Louisiana (Lafayette)’s offense should have some notable reinforcements on the way — including one particularly surprising and encouraging return.
Quarterback Walker Howard has been cleared to return to practice “full-go,” coach Michael Desormeaux told reporters Monday while sharing injury updates and other notes as the Ragin’ Cajuns (2-4, 1-1) prepare to host Southern Miss (4-2, 2-0).
Desormeaux called the former St. Thomas More star’s recovery from his torn oblique suffered Aug. 30 in the season opener against Rice “unbelievable.”
But he noted that D’Wanye’ “Lunch” Winfield will continue leading the first-team offense both because his performance has warranted that role and Howard also needs to work his way back into
“It’s always tough to pull a quarterback,” Desormeaux said. “Look, Lunch is playing well. The Marshall game obviously was unbelievable. He’s playing really well right now. I mean, he made some big throws. He stood in the pocket now and took some freaking shots against James Madison and stood in there and did it over and over and over again. You don’t mess with those things whenever you’ve got a guy playing well. And, shoot, Walker was the first one to tell me, he’s like, ‘Look, I get it. He’s playing good. I’m just excited to be back and be practicing,’ which is unbelievable for a kid to say who’s been through everything that he’s been through.
“But he’s gotta practice, too, you know what I mean? We’ve gotta see where he’s at and everything, so trying to get some reps with him and Daniel (Beale) kinda working with that second group and see where he’s at. Obviously he won the job for a reason. He’s really talented, really dynamic. It’s always good to have those guys back. I mean, God, we’ve had the worst luck with quarterbacks, so we need every one of ’em back that can go and that’s ready to go.”
Howard completed 10 of his 22 passes (45.5%) for 88 yards and an interception and rushed nine times for 47 yards and a touchdown against the Owls before being knocked out during the second half.
Beale started the next four games before Winfield took over during the course of a double-overtime comeback Sept. 27 against Marshall and then played start to finish Saturday at James Madison.
In the two games with heavy playing time, Winfield finished a combined 21-for-41 (51.2%) for 368 yards, four touchdowns and an interception and rushed 28 times for 152 yards and three scores.
Howard isn’t the only notable player returning to the Louisiana offense as Sun Belt Conference play ramps up.
Senior wide receiver Robert Williams caught five passes for 134 yards Saturday — bringing his team-leading season totals to 14 catches and 223 yards — and returned a pair of kickoffs for 42 yards.
Junior running back Zylan Perry “should be good to go this week,” Desormeaux said.
The former Franklin star has led the Ragin’ Cajuns with 411 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 59 attempts — an explosive element they missed during Saturday’s loss in Harrisonburg, Va., in which their longest run against the Dukes netted just 8 yards.
And sophomore wide receiver Shelton Sampson Jr. (Catholic-Baton Rouge) is “hopefully a week out” from being cleared after missing the past two games. He is second on the team with eight catches and 150 yards.
“Don’t think he’ll be back this week, but we’re hoping next week he’ll be back,” the coach said, “which’ll be a big shot in the arm for us. But as far as guys up front, man, there’s not much coming there, you know, other than hopefully getting Kaden (Moreau) back, hopefully in a week.”
Bryant Williams (Grand Lake), Moreau and Cooper Fordham have each started the bulk of the games thus far at left tackle, left guard and center, respectively. But Moreau, who missed a game earlier this season, left Saturday with an apparent leg injury.
Veteran right guard Jax Harrington has bounced outside to right tackle the past two games since the losses of starter George Jackson and reserve J’Marion Gooch, and redshirt sophomore Matthew Broussard (E.D. White) has taken over inside.