

It was like we.

We didn't like long drives.

We just wanted to put the ball in the end zone.

So it put our defense back on the field a lot.

And, you know, a lot of times we're beating teams so they wanted to pass the football.

So when you consider that we kept teams under 200 yards passing per game, that's pretty good, pretty solid.

So I thought that was.

That was very interesting from last year, and I appreciate Cole for passing that along because I was kind of knee deep in the, in the, in the individual stats.

But I'm going to start with corners.

And let's start with the lost production.

Amir McDaniel is not a name that's going to jump off of, oh my gosh, we lost Amir.

You know, I'm gonna just tell you that Amir McDaniel probably should have had a better career here.

He fought injuries, he fought sitting behind some very good corners.

First Ray Amos, who's now drafted in the NFL.

I mean, we've had so many really, really good cornerbacks in the last six, seven, eight years.

Amir McDaniel in the bustle years is a draft eligible cornerback.

You know, he's, he gets drafted because he's, he's a productive player.

In 24, he had his best years occasion his PFF grade, believe it or not, 79.3 overall and 79 in the run game.

So defending the run, he ranked as a 79 overall grade, which is an A for PFF.

And again, they like, they grade them when they line up on the line, they grade them when they blitz, they grade them when they're in, when they blitz.

They grade them when they line up to, you know, if it's third down and they're defending the pass like it's very intricate.

So each grade is very broken down.

And the guy was basically an 80 overall, which is great for a number three cornerback.

Stop and think about that.

So we're losing him.

56 total tackles, four and a half tackles for loss with two sacks, two force fumbles, two picks and a PR.

A pass breakup.

That's not, that's not nothing.

That's, that's very good production out of your number three corner.

You lose King.

You know, I put Martin island on here.

Keon Martin Island.

Martin having a great camp with the Ravens, by the way.

I think he's going to make the roster.

I think he can play in the NFL.

He's tough as hell.

That's a huge loss for us.

He had a spectacular year.

You know, had a couple of injuries there in the middle of the season.

Thank goodness, nothing really major happened to him.

A 73 overall, 73.3 overall, PFF grade 80.

An 80 grade in the run game, which kind of surprised me because I didn't, you know, you don't think of Keon Martin getting his nose bloodied getting in on the run game, but he apparently played the run game very well.

His 24 stats look something like this.

56 total tackles as well.

Two tackles for lost, a fumble recovery, six pass breakups.

You know, I just loved him.

I loved how physical he was.

On.

On the.

Off.

On the.

On the cornerback at the line of scrimmage.

He let almost nobody release.

I don't know.

He just always seemed to make a big play.

I know it was early.

It was a game early on in the season, and I don't remember exactly who we played, but he got torched a couple times and everybody turned on him, turned out.

The safeties actually let him down.

Safety is off, him down a little bit.

So I got.

I got a little private message from a person or two.

Might have been a family member.

I don't know what it was, but they sent me some game tape and kind of showed me exactly what went down on those touchdown throws.

But I digress.

That's a.

That's another conversation.

But Keon Martin was a great part of this defense last year.

We're going to miss him.

You got to replace him.

Justin Agu, transferred to Louisville.

Widely considered a major contributor in 25, 6 to 185 from Prairieville.

Originally 36 total tackles on a force fumble.

But Agu, like, it's not even debatable.

He was going to be either a starter or a number two for this team in the cornerback role.

Again, projectable body.

As I just said, he's at Louisville for a reason.

Speed, size, long arms, knows the game.

It's a miss.

It's not a miss, It's a loss.

25 contributors will start with our projected starter on the baseline corner.

And if you're not familiar with the nomenclature, baseline, core corner, it's B.C.

it's the side of the field that's closest to the boundary line.

Kind of more of your.

Your physical cornerback will play that side.

It's not super well known.

I kind of had to teach myself about this and asked the coaches about it, and they were like, what?

You never heard of that?

Anyway.

Made me feel like an idiot.

Anyway, so your baseline corner, projected starter, Trey Tomlinson, senior transfer from Richmond.

He's originally from Winnipeg, so he's going to fit right in.

Acadiana 510, 175.

The guy's got track speed.

I think it's probably what initially attracted us to them.

PFF grade as an overall A.

He's a top 100 cornerback in the nation as far as FBS cornerbacks go.

Played in 38 games in his career at Richmond.

Obviously, we don't have a ton to go off of with him.

His track record kind of speaks for itself when it comes to how much collegiate experience he has.

I mean, first of all, when you have a young secondary, the first thing you need is seniority, right?

So he fills that role again fast.

Not quite as big as you would like.

If you, you're going to see a pattern as we go down here.

We got a lot of big cornerbacks a little bit smaller, but not a small, small guy.

I mean, Keon was a little guy like five, nine or something.

And he's going to play in the NFL.

So not a huge deal.

But the only reason I even mentioned that is because I know when Napier was here he had a mold like if you're not 6 foot, need not apply type deal.

If you're not 6 foot, 180, don't even.

We're not recruiting you.

So, you know, I don't know how much that's changed under dez, and I don't know how Jim runs his business when it comes to how, where he cuts the line off, but I just thought it was something worth mentioning.

Number two projected BC corner is Avery Demery, Redshirt freshman out of Manville, Texas.

611 77, second time through a full camp.

Very high on this young corner.

Everybody that I've talked to that, that has seen him do his go about his business since he's been here, very high on him.

Red shirt freshman, fellas.

I mean that tells you everything that you need to know about how much they trust this guy if they're going to put him at number two behind a transfer.

And, and we talked about a seniority, but the fact that he's been through two camps kind of gives me a little bit more.

I'm at ease a little bit with him being the number two.

Still a young corner.

Still a young corner.

Got a lot to learn about the college game.

Number three is Curly Reed.

You've probably heard this name.

I've been very high on Curly Reed.

Talked about it in a previous episode here.

Really good things about it about him since he got on campus.

Don't know what kind of camp he's having.

I didn't really ask about it.

Red shirt sophomore.

He's a transfer from Washington.

Originally from Lake Charles.

611-91-tons of talent, but unproven at this level.

Very few snaps at Washington.

Kind of just didn't work out.

Sat behind some really talented guys.

Remember he comes off the roster that went to the national championship game.

So imagine what he, what the competition was like in that.

But look, I'm glad to have him.

I'M glad to have that postseason experience because I fully expect to be in the college playoff this year.

Y' all can laugh at that, but it's true.

I believe that very much.

At one point, this guy was ranked the number 23 cornerback in the entire nation.

So that's the kind of level of talent we're dealing with here.

Curly Taylor would not be surprised to see him in a starting role before the season is over.

And that's no knock on Trey.

I just think that he's very, very gifted.

And then your number four, Kevin Malone, true freshman out of Pritchard, Alabama, a bigger High School, 59165.

Don't know much about him.

No tape.

Young guy, true freshman, but they like him a lot.

He's a project and needs to put on some size.

Obviously, project the starter at the field corner.

You know what, before we go any further, I don't want to.

I don't want to drone on.

Anybody have any thoughts about the baseline corners, the starters, the.

The guys that back them up?

What you got?

I feel like Curly Reed's going to be one of the guys that is going to step up, like you mentioned.

I think he has that experience with international championship game and playoffs and everything else.

So even though he hadn't had much experience, I feel like he's going to be one of the.

The main guys that's gonna be able to step up for our defense.

Yeah, I think Curly Reed is interesting.

You know, when you rank that high and you have that type of experience, that goes a long way.

Kind of surprised that he's actually not one of the starters.

But, you know, you look at Trey Tomlinson, who, I mean, he's already ranked the top 100 FBS cornerback, and look, Richmond, they may be FCS, but they're a respectable FCS school.

And those stats that you pointed out, Josh, are really impressive.

I think he.

To me, it's kind of like Jaden Duggar coming from Georgetown, right?

Like, yes, you're playing at a little bit of a lower level, but you have just enough experience to where you're ready to play at the FBS level.

I think he's going to be one of those type of guys with that experience.

Kevin Malone.

The only way.

The only reason why I'm smiling is because I'm a huge fan of the office.

And of course, there's Kevin Malone, you know.

You know, no, it's not Ashton Kutcher.

You know that guy.

But, no, I'm not familiar.

But I'm sure it's funny yeah.

If you.

If you watch the office, you'll know exactly who Kevin Malone is.

But no, I'm look it.

Depth.

Depth.

I know he's a freshman, but depth is very important, and I look forward to seeing what kind of experience he has.

I think Kevin Malone will be somebody that will come in during.

What's it called?

During.

Whenever you're winning a football game.

No, no, no, no.

Yeah.

Blowout.

Exactly.

Mob duty.

Yes.

Yeah.

No, so first off, it's funny talk, you know, Jerry talking about Kevin Malone.

Because Kevin Malone on the office, his famous quote is, why say lot words when little words do trick?

And Jerry is the total opposite of that.

No, but listen, I mean, you guys.

I do the numbers.

Yeah.

You guys sit on it all.

I mean, I'm expecting, you know, big things from Trey Tomlinson.

You know, you.

You came here for a reason.

The coaching staff.

You know, you talked about it.

Josh, track speed, and we love guys with speed, especially on the.

On the defense, so.

But here.

Here's the thing.

He's an experienced corner, so he's coming in with experience.

It's not like you're having to, you know, you're having to sit there and try to, you know, reinvent the wheel with this kid.

This is a guy that's already established, that was established at another program.

You just got to bring him in here and let him do his thing.

So, Trace Tom, Trey Thomason is going to be able to, you know, set the bar for that.

That specific cornerback position.

And like you were saying, you know, you don't know what, you have a Curly Reed yet, but, you know, the.

The potential in him.

But the sad thing is, like Ted Davidson used to say, potential means you ain't done yet.

Well, guess what?

You're gonna get a chance to do it this year, right?

Curly.

Curly Reed's got all the tools, right down the road, you know, he's from Lake Charles.

I'm sure he's thrilled to be back home.

A little road trip.

You know, he can go back to Lake Charles an hour down the road if you want to.

And mom and them are going to be at the games, man.

Exactly.

Listen, girlfriend's gonn games.

I'll tell you what, he didn't commit to Washington, right?

North of Appaloosas.

It was Washington way in.

The.

Way in the Northwest.

I should have been more clear about that, but.

No, man, I mean, you know, we got guys, we got.

Speed Lane talked about it earlier, and it's true.

When you got a defense that's built on speed, you can, you can do a lot of things and win a lot of games.

You don't want, you don't want a lot of flat footed guys that aren't moving around.

And to your point, I mean these corners are big.

These ain't no like 5, 9, 5 8, you know, little corners.

We got some 6, 2, 6, 3, you know, we got some, some studs here that are, you know, gonna be able to man up on some people.

And on top of that, with the speed paired with that, I mean, you know, going back to it, if we could stop the run and, and make teams one dimensional, this, these corners are going to make it hard for, you know, teams in the passing game.

You know, I remember when I agreed when we played Troy back in like 2008, 2009, and that was when we had guys like Orchidi.

You know, Mike Adams played in 2006 where he went pro for the Arizona Cardinals.

But most of those guys were 5, 8, 5, 9.

And I remember we played Troy and that was when Troy was winning conference like every year.

And I remember watching him one game and their corners were like 6, 1, 6 2.

And I remember looking at my dad going, when can we get guys like that 6, 1, 6 2, physical, fast and just, they stick on you like glue.

They stick on a receiver like glue.

And that's what helped Troy win those championships.

We're having those type of caliber players and to your point, Cole, we got those guys now.

I mean you look at these, these, these corners, you know, you talked about one of the guys being 5 10, but even 510 is pretty, pretty good height for a cornerback.

But if you can go 6 1, 62 with the speed to match it, that's, that's hard to, that's hard as a receiver.

That's hard to get receptions against.

So I like this, I like the size of these corners and I like the fact that they're younger too because I think they're going to mature into their size.

They're going to mature into that experience and that's going to really go a long way.

Give me a physical corner.

Give me a physical corner.

Look, we beat Iowa State with physical corners.

A.J.

washington, you know, people are going to forget that name.

Ashland Washington was such a physical corner.

He was a nightmare mismatch for their number one receiver.

And we had the audacity to play man coverage against Brock Purdy.

Like, like boys.

Andrew, there's so many great stories that come out of that one game.

I would love to get some of the guys on the Pod one day to talk about that one game and that and, and the balls to play press man against that offense.

And they didn't do it with 4, 2 speed.

They did it with physical corners.

And I see a lot of physicality.

Yeah, we got some speed.

And look, you.

Trey Thomason's like a 4, 2, 5 guy.

He's like super fast.

Saw.

Saw a track video that's like Taylor.

That's like Taylor in a nutshell.

And that's wonderful and I'm glad we have it.

You can't teach speed and speed kills.

But at the same time, we beat our greatest win we ever had.

According to Cole, until this year is.

Is we did it with cornerbacks that were physical and had the audacity and the courage to play mid press man on.

On one of the best passing games in the.

In the game at that time.

And you had an all American running back you had to keep an eye on too.

Very, very, very.

So, yeah, I feel really good.

You know the thing about the transfer from, from Richmond, Trey Tomlinson, right.

38 games, 38 collegiate games.

You can't replace that.

I don't care if the guy was mid.

I don't care if the guy.

The fact that he's on the roster and he knows offense, he knows how to read a defense, he knows how to release, he knows his responsibilities.

That helps a wide receiver room period if he does not.

Excuse me, a cornerback room period if he does.

Nothing else would just impart knowledge on those boys.

He's.

He's an asset.

And, and I just love the signing.

Even a guy like Curly Reed who has one game played at Washington.

I believe you, you.

You get him in a room with Trey Tomlinson and you say, hey, you guys figure it out together.

Tutor.

Tutor this guy.

That's an asset.

So just moving forward, I, I just wanted to point out the fact that, number one, yeah, we have some inexperience on that side, but number two, talented.

And the guy who's projected to start is like 23 years old and has played in a lot of football games.

He started 12 games or played in 12 games as a freshman, a true freshman.

So he's been around the game for a long time.

Projected starters on the field, corner side.

That is the, that is the side of the field that will be the most open.

This is where you would take Keon Martin and say, hey, eliminate this wide receiver from this side of the field.

This is going to be Lorenzo DeBose.

And look, I know he doesn't have a ton of stats.

All right.

He has 11 total tackles and one and a half tackle for loss in 24.

But you saw him on the field often and I. I know that you all are familiar with his name.

It's a red shirt.

Junior.

Been in the program a long time.

6 foot 185.

Played in 13 games last year, started two of them.

The potential is intriguing.

Again, you got to remember who he was playing behind.

I like the size.

Again, look at the pattern.

6 foot 185, physical, big games played.

Been in the program a while.

Mike is trying to put guys on the field that he knows he can set loose.

I love it.

And I don't know, there's something about him.

Like he's personable, he's likable, he's.

He has an intangible that's hard to kind of describe here or put on a stat sheet.

I'm not surprised at all that he's the projected starter.

I. I really like that I wasn't in.

In my.

In my questioning to the coaches.

They all three of them said his name and it didn't surprise me at all.

But I'm going to be very interested to see how he handles the responsibility that's been bestowed upon him.

This is his time to shine.

He's waited, he's worked while he's waited.

It's his time.

The number two behind him, Jeremiah Moses.

Redshirt sophomore, 6 foot 182.

He was a limited contributor in 24.

He played in only four games.

But apparently having a strong camp and the coaches love his physicality.

How many times we're going to say it?

Physical corners.

Physical corners.

Nick Saban wanted physical corners.

Billy Napier wanted physical corners.

Dabo Sweeney wanted physical corners.

This is not an accident.

Like, we are recruiting a type.

You know, we have a type.

And Jeremiah Moses is that next type.

Number three behind him, denim day.

He's been on the roster, I think for four years now.

He's a smaller guy.

Six foot one, 53, limited playing time in his career, but again, been here for a while.

He's another track guy.

He owns, I think six records at A M consolidated high school and College Station.

Maybe five now.

I was reading about him earlier.

Kind of ambiguous where whether it's five or six, but he's a track guy, another speed guy.

Of course, I'd like a little bit more poundage on the body.

153.

You know, it's smaller than me, taller, but kind of small guy.

I feel like I'd crack like a pretzel.

If somebody popped me, but, you know, you never know.

Maybe he's a.

Maybe he's a candidate for a return type guy.

If he's got track speed like that, I don't know where they use him.

He is third on the depth chart.

I think if we get down to denim day, we're in trouble on that side of the field, if I'm being honest.

Not no knocking the kid.

I got.

I got no experience with how he can play, so I'm not really sure.

But the fact of the matter is, he's fast.

Number four in on the field side, Jaden Golson, true freshman, Prairieville at a university lab.

510, 185.

And obviously, these true freshmen are going to get bigger.

They're going to grow into their bodies.

It's just part of the deal.

It's part of the process.

I'd like to see that they're ready to go when their name, their number is called.

Hopefully they can get some snaps on special teams and contribute in that way.

But this is where we're at, guys.

Thoughts on Lorenzo DeBose and everybody behind him?

Cole, we'll start with you if you want to comment, and we'll start from there.

Yeah, I mean, on the field side, same thing, size, right?

That's what sticks out to me.

Most of These guys are 6 foot and above.

I mean, like, you, like you talked about on the field side, you really.

That's where you really need physical corners because you're having to.

You're having to cover, you know, the larger side of the field.

So.

And I got to trust you.

I got to trust you to put you out there.

Exactly.

And, you know, nothing.

Nothing that I'm gonna say is gonna, you know, make any waves.

Yeah.

Lorenzo DeBose is the projected starter, like you said, 11 tackles, attack tackle and a half, you know, tackle for loss last year, but another experienced guy, you know, on the opposite side of the field.

So it's not like you're having to retrain this guy and.

And try to, you know, put him into this defense and hope he does well.

No, this is a guy that's familiar with the scheme.

You know, he knows what's expected of him.

He knows what he has his.

What his duty is.

And I just, you know, I'm.

I'm looking for big things from him.

I want to see some.

Some interceptions and some fireworks.

And as far as, you know, as far as it goes behind him with Moses and whatnot, they just got to be ready when the name's called, right?

That's, that's the name of the game when you're a reserve.

Be ready when your name is called.

I said it two to three times already tonight.

We're gonna need some reserve guys to step up.

Those guys are, are included in that.

But as far as starters go, I'm looking for a big year from Lorenzo Lane.

Anything stick out to you?

I agree with Cole on devotes.

He.

I believe he's from Neville or I went to Neville and we've recruited a lot of north Louisiana guys here the last several years that have turned out really good kid from West Monroe.

His name's escaping me right now, but he was another good one.

He was on the.

Yeah, he wants to go to Ulm.

Just, just come down.

Come, come down.

I49 might as well just come to.

Come to us.

Don't go to Ulm.

Yeah, we'll take all the north Louisiana kids especially now.

So we, we seem to recruit that area really well and I feel like he's been able to step up when he's been needed.

G what you got?

Kind of waiting for Lorenzo DeBose to really have some breakout games.

You know, he had a lot of hype coming into Louisiana.

He actually picked us over a bunch of P4 schools.

He was highly recruited out of high school, out of Neville and yet he's had some really good play time.

But there really hasn't been a big highlighter or consistent highlights of him.

And I'm still waiting for some consistency on some breakout games from him because I think he's, he's got it in him, he's got the talent.

I've heard he's had good camps.

I, I think this is a year for him to really have a coming out party and, and really play to the hype that he had when he, when he, when he basically committed here.

So I expect a lot of, a lot out of Lorenzo dubose this year.

And to your point about Jeremiah Moses, I want to see what he can do as well.

I think he's got a lot of potential talent.

You know, he's got a lot of, a lot of physicality to him.

He's fast, he's got a lot of athleticism.

So those are the main two guys I want to see.

Dubose and Moses.

I think this is the year for both of them to really become household names on that Cajun secondary.

Apparently he's made some strides because look, the fact of the matter is on that side of the field, we're, we're inexperienced.

Nurse Adam made a comment About Brett Gordon, and I had Brett Gordon on here.

He's a young guy that, that probably is buried in the depth chart at this point.

If there's an injury, maybe you see a little bit of Brett Gordon.

I think he's got ton of skill, a ton of skills.

I think he needs to put on some weight and I think he needs to learn the game a little bit.

But I know the coaches do like him and he's a very humble young man and is very, like, dedicated to his craft.

So shout out to Adam for saying that.

But I, I, I do.

I am a little bit concerned about the lack of seniority on that side of the field.

I think Lorenzo DeBose is insanely talented.

I think that he's going to, going to be fine.

I, I'm just trying to avoid injury, guys.

I didn't want to say it like that, but you know, on that, and I know you can mix, match and move people around, but based on how they want to play in this scheme, you got, you got to have a healthy dubose.

You have to.

And yeah, Jerry, to your point, he's got to step his game up a little bit.

Like, this is going to be the year where, hey, dude, you want to make some money?

You want to make some money in a year or two, put something on film this year.

This is, this is it.

Because you're gonna, they're gonna attack you.

I think this is his time to shine.

And if he grabs a bull by the horns, he can, he can.

He's gonna draw the best receiver half the game.

If not more than that.

They're gonna go after him.

But he's got the body, he's got the speed, apparently has the talent, so we'll see.

And, and you know, I think as a whole, the defensive back room is again, talented.

How, how experienced are they on the field?

I could see where there's some concern.

I know Andy was a little bit concerned about the defensive backs, but I'm about to tell you that they have some extremely good players behind them to make sure that even if they bust coverage and even if they don't know where the hell they're going, and even if something happens in a game where, you know, young guys just running around with the chicken head cut off thing, you got some, you got some reinforcements, and that's going to be in the safety category.

So I want to talk, you got to talk about T. Lou as the lost production.

Tyrone Lewis.

His PFF grade was 77 and a half.

Coverage grade was 88.9, which was 18th in college football last year.

He was a team leader.

All sun belt career stats, 182 total tackles, 3 1/2 total tackles for loss.

He had a sack, two force fumbles, seven picks, 12 pass breakups and a force fumble.

And even that doesn't tell the story about T. Lou.

T. Lou was a game changer.

T. Lou felt like he always knew when to take a risk to impact a game.

That is an intangible that you can't necessarily coach.

People use the word ball hawk too often, but he was a true ball hawk.

It wasn't cleanup duty where he was just picking off, you know, Hail Marys to the end zone.

It wasn't like that.

The guy literally changed games for us.

He was the, the security blanket in the back end of the defense.

So losing him is a, is a massive loss.

You have to replace him.

I think Tyrone Lewis and I'm not even really giving him all the flowers he deserves.

But luckily we have again another guy who's been around the program for a very long time.

You will recognize his name probably for his hit in the New Orleans bowl against Marshall because I certainly do and that was awesome and I will never apologize for that.

They should get over it.

Jalen Clark, redshirt senior, 62205 Limited time last year behind T. Lou.

That's just a fact.

Projectable NFL body, has NFL range.

He will be better in run defense.

He will better be, he will be better in the run defense game than Tilu was.

Let's just say it.

You know, the fact of the matter is size matters.

And I think that he has a more, you know, battle ready body.

He's going to be able to take more hits than, than Tyrone Lewis was.

And it, he's just going to get his nose in the, in the run game a little bit more.

I firmly believe that that is a personal opinion by the way.

That's not something anybody told me.

I just after watching him play and watching our team play, you know, sometimes T. Lou would make a business decision from time to time and I think he would tell you that himself.

So I, I think Jalen Clark has a chip on his shoulder.

I think he's got some things to prove and that will show up in effort in the run game.

56 total tackles, two tackles for loss and a force fumble.

Six pass breakups and 24.

You know.

What can you say?

He's, he's kind of an unknown commodity.

He is.

A lot of those tackles came in mop of duty, came in special Teams.

I like Jalen Clark.

I like big, long safeties.

I like guys that roam free in the backfield that know what the hell they're doing.

And he seems to be that kind of guy.

You know, that's where we're at with free safety Cody Jackson, the number two free safety.

Projected redshirt sophomore out of Evangel in Shreveport.

6 foot 195.

Most playing time outside of Tyree and T. Lou in the safety room in 2024.

You started the final four games of the season because of injury.

His PFF coverage grade 67.8.

Now, people will scoff at that.

He also had 14 total tackles.

People will scoff at 67.

And I'm not going to sit here and try to convince you that that's good.

But I think he was kind of playing out of position a little bit.

I think maybe he could have been more of that buck star linebacker guy, maybe a number two behind that.

I think they just relied on somebody who kind of came on the scene and just made plays.

If you guys remember, he had a couple of picks late in the season.

I, I was really impressed by the way that he handled himself as a young guy, red shirt freshman last year.

So Cody Jackson.

Cody Jackson probably surprised more than just the fans.

He probably surprised the coaches as well.

And you don't fix what's not broken, so kind of keep running them out there.

When we had Tyree and both T Lou injured, you know, the fact that he played well in the bowl game was great.

I think Cody Jackson does a lot this year for us.

So he's your number two free safety.

Number three behind him, Steven Renell, true freshman, Baton Rouge Central High School, 62190.

He's a smart guy.

Picked UL over tech.

You know, what more can you say?

The guy's intelligent.

That gives me a whole lot of confidence in our number three.

So look, if you're smart enough to pick Lafayette over Rustin, I'm gonna ride with you.

So thanks, Steven, for doing that.

Made a great choice for you and your family.

Go Cajuns.

But anyway, that's our fresh.

That's our free safety room, boys.

I like the depth.

I like Cody Jackson.

I don't know how, you know, I don't know how long he stays as a free safety.

I tend to think that he can help the team in other areas.

And again, God forbid we have injuries, but if, if we do, he's kind of that Swiss army knife type guy.

Bigger body.

You never know, he might move around.

Thoughts on free safeties start with you, Lane.

Yeah, I think Cody Jackson will be one of the ones that I feel like can step up this year as well as the other guys.

I feel like the, the not youth, but the, the other instances will help them in the long run.

Go ahead, G. Oh, Jalen Clark.

That was his time to Sean dog.

Now's the time, Dog.

Like, I think, I think he's, he's physical, obviously.

And look, he's, he's got five years on the helm and the helm, so he's got experience.

But yeah, to your point, you know, when you, when you're playing against behind Ty Lewis, it's kind of hard to be able to have your moment.

But look, he's, he's got some, he's played, he played behind one of the best safeties we've had in a long time.

I, I, I want to see what he's gonna do this year.

It's his time to shine.

He's got, he's got seniority.

He's a senior.

That, that's, that's my guy.

That's my guy.

I want to see what he's going to do this year.

Natty Daddy, what you think about Jalen Clark?

I, I tend to think that a little bit of nastiness in the free safety role is it serves us well.

Oh, for sure.

And I mean, I'm going to piggyback off just off of what Jerry said.

You have a senior in Jalen Clark.

It's his time to shine, but at the same time, right behind him is a rising superstar and Cody Jackson, because, let's talk about it, the kid's a stud.

I mean, he's a sophomore, and you saw what he could do last year not to take any shot away from Jalen because we want him to be the number one guy.

We want him to perform well.

But if those two can perform well as a pair, then your free safety position's locked down.

Right.

So we're talking about, we were talking about corners just a while ago, that there's a lot of unknowns, a lot of new guys.

They have experience, but they, they're new to being a starter.

You don't have to really reinvent the wheel with the free safety.

If those two guys, those dudes, those dogs can play together, mesh together, because they're both going to equally get a lot, a lot of playing time if they can just hold down the free safety position, stay clean, no injuries, free safety.

We don't even really need to go into too much depth about it.

Those guys can hold it down.

It's going to be a phenomenal year for that position.

Totally agree.

I feel good about the free safety role.

And look, I've liked Jalen for a while.

I'm actually interested to see what he's going to do.

I think it adds a storyline to the defense.

I'm rooting for him, obviously, but it's, it's going to be some.

You know, T. Lou was kind of a mercenary when he got here, and, you know, I forgot where he transferred from, but when he came in, it was like we didn't.

He was kind of an unknown and he came in and had a great career.

Jalen's been around for what feels like ever.

You know, the fact that he worked while he waited and now has this opportunity and he's worked on his body and he's worked on his game.

He, number one, he earned the spot.

And number two, he deserves the spot.

You know, I, I, I'm, I'm bullish on Jalen Clark.

I can't wait to see what that guy does.

As you know that that position is now his.

He owns it.

So moving on.

A strong safety, my guy, my favorite defensive player on the football team.

And the guys are laughing at me because they think I'm going to, like, do something inappropriate because I like the guy so much.

But no, dude, I mean, Tyrese Skipper.

Red shirt again.

Another red shirt senior.

Five years in the program.

62207 All Sun Belt Bronco Nagursky Award finalist.

Best DB in the Sunbelt Conference.

PFF grade 84.9.

That's 31 out of 910 safeties in the country.

PFF grade 89.4 in coverage.

That's 13 out of 858 safeties in the country.

He's an NFL safety, boys.

He's the general of the defense.

41 total tackles last year.

Four picks, six pass breakups.

Now, look, he did get injured and he missed some games due to that.

So those stats could probably be, probably be better.

But the fact of the matter is, is when he's on the field, people don't throw him, Throw the football over the middle.

They don't challenge him.

He eliminates.

He and Keon just totally eliminated one side of the field for a large majority of our season.

That didn't get talked about enough.

But Tyrese Skipper is every bit as good as as Lane, the Commanders.

Washington Commanders hit Mercy, Butler, Percy.

Jesus.

And I was the one that talked about Percy the most.

It's ridiculous.

He's every bit as good as Percy Butler was.

He may even be better.

I don't know.

Tyrese, Skipper is the absolute real deal.

He's coming off injury, yes, but he's 100 healthy.

I don't think he has any issues with range of motion.

I don't think he has any kind of setbacks whatsoever.

As far as I know, he's 100 and ready to rock and roll.

This guy is the real deal.

Our defense will go as he goes, as far as I'm concerned.

I think he covers up a lot of errors.

I think he covers up a lot of inexperience.

I think the guys on the defensive side will look to him to kind of if, you know, if things are going awry.

Hey, Tyree, what do we do?

Yeah, I just think that he's one of those type of personalities that.

That get players to play for him.

He's a player's player.

Just.

I just love Tyree.

I think the world of him.

I've been saying that since he stepped on campus.

Expect a massive year from him.

His number two is key.

Barnes, redshirt senior.

Another one five 11, 205 thumper.

He earned his first start in the bowl game against TCU and played really, really well.

Worked while he waited.

He's a fifth year guy in the program, just like Jalen.

Another one of these guys, all Sunbelt academic honor roll.

So another studious guy behind a starter that if he's going to have to be called into action, you would assume could do the job based on the fact that he knows the football game.

He knows.

He's been around college football for a long time.

I love that.

His number three is Jacori Norris.

Excuse me.

Jacorian Norris.

Registered freshman 62188 out of Tioga.

Y' all gotta listen to this.

All right?

Phil still has him ranked as the number 188 freshman in the country when he signed here two years ago in high school.

Had a game where he registers.

Excuse me.

He had a season where he registered 90.

This was a senior year.

Registered 91 tackles, seven interceptions, including five that were returned for touchdowns.

He had two force fumbles, three fumble recoveries, five kickoff return for touchdowns and a punt return for a touchdown.

That was dude's senior season at Tioga.

Now listen, tioga is not St. Ed's.

This ain't one a shout out to the Blue Jays.

I ain't trying to.

But this is not 1A.

This is 4A football.

He did that at Tioga in his senior season.

I just thought that that was Worth noting.

And I know, I know some of, some of our listeners at high school, you know, a prep, prep football fan.

So that, that's, that is, that is like a senior season for the books.

I don't know.

And he's young and I, he's got a big body.

I mean 62188.

What can you say?

I just, I love the safety room.

Tyree obviously is the, the standard bearer.

You got some really intriguing guys behind him.

I think it's as in good a shape as it's been for a while, obviously since Percy.

But even before that, you know, this might be one of those all time raging Cajun talents at safety and we've put out some good ones.

But Tyrese, he's, he's a special case.

Thoughts on strong safeties?

Jerry?

I hate the fact that he's a senior.

I hate the fact that he's a senior.

If you combine both the strong safety and the free safeties and you look at Tyrese skipper Jalen Clark and we talked about, talk about Courtline flowers, they're all seniors.

I kind of wish I can get at least one more year from them.

Right, because when you lose them, that's going to be a big, those gonna be some big losses in the secondary.

Lane.

What you thinking?

Like you said, I feel like Tyree is going to be the leader of the defense.

His numbers and stats speak for itself.

I, I agree with you.

I do feel like he's gonna be an NFL player one day.

Who knows where he'll end up, but looking forward to these season to come and hopefully he'll get several interceptions on the year.

Take us home, Natty daddy.

What sticks out to me in the strong safety is your number one and number two are seniors.

Like you said, they've been in the program.

They know the deal, they know, they know what's expected when you pair that with, with what you have in free safety.

And just to give you guys an idea, four of your five projected defensive back starters are seniors.

Yes, sir.

And like Jerry said, you, you wish you had them for more than that.

But the pro.

The thing is, is that when that clicks, I'll take one year if that one year is something special.

So if this defensive back unit can just absolutely mesh together and have a magical season.

Listen, they can hold the water from what they did last year and I would be happy with that.

14th in the country with 16 picks.

That's phenomenal.

They were so good last year.

They took a bad front seven and made them look above average.

It's a great point.

As a total defense, it's a great point.

Just hold the water, if not perform better in the last.

The last.

My last thought is this, and I've said it just a while ago.

Yes, you're a little bit inexperienced at cornerback, but that's what the safety position is for.

They are safety blankets, and we are as.

As veteran led at safety as ever before.

So if there's ever one position that can rely on another position to save their ass, them corners can rely on these safeties to help them out.

And I just want to remind people, even though we're young at corner and we have some development there, these safeties ain't young.

They ready to roll.

And we got some absolute dogs.

And it starts with Tyrese Skipper, who is, you know, arguably the best player on this team, and he'll be vying for the defensive player of the year in the Sunbelt Conference as well.

You know where the, where the seniority comes in with this safety, the safety level.

When we go to Columbia, Missouri and play against a Missouri offense that runs out the shotgun and they love to throw up top.

They always hit play.

They always hit you up top.

Most of their touchdown passes, when you.

They go vertical, that's their offense.

That's where I think that seniority needs to step up and where it can step up because to Cole's point about our.

Our cornerback.

So we got some good corners.

I think as season gets, the season goes on, they're going to get better and better.

But by week three, I mean, I think Mizzou, they're going to have to hit them on some underneath, on some routes underneath.

But I want to see what they can do going vertical on that, on that secondary that we got especially up top against our safeties.

That's going to be interesting.

That's going to.

That's the interesting matchup I'm looking for in that game.

And just to kind of put the bow on the point, yeah, we got some inexperience behind the frontline guys, but damn, the frontline guys have been around for a while.

I mean, we need to start handing out canes and golf hats to these folks.

I mean, they've been in.

They've been in the program a while.

So where are those originals?

Oh, where there's originals without the rapper.

They get the lint on the candy when you put it in.

Listen, I, I have a ton of confidence in this back in this safety and the entire defensive back room.

I have a ton of confidence in them.

I, I do understand the concern for the lack of.

Of experience and the depth.

And I know you need those guys to win.

I do.

I'm just telling you that safety room is going to be disgusting.

And I can't wait for it, because there's nothing like what the tight end is for the offense.

The safety is for the defense.

For me, I get no better pleasure than watching good safeties do their work and then watching Cortland Flowers run up and down the field and do all the, you know, the Swiss army knife things that he can do.

I don't see why we can't be a top 25 defense this year.

I'm serious.

I'm talking about in the country.

I think we have.

We have the potential.

We have the.

We have the horses.

Let's put it together.

Going to, going to Missouri is going to be fun.

But.

But look, we have the size to compete with those receivers 100%.

So that is the defensive back room for your red smoke defense.

I don't know how many people know that they call their defense the red smoke defense, which I thought was pretty sweet.

So red smoke defense, be ready to.

To shout out the red smoke defense.

We're gonna move on a little bit, G. I know that.

I know that we had some admin stuff on here, but I think we're gonna move on because we've taken an hour and a half.

So let's push through.

I think that it's a little bit more important to remind the folks we will always, always, always, always, forever going forward record at 7:30 on Wednesday nights.

That's gonna never change anymore.

We have gone from Mondays to Tuesdays to Thursdays.

We got to change all that.

And there's.

There.

There are more reasons that we will announce later, but we are dedicated to 7:30 on Wednesdays.

We hope that you will join you that.

We hope that you will join us at 7:30 on Wednesdays here on out.

Football season, basketball season, baseball, whatever it is, if we do change, because typically we do a roundup after the weekend for baseball.

Those Sunday shows were awesome, and we may move them to that, but that'll be an internal decision and we'll let you guys know.

But for now, for the.

For the foreseeable Future, Wednesday night, 7:30, y' all go to youth group, get home come 7:30, come watch the show.

If y' all got mass or whatever y' all got, y' all come show.

Go come to the show.

7:30.

We're gonna talk about the Cajuns and we're gonna talk about Lafayette And Acadian and the culture and all our great sponsors and all the good stuff.

Josh gave out a TED Talk about dba.

Listen, dude.

Again, Andy, listen.

You got to educate the people.

You got to educate it.

They shouldn't have gave me the DB Roof.

It's the longest.

It's the longest list.

I had, like, 20 players to talk about, and I left people off.

I did that for you, by the way.

I'm going to get.

We're going to give you long snappers next time.

How's that?

Well, if you want to know everything there is to know about long snappers and their middle school career, hit me up.

I got stats.

I got stats.

Anyway, so, yeah, 7:30, we're going to be here every Wednesday.

Tailgate reminder.

The boys got a tailgate this year.

It's been a very interesting process so far, but come see us.

We're going to be in TG1.

We'll be under the raging review flag that is the size of a queen mattress.

Apparently, these guys got the flags in there like crap.

It's massive.

We started talking about Adrian Vegas, a kitty and a Dodge, and they're in their American flag.

We're going to have the same jingle Legos.

Cold.

Yeah.

You can't even see him.

That's a big.

Parachute, baby.

Hey, you never know when you're gonna have to jump out of a small plane.

So.

So look.

So we're gonna be under the big flag.

Come see.

Come see us.

Come say hello.

Come get a beer, eat some food with us and hang out.

Introduce yourself.

We always love meeting Cajun fans.

Y' all are more than welcome to bring your kids by.

I know me and Cole are gonna have our rugrats running out there.

So come make friends.

Come say.

Come say hello.

I'll have mine, too.

She'll be running around as well.

So, Jerry, I'll have the little one.

Running around nursery in that tent.

Well, we don't want to scare people off.

No, no, not quite.

Not quite.

Good point.

So come do that.

You know, we're gonna be.

We're starting out with a bang.

August 30th.

We'll be out there as early as they'll let us in.

We'll be out there to have fun.

So the Lanyap question.

Also, my daughter actually made a pretty good suggestion and said we should change the name from the Lanyap session to the Grimace.

The Grimmies.

Grimmies.

I like that.

The Grimmies.

So this is the Grimmy's segment tonight.

Now that Nick is away and I Get to run the show on the top like that.

This is the Grimmy section, and we've kind of joked around about this for a while, and I just.

I think it's funny.

We have a Doming.

We have a Jag.

No, we have an A Bear, and we have a Gilbo, and then we have a Johnson.

So we thought if Lane was a Cajun or if we could bestow a Cajun name upon him, what would Lane's last name be?

And that is the Grimmies.

Question of the night.

G. I know you've been thinking about this for a couple weeks.

We're gonna start with you.

I got, you know, I, I.

There's something about Lane's name.

I feel like it has to be, like, Lane.

And then the last name has to begin with an L. I'm gonna give him.

I'm gonna say Lane La Violette.

Lane Laviolette.

I think.

I think that's a good little.

A little click.

You know, I covered a bunch of Laviolettes at, you know, when I covered high school football in Bro Bridge and St. Martin Parish.

Lane Laviolette.

I think it has a good little, you know, ll, Right?

I think that's a little.

That's a little.

Nice little touch to it, right?

I like it.

Cole, what you think?

No, I'm.

I'm on the same boat.

I'm all about alliteration, baby.

I like the same letters, but I. I came prepared tonight, boys.

So let me ask y' all a question.

I'll go really quick between you guys.

When you.

When you think about Lane and look at Lane, what.

What comes to your mind just by looking at Lane?

What comes to your head?

First thing, that Sturgill Simpson, he's got.

He's got that swan people look with the beard.

Bingo.

Yeah.

There you go.

Hey.

I love Barb.

Barb in French is beard, so la Barb is the beard.

You put that together.

He is now Lane LaBarb.

That's all I gotta say about that.

I love it.

Oh, God, I love it.

Okay.

I can't top that.

That's pretty good.

That's pretty good.

I was gonna go a little bit, like, ville Platt area and go with laneless straps, but I can't beat lebar.

I mean, that's.

That's the winner.

Not that.

Yeah, I can't top that.

Can I go with Albino?

Wait, no, no.

So, yeah, we got to end the segment with you telling us what you think your Monroe ass should be called down here.

I say we take a vote.

I Don't know what Nick had.

Oh, we're putting it to a vote.

For his option, but I'd say we take it to a vote, and then I'll use it next week.

Okay.

All right.

Everybody be looking out for the vote.

What is Lane's Cajun last name?

That thing has a chance to be Harry.

I gotta be honest with you.

That thing might get wild.

And what makes it even better is cold came.

He had the fly, he had the paper out.

He had that papier man with labarb and underlined and bold, bro.

One thing y' all don't know about Cole is that dude is prepared.

That is a prepared dude.

Over prepared sometimes.

Hey, over prepared better than under prepared.

All right, now listen.

For the post game shows, I'm flying off the handle.

I'll be way too.

I'll be way too deep in the natty lights to give you all any preparation.

It's just gonna come.

Whatever comes to mind.

That's what.

That's what the post game is for, dude.

Like, Bobby Abear is the official post game guy with the Saints, and he comes unprepared half the time.

I don't know if he's unprepared or just 37 bourbons in.

I think it's more that.

Well, when they used to have the postgame show with Danny Sifu downtown.

Yeah, he.

It was.

It was.

It was.

It was open bar.

Let's just say that.

All right, last one.

This is good.

What?

Acadian, a small town.

Would Lane be from.

Glencoe?

Where the hell is Glencoe, Jerry?

Four corners outside of Generette, right by Sharington and Franklin.

Jesus.

I got family from around there.

That's my people right outside that sugar.

That's that sugar.

That sugar cane right down on the way to Sympromore Point, Glencoe.

Look for the big.

Look for the big blimp that looks for the druggies.

That's.

That's where.

I don't know why that made me laugh.

If somebody said parks.

I speed too much to be from.

Sorry.

I like parks.

Bryce says Gaydon.

I was thinking ltel got the latel beer going.

All right.

Yeah, that is going to be a good poll.

We'll put it on.

We'll put it on Threads.

Delcombe works gate on works.

We could patasa Pierre Part.

We can go a million ways.

We'll put it on.

We'll put a poll out on the Twitter and then we'll do it on the.

On the other platforms and y' all can vote and then Maybe we'll just force Lane to.

Whatever wins.

You got to put that in your.

In your thing every time.

But everybody wanted.

We want to say thank you all very much for joining the show, as always.

Once again, Brett Venable.

Recovery Chiromed.

Caught myself that time.

Eat Lafayette.

The awesome ladies at.

Yes, please.

If you need a marketing team, they are the best and I have the utmost respect for their work.

And last but not least, Lafayette roofing, Darren Doming his team, the tailgate crew.

That dude always has like 1 million people at his tailgate, so they do it right.

Block party at that place.

So if you make your way over there on the.

Let's see, that's the northeast side.

You'll see Darren and Jeff and all those.

Those folks and their kids and their wives and everything.

Say hello.

Tell them that you heard about them on Raging Review.

He'll love to hear that.

So thanks for.

For joining.

I know it went on a little bit longer than we expected, but.

But that's because of me.

That's my fault.

I overwint on the.

On the dbs, but I'm always going to go over on my.

On my.

On the guys that I ride for because I know they appreciate it.

You can, like, subscribe.

You can join the threads forum.

You can.

I don't know what else.

Jerry, what else can we do to support Raging Review?

I'll let you take it while I figure out how to end the show.

Yes.

Follow us on Instagram.

Yes, we're trying to get you.

We just had over 900 pushing for a thousand before the first game, so we got about two weeks or so.

So, Lane, what are you trying to accomplish?

You're trying to get to a thousand.

You said before the football season.

I'm sorry.

I didn't miss that.

Yeah, a thousand before football season, which is two and a half weeks away.

We'll have some cool stuff coming out there and Tick Tock as well.

So looking forward to getting that rolling here soon.

We're about to announce a tick Tock thing that's going to blow your freaking socks off.

Oh, it's going to be great.

Cole's running it and it's going to be a campaign that is not even believable.

So be on the lookout.

If you're not on Tick Tock, I'm not, but I'm probably going to have to get on it because this is worth doing.

So be on the lookout for raising Review, Tick Tock and a lot of tailgate content.

It's gonna be awesome.

So everybody good for the night.

Yeah.

I just want to say one more announcement.

On Saturday, there'll be a fan day for fall sports.

Soccer, volleyball and football.

Players and coaches will be signing autographs.

I'm sure the pride of Acadiana will be there.

I will be there.

My daughter, my three year old daughter has already asked me that she to go to fan day and she wants to wear her raging Cajun dress.

So I don't know about you guys, but I'll be there.

I'm sure.

If you, if you see me, say hello.

Hello.

Looking forward to talking some upcoming fall sports for you.

So Blackham Coliseum this Saturday, 12 to 2 rage engaging fan day.

Good deal.

Go see Jerry in the little one.

For G for Lane.

For Natty.

Daddy.

Thanks for joining the show.

See you next week.

Goodbye.

Girl better get go Skin gone.

Had a great time got me pretty good had a good thing over got more than you gang.

God damn it.

Now give it to your girl.

You got game just keep on waiting anything don't pay yeah, you know darling you're living too bad but someday baby yeah, you're the trouble.