There’s a lot of things that we in the media can’t see when it comes to head coach Billy Napier’s first spring practice as the head coach of the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns. However it’s to be expected considering the fact that these guys are learning something new on both sides of the ball.
With that in mind, here’s three things that I hope that is happening during spring practice for Cajuns football.
1. Developing QBs
If there’s anything that the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns are undoubtedly doing right now, it’s developing their quarterbacks. Napier’s fingerprints are going to be all over the quarterbacks on the roster because of his offense expertise and he said as much back when he was just announced as the head coach.
However, he needs to groom all of his quarterbacks to be ready in case of an emergency. Just look at last year and the injuries that were sustained and tell me it’s not important to make sure you have some quality back ups ready to go at a moment’s notice.
2. Figuring Out How to Best Use Their Talents on Defense
One of the big gripes that I had a couple years ago when the Cajuns hired James Willis was that he preferred to use an SEC-style defense using Sun Belt level talent. To me, it’s like sticking a square peg into a round hole doing that. With the amount of coaches with P5 experience on this staff, they’ll need to learn how to best use the talents they have on the roster and cater the defensive side of the ball around that aspect.
3. Building the cULture
Much like with developing quarterbacks, the Cajuns are developing a new culture, preferably a winning one both on and off the field. You look on the Cajuns coaching staff’s Twitter account, you’re seeing the hashtags #36KStrong and #cULture. After the previous regime burned some of the proverbial bridges, this coaching staff is going to work overtime to mend those bridges and get the fans bought into a new era for Cajuns football. The first step towards doing that is getting wins on the board and even though this schedule is difficult, they can get above .500 for the first time since 2014.
-Clint Domingue