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.

I got one thing to say right here.

Changes.

Win.

Foreign.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome in to Ragin Review.

It's about that time to start talking football.

We talked a lot of stuff this off season, boys.

We have talked about president changes at the university.

We've talked about Louisiana Tech being added to the.

To the conference.

We're going to talk a little bit later about UL's latest budget woes and what that might mean for all of us.

But before we do any of that, I do want to go around the horn, check in with you boys.

Let's go to you, Lane.

Let's talk about what.

How you're.

What's going on, brother?

How are you?

I'm doing good.

Looking forward to the upcoming football season.

Josh, what's going on, brother?

How are you, man?

I'm excited.

When's the last time it felt this exciting to be a football fan in Lafayette, Louisiana?

It's.

It's fun.

First of all, I mean, we're going to open the stadium, which, of course, everybody's excited about.

You see the turf going in.

You see today I saw the shrubbery in the north end zone is getting pulled out, which I can't tell you how.

How needed that was.

But it's football season and it's still hot.

So it didn't quite feel like fall yet, but.

But it's starting to feel that way.

You got camp going on.

It's camp season.

You got, you know, great news coming out of the camp.

You got Mike, and Mike's given some really good, really insightful interviews in the little social media hits and with Shannon Belt and KPEL and everything like that.

So it's just exciting.

I. I think we all feel like we're going to be very, very good, maybe.

I feel like we're going to be Even better than that.

And we'll find out throughout the course of these episodes leading up to the season.

But I'm.

I'm excited, man.

That's welcome.

Also, Jerry, what's going on, sir?

How are you tonight, man?

Hey, how's it going, fellas?

Man, football's back.

Practice team's practicing.

We've got the turf installed.

We've got the stadium looking ready.

I think women's soccer has a scrimmage today.

I believe volleyball starts up soon.

Season's here, fellas.

Athletic season is here.

Well, Cole's working out some technical issues, but he'll be back shortly.

In the meantime, I do want to address this.

Is it Dimitre or Dumitre?

Y', all.

Y'.

All.

Is it desert?

More disarmo?

Like, what is.

What is that?

I went to school with Duma trait, so I say Duma trait.

Dumitrite.

Are we in?

Chris can correct us.

Well, he's talking about eating Buddha on the pod.

Cass, I will tell you, my helmet was not 800.

Not the one that had the misspelled Louisiana on the back.

That was a couple hundred bucks, which probably I paid a couple hundred bucks too much for.

However, it was a practice helmet that they added stickers to.

Now, who practiced in it?

I don't know.

Probably like Gulf Shores High School.

But they.

They're fixing it.

They're fixing it for me.

But that was not.

It was not the 800 helmet.

That guy canceled because I think he was fake.

All right, boys, let's get to it.

So today we're gonna do a rundown of all the positions, position groups on the offense, and we're gonna do it a little bit differently.

I signed, I gave everybody homework.

Cole will be talking about the O line, Josh, the tight ends.

Lane will have running backs.

I'll have wide receivers and kicker punters.

And then Jerry will.

We'll have the quarterbacks.

And we're all just going to take a moment to kind of talk about what we think about each position group.

But typically, I would just say, quarterbacks go Jerry, tight ends go Josh.

I'll just start by throwing questions out, and then we'll have a conversation.

Cause I think it's a lot more fun when we kind of bounce off of each other and talk about, you know, kind of challenge each other on some of the decisions that.

That.

That we think you might have made.

By the way, Josh, we'll start with the tight ends, because the Jensen's are all here, brother.

They've been here since 7:30.

I got a text from daddy Jensen.

He's like, we ready?

I think they got people in Minnesota ready to go.

I see Sean is chiming in, so we're ready to go, baby.

Let's talk about tight ends.

Josh.

This is the easy one.

We're going to start out easy.

Who's going to be the guy in the tight ends this season?

I mean, we know who it's going to be, but go ahead and, go ahead and surprise everybody with your pick.

Well, I mean, shout out to the Jensen's clan.

I mean, they first of all have been supporters for a long time, but, you know, they make it easy to make it fun.

I got to watch some ball with them last year and let's just say we had a good time.

By the way, how Kaden and his dad are like huge.

Like they're monsters.

What are they eating over there?

Oklahoma, north, like wherever the hell they are.

It's ridiculous and stuff.

Now all I'll say is that Mr. Jensen is.

Is an absolute beast.

I enjoy watching ball with him because he's as intense as anybody I've ever watched a game with.

So we had a good.

We had a good time hollering and, you know, pointing out the fact that our guy was in the middle of the field wide open and he's a mismatch and always wide open.

But I digress.

It was fun.

We had a good time.

But yeah, if we're going to start with the tight ends, I mean, look, you guys all know my affinity for the tight end.

I'm biased, but I will try to.

To be objective and have an actual breakdown tonight.

Look, Kaden's my favorite player on the football team.

I'm just going to come out and say it.

I don't think anybody.

That's not going to surprise anybody.

I think I've been talking about him since he got on campus.

Maybe like maybe two hours after he got on campus.

But I'm going to talk about the whole room because the truth of it is is that we've got some talent in that locker room or in that tight end room.

A lot of it is young.

It is true that we lost, you know, guys like Mr. Clarence Carter.

Carter, Carter, you know, not your prototypical tight end.

Didn't have the tight end body, but he was a mismatch.

Lined him up in many different positions and he exploited defenses all season long.

He is going to be some, some production that we have to replace, believe it or not, his pff grade.

And for those who don't know who Pete, what PFF is.

It's Pro Football focus.

They have a college football section and I read it all the time.

It helps me kind of digest what I'm seeing on the field.

It's, it's.

It grades players on every single snap.

It's, it's kind of takes into account what we don't always watch as lay fans.

You know, you're not always watching the tight end or the center or the H back or whatever the case is.

And PFF will break down each play for you.

So I just really like to pay attention to PFF.

Terence Carter was ranked 8th out of 437 tight ends in the country in D1 football or in the FBS football.

He had 48 receptions, 689 yards, 4 touchdowns, 14.4 yards per catch.

That's.

That's excellent production out of the tight end role and we have to find a way to replace that.

We also lost Ty Stamy to Texas State.

I'm not going to sit here and say Ty Stamy was like the greatest tight end we ever saw, but he was a decent presence.

He was a big body.

He could help in both the run, the block and the pass game.

I think we're going to miss Ty Stami a little bit.

I was kind of sad to see him go.

I thought he was going to develop a little bit more for us and I just liked him as a guy.

I liked him, you know, as a presence in the locker room.

He did have seven receptions for 61 yards, so it's not like he did nothing.

But he mainly just kind of cleaned up in the run game and he did a good job of doing getting out and doing seal blocks and you know, he'll be missed.

I think he was a likable guy.

I think he saw an opportunity at Texas State and took it.

And I have absolutely no ill will towards him.

But I want to talk about Aiden Falgu.

Walk on from stm.

People in Lafayette know who he is.

I expect Aiden to end up on the scout team, maybe sticks around on the roster to be a special teams guy.

He is very athletic.

62210, knows how to win.

The guy has two state titles.

I wouldn't be surprised either way.

If he finds a way on special teams, great.

If he ends up on the scout team, great.

I think he's an asset to the program one way or the other.

I'm gonna butcher this name, but I'm gonna try my best.

Emiliano Sal Dovia.

I wouldn't even try, brother.

Houston to you Houston, Texas.

And if I mess it up, I apologize because I really did do some studying.

People probably might not recognize that name.

He's a converted linebacker, red shirt sophomore from cyridge in Houston.

Played both ways in high school.

Also played on the basketball team.

Obviously.

Like I said, he's an athlete.

All state.

Honorable mention in Texas.

It's hard.

Hard to do that.

Okay.

I mean, I know it's honorable mention, but it's the state of Texas.

He's, like I said, converted linebacker.

And he was on the scout team in 2024.

Linebacker.

They moved him to tight end going into the fall in 25.

So, you know, you never know what to get out of those kind of guys.

I hear a lot of things out of him.

He also was another candidate for special teams.

Like athletic people can help you win no matter where you're at.

He's.

He can obviously move again.

Maybe a scout team guy, maybe a special team guy.

Don't know yet.

Quandary coats.

I don't know if he is related to Ben Coates.

Former NFL receiver, tight end Ben Coates, but he's massive like Ben Coates.

65250 true freshman out of Anahuac.

Nick.

That's how you say it, right?

Anahuac.

That is because I got a flat tower there.

Yes, for the locals.

Shout out to the locals.

Anahuac.

All right.

High school.

Again, true freshman.

We're not going to know much about him, but I have been told by a couple of people in the tight end room, close to the tight end room, that he's.

He is an interesting prospect.

Interesting.

Maybe project, but obviously an imposing figure.

If.

If.

Look, the chances of him actually making an impact on this year's roster.

Very low.

Okay.

Very low.

But you guys know how it is with the tight ends.

They're asked to do so many different things.

Maybe an injury or two.

God forbid.

Maybe quandary coaches.

The is the freshman that might make an impact.

Anybody got any questions about those guys?

You want to talk about any of the young guys?

There is one more guy that I want to mention before we go too much further, but I just don't, you know, I don't want to take it too much time.

Is it Brock Chapel?

Well, no, that's.

I'm saving toward the end.

All right.

All right.

I'm saving him to.

Toward the end.

Yeah.

We have an interesting guy.

Christian McIntrush from McKinney, Texas.

True freshman.

63200.

He was ranked the 13th best tight end in all of the state of Texas.

Very interesting prospect.

He is a true pass catcher.

He's a receiver.

He.

I have notes, I wrote my notes down.

I think he needs to put weight on.

I think he needs to get a little bit more versed in the game.

But let's keep in mind that he was a three star prospect.

He turned down Mizzou, Purdue, Texas State, Tulane and Tulsa to give Louisiana a shot.

And I want to thank that young man for being a raging Cajun.

I don't think he makes an impact this particular year, but a lot of raw talent.

I hear a lot of great things coming out of camp about what he can do in the future.

So I want to mention that again.

I don't think he's going to make a huge impact, but I think in the future you're going to hear that name a lot.

But look at what, look at what depth has got us this year.

I mean, we've had, we had attrition, but holy cow, all these guys that were twos and threes last year are now ones and twos.

So that has really.

You've seen that.

I mean, we could have.

We lost two tight ends that were really good and Kaden Jensen's like, okay, I got it.

And we might be better at that position this year than we were having the past two years.

Well, Nick, I don't think, I don't think there's any question.

I think talent wise, we are top to bottom, more talented in the tight end room.

Now, look, we don't have a whole ton of, of experience games.

I'm talking about game reps.

I'm talking about like college football experience.

We don't have a ton of that, but we do have a ton of talent.

And some of it's going to have to be developed, some of it's going to just have to be learned on the job.

Now, Mike, keep in mind that the tight end is.

The tight end room is top heavy.

And then we'll get into the top three to four guys that I think you'll see their names pop up on the stat sheet.

But as far as talent, this tight end room is as good as we've had.

Hell, maybe even before Napier.

I mean, this thing is we've got some talent in that room.

So Jerry and Lane and somebody just asked a question that I was getting to next.

But I want to ask you guys, are you in agreement that Jensen's going to be the guy at the tight end position this season?

Lane, we'll start with you.

Yeah, I think he'll be the, the Top guy.

I mean, his size, just, just a size difference between him and the defense is going to be.

Make him unstoppable.

Somebody else said you can't teach.

You can't teach size, right?

Jerry, your thoughts?

Is he going to be the guy?

Because again, going back to Drew Caswell, he's saying don't sleep on Brock Chapel.

I mean, they're built a lot alike.

And we have two other guys in the tight end room.

Is.

Is.

I think he will.

Jensen is clear number one this year.

What are your thoughts?

I think Kane's the clear number one because of seniority.

He's got the most play time.

He can be both a receiving tight end and a blocking tight end.

Actually, I think his, his blocking ability gets overlooked at times.

You know, we're always talking about throwing.

Throw to the damn tight end.

But Kaden is really good on block.

It's.

It's.

That's valuable and sometimes that's unseen.

I am a little curious to see if.

If Kaden can be a little bit more on the receiving end this year, considering the fact that I think he will be the number one guy.

But I'm also kind of wondering.

We always have a du, a duo in tight ends every year, right?

Like we had Johnny Lumpkin and we had Neil Johnson a few years ago, right?

Whether one block, the other one would be more of a receiver.

Last year, Kaden was more of the blocker.

You had Terence Carter Moore as a receiving tight end.

I'm kind of wondering who's going to be that this year.

You know, is Kaden going to go back to being a blocking tight end?

Is he going to be more of a receiving tight end and who's going to compliment him on that?

So any type of Mike decimal offense, there's always that compliment.

So I do think Kaden's going to be the lead guy, but I'm kind of wondering who's going to compliment him on the other end of it.

Josh.

I, I guess asking, kind of following up on that, you know, are.

I want to see Kaden catch the ball more.

I feel like he was underutilized there.

But when you have Terence Carter, he's a focus again.

Kaden is, is throwing the blocks and, and that he's so good at it, which is why he did more blocking than he did receiving.

Your thoughts this year on Kaden?

Do.

Do you think we see him catch the ball more?

I didn't watch a whole lot of spring practice, so I don't know if he was a comfortable target target for Walker.

But your thoughts, your thoughts there.

I got a whole ton to, to, to, to say about Kaden, but I will say, you know, people really don't probably realize this but if you look at his PFF grade, his run, his run game contributions were rated higher than his past game contributions, which is, which was crazy to me.

I, that I did not expect that.

You know what I think about his versatility, you know what I think about his knowledge of the game.

You know, just small things like his ability to sit down in the zone where he knows the soft spot is just, just making himself available to a quarterback when he's in danger or just a chip, just the way he chips and releases.

He does a lot of things really well that don't really again show up on the stat sheet and people don't talk about that.

We don't talk about tight ends enough in college football, period.

In any media, period.

Which is why I'm going to sit here and make you all bored to tears about tight ends.

I don't care because they don't get enough shine.

I got, I got a bone to pick with Phil Steele.

He didn't really even, you know, when you go down each category field and is in.

He didn't.

He has them in the pass catching category.

They need their own category.

They do everything they do.

You know, they, they pass block, they, they run block.

They, they help in the run game.

They, they kept pass the pass catch.

They do too many things not to get their own, their own category.

So Phil, I got a bone to pick with you on that.

Well, let's, let's, let's move on.

Still sticking with the tight ends.

Let's talk about Teddy, let's talk about Brock.

You know, I know you're going to get there.

So here's your opportunity to man outside of Kaden, which we know in the young, the young pups that we have common.

We got an experienced guy in, in Brock Chapel and then Teddy Go as well.

So what are your thoughts?

So I wanted, I wanted to highlight the young guys because they need to be talked about because those names will be coming up soon and I want y' all to be familiar with them.

But it really is a top heavy room as far as I'm concerned.

I'm going to start from the back end.

There's a name that's, that I keep people keep bringing up.

And I spoke to three coaches today and they all said this name.

All right, It's Eddie.

It's Teddy Golick, people.

You know, he's not A household name, obviously, but I keep hearing that he's very talented.

He's very talented.

He's raw.

He needs to learn the game.

He's raw.

He needs to learn the game.

The guy went to IMG and Vanderbilt Catholic.

You don't go to IMG in Florida and Vanderbilt Catholic and not be able to play the game.

6, 2, 2 19.

I mean, is a versatile guy.

He's probably one of those hybrid type guys you'd love to have.

He needs to get a little bit bigger and stronger.

And again, he's a, he's a red shirt freshman.

He's a baby.

So Teddy Golick is, in my view, probably fourth on the depth chart.

Even though he's young, even though he lacks experience, I don't know, he comes off as one of those guys that if he gets an opportunity, it's going to be hard to pull him out of the starting roster, if that makes sense.

So keep, if you hear the name, remember you heard it here.

Teddy Golik.

He's, he will be a household name before he leaves this university.

Now there's a, and this is per des.

So we spoke about this today.

There's a battle, a very good battle going on between the projected 2 and 3 starters or 2 and 3 in the depth chart.

Trey Miller and Brock Chapel.

We'll start with Trey Miller after I watched his stats and kind of followed some of his career, read about him, just seeing him on tape.

6, 3, 2, 30.

Stats don't necessarily leap off the page.

The page in the, in the receiving game.

But he's tough as hell.

He's nasty in the run game, catches the ball in traffic.

He uses his hands to catch the football, which if you watch tight ends a lot, tight ends typically rely on their body to make possession receptions or if they, if they need to, you know, make a tough catch, it's usually they go up and get it with their body and they use their mismatch to their advantage.

This dude goes up with the hands and I just, that really jumped off in his highlight film and I thought I should bring it up here because, you know, again, that's a wide receiver trait.

And if I can get a little nastiness in a run game, if I know a guy how to pass, he can pass protect when he needs to, how to set up the screens, how to set up slips and then he can go up and catch the ball with his hands.

I think that's a massive just tool in the drawer that, that you have.

And he's got a little bit of.

Of games played.

I mean, he's a grad transfer from Wayne State.

And I.

You can look that and say, well, you know, that's a smaller level level of college football.

When you watch his highlights and you watch him play, he's always where he's supposed to be.

He's always helping hit somebody, chip somebody.

He finishes every block that, that stood out to me.

That's what seniority gets you.

He's probably 23, 24, so he adds a presence in the locker room.

You know, we lost a couple of those guys.

Ty Stami I thought was one of those Guidry from last year.

Just.

Just guys that have been around the program for a while.

A little bit of seniority.

I just love his addition.

I like if he's going to be the number two tight end, you're going to see him on the field a lot.

I still think you're going to see him regardless of where he ends up on the depth chart.

I just like the way that he goes about his business on the field.

He's tough as hell.

That's what I come away taking.

I take away that Brock Chappell from North Carolina, he's a junior transfer from Furman.

Shout out.

Billy Napier.

65250.

24 catches, three touchdowns and 24 games at Furman.

And you know, Furman's kind of a run and gun running shoot.

They like to pass the football.

So, you know, I mean, like, it's not gaudy numbers, but obviously he was productive.

He was an all socan freshman team member.

When you look at him on the field, he looks like a mismatch.

And again, I know it's a lower level of college football.

He looks like an NFL body on a college football field.

He's long, all right.

He's got.

Just remember when Peewee would get on the field and he would put his hands up.

He's just different.

Yeah, his, his arms were just like as long as his body.

That's what Chapel looks like to me.

He's fluid in his route running, which again, not necessarily what you see in the tight end.

Caden has a lot of this when he runs a route.

It's fluid.

It looks like it's supposed to be happening.

No shot to the tight ends, but you know how.

You know what I'm saying?

Sometimes it's rumbling, stumbling, bumbling, right?

He doesn't have that.

It's very fluid.

He fits our offense perfectly.

He moves with fluidity behind the line of scrimmage.

He, he.

The way that he gets off his Block the way that he hits a seal block the way that he blocks out wide.

He has the, the presence.

He has the speed to get out wide for these long sweeps and tosses.

That'll jump off his film when you watch it.

I, I put that in my notes because I, I think, you know, we, we lacked that at times last year.

I'd love to see Zylon Perry get sprung a few times out on the edge, out past the numbers.

That's what we are.

We're missing in a run game.

As far as I'm concerned with Zylon and do with, with a 4:2, a true 425-speed guy like Zylon, you get a couple extra blockers that can get out on the edge.

That's awesome.

I mean, there's no substitute for that.

So between Trey Miller and Brock, those guys are nasty.

They give you second and third options that are, I mean, look, Cadence, my guys, my favorite, he's my favorite player on the team.

I love the way he plays.

But they are great compliments.

They do a lot of things well.

And if you think back to like a Pierce Meagle type player, Pierce Meagle didn't jump off the field at you, but he did everything really well.

He could catch it when you needed him to, he could block it when you needed him to.

If, if, you know, the young guys are struggling out on the edge, the tackles and everything.

And I know we're going to talk about the offensive line, but you can send him in there to make Walker Howard feel a little bit more protected.

If we ever come up against, like what happened with Marshall and their defensive end just taken over a football game.

So great.

You know, I love the luxury, I love the battle.

I love that they want to compete.

DEZ said that they just want to get to work.

They love to work.

They love to compete.

He loves the, the battle inside of the tight end room.

He loves that.

And hearing that from, from Mike probably got it from George.

That just makes my heart happy.

So having said all that, look, Cadence, the star of this thing, it is objective, but it's also a little bit subjective.

I've been watching this kid play just a little bit over two years.

He does everything well.

66264.

You can't coach that.

There's nothing you can do again, he can catch it, he can pass it, he can help you in the run game.

The fact that this kid does not have 10 to 12 targets a game at this point in his career, I'll never understand if he doesn't get at least 8 to 10 this year.

We riot.

Or at least I will.

I'll make the local news, whatever it takes.

We got to get Caden Jensen to football.

We.

We are breaking in some young receivers.

We're going to be a work in progress for probably three games to start this season.

I want to see Caden Jensen be a security blanket for Walker Howard.

Also.

Walker Howard is getting his first meaningful playing time running a football team, running an offense.

I need a security blanket.

Caden Jensen presents that long athletic all Sunbelt.

I don't know.

First team, second team.

I forgot what it was all academic.

He's smart.

He knows the game.

Grew up in a family who knows the game.

Shout out.

Mitch.

Competitive as hell.

He looks like a beast.

I know y' all all saw the videos of him getting, getting the work in.

In the.

In the weight room.

I mean, look, I think it's his time to shine.

Three years in the program now it's his time to shine.

Let him be the star that he can be.

And I'm open the floor for discussion.

I know I didn't get too far into it.

I know we kind of chipped away.

At the key for anyway.

Good Lord, brother.

Like, listen, dude, you gave me tight ends.

You knew it was coming and Jesus.

Okay, but no, that's good, man.

You can do the wide receivers next.

But look, I'm excited.

I'm.

I'm with you.

I.

You start getting into tight ends and we can talk about that position all night and make a whole show out of it.

Maybe we do that next year.

Maybe we do one position group per show.

But that, that's a fantastic rundown.

Lots of names I didn't even know that were on the depth chart anywhere on the.

On the roster.

So I'm going to be.

I'm going to be terrible when I'm start talking about wide receivers because I'm going to answer my own question on who's going to be the wide receiver that's going to be the standout player this year.

I think we just.

I'll have to say Shelton Sampson.

I mean, I think he's going to be the guy that.

That looked from what I've seen in videos and in camp, this season is the most comfortable for Walker right now because they have some sort of really good already they have a really good chemistry between those two guys.

I think an opportunity is again with Kaden because we know Kaden can catch the ball.

So I think Sampson can make acrobatic plays.

Ali has all.

All he has to do is throw it up there.

You got Caden, who's reliable, and then you got the running back core, which we'll get to in a second lane.

So again, how do you, how do you get a quarterback comfortable in this new role?

You run the ball.

You get him comfortable with.

With guys like Kaden Jensen and of course, Shelton Sampson.

Now, again, I, I talked about depth earlier in, in tonight's program, and that's true.

You've got Jaden Johnson and Robert Williams that are coming back because we did lose four key players last year.

When you think about Terrence, when you think about Broussard, Harvey Broussard, you lost a few guys last year, so Jacob Bernard, Lance Lejean, all guys that, that we really counted on in the receiving game.

You lose those four guys, but I don't think we're.

I think you're going to have a lot of youth and the guys, guys who need to show that they can be trusted in catching the ball.

J. Johnson, Robert Williams have that experience.

I think, you know, between the both of them, they played in 24 games last year.

So it's not like it's a new deal for them now.

Interestingly enough, there are.

Landon Strother was somebody who, who coach.

One of the coaches mentioned to me as somebody who's going to be a key player at that, that number two wide receiver slot this season.

So keep an eye on Landon Strother.

And also, and this surprised me because, you know, you talk about guys like Russell Babineaux and I think somebody mentioned him here.

He's going to be a freshman coming in from, from Acadian High.

We'll see how they use him because he's so small in a world where now we have receivers who are 6263-64.

You know, he's a small bill, but he's so quick.

Another very quick player that they told me to look out for in the wide receiver slot is RA.

I'm going to probably butcher this Raji Dennis.

He runs a 10 4, 100 meter.

They said that guy is absolutely insane.

And then also.

Go ahead, go ahead.

No, I want to point something out.

If you play with Raji Dennis on ncaa, just do go routes.

He'll outrun you.

I played with him on a dynasty and he won the Heisman.

So that should give you an idea.

I know it's a video game, but his speed is well respected.

I want to see what kind of a deep threat he could be this year.

Yeah, that's going to be interesting.

I wouldn't mind A Devery Henderson like the Saints used to have.

Just gone.

Right.

So we'll see what.

What role he plays this season.

Looking forward to that.

And then also.

And I just lost my entire screen.

There we go.

Okay.

Another guy that they said to look out for this season is going to be Charles Robertson.

He's another newcomer for the Cajuns.

I've been told he was really, really good.

May not have the speed of Raji, but can definitely put his hands on the ball and he doesn't need the sticky tat.

He.

He's good when he catches the ball, it's.

If it hits his hands, he's gonna make the catch.

Boys, outside of.

Outside of the news come newcomers.

Obviously, Jerry knew a couple of them.

I don't know about Russell Babineau this year.

I, I think Russell's gonna be.

Again, they're gonna have to kind of figure out what that looks like and how they're going to work him into the game plan, maybe see him a little bit on special teams this season and then work him into the wide receiver core.

But outside of all of that, Shelton Sampson, is there anybody who disagrees that he's going to be the guy this year?

I'll just open the floor to you all.

Give your thoughts on it.

I think that after I saw him catch the ball in traffic and then pull it down and run, I was shocked because he has good size.

It's not like he has bad size.

He is.

I mean, he has fine size, but he runs like he's.

I mean, he's Bill Davis after the catch.

It was unbelievable in spring.

Hopefully that doesn't.

That's not indicative that defense is not good tackling.

But I'm telling you, he was just running through people.

And to me, that was the most.

That was what stood out to me the most about him in particular, his ability to catch the ball and then run with it tough, you know, get those tough extra yards.

And dude, he doesn't go down.

It's not like catch it go down, you know, snap the ball.

He's trying to get extra three or four yards every catch.

So that stood out to me about it.

I don't see, and I agree with you that he and.

And Uncle Wawa have the.

Have the connection.

I think that there's something about those two individuals.

I think they can be special together.

And his ability to catch the ball one on one, his ability to get free and release one on one also stood out.

I think.

I think it's just going to be fine.

I think that's fine.

Hey, look, Andy, check this out, dude.

Anytime I am allowed to talk about tight ends on this podcast, I'm going to shove it down yalls throat because y' all don't appreciate the tight end room as you should.

If you want to win football games at a high level, like Bill Belichick taught all y', all, you use the tight end.

That's how you win games.

Use the tight end.

But.

But no, I think.

I think you're dead on, Nick and I.

You know, one thing that DEZ said is this is the fastest wide receiver core he's ever been around.

This is the fastest wide receiver core he's ever been around.

Keep.

Keep that in mind.

Think about all the great players he's been around.

This.

This thing's fast.

So, you know, one way or the other, we're going to see if they can create separation or whatever, but, you know, if they can catch, I don't know, the fact that they're not going to be able to run by you.

We've already figured that out.

They're fast.

That's going to be exciting to see, especially on the defensive side, because I know there's fast there as well.

Another, another, you know, at the wide receiver slot that we didn't talk about was Kadarius Wade, 6, 4, 19 8.

I mean, he matches right up there with Samson.

And you look at our three starting projected starters at the wide receiver slot.

You got Samson at 6419, Williams at 62183, Jaden Johnson, 622-27.

Oh, and then we got Kaden, who's, you know, 18ft tall, in addition to guys like Russell Babineaux and Raji, who can just run it.

You know, if you want slot receiver, you got two right there because those boys can.

Can take it or go for the deep ball.

I mean, just let him rip and see where they'll get behind any secondary in the Sunbelt.

I'll tell you that now, and probably Missouri.

So it will be interesting to see how they, especially with Araji and especially with a Russell Babineau if he has a chance to be on the field this season.

I feel those are guys that we can do some fun things with and get a little creative, especially again on the special teams route.

But yes, throw to the damn tight end.

We get it.

But also we got to throw to our damn wide receivers as well.

Boys, any thoughts?

I know you got excited when I say Raji.

Jerry, any thoughts on the.

The wide receiver room this.

This year?

I'm I'm really excited.

I think, again, I think we're taking a step forward in the wide receiver core.

I understand that we had four really good players that were losing, but I feel like again, with the depth of the guys who are returning with Samson and somebody said, how much playing time has Sampson had?

Not a whole lot, to be honest with you.

But you have to also understand he was in a crowded wide receiver room.

These guys, I mean, don't get the chance to play because the starters in front of them are that good.

He could probably go and start for Tsab this year and be a, you know, be a starting wide receiver and on a three wide front.

But he's, he's with us now and so he will have the chance to show what we saw in practices with a Tsab, that he's really, really good and making contested catches.

So.

Yeah.

Jerry, anything you want to add to that?

Yeah.

When you have a, when you have a school like that, that scoops you up as a four star wide receiver, you're going to have depth at the skill position.

And sometimes he just get, you get pushed down on the depth chart.

I think that's what happened to Sheldon Sampson.

But I'm glad we got him because he's a prime example of one of those types of players that instead of going to a P4, you come to us.

You're a star.

And I think he's got that potential to do that.

I, I know there's a connection between he and Walker Howard.

I think saw it in the spring, you saw it in the spring game and they had that touchdown connection that was a thing of beauty.

But I'm, I'm curious to see what the younger guys are going to do.

In particular Russell Babineau and even Landon Strother, of course.

Landon Strother being the nephew of Darren Strother who played here in the 90s at wide receiver as well.

His dad, Land Strother, know him very well.

He's been a wide receiver coach at STM for a very long time.

Landon's one of those guys.

I feel like Landon reminds me of a Jacob Bernard or, or like special teams player last year that we loved.

Drawing a blank right now, guys.

Yeah, Dylan Cambry just fundamentally sound.

He's going to run the crisp routes, he's going to be in position to make catches and he's got really, really good hands.

So I want to see what he can do.

He's one of those guys that'll sneak up on you.

Russell Babineau, I want to See a Harry Peoples esque type performance from Russell Babineau.

He's short, he's quick, he's sneaky and he'll outrun you in the slot every time and that's what I want to see from him.

I think that adds a lot more weaponry with once you have guys on the edge or the outside such as a Sheldon Sampson or Charles Robertson.

Right.

Charles Robertson I think is going to be really, really good on the, on the, on the end.

But I, I think the dynamic of the slot is going to be very important this year, especially when you have a quarterback like Walker Howard who likes to, to throw the ball and you're going to need that younger talent to step up in the slot.

So I'm excited about that.

Like you said, Nick Shelton, Sheldon Sampson, as long as he stays healthy, he's going to be all conference, I think.

But I am curious to see what that youth is going to bring.

I mean, I'm looking at the list of these receivers and even though we're not as familiar, familiar with their names and they don't have as much experience, I'm excited to see what they can do because they are talented.

Robert Williams being a prime example.

He got a lot of significant play time last year.

I think this year he's going to have a breakout season as well.

So I think, I think Walker Howard's got a bunch of targets he can throw to on the receiving core and I expect them to, to get better as the season goes on.

And I think we have a lot of depth there as well.

So that's going to be really good to watch.

I'm really excited to see that lane.

One of my favorite position groups and, and I don't think Bill Davis is getting enough credit here because I think everybody is looking, looking at the depth chart and saying, well and, and he's also getting all the accolades.

Not it, not Bill, but oh shoot, what's his name?

Zyland Perry.

Z.

He's getting all the accolades in the preseason.

Right?

You got Bill Davis who rushed from war yards last season and was banged up.

Let's talk about the, the running back room.

Tell us what your thoughts are.

I mean obviously it's going to be Zyland slash Bill.

I don't think you can really put who's going to be better at that position.

But your thought on the depth chart, what you see and what we can expect from them this season.

So as I did my homework, I found out that we have six running backs on the depth chart or on the Roster obviously Bill and Zyland are the top one two punch.

I was a little bit surprised that Bill didn't get it as much love for in the preseason, but especially when he had more yardage and more touchdowns.

But I do think a couple of the younger guys will step up or will be able to step up this year just simply because that's what we do with our running backs.

We don't like to keep one in too long and get them tired.

One of the guys that I was looking at is Daryl Smith, a true freshman.

He had over 20, 2500, almost 2500 yards his senior year with about 30 or not 30 touchdowns with 9.2 yards per per rush.

So I mean similar to Zyland and his speed, I believe he's like 5 10, 5 11, 180 pounds.

So about the same build as Xylen, just a little bit on the lighter side, but that's who I think will step up this year.

Stephen Blanco, boys.

Keep that name in mind.

Steven Blanco will get some carries this season.

I mean, how can you not be thrilled?

Josh, on, on our running back room, you got Zyland, you got Bill.

They returned a ton of experience.

Obviously Bill is the Bill Dozer.

Then you got Zyland.

He'll get you to the 20s and then Bill will get you in the end zone.

But when you think about a guy like Stephen Blanco who, who really showed up this spring and that the coaches are really high on, it's again another RBU type of thing where we, we're just, we just have running back talent every single year and we continue to reload there.

I'm pumped about the running back room.

Your thoughts this season.

I think it's going to be the bell cow room, obviously and Mike is going to run an offense that is heavily predicated upon a run game.

If we can keep Zyland healthy and we did a much better job hanging on to the football last year as opposed to the first two years.

So I'm our year.

I'm very happy about that because, you know, turnovers change games and I think that he would have been a little bit more of a stalwart in the offense had he been able to kind of push through the fumbleitis.

He did better.

He did better towards the end of the season and again, his propensity to get banged up is kind of worrisome.

But if, if we can keep him healthy, keep him holding onto the ball.

He's a home run threat.

He's what Chris Smith was early on in his career before the injury bug caught up, you know, with him.

And I think he's.

I think Zyland's a little bit faster, maybe even a little bit shiftier.

And then of course, Bill David, if Bill.

This is another one.

If Bill Davis and look, he's going to get the tough yardage and things like that, so it's not going to, it's not going to surprise anybody if he.

His body takes a toll.

You know, the hits take a toll on his body, but we got to have that, that complimentary back, that third back.

Every time.

We have been excellent in the run game.

We had three guys that could do it.

And if Blanco is going to step up and be that guy, I mean, let's go, you know, and a red.

Shirt freshman dude, like, right.

We're talking about a young kid who's fresh, ready to go, eager, hungry.

But I'll be curious, I'll be curious to see how Wood packages they use him in.

Is he a third down back?

Do they trust him to protect the quarterback?

There's going to be a lot of things we're going to learn about Steven Blanco early in the season and how much they trust him, which is going to be another cool storyline to watch.

But I'm just saying, like, I want to make the point that when we've been really good in the run game, it's been three.

It's always been three.

So if we can get the third, the third piece of that puzzle, man, I'm telling you, this offense could be awesome because everywhere else we're talented, we're young in some areas, but we're super talented across the board.

And you got to give Des and everybody else a whole lot of credit.

In the NIL era, it's difficult to replenish that covered and they've been able to do it.

The real key in this camp to me is going to be development.

And I know it's kind of an easy thing to say, but this year, more so than maybe the last four or five, I think development has got to be top of mind because a lot of these guys are young, a lot of these guys are green.

A lot of these guys need to learn the game.

They need to know where they're going to be relied upon situationally, how good can you be?

Can I have you on the field in third and short?

Can I have you on the field when I need you to protect my quarterback?

Those things are what we need to be watching for.

So I want to see that playbook get a little bit more Robust as we go down, you know, game four, game five, game six into the season.

I expect him to start a little bit basic with Walker.

I'm not saying that he's not studious.

I'm not saying that he's not ready to run the offense, but I know that it's going to be a little bit easier once they know where everybody belongs and where everybody.

Where their strengths are on the field.

And the quarterback will.

Will just kind of meld and mold and, and.

And get better with everybody in individual position groups, wide receiver, tight end, running back.

So I think that.

I think everything starts a little bit basic.

I want to see how this team evolves because it's going to be a work in progress.

We all know that.

But don't think for one second that the talent's not there, because it certainly is.

Oh, yeah.

And the thing.

I'm excited and you said it, you know, in the first couple games, we'll kind of see them testing things out, trying things out.

I want to see Blanco protect the ball in the situations that they put him in.

But also those are your two weeks to really, as you said, especially with Walker, you don't have to be crazy.

I'm not taking Rice for granted.

They already beat us last season or a couple seasons ago.

We owe them back for that.

But I'm saying, and you all know this, I'm not saying anything that anybody else is not going to say.

These are your two weeks to really start kind of meshing, getting guys real hitting right, real playing time, because playing against each other is great.

But is the defense great or is the offense suck or does the offense great or is the defense suck or what's going on there?

Now you get to find out.

In the first couple weeks, I think Blanco is going to get a real test, maybe a shot against McNeese, depending on how things go early in the game.

But again, I want to see him be able to protect the ball.

I want to see him in maybe third down, short yardage, carry opportunities, because we got to protect Bill.

He's going to again.

When you got a bruiser like him, you get nicked up, you get dinged up.

As the year goes on, we want to protect him.

And then Zyland on the punt returns or kickoff returns, I want to see him as a returner, you know, who's going to be the number two behind him?

Are we going to try a Russell Babineau there?

That's where I think he could be very valuable.

So it'll be interesting to See Jerry, but I don't think any, any surprises here.

I think we continue to take a step forward.

I don't think there's any, there's any step back this year on the, on the running back room.

What are your thoughts?

No, man, I don't think so.

I mean, you've got two veteran guys coming back who really made an impact not just last year, but the year before for as well.

But one thing I was told by somebody on the, on in the program was, you know, we talk about Bill Davis.

You know, he's got a lot of preseason accolades.

There's a lot of expectations for him there.

He's obviously a fan favorite as we call him the Bill Dozer, if you will.

But Zyland right now, from what I was told is the clear number one on the depth chart.

And then Bill, even though you would think he'd be, you know, one A1B or a really close number two, I was told that there's two freshman running backs from Blanco and I believe Daryl Smith out of Picayune, Mississippi, who are really, really giving Bill a run for his money, which is a good thing.

I'm not saying that's bad for Bill.

I'm saying that's a good thing because that means if Bill's getting challenged by two freshman running backs, that means that we have a lot more depth than we could ask for.

To the point where you have a guy who's a true freshman coming out of Mississippi, he was the lead rushing running back in the state of Mississippi.

Is he's one of those guys where we look at him and go, how the heck did we get him right?

So that, that to me, that's what gives me optimism is when you have that particular depth, even though they may be young, they obviously have talent now coming to play at this level, it's going to be a little bit different.

There's going to have to be some adjustments, but what a better person to follow than a Zyland Perry or a Bill Davis to set that example.

I think this year is going to be a lot of fun with the running backs.

Our identity has always been the run game with a sort of a balanced with the passing attack.

And I think it's just going to be just as crucial this year running the football.

So I'm really, really optimistic about our running back room and I like to see we always have one new guy.

We always have one new guy on the, on the running back depth chart and I want to see what they can do.

Last year was a Little more veteran laden, but I want to see who that new guy is going to be.

Is it going to be Blanco?

Is it going to be Daryl Smith?

I, I don't know.

So that like he's.

Like Josh had said, you know, we are the most dangerous offensively when we have what, that three headed monster?

Anytime we have three running backs who can rotate and, and make plays, that's when we're the most dangerous.

And look, I, I think that third spot's up for grabs.

But I am very happy to hear that.

Even Bill's been challenged by those freshmen.

They're hungry and they're ready to go.

So I'm excited.

I'm very excited.

I do want to mention Bryce's comment about the running back that went to Alabama.

We all surprised that he went to Alabama of all places.

Yes, they were all nodding yeah.

I mean, anytime any player goes to Alabama, that's kind of a feather in our cop.

Surprised how though.

Surprised how this is true.

I'm just.

Alabama in general, I mean, you wouldn't expect.

But this is not the next state in Alabama.

We all need to take a step back and understand this ain't the N. Saban era.

Alabama, but still impressive, right?

Good for him, Good for him.

But I think the question is, is how is he going to be used at Alabama?

Is he going to ride the bench?

Is he going to be a fourth string guy?

I mean, you know, look, it's perception wise that's like amazing, right?

You're going from here to ul, from a U to Alabama, but it's like, okay, you get to Alabama, how is, how is, how is he going to be used?

Is he going to be a huge part of that offense?

I mean, you know, Jalen Milro is no longer there.

They're trying to find a quarterback right now.

I don't even know if they have any type of offensive identity.

I mean, they've got talent, obviously, but where does Dre fit in there?

You know, is he going to be put in the game, you know, in the fourth quarter when Alabama's beating FIU by 60, you know, I mean, is that when he's going to get his carries or is he going to be put in, in rotation against Tennessee?

I think it's the, I think it's, I think it's being put in the fourth quarter against fiu.

I don't know.

I don't see it, you know, as a, as a competitor.

Right?

I mean, if you've ever played anything, have you ever competed, anything, why on earth would you leave a FBS program as the guy to go sit behind four other guys.

All right, I don't understand that because.

You have an agent that said, I'll get you 100,000 to go ride the bench.

And look, maybe.

Maybe he's on the.

I mean, he's had many, many injuries.

Maybe he's on the back end of his health.

Could be that, you know, we don't know.

Maybe he saw an opportunity to go make a couple hundred thousand dollars for his family.

And I certainly do not begrudge the guy.

I don't.

I thought he was a great cage, and I wish he would have stayed.

But I'm just talking about.

Strictly from a competition standpoint.

Why would you give up 17 to 20 carries and be the guy and an opportunity to be one of the G5, you know, the marquee G5 teams and represent the G5 in a college football playoff.

And yes, I really do believe that.

To go sit behind three or four of the guys at Alabama and play in cleanup duty, I. I just.

It's got to be.

He got offered too much money to turn down.

That's the only thing I can think of.

Because he seems like a type of guy that wants to compete.

But to your point, Josh.

Right.

So if he's chasing money, right.

If he's going after money, go, go to Houston, go, go to North Carolina, go to TCU.

They'll give you.

Go to TCU.

Don't.

Yeah.

And you get your money at these P4s that may be lower tier and you're gonna play.

You go to Alabama.

Yeah.

You get your payday, but your fourth string, you know, like, if I'm.

If I'm him and I want money, I'm going to ucf, I'm going to Cincinnati, I'm going to South Carolina, where I have a better chance of playing rather than going to Tuscaloosa.

And you may get carries and mop up duty, but, you know, and I.

Don'T want it to turn into that because maybe that wasn't the.

You know, maybe they told him he has an opportunity to start to fight for the starting job.

Maybe they think that.

They all say that.

Well, just to say, like, I don't want to make it about.

Maybe he chased money.

I'm not saying that.

I'm saying if that were the case, maybe he does go to Alabama.

And I'll be honest with you, if he goes to Alabama and he is in the mix, maybe he's one of two or three backs in the mix.

That.

That's great for us actually.

And it's a testament to the way that we recruit this area in particular.

But just the fact that we can continually reload with the, with this type of talent.

We've been doing it for man since beginning of hud, even before hud at the end of Ricky bustle days we've had great backs.

So it's a testament to Louisiana.

It's almost running back you at this point.

And look, if he gets to play great, you know, I wish him nothing but the best.

I thought he was a great athlete.

So I just wanted to say it was a hypothetical theory, you know.

Are y' all surprised that Build nor Xyland got picked by another team?

Because I was honestly surprised that.

I mean, I'm sure they got looks maybe or.

I don't know.

I can't really answer that.

I think our players.

Yeah, I think our players love playing here.

Not necessarily, because, look, dude, you tell a kid he's about to play in a brand new stadium, that means something.

Everybody loves Mike, everybody loves Tim, everybody loves Giuliani, everybody loves a lot of guys.

Tony.

Coach Scott.

The unsung thing about our coaching staff is the kids love to play for them.

And that's why we continue to be really good on the road recruiting.

It's, it's.

They find a way to have these personal relationships with the players, the families, and I hope we keep the majority of them here as long as we can because they're an asset to our community and to our program.

But no, I'm not, I'm not surprised.

But yeah, we got great, we got great talent, but I'm not surprised at all.

I think, I think the benefit of being a running back UL is we have a track record now dating back to Fenroy, where you have a chance to go to the NFL.

I mean, if you look at 2019, all three running backs, whether it was Reagan, Elijah Mitchell or or Raymond, they all played on an NFL roster.

One somehow, you know, I mean, Elijah Mitchell was a starting running back for San Francisco before he got hurt.

You had Raymond, that was the top return man for the LA Rams before he got hurt.

So what you're seeing is a pattern.

I mean, Elijah McGuire, same thing.

He's got a Super bowl ring with Kansas City, so that Lonzo Harris started for Green Bay for a little while.

You know, you've got all these running backs dating Back to like 2008 from Fenroy that all go pro or at least have a shot on an NFL roster.

So I think they see that as well.

They know with these coaching staff and the philosophies that we have on our running game that they got a shot to go to the NFL.

I mean, it's not just about getting your quick payday.

You get, you get some money when you go to the next level.

And I think we've been able to attract that.

To your point, it's running back you.

We're running back you now that's say.

That Tsab's gonna be pissed off because they're not number one in everything in the world.

So they don't have good running backs.

Last time they had a good running back was in 19 with Clyde Edwards.

Hilaire.

Nobody has done anything there since Jerry.

When does it matter?

When does that matter?

Anyway, moving on, we'll get to quarterbacks next.

First, I wanted to thank our sponsors who make ragin review ragin review.com and all the fun stuff we're about to launch in the next coming few months.

Start with award master and Dr. Brett Venable with recovery Chiro Med.

Who said he's going to come to our tailgate and break a table.

I don't.

That was a threat, Josh.

If Dr. Brett is watching this, I think I'm, I'm offended.

Well, I think it's great.

First of all, we screwed up his ad like two weeks ago, so don't say we.

Hey, I'm representative.

According to the administration, I'm in a representative of raging review.

All right, so we did it.

And then, and then.

Anyway, look, Brett knows ball.

Brett played ball.

So when, when Brett comes to the tailgate, maybe we'll put him on the.

On the pre game.

Oh, spoiler.

Maybe we'll put him on the pre game and we'll talk a little ball with him.

So.

So just be looking out for that.

Yeah, Brett's cool guy.

Yeah.

And maybe we'll do like the, the what is the Buffalo Bills, you know, they go through tables and stuff.

Maybe we sacrifice a table every game.

We gotta light it on fire first.

I mean, but what we got, we got recovery, Kyra, Maddie to go right after you hurt yourself.

I like it.

Dude.

That's the bit.

That's the bit.

We do a Cajun mafia, we light the table on fire, then we got Brett there to put you all back together.

Can you imagine?

Like, I already hear up sirens in the back going, you can't do that.

But you know, we like to talk about boomers.

And you know what?

They can come to the, they can come to the tailgate too.

And they can talk about Mid south wrestling.

Oh, I remember back in My Day in 1982 in Mid south wrestling.

So everybody, everybody can join on the.

Fun up can get the business too.

We'll put them on the table.

Lafayette Roofing, Darren Doming.

He'd go through a table anytime for us.

I know that for a fact.

Eat Lafayette with Lafayette Travel getting a lot of play on social media right now with someone, one of social media, what do they call them?

Influencers.

Going around Lafayette and talking about it being the best food in the world.

Jerry, that means it ain't New Orleans, bro.

We've been telling a long time.

We've been saying that forever.

Okay, it's fine.

I agree with you on that.

And of course, Raging Hydration, after you go through the table on fire and you go eat some good food with the influencer guy, you can go to Raging Hydration on Sunday and, you know, get a little something.

Something in your.

In your veins.

All right, Jerry, I'll turn it over to you.

Quarterbacks, I mean, obviously, I think we know who the number one QB will be for this season.

However, Daniel Beal, man, showing some.

Some sick stuff on social media.

Talk about what you've learned about the quarterback room this year.

Yeah, so it is a fairly new quarterback room as far as the starters go.

You've got.

You've got three guys coming back on the roster.

I mean, you have to replace when you lose two quarterbacks that both had starting experience and Ben Wooldridge and Chandler Fields, I mean, they combined for just under 8,000 yards passing, 61 touchdowns.

Just pure leaders in the locker room.

I know Chandler just, you know, getting married recently, going to PT school, Ben Woldrich playing on our.

Wait a second.

Where's.

Where's Chandler from?

Oh, he's from new.

And where did he go to school?

Well, he started Holy Cross.

All right, continue.

Okay, thanks.

And then Ben Wildridge, of course, you know, transferring from Fresno State, really taking the reins at starting quarterback.

And, you know, he's been through his ups and downs, but he was able to have a really good year last year, and now he's with the New England Patriots.

We, of course, we wish all the best to Ben, but, you know, the big debate going into the offseason was who's going to be the starter.

I mean, you had lunch.

Winfield coming out of Lutcher, full of talent, dual threat quarterback.

One of the things he had, one of the.

One of the critiques he had coming in was he wasn't as good of a passer, but apparently he's got that fixed.

So he's not only a dual threat, but he's got a.

A rocket arm.

And then of course, you have Daniel Beal coming.

Coming out of Catholic High, Baton Rouge.

Four year starter at Catholic High, one state, I believe, three times.

I mean, I can name all the accolades.

I'll go one by one, but yeah.

Andy, that is total blasphemy right there.

Please take that off.

We're going to ban you from ever watching our pot again for saying that.

How dare you.

Anyway, but of course, everybody, and I say the elephant in the room here, everybody's talking about the prodigal son coming home to Lafayette by the name of Walker Howard, the projected starter for the Louisiana Raging Cajuns.

I'll start with Walker Howard, of course.

STM product.

Four star quarterback.

Ranked number one dual threat quarterback according to ESPN.

Coming out of high school, he was the number 27 overall prospect.

247 Sports had him at number five and dual threat quarterbacks, number 34 overall prospect in 2021.

He won two state championships in Division 2 in 2019 and 2020 for.

For St. Thomas Moore.

2020 Louisiana Gatorade player of the year.

He threw for just under 6,000 yards and 69 touchdowns.

While at STM, he was a participant of the Manning Passing Academy.

He was top 10 elite 11 camp and he participated in the Under Armour All American game in early 2022.

I'm just going to list some of the offers he had coming out of high school, just to give you an idea of how highly recruited he was.

Of course, tsab.

He.

He followed in his dad's footsteps, of course.

Jamie Howard was quarterback down in Baton Rouge in the, in the early to mid-90s.

We won't hold it against you there.

I'll.

Walker.

No, no, no, no.

He enrolled down there in Baton rouge in early 2022.

He was also offered.

These are his offers.

Okay.

He was offered by Notre Dame, Alabama, Arizona State, Arkansas, Baylor, Boston College, Colorado, Florida Atlantic, Houston, Louisiana, Michigan State, Mississippi State, NC State, NE, Nichols, Ole Miss, Penn State, TCU, TX A& M, Tulane and Southern Cal.

You know what all those schools have in common?

Zero.

Combined Sunbelt Championships.

There you go.

And they don't have Walker Howard.

We do now.

So of course, just to give you an idea of the hype, as if we needed more, more hype about Uncle Wawa.

He was highly touted out of high school and of course went to Tsav for two year or for a year.

I believe in 2022.

And he didn't get much play time.

He had to play behind Jaden Daniels, of course, who ended up winning the Heisman Trophy in 2023.

He did get some play time there in the Citrus bowl against Purdue.

He was 2 for 4 for 7 yards rushing and 18 yards passing.

So he was limited there.

And once Garrett Nussmeier took over as a second string quarterback, he decided to go to Ole Miss.

He enrolled there in 2023 and 2024, saw limited action, but of course he backed up Jackson Dart.

And of course, as you know, Jackson Dart was a first round draft pick with the New York Giants and dated.

The head coach's daughter.

We, we do want to mention that.

That'S important, but it's, it's crazy because Walker just had bad luck playing behind quarterbacks.

Who.

You had one guy that won a Heisman at Tsav in 23, first round pick for Washington, played in the NFC championship game last year.

The quarterback that's starting there now is a Heisman candidate.

And then an Ole Miss again played behind a guy that was a first round pick for the New York Giants.

So he just got tired of backing people up and he knew what he was capable of.

So that's when he enrolled here at Louisiana.

I know there were some rumors late fall, early this year, January is.

And my dad happened, believe it or not, my dad happened to run into him at the gym in January.

I think it was sometime like right after the New year.

He was working out at City Club and they started talking and he was like, yeah, I've enrolled here and I'm going to be playing at ul.

So that's a huge gig.

Guys.

I can't tell you how excited I am having Walker Howard come to, to Louisiana.

I mean, I think as far as season hype goes, I was telling Josh this earlier.

I don't remember having this much hype about a player playing for the Cajuns like Walker has had.

Anthony Jennings.

No, nothing.

Yeah, not quite.

Not quite.

Right?

Not quite.

I remember some of my TSAP friends being like, yeah, y' all have fun with him, you know, but with Walker, it's been nothing but positives.

And I think a lot of people think, you know, look, it's, it's good that he's come home and he can shine and make something of himself.

And I think he's got a lot of potential to do that.

Now, I could talk about Walker Howard.

All day because we do have to move on.

We have to move on.

But let's talk a little bit about lunch.

Winfield you know, he's been a great backup so far.

He is a red shirt sophomore.

6, 1, 2, 21.

In 2023, he saw limited play time.

He rushed for 19 yards on five attempts against UL Monroe in the finale or the season finale at Cajun Field.

And then in 2024, he was, he had two passing attempts, one completion for six yards, and again, just like 2023, rushed on 19 yards on five attempts, especially in the bowl game.

Last year he went to Lutcher High School.

He was named Louisiana Sports Writers association class Offensive player of the Year and best player of the year at the 2022 Greater New Orleans Quarterback Club.

He had four.

He threw for 4,657 yards and 70 touchdowns as a senior.

I guess I'm sorry that was.

And I don't want to cut you off, but here's my important question for lunch.

Okay, yeah, we can go through all these stats.

Are we going to run Lunch in the wildcat formation in 2025?

That is my question.

I know you don't know the answer to that, but that's what I want to say.

And let me tell you, man, I, I look at him as like a Taysom Hill.

You know, you put him in the red zone or you put him in short yardage, he'll get the yards.

He's that type of quarterback.

I mean, again at Lutcher, I saw some of his highlights and he was kind of like one of those quarterbacks that would, he would just do a quarterback keeper, just break it, break it down the field, you know, break a 70 yard run.

He's one of those type of guys.

And again, like I said earlier, he, you know, a lot of his challenges early on was being able to be an accurate passer.

He had a hell of a spring from what I was told to the point where people were kind of worried that if Walker doesn't up his game, Lunch might be competing for the starting job.

Well, Walker was able to come in and do what he was supposed to do, but lunch has really, really improved this la this past off season.

So he's a different style quarterback than Walker.

I know Walker is kind of a dual threat himself, but Lunch is going to kind of be in those option packages, I think, like those zone read packages.

And he can throw the football, so that's good to see.

But at Lutcher, he helped Lutcher win its ninth LHSAA state championship and he passed for 299 yards and three touchdowns.

And he rushed 43 times for 130 yards in a touchdown in the state title game.

So lot of expectation for lunch.

It's great to have a backup like him because if you put him in some packages he can be very dangerous.

He can very be very dangerous and make defenses have a lot more homework to do other than just preparing for Walker in the style of offense that he would run.

Let's talk a little bit about Daniel.

Beal because who was crapping on Daniel Beal?

That's right, that's right.

I was mad, man.

Come on, tell us about Daniel Beal.

Nick took off his headphones and everything.

He goes, I can't believe that.

I can't.

Who was saying that?

But anyway, Daniel Beal, quarterback, got a Catholic of Baton Rouge.

Just a prototypical college quarterback.

A lot of potential.

He's a red shirt freshman, six two, 200 pounds.

He was 13 of 20 last year, 126 yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions.

Of course you guys remember when he came in in the conference championship once Chandler Fields went down in that game.

He was 9 and 24, 95 yards, one interception.

Can't really blame him.

Like you said, Nick, he's a freshman, right, Coming in and they kind of threw him to the wolves, right?

Playing against a really good Marshall team while like Kathy Kai Baton Rouge, he was ranked as a 3A 3 star prospect with offers from Colorado State and Louisiana Tech.

He was a four year starter for Catholic.

Won three state titles, all state offensive MVP honors.

As a senior through for 20, a little over 2900 yards, 39 touchdowns, 202 rushing yards and seven touchdowns rushing as a senior broke six school records accounting for 2600 yards, 42 touchdowns as a junior.

And he led Catholic to a 12, 1 record in a Division 1 state championship after throwing for 2,000 yards and 17 touchdowns.

And he holds a school record for the most passing yards and touchdown passes in a single game.

And we got some, we got some Daniel Beal love from Andre.

That's right.

All right, I'm down with that.

Accumulated 8,756 total yards and 119 total touchdowns while at Catholic of Baton Rouge, which is very impressive because Catholic of Baton Rouge, I mean they're one of the, they're one of the main dominant schools in the state and they, they challenged, they challenge themselves against really good quality competition.

He earned multiple academic honors including LHSA Academic all State.

Member of the student ministry, National Honor Society and Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Great leader in the locker room, really big learn.

He's, he's somebody that really wants to learn.

So I look, I thought going into this, this offseason that Daniel was going to be vying for the starting job against lunch and then when Walker came in, things changed a little bit.

But having someone like Daniel learn and being a red shirt freshman, he still has a lot of time.

I think he's going to, you know, he's going to take this season just like last year to learn and his time may come.

We haven't, we've had some bad luck with quarterback injuries.

You just never know.

And he's one of those guys that's going to be ready.

So I'm really, really excited to see what he can do and I'm really, really excited to see him, well, improved this year as well.

And by the way, none of our quarterbacks are furries.

We can confirm that right here on Ragin Review tonight.

I know there was a little bit of controversy with TCU quarterback and we lost and we lost to that guy, but we're not going to anyway.

Adding to the quarterback room, Sam Altman from from St. Thomas Moore redshirt freshman, 6 3, 201 pounds threw for over 5200 yards and 53 touchdowns in two years as a starter at STM.

He was basically the guy who filled the shoes of Walker Howard.

Once Walker left, Sam came in and finished what Walker started.

Uh, he was a successor to Walker and led us the STM to a pair of Division 2 state titles, both coming against LCA.

Most outstanding player for the Cougars in 2022 title game as he completed 22 of 39 passes for 422 yards and 6 touchdowns and he helped STM score twice in the final minute including a go ahead 54 yard touchdown pass to rally STM to a 52:48 win over LCA.

He was as a senior class 4A all state and all district and of course he is very familiar with the area being from Lafayette and I'm sure he plays with a lot of familiar faces on the team.

So always good to have a local on that depth chart and closing it out.

Coleman Carter Freshman, 6 1, 180 pounds he comes from Adam Adams County Christian School I believe that's in Mississippi and he's a dual threat quarterback.

A three SP three star prospect from 247Sports rated as the 57th overall product in the state of Mississippi.

Accounted for 3765 total yards in 2023.

Named the 2023 matches Democrat 2023 Offensive Player of the Year where he threw for 2500 yards, 25 touchdowns while rushing for 1250 yards and 13 touchdowns in a June as a junior.

And he helped lead his team to the 2023 Mississippi Class 5A state title.

So that's rounding it out for the depth chart of quarterbacks.

I forgot to mention Walker Howard's size.

He's.

He's a redshirt junior.

He's big.

Six feet.

Yeah, yeah, six feet, 190 pounds.

I mean, he's not as quarterback.

He's not as big at Woolbridge, but he's big enough.

No, but they all have size.

And I think the beauty of these quarterbacks is they all kind of bring their own style.

You look at Walker, he's a dual threat, but he's got a rocket arm.

He's really good in the pocket.

I know, Josh, you were at the spring game.

I thought his poise in the pocket was really, really impressive.

And he made some really good throws down the seam.

That's going to be very important this year.

I thought Lunch was really good on the short pass and he, he's not afraid to lower his shoulder.

He'll run the football.

Daniel Beal, I find is more sort of a.

A gunslinging pocket passer, but he also has height and he has size.

I do.

I'm sure he put on some weight this offseason to where if he has to lower his shoulder, he will.

He's definitely a pass first quarterback, but I like that.

And then Sam Altman came in in the second half and he showed some, some sparks in that spring game.

So we're really deep on quarterbacks.

I hope the jinx ends this year where our starting quarterback doesn't get hurt.

I would love for Walker to play the entire year to where we can also implement Lunch in some of these packages.

But this is probably the most hype I've seen from a quarterback's position in a long time just because it's Walker.

But to see guys like Lunch and Daniel Beal who have experience backing him up, I think we're going to be okay in the quarterback position.

What do you guys think on how we implement?

What do you guys.

What do you all expect from Walker, number one and number two, if something were to happen with Walker, would you go with Lunch or would you go with Bill?

Based on the type of offense that we run.

I would say.

I would say it would be.

I mean, I think you have to go with Daniel Beal because he has the most game experience as far as throwing him in there in the fire.

And he Also looked really good in the.

In the spring game, obviously making the catches he made.

But, I mean, obviously, Walker's going to be your number one.

I think Lunch is always going to be that guy who tries to throw off the rhythm, and then you see Beal there.

Do you guys disagree at all?

Lane, you go ahead.

I'll finish it off.

No, I don't disagree at all.

I mean, it'd be great to have Lunch in the Wildcat package, not only in the middle of the field, but also towards the end zone.

With him in, you don't really know what to expect.

Heck, even put him at running back or full back and see what happens.

By the way, did he change his.

I think he changed his name because it's.

It's not Dwayne Lunch anymore.

It's Lunch like me.

Yeah, that's what he's talking about.

I'll take it.

Josh, your thoughts on quarterbacks and we'll move on.

That took a little bit.

No, I think.

I think Lunch is a very interesting character because he's not a gadget guy.

You know what I mean?

Like, when you, when you watch him play, you don't think, oh, man, we can only use him in these gadget formations or just the Wildcat or whatever.

I think he forces you to defend the entire field because we know he's got a cannon.

He can put the ball down the field, he can run the football.

But based on what the coaches are saying, his accuracy has improved tremendously, almost to the point where he was rivalry rivaling Walker.

And that's quite a. I mean, you heard what Jerry said about his accolades.

That is.

That is great for the raging Cajun team, obviously, but I'm just thrilled to see his development because, you know, before we knew Walker Howard was coming here, Lunch was kind of the guy in line.

So the development is on cue.

The development is exactly where it's supposed to be.

In fact, from just a coaching standpoint, I'm thrilled to know that.

I love what he brings to the.

To the table, but I gotta see Lunch in the football game four to eight times a game.

I think that, that, that presents so many issues for a defense.

You have no idea what he's going to do.

You have no idea.

Especially in short yardage.

How are you going to defend that?

You can defend a rollout.

Are you going to defend.

Are you going to have your linebacker sag back to.

To watch the.

The pass?

Are you going to have him be aggressive, off the edge?

I mean, he provides such a.

It's Such a.

It's just a mismatch.

Mismatch of what the hell?

How to.

How the hell do you defend him?

And not only that, but you got to think you got Jensen in there on tight end.

Are they going to try to, you know, do one of those little trick plays to him or you got two wide receivers on the outside, they're going to throw it to him.

Now you got to worry about lunch.

Now you got.

You got Bill Davis there.

I mean, I'm not a fan.

I'm not a fan of.

Of making the smear, the feel smaller when you roll guys out, but he is very good on the run.

Yep.

Think about all three levels of the route tree.

You got somebody with speed at the top of the route, whoever it is, Sampson, Roger Davis, whoever it is.

Then you got Caden in that intermediate zone, right.

Who can fill up the middle of the field.

And then you get somebody in the flat that can catch the football, like Zylon or Bill.

So you got Ish.

You got.

You got an issue for the defense at every level of the route tree.

I love the options.

I know Des does, too.

Lunch is just a.

He's just an intriguing player.

I can't wait to see him get on the field.

I think Uncle Wawa, dude, when you watch him prepare, when you watch him in practice, when you watch him in the spring game, just watch his feet.

His feet, watch his footwork.

Don't even watch him throw the football.

That's not even the.

The fun part.

That's not even the beautiful part of his game.

His footwork is elite.

It is professional footwork.

And I'm not gonna, you know, he's been in the.

The Manning passing academy.

He's been at.

At under Lane Kiffin and a quarterback, heavy offense.

He's been at lsu.

He's been around some of the game's best.

His footwork is phenomenal.

It is.

It is impeccable.

And when you compare it to a lot of the guys, look, we've had some talented kids here, so I'm not.

By no means am I looking down on them.

I'm just telling you, like his footwork, it starts with the feet.

Watch his feet.

You will be impressed by his footwork.

I love watching him play and then going.

Going over to Sam Altman, tbd.

I thought he looked great in the spring.

I think he's got talent.

He's got size.

From everything I understand and Jerry kind of mentioned it, everything I understand about how the guys look at him, they will play for him.

They like Sam, that doesn't surprise me at all.

He's an STM guy.

He's got good moral fiber.

He's a.

He's a leader of men.

And then make your way down to Daniel Beal.

I think Daniel Bill's a little bit more talented than Sam, so I think he's a little bit ahead of him on a depth chart.

But, dude, Daniel Beal will be a starter at this school if he decides to sit behind Walker and learn and take his turn.

Daniel.

When you watch Daniel Beal talking about footwork outside of the pocket, Daniel Beal might be better than Walker.

His footwork outside of the pocket is very good.

His accuracy outside of pocket, very good.

What you saw against Marshall lay Cajun fans or people that didn't follow the career of Daniel Bill.

That was an aberration.

That was.

That was getting thrown in as a freshman saying, oh, congratulations, now you have to win a championship game for us.

Correct.

And then nobody talks about the fact that like, I don't know how many six or seven offensive linemen, wide receivers, tight ends who didn't play in that game who were basically running around with chicken like chickens with a head cut off.

He had absolutely no support.

We were already losing.

Marshall had a very good defense.

They had a second round pick on the edge who was absolutely terrorizing him.

If you go back and actually watch the film, he did some good things with his eyes.

And I know a lot of people don't want to hear that, but if you are a student in the game and you watch the game and you watch the film, his.

The way that he went through his progressions, the intent on which he was trying to get the football was actually really good.

It was actually at a high, high level.

It didn't get, you know, it's not pretty when you don't make the passes and you don't complete passes.

And I understand all that.

But if you go back and just kind of do a postmortem, it wasn't as bad as it looked, I promise you.

I know nobody's going to do that.

I'm just kind of talking into the win here.

But I think Daniel Bealso has a very bright future at Louisiana.

If he just sticks with it, he's got a learning curve.

It's still going to happen.

But I think the quarterback room is in tremendous shape.

I even think the young guys that are coming up behind him are good, too.

We've never been light and in depth on the quarterback in the quarterback room.

I'll tell you that.

Ever.

Oh, we've done it.

We've had a very nice run last couple, last 10, 11.

And we've needed it because we.

We've needed the depth.

Unfortunately, Cole is, you know, we.

We run into these things where sometimes my Internet goes out, sometimes power goes out, sometimes computers don't work.

And I feel so bad moving on to the offensive line, but we got to get on with the show.

So, Cole, my bad.

I'm going to try to do as good of a job as I can on the fly because I know you've worked really, really hard for this.

But let's talk about the offensive line.

Go ahead, Nick.

What I'm going to do, I'm going to drop off just in case it helps him, and I'll be back after you get started.

I just want to give Cole.

Cole worked really hard and prepared, like, a lot of the day, like, better.

Than any of us, I think.

Yeah, his.

His.

His note sheet was, like, embarrassing.

I had to go and start doing more work.

So I hope he can get in.

Let's give him a minute or two.

Maybe he can make it happen.

If not, I'll jump back in.

Sounds good.

So to me, the biggest loss at the offensive line is going to be Landon Burton.

For reasons that are obvious, he's the center.

He was the guy who kind of held that line together, and he's going to be.

To be.

He departed last year, so that's going to be a big void to fill.

However, Cooper Fordham is going to be stepping up in his absence this year.

It actually, he.

He started in the New Orleans bowl vs. Jacksonville State A couple seasons ago, so we have a little bit of encouragement that Fordham will be able to see step up, but he's going to be the guy to step in for Burton this season.

Obviously, we can go down the line of talent that we've lost.

King McGowan, another big name that.

That.

That we lost.

Let's talk about, you know, King McGowan, Landon Burton, A.J.

gilly is another big loss on the offensive line.

However, I'm going to go back to saying, again, the depth on this team has really helped us, you know, develop players so that when guys do either move on to another team or they end their career as a Cajun, we do have guys in the trenches that are able to come back and fill in the void.

Biggest returner this year has got to be senior Jax Harrington, who returns at right guard stability on that line, which is something that we really need to see.

With only two returning starters, he had 12 starts in 24.

He's an intense dude.

His technique is off the charts and he's gonna really be to me, the key to holding that line together.

Along with Fordham, he'll be stepping in as a sophomore.

Kaden Morrow, obviously.

Again, he'll have a tough job stepping in behind behind AJ Gilly who left.

He was an All American honorable mention player.

So that tells you how big of a void Kaden Moore will have to to fill.

But he'll be opposite Harrington at left guard.

Another left guard that that is going to be in a number two or number three slot is Mackie Mayo.

And dude, I'm telling you, that guy is a beast.

We'll talk about the size of our line in a second.

But Mackie Mayo is the biggest dude that you've ever seen in your life, but he's also the nicest dude you've ever met.

I need him to be an A hole this season.

That's what I need for Mackie Mayo.

I need to play him to play up to his very large size and just be mean.

Let's talk about senior left tackle Bryant Williams.

He'll see action as the start of the season.

He's actually replacing McGowan at that position.

Six Seven Junior saw playing time in 12 games last season.

Again speaks to the depth of the Cajuns.

He had a hundred percent rating and 41 snaps against South Alabama last year.

And then senior right tackle George Jackson will be opposite Williams at the right tackle position.

Saw 12 appearances in games last season.

So a lot of new faces, but not really, really new because these are all guys that again have significant playing time for the last couple of seasons.

Again, is it a step forward?

I'm not going to venture out to say it's a step forward quite yet.

I want to see how the guys, if they're cohesive on the line this season.

And again, I think there's a lot of depth that we're not even talking about.

The one thing I do want to mention though, let's go back to the size of our offensive line this season.

643-2764-294653-29673, 29.

And of course you got Jensen at 66264.

Those are some big boys.

And when you look at the depth, I mean you've got Balen Williams behind Mackie Mayo.

Mackie Mayo 68363.

That dude is insanely huge.

You got Xavier Brown at 66320 at the right tackle behind Jackson.

You've got John Bragg at 6, 4, 3, 20.

I mean you're not going to find a guy that is 6, 3 or under on this offensive line.

They're a big line.

So I think it's going to be to see how these guys gel early in the season.

I want to see how they perform, especially against Rice.

I think you're going to see a lot of number twos and number threes.

So maybe we'll see a Jackson Hammond, maybe we'll see a Mackie Mayo.

You know, other guys that, that aren't listening.

The Jaden McAllister I heard was a very impressive performer in the spring as well.

So I think you have a lot of guys with talent on the offensive line just losing four really good starters last season.

You know, you can't just pick up and act like it's going to be all good from game one.

So I interested to see how they do against Rice.

Josh mentioned it earlier.

It's going to take some maturing throughout the season.

But interested to hear any thoughts on you guys.

I mean, obviously we know what Jax can do, we know what George Jackson can do.

Bryant, Williams, none of these guys are new names to us because we have the depth to be able to reload at that position.

Just going to be a matter of can they hold up and give more importantly Walker enough time, can they open holes for our running back core?

I don't know.

Well, it's a wait and see, but we'll learn a lot in week one.

Jerry, your thoughts on the offensive line for the season?

Just, just got to stay healthy.

That that's the most important thing.

You know, the last couple of years we've always had at least one guy that has gone down early in the season or has struggled early in the season, or we hear something about a player or a tackle or a guard getting hurt at camp.

Right.

They need to be healthy by, by the Rice game.

That's the main thing.

I think also too, the depth of our offensive line goes a long way as well.

Depending on the packages we run run because look, our offense, they're going to have to learn how to pass block and run block.

I mean, you see teams around college football, they don't have many dynamic offenses because the offensive line can do one or the other.

They can either pass block or run block, but they can't do the other.

And I think that's one thing that our, our culture has done here at UL is that we have offensive linemen that can do both.

You know, when we talk to Phil Steele, you look at 2019.

All five of those guys on the line are playing in the NFL.

You look at as recent as last year or the year before last, we had guys that were NFL talent.

This year, I think we have NFL talent on the line.

So I. I think.

I think the expectation of any offensive lineman that comes to Louisiana, they have to know you have to be able to do a little bit of everything.

But a little bit of everything takes energy, it takes more physical ability.

And that's why I think it's important to not overdo it.

And.

And the main factor is staying healthy.

We're going to need them this year.

We're going to need all five, and we're going to need some depth to add on to it.

So I think.

I think if they.

If they were able to pass block and they're able to run block and they're physical, that that, to me, that makes a big difference when you go to Missouri and you try to pull off a win there.

I think it helped us win last year at Wake Forest, that our offensive line play was outstanding against Wake Forest.

I mean, even at Texas State, you know, on the road, you know, we gave Ben time to throw the football, we gave him time to run.

We allowed Bill Davis to break a long run in Winston Salem.

You know, that's.

That's important, that that offensive line plays important, and I honestly think it's overlooked.

So just stay healthy.

Keep the same energy you had last year.

I think that's going to be a key factor in our offensive production.

I.

Look, the bottom line is this is the biggest and the most experienced offensive line that Mike's ever had, and we got to use that to our advantage.

Now.

We'd be lying to ourselves if we try to pretend like the guys behind them weren't babies, because they are.

They're inexperienced.

There's some development that needs to occur there, and hopefully we can make it four, five, six games into the season before we need to start relying on twos and threes.

I think at some point it's going to happen.

It's an offensive line.

These things, they happen.

But the front five, maybe six actually, I feel really good about.

And if we can keep them healthy, we're gonna.

We're gonna run a football, and we can run to football.

We're gonna win a lot of games.

And I think that if we can come out the first two weeks with health and some confidence, I think the sky's the limit when we take the.

The road trip up to the Midwest.

So that's all going to Start up front, all of it.

And I know we'll talk defense next week, but it goes both ways.

In both the trenches, we're going to win games or lose games based on what happens where the ball is snapped.

So I feel really good about the first five, six guys.

I really, really do.

And I'm not saying the guys behind him aren't.

Aren't talented, because they obviously are, but it's a little bit thin on.

On experience, and that's what's going to happen here at our level within IL and transfer.

So we're just going to have to continue to develop and.

But.

But it is a luxury to finally have size and a little bit of seniority.

So I feel good about that.

Do you feel.

Do you feel like.

I mean, I'm comfortable with Jax here.

I mean, obviously Jax is going to be the anchor of the offensive line this season, but Fordham stepping in for Burton, Are you.

Does that concern you?

I mean, of course it concerns me because Burton was.

Was there.

You know, we.

We knew what we got out of him.

I don't know if I'm concerned about it.

I just think he's got to perform very well for us to be successful on the line.

I think it starts with Burton.

I mean, because you know what you're going to get out of Harrington.

We've seen Morrow, we know Bryant Williams, but I think really, Fordham's going to be the guy who.

We have to see how he performs early in the season.

I'm gonna say something that people probably don't want to hear, but Landon Burton was not as tough as Fordham is.

Now.

Fordham is not as athletically gifted as Burton was, but Fordham is a tough customer.

And I'm in the camp of give me tough over talented every time.

So I think we're actually upgrading to a point in.

In that regard.

Like, and I'm not trying to say the kid couldn't play hurt, but in this.

In this game that we love, you got to play hurt.

You can't play injured, but you got to play hurt.

And I think.

I think there were times where he didn't want to play hurt.

I think Fordham will play hurt.

I think he'll give you everything you have, maybe to his detriment.

So in.

In the form of toughness, I think we're gaining a lot.

You asked about Jax Harrington.

Look, dude, I think Jax Harrington is crazy talented.

I think he can.

He could be an NFL player.

He can make an NFL roster.

Can you stay healthy?

Can you stay on the field?

Are you taking care of your body?

Are you doing what it takes to get ready for the season and the long haul that it takes?

I'm not saying he's not, but usually these recurring issues are indicative of something that's not being done behind the scenes.

So I'm a challenge, challenge him a little bit and say, hey, man, how committed are we this year?

Are we in the weight room?

Are we watching our diet?

Like, how much do you want to win?

How much do you want to be a senior leader?

How much do you really, really want to take it to the next level?

So that's going to be, that's going to be my message to, to Jax, like, yeah, anchor this offensive line, but take care of yourself and make sure you're not getting injured.

And I know everybody gets rolled up on.

I'm not saying that, you know, the guy, the guy's not committed.

That's not at all what I'm trying to say.

But look, we got to get committed, all of us on the offensive line, and then George Jackson, I think, is going to be a star.

It just, it can we be consistent on the edges, all right?

I mean, a lot of these guys have, have, have snaps behind them and they have some snow seniority.

You got to stay consistent.

It can't be highs and lows.

And we saw too much of that on the edge last year.

I don't think we can go through that again.

Let's figure it out because we need chemistry soon.

We need to protect, walk with everything we have.

And I also want to look at Tim and say, tim, we gotta, we gotta call games that stay on schedule, you know, and he's been good about that.

I have no quarrels with Tim and the way he's been calling games, but I just hope he has it at top of mind, like, hey, let's get these guys in a groove before we start really trying to attack too much.

Let's stay on schedule.

Let's possess the football.

Let's use the tight end, maybe use the fullback from time to time.

That'd be great.

H back and I'm kind of joking there, but no, dude, I, I, I.

Like bring, bring me a Mike Allstot all day, baby, and let him just.

Want to see me run.

No damn offense ain't gonna be like Jerry's Roggie Davis down the field, little.

Fin Roy neck thing going.

Dude, no, no, time out, time out, time out.

I'm a dude.

I'm, I'm a read option type guy, man.

I like, I like going vertical on that.

When you set it up.

You, in order to go deep, you got to, you got to establish the run game first, man, you know that.

Look, I just think we need to score not as quickly this year because how many times did we get in a position where we just ran?

You know, we, we get down the field in three plays and then our defense is gas because they've been on the field so long in the game.

So I, I agree with you, Drage.

I think we need to find a way to slow the tempo down when necessary.

I will go ahead and wrap this up with the, the kicking team for this season.

Obviously we're not going to see another Lou Graza award winner at Louisiana probably ever.

Kenny the kicker was the first and maybe the last, but hopefully we get, we get some good, good results from senior Logan Klotz.

He'll be, he'll be battling Tony Sterner.

I don't know if anybody in the, in the spring really had an edge on that.

So we'll see how that ends up this season.

But either way it's going to be big shoes to fill for Kenny the kicker this season.

So you'll either see juniors Tony Sterner or senior Logan Klotz this season at the place kicker duties.

We also on the punter side, we have Nathan Torney who is the, another Aussie punter.

You know, we love our, our stinger.

So we got Nathan Turney.

He averaged nearly 40 yards, a pun in 24.

Hopefully we don't have to see him a whole lot this season as we didn't have to see him a whole lot last season.

But look, he's, he's an all preseason pick.

All SBC preseason pick.

I think he's going to be, do a, a, a solid job.

And let's not forget the long snapper Carter Milron.

I think I'm saying that right, I may be saying it wrong, but Carter is an all SBC team pick preseason this season.

And look, y' all remember us going up to, to App State and our long snapper had the yips.

That happens sometimes.

But I think Carter is going to be a solid, solid force at the long snapper position.

So boys, any, any thoughts on that?

Josh?

It was one of the nuttiest things ever.

That was weird, dude.

Just sailing everywhere and then we're going.

To take a safety because we couldn't trust him to snap the ball.

Oh man, y' all killed Napier on that.

But, but he was, I mean, poor kid.

Like he never did it again.

But you gotta feel bad for kids who get the yips like that.

I mean.

Yeah, well, it was.

It was weird.

I. I'll say this.

I don't know if y' all noticed this in your research, but Phil still had us the number two overall special teams program in the entire country.

Number two in the entire country.

It.

It helps when Kenny wins the lug.

Rosa.

And, you know, we.

We did a lot of kick coverage, was really good.

We didn't allow much on punts.

I mean, like, our net punt was, I think, 46 or 47, which is really good in college.

Yeah, man, we're not gonna.

We're not gonna get better than that.

So obviously, we'll probably take a small step back.

I just hope Logan can keep it together, you know, make big kicks when we need them.

Drew loves Logan Klotz, says there's a lot of confidence in his ability.

Look, I saw his girlfriend.

He's got a lot of confidence.

That's how it kind of gauges the special teams guys.

Listen, listen, if you're a special team guy and your girlfriend's a smoke, show you.

You're.

I have a ton of ability.

A ton of confidence in your ability as well.

Logan.

Logan gave us a shout out.

When I was on the Mardi Gras float, I just saw Raging Cajun shirt, and he goes, hey, Raging Review.

And I'm like, how'd you know that?

And he's like, dude, I play on the football team.

I was like, what's your name?

I said, I'm Logan.

I was like, you're the kicker?

He's like, yeah, man.

And we.

We hit it off and he.

He exudes confidence.

Look, I know Kenny the kicker was so clutch last year.

Anything within 50.

50.

You knew he was going to make it.

I feel like Logan can.

I think he's.

I think he's got the ability to get it done.

I do.

I.

Now, like, Nick, you said I.

Look, it's going to be hard to get another Gro winner.

I'm not saying that.

But look, give me, give me, give me.

Clutch.

Anything within 40, and I'm happy you know that.

That's.

That's what I'm asking for.

Anything within 40, 45.

If I know you're going to get an easy three points.

That's what made Kenny so great last year.

Anytime you got in field goal range, you knew you were going to get three points if you couldn't get in the end zone.

That's all I'm asking.

Just give me a kicker that can do that.

Or just keep him on the Bench and don't need a kicker.

Just score touchdowns.

Yeah, yeah, that works.

Cover kicks and punts and I mostly don't care.

I just don't want anybody busting coverage.

And by the way, what is it with, with, with punters and kickers getting hot girlfriends and sting.

I'm sorry if I'm, I'm overstepping, but he is.

I bet him.

And obviously I met him.

We've been knowing him for a while, but met his fiance and she is just a wonderful human being.

Of course, she's from Lafayette, so she's a beautiful Lafayette girl.

And I'm like, out kick the coverage, eh?

I mean, come on.

That's a good kick kicker joke.

No.

Okay.

I would expect that from Jerry, but I'll move on.

The hell, man?

That was definitely my dad joke of the night.

Okay, so I can.

I could comment on that.

Do you really have to, Jerry?

Most kickers and punters, they're all like in shape.

They're all like have six packs.

Stevie Ortig is at Reds.

The dude looks like he can, you know, be in a weightlifting competition.

I mean, they all, they're all in shape.

They're all, they all look.

Well, if I'm meeting the woman before.

This takes too weird of a turn, let me just tell you how we do it.

No, I'm just kidding.

Yeah, yeah.

My.

The woman I have not met yet will be loving me for my cooking.

And that's about it.

All right, boys, let's.

Let's turn the page.

No spaghetti.

Don't get me started on that crap.

Start the page and talk about the Sunbelt conference.

By the way, thank you to all you folks for putting this together.

And I, I know we went long on it, but I think it was important to, to really give all the players that will be playing on the team, even though they're a second or third stringer, the, the, you know, putting their names out there, letting them know we see them and hear them.

So looking forward to that Sunbelt conference.

Big news out of Ulm.

Let's talk about this dude.

Ulm, their.

Their athletic director of two years, who seemed to be a young guy, energetic, really excited.

Hires Vincent, great, you know, on a great path there.

Abruptly resigns and we thought maybe he's going to Troy.

And then we start hearing rumblings of budget cuts.

Now, look across the entire state of Louisiana, TSAB included, everybody's going to have some sort of budget cut.

This, this year.

We're going to have a budget cut.

Now that doesn't mean the $40 million budget won't be honored that Maggard asked for, but they may say you go a dollar over and we got to have a talk.

So lots of things are kind of in play there.

But Ulm, you know, we're asking for a 40 minute million dollar budget.

They're already at 20 million.

And I've heard different things, Jerry.

You've heard different things?

We heard conservatively 2 million all the way to $6 million cuts cut in their athletic budget.

That is not sustainable in the Sunbelt Conference.

So I do want to go around the horn here and I'll start with you, Jerry, because I think you were, you were the one who kind of pointed out the numbers that you heard.

Look, I've been a big proponent of you all in being in the conference.

They were a founding member, et cetera.

But at some point they have to look at the mirror and they continue to say things like, oh, we're committed.

And then the athletic director is Brian Vincent.

And that's happened before, but it's not real.

I mean, it happened at Tech and you saw how that worked out.

I mean, it's never a successful kind of thing.

So I, I don't know.

What have you heard and what are your thoughts about the Ulm situation?

Because I, I don't know if I'm going to support the position I had before.

Like, if you can't, if you can't afford to be in the conference and compete at the highest level, then, then maybe you need to take a look in the mirror and decide where you really belong.

Yeah.

First of all, they had, they just hired, of course, a new president and former president Nick Bruno came as in as an interim to kind of clean some things up.

The reality is, is they just have no money.

They've always had that issue and they've always had, they've always fallen behind and it's been going on for decades.

And that goes into athletics.

You look at their athletic budget, it's the lowest in fbs.

It's been the lowest in fbs.

And to your point, Nick, I'm the same way.

I've said, look, let's give them a shot.

Let's see what they can do.

But at this point, we, how many chances are they going to get?

They've been in Division 1, or should I say FBS since 1994.

That's 31 years.

They've had one winning season.

They've been to one bowl game.

I mean, their, their, their, their stadium looks exactly the same as it did in 1994.

They built this little locker room thing at the end of their stadium.

And I mean, it looks somewhat decent, but they really haven't moved the needle in their football program, their basketball arena.

You go, you walk into that place, you're back in 1973.

You know, I think.

I think Elvis performed in the same arena, and it looked exactly the same when he performed in the 70s as it does now when they play a basketball game, their softball facility small, their baseball facilities behind.

They just don't have the money.

And look, I don't want to knock on them too much, but after 30 years of trying and, and you.

You've gone through your fourth or fifth athletic director in seven years.

The president had to go in.

The old president had to go in and clean house and out reallocate money and all these things.

It comes to the point where you're like, look, you tried, but it's just this experiment has to end.

It's time to move on.

It's time to.

To me in football, I'm going to say it.

It's time for them to drop that back down to fcs.

I'm sorry, I know it's taboo.

I. I know I shouldn't be saying.

And I know I got to support the fellow UL system school and all that, but they've tried.

They've tried like eight times to make this work, and it doesn't work.

It has not worked.

Now they're looking at budget cuts.

If they.

I mean, I've heard anywhere from 3 to 6 to 9 million.

I think it's going to be around 3 to 4 million.

That puts them at like 17, $18 million.

That's Southland Conference budget.

You know, I mean, we're at.

We're at around 40 right now.

We.

Oh, we.

We go beyond two times the amount of what they got.

And I would say ours.

I would wish we.

Our budget would increase a little bit.

Just imagine where they're at.

So I just.

I'm at the point now.

It.

Look, their enrollment's down.

I want to see their enrollment on campus is like four to five thousand students.

Andy brings up the pharmacy school.

Look, they do have a great pharmacy school, but what would they be without the pharmacy school?

They probably shut down.

I hate to say it.

So they've tried this experiment, guys, and I've been backing them up on this.

I've tried to say ULM has a shot to get it done.

They obviously can't get it done.

The AD step down because he's like, look, I can't do this anymore.

You got a head football coach that's basically taking over as an interim to try to have the programs, make the program survive.

I hate to say it.

It's time to go down to fcs.

It's time.

You know, one of the things, Josh, that I heard was they were potentially looking at moving their, their Olympic sports to another conference.

I don't think that's even.

I mean, maybe that's just a rumor.

I'm hoping that's just a rumor because there's no, there's really no place for them in the conference, especially if that happens.

We have no need for Ulm to be a football school.

What?

Jerry?

I was going to say they also dropped their women's tennis program last week.

Wow.

So they, you know, they don't, they, they're dropping sports now.

They don't even have the money to, to maintain what they have now to the point where, I mean, it, it.

Yeah.

There's so much more than I know that I'm not really going to share.

Not because it's anything secretive, but it's just, I'm just going to say this.

They've tried.

They don't have the money.

It's to the point where they're just, they become a shell of what they were.

And it's just, it's sad to see.

But anyway.

Josh, your thoughts?

Our old friend Sean Fox said that the budget cuts that are being reported are not true.

So keep that in mind.

I'm not gonna.

On Ulm.

Look, they have a pharmacy school.

Jerry said it's a great pharmacy school.

It's a pharmacy school.

It's not great.

It just exists.

So people go there.

I, I, you know, it's like a.

Medical school, like, unless it's like one of the top in the country.

Friends.

I've got two friends that went to the pharmacy school there.

It's, it's fine.

It's there.

Look, dude, if they were going to drop down, they would have done it already.

They're not dropping down.

We shouldn't even talk about that.

It's, it's waste of time.

The, the sad part, if you want to talk about it from a stand, a Sunbelt standpoint, the sad point, the sad part is that they actually found a guy that was willing to take that job, that, that recruited and put the extra effort in and seemingly put that football program on track to actually compete in the league.

And I just, I'm kind of gutted for those people because in a one fell swoop, in an off season, they lost Their best, probably most marketable football player they've had there in years since probably Colton Browning.

And then they lose their ad, who I thought from the get go was too good for that job, but he took it to get his foot in the door.

I suppose.

I thought Hartwell was an excellent ad, especially with the budget constraints that he had to deal with.

And then they, they, they take Vincent and put him in charge of GMing.

That's going to destroy their football program.

And then on top of that, their president, who was literally hired to scale the entire university back, is telling them that more budget cuts are coming.

I don't know if it's the 9 billion, the 9 million being reported.

It probably isn't.

It's probably between 3 and 4, which is still very bad for a team like, or a program like Ulm.

You, you got, you're already hemorrhaging sports like Jerry mentioned, and now you got your football program running the entire show.

And then they add tech.

The president wanted to add tech for dollars in the pockets.

But the athletic program is, it will suffer.

You cannot recruit against Louisiana Tech with, you know, they don't have a ton of resources.

It's not like their athletic program is way better, but they have a better brand.

You can't even argue that.

And they will get the borderline recruits and they will get the borderline students and fans and Tech will they.

We pulled them out of the abyss and now they're going to come back and they're going to overtake all of the momentum that Ulm had.

And yes, they're a charter member and no, they're not a rival.

It never has been a rival, never will be a rival.

So I do feel a little bit kind of sorry for them.

I, I felt like it was good to have them kind of trending in the right direction.

I hated to lose to them in baseball.

There was a silver lining in that.

Now when we play them in baseball next year, I'm more excited to play them because we owe them an ass whooping.

How ro beat them 27 in a row at one time.

It's like they weren't even a real.

It was a rental win on the schedule.

That doesn't happen in baseball.

That doesn't happen in baseball.

And they finally started to figure it out.

And dude, I'm gonna just tell you, I, I feel bad for him.

I do.

And they've never been a threat to us, so I can say that I would never, I would never say that.

I feel bad about Tech.

I'll Never feel bad about Tech.

I hope they are in.

They admired a mediocrity forever.

But as far as Ulm goes, yeah, I think that they were finally starting to see some daylight.

And then all this stuff comes down.

And I told Jerry said it happens in threes.

You add tech, you cut the budget.

And what was the third thing?

Oh, yeah.

AD retires or AD resigns.

Just brutal.

Just brutal.

It gets better.

Josh, to the ad, your point about the ad The AD was the biggest cheerleader trying to get Louisiana Tech to come to the conference.

We're all going, what the hell are you doing?

As from a Ulm's perspective, as a fan, I'd be insulted.

And then we find out a week later he leaves.

But he knew they knew they were cutting the budget.

He cheerleaded like the loudest to get Tech into the conference.

And then next week he jets.

If I'm a Ulm fan, I'm furious right now.

But dude, if TJO tells Brian the cheerlead to get somebody in, he's gonna cheerlead.

That's what he's gonna do.

They do what the president tell him.

But he damn well knew that was going to hurt his athletic program.

And he probably knew about the budget cuts before.

So he was probably doing the cheerleading.

All the while thinking, where's going to be my vacation home?

Because I'm out of here.

I'm done.

That's what I'm saying, man.

If I were.

If Maggie did that here, I'd be furious.

Can y' all stop talking?

Because we got Cole on the freaking pod.

What up, kg?

I'm glad you figured it out, dude.

Man, I'm telling you, I was so upset with.

And look again, it happens to all of us sometimes.

My.

You asked Jerry.

My Internet goes out randomly.

It happens, brother.

Welcome in.

What's going on, man?

You look frustrated, bro.

You can take this Judas.

You can take this Judy's Internet setup and throw it as far in the tall grass as you can.

It took me two hours, two hours to reboot this 2015 HP laptop.

Maybe that's half the goddamn problem as well.

But no, I've been.

I've been listening to y' all on Facebook the whole time while I've been trying to deal with this.

Y'.

All.

Y' all have done a great job so far.

But, Nick, I appreciate you stepping up and taking, you know, taking the reins on the offensive line.

Great job with that.

I mean, you hit on a lot of the, you know, the guys that I was going to talk about.

And, you know, talk about their experience and whatnot.

But, no, I'm having fun listening to you guys talk about Ulm's conundrum with this budget, because based on the numbers that I've been getting at the.

The Sun Belt, the Sunbelt average on athletic budget.

Excuse me, athletic budget spending is 66 million and they're not even halfway there.

So, yeah, they got a very.

They got a very tall hill to climb.

Like.

Like Josh said, I don't see them leaving this conference.

I think that's a pointless conversation.

I don't think they're going to willingly go down to the fcs.

But, yeah, when you got a.

When you got a budget that's worse than McNich, you got a big problem.

I don't know, man.

I mean, I don't see how that's sustainable.

That's my thing.

I'm not saying they want to.

I just don't see how it's sustainable in FBS1.

No, that's the argument.

I think that they will eventually have to do it because of what their budget constraints are.

But for them to just voluntarily go to fcs, guys, I mean, none of us really were aware enough to know what happened with USL moving up to D1 at the time.

That changed everything.

And we've, you know, we give the administration a lot of grief, but you.

They have sustained at least the minimum to stay D1, and then we've put a whole lot more investment into it when TJO came into it.

But the idea of this program dropping down to FCS and say, the Baldwin years, if y' all remember those conversations and those advertising for us, brother, they were talking about it, but it was never gonna happen.

It was never gonna happen because the money, the difference in the money is so enormous.

They would be better off just being a pharmacy school, shutting everything else down, shutting sports down, everything.

That is really the only sustainable model in Monroe, as far as I'm concerned.

It'll never happen in a state like Louisiana, a banana republic, where politics runs all.

And.

And that's a whole other podcast.

But here's.

Here's my thing.

Before you go, Jerry, I'm going to say, I know.

Go ahead.

Was the same situation with baseball.

UNO was like, oh, we'll never, you know, and then they cut all sports out, and then all of a sudden they were Division 2, and now they're playing Division 1 again.

So I, you know, you say that, but you really don't know because.

But did they bring up back basketball?

Did they.

Did they bring back Softball, but they do have basketball.

I know it's not the same, but it's just like that.

They just were like, okay, we're just done with sports.

And then they slowly brought it back.

Well, I think what might happen, Jerry, before you go is UAB had a thing with the football team where they're like, we're just going to cut it.

And then they got people to give them money to like, get right.

So I think that's going to have to happen at some point because again, it's not sustainable.

Jerry, go ahead.

But dude, where's the population to support it?

They don't have it.

Yeah, but.

But you see, here's the difference between ULM and our situation during the Baldwin years.

Our situation, it was just sports only.

Academically, we were growing.

Our.

Our enrollment was around 17,000.

The problem with ULM right now is it's not just their athletic program declining, it's the entire school.

When you only have 4, 000 students on campus, that otherwise gives you the revenue to be able to spend the money on these type of things.

And it's not there.

That's where the problem comes.

Same thing with UNO.

The reason why UNO dropped down to Division 3 for a while was because, number one, you had Hurricane Katrina.

They were at.

UNO was at 17, 000 students in 2005, before Hurricane Katrina.

Ever since then, when Katrina hit, they dropped down to about, I think around 10 or 11, 000.

Well, then you had those big budget cuts in like 22,009, 2010.

That's when UNO took a hit because they never got back to those pre Katrina numbers.

So to where they were like, we gotta cut.

We got to get our student enrollment back up.

Well, now they go back.

They.

They drop down to D3.

They bring that back.

Well, their population drops again or their enrollment drops again.

And because of the online classes and students just aren't going.

They're actually going to Southeastern on the North Shore.

That enrollment's going crazy.

They're taking a lot of students from UNO.

They're at around 16,000 students or somewhere around there in Hammond.

So UNO now stuck and they're in the Southland Conference.

They're dealing.

They're going to be dealing with the same thing as ulm.

So the difference between, say, like us and A ULM and A UNO is UNO and ulm, their athletic programs getting affected because the academic side is getting affected.

There's no enrollment.

But they never had the buy in athletically.

No, but.

But the thing is, you can have a buy in, you don't need the buy in athletically as long as you have students and revenue coming in.

They.

They don't have either.

They don't have the buy in or the students.

But here's my question.

If pharmacy is the big thing at Ulm, Pharmacy students don't give a crap about football, baseball, softball, anything.

So why are.

I guess my question is why are they doing it?

You're talking about.

Oh, revenue.

Well, what.

I mean, if it.

It's costing them more than the revenue they're getting, clearly we're kind of in the same boat.

We're not getting a whole lot of revenue on that 38, 000 budget.

So.

38 million budget.

So I don't.

I.

From our standpoint, we had the money academically and, and it was separated at the time.

They just didn't want to spend the money on athletics.

Exactly.

That's what I'm saying.

Ulm did, doesn't have the choice.

My issue is, is Ulm is literally out of options.

We never had that problem.

We.

They wanted to drop us down because there wasn't a commitment, not necessarily an option.

They don't have the option.

It is either do this or go bankrupt.

Well, that's what I was saying.

Like we didn't have any issues academically.

We just.

Like you said, we didn't want to make the choice.

So for us, we had the resources to keep it going.

We just didn't want to.

Whereas.

And we had, we had the academic.

We.

The.

The problem at Ulm right now is compounded is basically what I'm trying to say.

Know the enrollment has slipped dramatically.

And, and not to mention, guys, let's not forget that economy up there in Monroe.

What's.

What's there.

People are leaving.

They're.

They're not, they're.

They're moving away.

You look at the population of 1 of Washo parish, it's dropping.

Same thing in Lincoln Parish.

You know, you got that one tech fan talking about Lafayette.

Our population's growing.

We're doing fine.

One of two parishes.

We're one of two parishes with St. Tammany, all the New Orleans people moving northshore and people are moving to Lafayette Parish.

We got population growth, they're declining.

So not only are you losing students, you're losing people that actually live there, which means that's your support system.

So now if I'm Ulm and I'm seeing all these factors, they got some tough decisions to make.

To your point, Josh, I mean, athletics is probably on that low, lower end of the issues right now.

They're trying to try to keep the school open.

Hey, Nick, I know you want to move.

Can we tackle this for 30 seconds?

Andre Porcio wants to know, and I'm doing this for the pod.

Do you think that the president was brought in to shred Ulm athletics?

Do you think the same could happen in replacing tjo?

This is what we know.

Athletics will take a cut because there has been some things going on with accounting and the new guy, the new cfo, doesn't like deficits.

There is going to be tightening of the belt.

It's going to happen.

We have to find outside resources.

We're going to have to find some revenue streams that kind of make up.

Jerry can back me up.

Probably 1 to 2 million at best.

The president at Ulm, I mean, this is pretty much.

It's been proven the person that took the Ulm president job was a mercenary.

That person has been brought in to balance books.

That person has been brought in to say, I don't care what y' all have done anything in the past, I don't care how you've done it.

We are gonna do it this way.

We're gonna get everything right.

We're gonna apply or comply with the Louisiana Legislative auditor, and we're gonna get everything back in order because the ULS is in shambles.

That's what that president is there to do.

So do I think that they've been brought in to destroy Ulm athletics?

No.

But they have been brought in to restore order to the way that that university is being run from a financial standpoint with the auxiliaries.

And.

And, you know, I don't know how their foundation functions if it's separate.

Ours certainly doesn't.

The foundation could take money and move money, and that's part of our problem.

But TJO leaving is a good and a bad thing for athletics.

I guess I probably won't say anything on the POD further than that, but there's going to be cuts.

So you can expect cuts.

I mean, anybody else, they're always going.

To come in and focus on the academic side first.

And unfortunately for athletics, it's going to be sacrificed in some kind of way.

If on the academic side, whether it's a certain college, lack of student enrollment, lack of auxiliaries, they're going to try to find ways to.

To make up for that.

And if it takes taking some from athletics, they're going to do it because they're focused on the academic side first.

So in Ulm's case, like I'VE mentioned before, it's so bad there that athletics is getting gutted even more because the academic side is so messed up.

That's why they had the interim president, Dr. Nick Bruno go in.

He had to fix a lot of that.

And he probably had, he probably saw the books and was like, look, we, student enrollment's going down.

We need, we need to generate some type of money on this side, some revenue stream on this side.

And then this new President going in, Dr. Castile, I think her name is, she's probably thinking the same thing.

So unfortunately on this end of, of, of, of when it comes to university and managing universities, it's always going to be athletics that's going to get sacrificed first for the academic side.

And I think Ulm is going to really get the brunt of that.

We'll talk more about that in the coming weeks as we know more.

The, I, I, I mean the, the message is we're in a, we're in much better shape than Ulm.

So regardless if we have cuts or not, I think we're still going to be in, in okay shape.

And then, you know, as we move forward, let's see what happens.

I think enrollment will increase.

I think, you know, all that will fall into place.

But before we go tonight, I do have a couple of announcements.

I'll save those until after because I want to get to this and I want your thoughts on this.

Cole.

We'll start with you.

Our Lanyap segment tonight, brought to you by Lafayette Eats or excuse me, eat Lafayette.

Brought to you by Lafayette Travel.

I can never get that right.

Besides Coach Rob.

Terrible at that.

I know, dude.

Besides Coach Robichaux, which is all our go to.

I know everybody on this, on this show would have said Coach Robe.

Well, we're not going with Coach Row beside him.

Who is the.

And he, and he just dropped.

I'll go first for Cole.

Yeah.

So who is your favorite coach in UL athletics history?

Josh.

Go for it.

So this is a very difficult one because, you know, I started crawling around on Cajun.

You were going to say Coach Jag.

I know that when Coach Bo was here and I got to know a lot of those guys as a, as a, like a four year old, five year old.

So I still keep in touch with some of them, but it's tough.

But listen, I got to tell you, and I'm probably going to get, I'm probably going to get my ass torched for this.

But I loved Hud, man.

I just loved him.

You know why I loved Hud?

Because He.

He was an egomaniac, right?

But he would still go and seek out the most nobody, middle of the road fan and say, have a conversation with me.

How can I improve the program?

Come have a beer with me.

What do I do to get back in the good graces?

What is your thought on how we can improve this or that or whatever?

It never failed that that HUD would engage with the highest of the highs, you know, the donors and the lowest of the lows, fans that didn't give a.

And sat on the hill.

I'll never forget HUD for that.

My second was Stokely, but it was like a running.

I just love the brashness of Stokely, but, yeah, it's going to be HUD for me, dude.

I just.

HUD changed everything about this place.

The man literally called Andy to go tour the facility because Andy said something on, like, social media, and he's like, well, I want to show him that, you know, we.

We work hard behind the scenes.

We don't just sit around and do nothing.

I think you said something mean one time on Twitter and.

And he called you for, like, to go meet him.

Who's Rachel paging?

Yeah, dude, listen, let me tell you something.

You don't even know.

You don't even know.

He started pestering Jim Harris.

He would tell him, like, once a week.

This went on for months and months.

He would tell Jim, hey, Jim, you got.

You got to get a.

Get that.

Get that Jag.

No, get.

Let me get that phone number.

Let's have a conversation.

Tell him that all the time would go on for months and months.

And I would tell.

I'd say, jim, I might.

I might meet, but it's going to be in a public place because he's going to eat me.

Because he's, you know, he was roided up at the time.

At the time, look, dude, I might be stupid, but I'm not dumb.

Let's meet in public.

And we did.

First time I met Hud was face to face at a table at Pete's with an overpriced beer and terrible freaking fried pickles.

But we did that a couple of different times.

And he listened to what I had to say, and he was all ears.

And he actually implemented some of the things I wanted to do.

So.

But one thing he never did was apologize to the fan base.

And I told him three or four different times.

I said, mark, you got to tell everybody, you, sorry, you can't talk about Trump.

Don't do that.

Not in LA, LA, buddy.

You know what's?

Funny is that the re.

The whole reason I ended up announcing on the field at football was because he went to John Duga and wanted me so bad to be the PA announcer.

And I'm like, first of all, like, Hans is awesome.

Like, I wouldn't ever take that away from him.

And second, I don't want to do football.

So I ended up making a concession to do.

But he'd always tell dude, hi.

It's big time.

That's big time.

Let's get him on fields.

Big time.

Jerry, who is your.

Who's your favorite coach outside of Coach Robbershow?

You know, I gotta show love for Yvette Gerard.

I know she.

Her exit in the.

In 2000 wasn't the prettiest when she went over to Baton Rouge.

Gerard.

Okay, I'm kidding.

I know.

But if you.

If you hear.

If you hear the story of how she started the softball program, I mean, it was a club sport.

They, like, asked her if you wanted to volunteer.

And that was when softball became popular and getting sponsored by the ncaa.

She comes in, she builds a park at the corner by the marquee at the corner of Bertrand and Reinhardt, basically get some chicken wire, some wood to make some benches, and created a softball field there.

And it all started there with a bunch of women who wanted to play, and they started winning.

They had success.

And then, you know, when they built that Lady Cajun park, it was, you know, it was a bunch of bleachers.

It's like a high school park now.

And.

And it was a big deal.

And they turn into the.

The powerhouse it is today.

So, you know, seeing what she did, starting it with basically nothing and going to four World Series appearances with no resources, no help, was unbelievable.

And I know the exit wasn't pretty.

When she went to Baton Rouge, I look back on it, and I'm like, look, they gave her the world.

We gave her nothing.

And so they were like, look, we can let you do the same thing in Baton Rouge.

And we'll.

And anytime you ask for something, whether it's money or resources, we'll give it to you.

So at that point, I look back, and as hard as it is for me to say this, I couldn't blame her from a career standpoint, I could not blame her.

And she was on the same.

She had mentioned in a recent interview or a previous interview, she was on the same retirement plan, being an employee of the state of Louisiana.

It's like, you know, if.

And especially after she had asked the administration countless times, give me some Help give me something.

And they were like, no.

I mean, if anything, they like knowing in the autumnal days, they probably cut her budget.

So seeing what she was able.

What she was able to do here, starting the softball program from scratch and then seeing, you know, seeing the program build and compound off of what she started, I mean, I have nothing but.

But respect for Coach Gerard.

I mean, the stadium's now named after her.

Right.

She's the godmother of.

Of Raging Cage and softball.

So that.

That's probably my favorite next to Robe.

Was.

Was eventual, for sure.

Yep.

Definitely.

Lane, your thoughts?

Favorite coach outside of Robe.

No.

Granted, I am a younger Cajuns fan compared to y' all because I just got here in 2011, but I would have to go with Josh and say Hud.

Just because he revitalized the fan base and he knew what he wanted in Lafayette.

And I feel like he got the most out of his players and most out of the fans.

He got everybody riled up until people wanted to throw ropes on the field.

But, yeah, you know, one thing about Hud is.

Is.

Is he said it so eloquently, and I agree with him.

Had we had a winning season the year of the.

The Trump video, it would have been a totally different ending from him for him.

But then again, we would have never gotten Napier.

Never forget, this was a coaching graveyard.

Correct.

Until Mark Hudspeth turned it into something.

And then we hired Billy Napier, who changed this program, put it on a.

Entirely other tier, and then got hired away to an SEC school, which had never happened in Sunbelt history.

I don't believe so.

So Mark Hudspick Drinkaways.

Eli Drinkowitz went to Missouri.

Yeah, whatever that was.

Well, so.

Second one.

But Missouri's not a real program.

That is Florida, brother.

Yeah.

Missouri's never won a national championship in sec.

Anyway, that doesn't happen without Mark Hudspeth.

And Mark.

Mark Hudspet changed this place forever.

And Billy did, too.

Billy did, too.

But Mark laid the groundwork.

Mark Robe, Hud, Gerard Napier.

Yeah, they're great names, dude.

Marty Fletcher I think is funny.

I mean, so what are we gonna do?

Top four.

Let's do top four.

No.

Well, we don't have time.

We're two hours.

We'll get back to top four.

I agree.

Marty Fletcher's in the top.

Marty Fletcher is amazing.

I would tell you, you know, one of the.

And I wasn't obviously alive for this, but.

Yeah, Barrel Shipley, man.

And the reason I'm saying that is because I Think that is.

That is a man that tried to do the right thing for this program.

Let's talk about the fact that he took us to a Final Four and then the Sweet sixteen two years after that.

And oh, by the way, in the Final Four, we lost to Evansville, which ended up winning the damn Natty that year.

So he took us to places where we never thought we could be, which is why, you know, Napier is a perfect example when you say we.

We can't do something.

He did it.

And I think his.

His legacy may be tarnished.

I wish we could finish Lights out in Blackham because I think the reasons behind why we got the death penalty were.

Had nothing to do with paying players and all this illegal stuff they claimed.

I think it was because he opened the door to African American players playing in the South.

And that's widely documented and I think accepted at this point.

But I think Barrel Shipley needs some redemption.

Unfortunately, he passed away before he could ever see that documentary.

Hopefully one day it's made.

But anyway, Beryl Shipley, I think is some guy.

Some coach.

Some guy I coach that really moved the university forward progressively.

And you know, I'm not all about.

Move the community forward.

Exactly.

That is exactly what I was trying.

To say at a time when we were still a smaller school too.

Exactly, exactly.

Final four, sweet 16, two years in a row.

You say we can.

He said we did.

So that's all I have to say about that.

Boys, a couple more announcements that we got to call in a night because we are running way over.

Let's talk about a new start time.

So we're gonna do this show at 7:30 on Wednesdays going forward.

No more.

It's gonna be Wednesday.

It might be Thursday, might see a Friday.

I don't know, Whatever.

It's gonna definitely be on 7:30.

At 7:30 on Wednesday evenings.

You know, we got.

We got five guys here, might be adding to the staff at some point.

You'll always see four of us on screen.

Some of us will kind of rotate out to make sure that we get our.

Our thoughts heard out there.

But anyway, just know we'll be here 7:30 Wednesday nights going forward through football season.

Then we'll talk about baseball season.

Probably going to keep the same time and we'll see how things work out.

You know, one thing, Josh, we want to talk about.

Hey, tailgating.

I mean, that's a pretty big deal.

We got a tailgate going on this year.

You want to.

You want to give a little bit of a tease as to what fans can expect.

So Nick will back me up on this.

I've been fussing at the guys for the last three years and say, look, we do.

We do decent work, but we're not.

We're not in the community enough.

And we decided to change that this year.

There's still a whole lot to announce, and I'm.

That's about as nice as I can put it, about as calm as I can put it.

There's so many things that are coming down the pipe, but this.

This tailgate spot was important to us.

We wanted to be present.

We wanted to be accessible.

We've partnered with someone to be able to make this an absolutely huge deal.

So starting first game of the season, August 30th, we're gonna be out there, and we're gonna be out there every home game, and we're gonna make it.

And by we.

Me too, Bo.

Nick, bro.

Yeah.

He said he's gonna make a point to be here.

It's.

We're gonna have player parents, players.

We're gonna have.

We're gonna have sponsor folks.

We're gonna have maybe a couple famous folks.

We got Brett Venable that's gonna be going through the table, breaking tables and.

Stuff, like starting the Cajun mafia.

And then we're gonna have a masseuse service right behind it.

Listen, the tailgate spot's gonna be.

It's gonna be ridiculous.

Wait, I'm just telling you, like, if you want to meet the guys, the tailgate spots the way to do it.

We're going to give away some stuff.

We're going to give away some food.

We got some sponsors wanting to give away some food.

We're going to cook.

We're going to do the show live pre and post game.

We're going to have TVs out there for you all to watch the games we get.

We're going to do it right.

The raging review.

Tailgate is going to be done, right.

It's going to be nice and comfy.

We got the.

The big generator so we can pump in our portable ac.

Oh, yeah.

Because I can't be sweating a tailgate.

Come on.

Yeah, I'm.

I'm working on some goodwill couches.

It's going to be like old times.

Oh, we're going to be casting couch.

We got the casting couch going on.

It might have the casting couch.

Yeah.

Might have to clean it off, put some plastic on it, like your grandma house, but yeah.

Location.

Tell them the location.

So we're going to be on TG1.

It's in TG1.

It's kind of close to the maintenance shop.

It's not on the Cajun route, but it's in the little walkway space to Andy's point.

Might have a stripper pole on there.

Depends on if the wives let us do it.

But we're gonna have a good time.

And the whole point of this is to get to know more of y', all, to give y' all some swag, to give y', all, get y' all involved again.

We've said this from day one.

Our entire community, or our entire purpose was to get a community of Cajun fans that are Cajun fans and nothing else and just want to be out there bringing back the tailgate vibes that it used to be, getting ready to.

To.

To support, I think, a historic season in Cajun history with a Lafayette native as a quarterback and a Katiena native as a head coach.

And beyond all those things, it kind of just feels like one of those magical years that are building and opening up Our lady of Lord Stadium.

I hope that it goes down in the record book.

So we're just doing our little bitty part to be part of it.

We're going to be out there, we're going to be present.

Come visit with us, come see us, come hang out with us, come meet with us, come meet our kids and our families and.

And, you know, we're.

We're.

When we get on this show and we talk about all these things, we mean it.

We live it.

Come find out for yourselves.

That's what this is about.

So the tailgate spot, I'm excited about it.

It's one of the.

This is one of the most exciting football seasons I can remember.

We talked about it already, but the tailgate spot is definitely part of it.

So come see us.

Come visit.

Josh won't stop texting us about it.

I mean, like, my man.

All day, like, I'm getting texts from this dude at, like, 10:30 on a Saturday night, and I'm like, I'm playing Call of Duty.

And he's like, no, but we need to get this for the tailgate.

What can I say?

What can I say?

I like to prepare, Nick.

I'm a prepared guy.

It's gonna be a lot of fun, boys.

And then that's just the tip of the iceberg.

That's what's even funnier.

That's an appetizer.

That's an appetizer.

We got a lot more to announce.

As time goes, but we're not gonna get into that tonight.

So we'll we'll see how that goes.

Well, boys, it's been a lot of fun.

We've been.

This went a lot longer than I expected, but I think we covered a lot of good stuff.

Stuff.

Want to thank our sponsors?

Of course.

Once Again, Award Master Dr. Brett Venable with recovery Chiromad.

Josh, can you get that right for next time, please?

No comment.

Okay, I just want to listen to this for a second.

There we go.

Lafayette roofing Darren Domang.

That dude's gonna be going through some.

He's gonna be going through some tables as well during the tailgates.

Eat Lafayette.

Brought to you by Lafayette Travel and raging hydration.

Man, I lost my train.

I thought.

I'm tired.

It's been a long night, boys.

It's been a lot of fun.

Darren's twerking right now.

Well, I'm about to start twerking too.

I mean, that's why I stopped talking.

I want to listen to more of this.

Like, share.

Subscribe so close on YouTube, folks.

Please tell your people to subscribe on YouTube again, lots of great stuff coming.

I was gonna say something, but I'm not gonna give it away.

For Jerry, for Josh, for Lane, for Cole.

I am Nicholas.

Have a wonderful rest of your evening.

And as always, no Cajun.