The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs have been hard at work coming off of their Hawaii Bowl victory as they compete during spring football. The Bulldogs have had a successful spring as they reach their close this week.
Tech won their fifth bowl victory in December and assistant head coach and inside receivers coach, Joe Sloan said that it gave them a boost of momentum to attack the offseason.
“Whenever your last game, it creates a positive energy and vibe going into the offseason,” said Sloan. “Everyone wants to continue to get better, and it creates a positive environment on a day-to-day basis.”
Sloan said that as they continue to win bowls, it creates a standard that each team has to live up to every year.
“The challenge is to continue to push it forward, to now take it to the next level,” Sloan said. “It creates an expectation of winning every single day when [the players] show up. What do I have to do to win and create a championship level performance that day?”
The Bulldogs are looking to replace some standout players from last year’s team including the NCAA career sack record holder, Jaylon Ferguson.
The Bulldogs have some key players returning for the 2019 season including Junior cornerback Amik Robertson, who was a freshman All-American, and Senior Safety Darryl Lewis.
“I feel really good about the four guys in the secondary,” Head coach Skip Holtz said. “Those are three juniors and a senior that have played a lot of football.”
The Bulldogs had a scrimmage at the halfway point that involved around 60 plays. Each play was a first and 10 situation.
Holtz said that he was encouraged by what he saw in the team’s scrimmage.
The Bulldogs have also brought in new coaches to add to their staff including Brock Hays taking over the running backs, Jeff Burris handling the cornerbacks, Kenny Guiton leading the outside receivers, Dennis Smith as special teams coordinator and Bob Diaco as defensive coordinator.
Younger players have played a big role this spring this far.
“[We] really have had some injuries at some different positions that have created some opportunities for different guys to step up and get a lot more reps than maybe what they thought going into spring,” Sloan said.
There have been a few injuries at the receiver position including big-time playmaker Adrian Hardy (hamstring), who had a career breakout game last season with 2 touchdown catches, and George Scott (turf-toe), who played in 13 games in 2018.
Holtz said that there are younger receivers like Praise Okorie, Wayne Toussant and Tahj Magee that have had to step up and run with the first two offenses.
The La Tech Spring Game has been canceled due to weather. According to La Tech Athletic Communications, the Bulldogs will hold their 14th practice on Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. before wrapping up spring workouts at 4:30 p.m. on Monday with the final practice session. Both sessions are open to the public.