The story of the 2023 season for the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns has been their youth.
After an offseason of losing key pieces to the NFL Draft or the transfer portal, the Cajuns knew they would need to depend on new players.
It’s safe to say those players have delivered halfway through the season.
To show an example of just how young this Louisiana team is, 10 key contributors on the offensive side of the football are underclassmen. Zeon Chriss is a redshirt freshman along with Bryant Williams, Kaden Moreau, Charles Robertson, and Zylan Perry. Robert Williams, Dre’Lyn Washington, Jax Harrington, and George Jackson are redshirt sophomores, and Harvey Broussard, the wide receiver from St. Martinville, is making an impact as a true freshman.
Then on the defensive side, six underclassmen have impacted the season early on, with Jordan Lawson dominating up front, Cameron Whitfield and Kailep Edwards at the linebacker spot, and Courtline Flowers, Tyree Skipper, and Caleb Anderson holding down the secondary.
Here’s a look at some of the biggest newcomers:
Robert Williams
The secret to Williams’ success? Interning at ESPN Lafayette.
All jokes aside, when the Cajuns needed someone to step up as a top target in this offense, Williams answered the call.
The redshirt sophomore from Humble, TX has 20 catches on the season for 267 yards and three touchdowns. He’s currently averaging 13 yards per catch and around 54 yards per game. He’s the leading receiver on the Louisiana roster despite missing a game earlier in the season.
His 90 yards against Texas State set the tone for that victory and his touchdown catch with less than six minutes remaining started the comeback that wound up in a 34-30 victory for Louisiana.
Harvey Broussard
Coming out of St. Martinville Senior High, there was a lot of local buzz concerning Harvey Broussard and what he’d provide to Michael Desormeaux’s offense. But, I don’t think anyone envisioned just how quickly he would be a consistent piece.
After a solid spring and summer, Broussard quickly made an impact, catching his first career touchdown pass in just his second career game. On the season, he has 13 catches for 161 yards and one touchdown. His career high so far is 65 yards (@ UAB) and he has had four receptions in two games.
Broussard is already looking to make a bigger impact, and there’s no telling what potential he has in this program after what he’s done as a freshman.
Jordan Lawson
After battling injuries in 2022, Lawson has come alive as a leader for the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns defense. A redshirt sophomore from Brandon, Mississippi, Lawson has 21 total tackles on the season (12 of those solo), 4.5 tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks through the first six games. He appeared in nine games a season ago and finished with 22 total tackles.
Lawson has proven this season that he can be a key contributor to LaMar Morgan’s defense and has made a habit so far in 2023 of getting after the quarterback. With big-name quarterbacks like Carter Bradley, Gunnar Watson, and Darren Grainger still to come, can Lawson continue the run of form he’s in and make some more noise?
Tyree Skipper
“Skip” has been with the Cajuns program since 2020 and has shown tremendous growth. The redshirt sophomore from New Orleans had his best season in 2022, where he played in all 13 games with three starts. The safety finished the season with 29 tackles, one sack, and a pass break-up. Now in 2023, he’s off to an even faster start, sitting with 25 tackles and two interceptions at the halfway point of the season. He also has a fumble recovery that sealed the victory over Texas State last Saturday.
Skipper is a dynamic playmaker and has turned into one of the big leaders in the defensive backfield, especially with the departure of Kam Pedescleaux and Trey Amos in addition to Bralen Trahan and Eric Garror getting drafted.
The Cajuns have had tons of young talent step up in a big way which has set them up nicely for the future. But after watching the first six games of the 2023 season, Louisiana isn’t ready to talk about the future.
Led by freshman quarterback Zeon Chriss, this Cajuns team is looking like it could contend for a conference championship right now and they have shown that they fully intend to do so. However, it won’t be easy with the meat of the Sun Belt West still ahead of them with Troy, South Alabama, ULM, Arkansas State, and Southern Miss still waiting on the schedule in the second half.
This looks to be a fun ride for the second half of the 2023 season, But first, Louisiana will celebrate 125 years as a university with Homecoming against Georgia State next Saturday night at Cajun Field.