By BOBBY ARDOIN
Special to The Advocate
LAFAYETTE -- Something was different in the attitudes of the 105 players reporting to Sunday's team meeting with University of Louisiana at Lafayette football coach Rickey Bustle.
"I think it was obvious that they feel good about themselves and they look more motivated," Bustle said.
Bustle said the Cajuns are experiencing some optimism and a carry-over effect from 2003 and the subsequent offseason conditioning.
Many of the returning players also saw ULL's expanded training room and lockerroom facilities for the first time, he said.
The Cajuns won four of five games to end last season and Bustle said he was cognizant of the players' regimented approach to spring training and summer workouts.
ULL is starting a third season under Bustle, whose teams are 7-17 overall.
In November construction began on expanding the athletic training room inside ULL's athletic complex to about three times its previous size. The larger lockerroom was also completed in time for Sunday's activities.
"I think a lot of their mood also had to do with the training room and the lockerroom," Bustle said. "The ones who hadn't seen it felt it was a really nice touch and a good way to start the season."
The Cajuns begin preseason workouts at 3:30 p.m. today. Practices start at 8 a.m. on days when ULL has two-a-day workouts, Bustle said.
None of the players expected to report Sunday were tardy and none will be joining the team at a later day, he said.
Of the players who reported for the team meeting and underwent late evening physical examinations, 38 are freshmen and 15 have been invited to walk on.
Bustle said visits by potential walk-on players have been brisk during the past two weeks.
"We've really had a slew of them, especially in the last 10 days," he said. "What we do is visit with them, take whatever film they have of themselves and evaluate that, just as we would any scholarship player."
He said about five more walk-ons could be added to the roster after ULL begins fall semester classes Aug. 23.
Bustle said he thinks ULL's direction in football is headed forward.
"When you talk about seeing light at the end of the tunnel, I think that the light's flickering right now," Bustle said. "We have a direction, where before that direction might have been a little winding.
"Right now my expectations are that we can be better and maybe make a move in the conference standings," Bustle said. "I think we're still a handful of players from where we need to be."
ULL's last winning season in football came in 1995 (6-5). The Cajuns haven't won more than six games since 1993 when they were 8-3 in Jake Delhomme's freshman season.
Since 2000, the Cajuns have won only 23.9 percent of their games.
Bustle took over a program in 2002 that won only six games in three seasons under Jerry Baldwin.
"Looking back on it, this challenge may have been a little more difficult than I thought, but we have received a lot of help," Bustle said. "The big thing is the amount of support that has been placed behind us so that we can make some positive moves. When this staff first got here it was we know we need some help, but where do we get it from?"
When practices start, Bustle said he expects the biggest competition offensively to occur at the receivers and running back positions.
Defensively, the Cajuns have added another linebacker in order to play a 4-3 alignment.
Several positions in the secondary are also unsettled, he said.
"At running back we're definitely better there than we were a year ago, but when you have running back by committee, it also means you haven't found a starter," Bustle said. "We return Jerry Babb at quarterback, but he's a sophomore and still young. We have a junior college guy (Luke Sniewski) in and we also want to take a look at (freshman) Mike Desormeaux."
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Cajuns feel carry-over effect from '03 finish
