(09-21-2011 03:03 PM)CJPanther Wrote: Cajun Fans, give us a bit of insite on your programs.. strengths/weaknesses... whos coming to FIU Stadium? if you are your more than welcomed to join me at the tailgate for an "adult Beverage" lol
I cant go, I'd love to one day make it to all the stadiums in the belt, but I just don't make enough money right now.
As for what you'll see, first off, the starting QB has just been named, so you will see Jr Blaine Gautier get the start. He is a mobile qb who has some arm strength, but on his downside, at times he lacks touch and sometimes lacks good decision making so he's prone to turnovers. On offense, we named Alonzo Harris as the starting RB, he was a highly recruited player out of high school, was rated #2 overall as a FB by rivals and de-committed from Kentucky to go to UL, also, don't be surprised to see another true freshman in Qyen Griffen get a lot of carries in the game too, our running ability is definitely the strength of this offense. If we do pass, the big playmaker is definitely Ladarius Green, but the guy has battled injuries and hasn't been able to do...well...anything this year, but at some point that will change, he has proven in the past to be an amazing playmaker. At the WR position, the big player we have there is Javon Lawson, he leads all our WR's in receptions and yards by a mile, he'll be our big threat at WR. Our Offensive line is suspect, but have done an adequate job to this point, but I'm afraid of what FIU's front 4 will do to them this weekend as that is showing up as probably our biggest team weakness aside from the QB position.
On defense, year one of our switch to a 3-4 alignment has been a HUGE success to this point, and it all starts with our NT Derrick Dean who does a great job of occupying 2 linemen and allowing lanes for the LB's and ends to run through. The line is not the largest line you'll face, but it constantly gets the job done. On the ends, we have been subbing out a lot of players, Hamilton, Tucker, Gaddies and Bernard Smith are all names you'll see at some point in the game on the line. At Linebacker, Lemarcus Gibson, Lance Kelly, Devon Lewis Buchanan are the primary big time LBs and have played phenominally. In the secondary, we have what will be an all conference selection as our lockdown corner in Bill Bentley, the dude has 3 picks, 2 for TD's, and our secondary is VERY good and creating turnovers and getting points off of them, we have 5 picks and 3 have been brought to the house. If TY is out, it would be wise for the panthers to stay away from the part of the field that Bentley is on because he can make you regret throwing towards him quickly.
On special teams, Brett Baer has hit on every field goal hes attempted this season and has done a very good of pulling double duty by punting too. Our kickoff team is bad, which is why having TY not on the field is a godsend for us. For some reason, we cant seem to find a guy who can kick the ball inside the 5 yardline, which always hurts us on our opponents starting field position. On the flipside, keep the ball away from Daryl Surgent, hes an above average kick/punt returner, and if givin the opportunity, he can make you pay.
There ya go, that is as in depth as I can get on what you'll see from the cajuns on saturday.
