The Spring Game for the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns is in the books and while it’s a glorified practice, there’s still a lot to take away from what happened on Saturday afternoon. Here are some of takeaways and observations from the Cajuns Spring Game that saw the Vermillion team win 35-31.
1st Down: Levi Lewis Still Has Room for Improvement
All throughout spring camp, head coach Billy Napier put his stamp of approval on Levi Lewis, The Scotlandville native had a solid outing on Saturday, but it wasn’t quite up to his standards and mentioned that he still has room for improvement.
One of the big reasons why he felt that way was because of the performance that Jai’ave Magalei had for the White team with two touchdowns on the afternoon, including a pair of 50-plus yard touchdown passes to Brian Smith and Calif Gossett.
2nd Down: Calif Gossett Will Be a Big Part of Offense
Speaking of Gossett, he looked to be the MVP of the Spring Game with a great touchdown reception in the endzone and a 55-yard touchdown reception really showed the potential that he has as a big target.
The 6’5” wideout impressed a lot of fans and media alike in his performance and he will likely be a key part of the Cajuns offense in 2019 and his frame is definitely going to be a big reason why.
3rd Down: Joe Dillon Solid in Limited Return to Gridiron
Napier mentioned after the spring game that Joe Dillon was on a pitch count on Saturday. It’s justifiable after he had hip surgery last offseason. The junior from Tylertown, Mississippi was only on the field for 20 total plays and accounted for three total tackles, all of them were unassisted, a third down stop and a “quarterback hit ‘was impressive for the redshirt junior after being off the field for well over a year.
4th Down: Crowded QB Room
If the spring game showed us anything, it’s that the competition for the starting quarterback job for the Cajuns is going to be interesting to see who gets it. I mentioned that Magalei and Lewis had solid performances for the red and white, but Clifton McDowell was someone who really showed off his skills in limited doses, going 10-of-16 for 136 yards and a 12-yard touchdown pass to Gossett.
It’s going to be even more crowded once Chandler Fields, the crown jewel of the 2019 recruiting class joins the program in the summer. Lewis mentioned that he still has room for improvement and he’ll need to do that and more if he wants to lock down the starting job for when the Cajuns take on Mississippi State to open up the season because there’s a lot of talent around him that could usurp the proverbial throne.
-Clint Domingue