It’s a new era for the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns football program under Billy Napier and there’s a lot that the Cajuns will need to figure out over the next 15 spring practices. When you look up and down their roster, there are some question marks that Napier and his coaching staff will have to figure out.
The most important things though is to make sure that they can execute a new gameplan well enough not only in the spring game, but do so when they take the field against Grambling in the season opener on September 1st.
Who’s the Starting QB?
After the wild and crazy carousel that the quarterback position was last season, it’s no surprise that this is going to be the biggest question for the Cajuns as spring practice gets ramped up. They went from having Jordan Davis start the season opener against Southeastern to burning Levi Lewis’ redshirt more than halfway through the season. While there were some circumstances with some of the changes (Davis’ concussion against Arkansas State), it’s not a good look in a season that seemed to have a clear cut QB1 at the start of the season
Napier has mentioned that the quarterback position will be a clean slate with even Dion Ray taking reps at the position. With Napier working heavily with the quarterbacks, it seems likely that once he makes a decision on his starter that person will be the guy for the whole season.
Seeking Defensive Leadership
For some of the returning players on defense, it’s another year of shifting into a new style of defense. Some of these players have a lot of experience at this with the Cajuns going through three different defensive coordinators since 2016.
Looking specifically at the secondary, they have an issue when it comes to leadership withouth Tracy Walker. Having a player like that leading the secondary in practice, someone will have to step up. Veteran players like Corey Turner and Travis Crawford have the credibility, but will have to show that they can be leaders at a position where communication is at a premium. The secondary has been a weak spot the last couple of seasons and Zac Etheridge will need to build that corps from the ground up.
What Will the Offense Look Like?
One thing that many members of the Cajun nation are interested in is what kind of offense that Napier is cooking up. He’s had success at all of his other stops and his time at Arizona State saw the Sun Devils establish a balance of run and pass, especially in 2017 where they had a balance of 43% pass and 57% run.
You look at those numbers, it shows there’s a chance that we could see a balanced offense in 2018. However, the biggest thing that will hold that back is the talent on the offense. Whoever the Cajuns starting quarterback will be against Grambling is going to tell you a lot about how their offense will be going forward.
-Clint Domingue