For 13 former UL Ragin\u2019 Cajuns, Wednesday was more than a reunion with old teammates in the Moncla Indoor Facility.<\/p>\n
It was one final chance to impress NFL teams with their athletic ability at UL\u2019s pro day.<\/p>\n
Most project linebacker Jaden Dugger as UL\u2019s best chance to get someone draft next month.<\/p>\n
Dugger transferred to UL from Georgetown and played two seasons in Lafayette. In 2024, Dugger played outside linebacker with 37 tackles and four stops behind the line.<\/p>\n
The coaching staff moved him inside this past season and the 6-foot-5, 230-pounder flourished with 125 total tackles, 13 stops behind the line and four sacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like when I’m playing now is a combination of everything I did, so I feel like that made me such a better player,\u201d said Dugger, who played in the East-West Shrine Game. \u201cHaving that experience and just playing it. At the time, I might have not liked it, but it prepared me for who I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the all-star game, Dugger was able to see the big picture.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was great – me with a lot of scouts and a lot of new players that you see on TV, finally getting to meet them,\u201d said Dugger, who played safety at Georgetown. \u201cThen seeing all the cool logos on the helmets and going against those guys that you don’t get to play against, so it was a great experience. I feel like I learned so much and I got so much better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dugger has been training in Fort Myers, Florida.<\/p>\n
The other Cajun with the next best chance of playing at a higher level is defensive back Trae Tomlinson.<\/p>\n
In addition to NFL scouts, there were scouts from three different CFL teams in Lafayette on Wednesday looking at Tomlinson\u2019s ability.<\/p>\n
CFL rules state each team\u2019s 45-man roster must have at least 21 native Canadian players.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re a Division I player, it’s highly likely to get drafted to a CFL team,\u201d Tomlinson said. \u201cSo yeah, there was 3 teams and I was very happy to see them here because, you know, I can potentially go play be playing up north too as well, so very excited.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tomlinson showed why that should include him with a 36-inch vertical and 10-2 broad jump and a 4.47 in the 40.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I did pretty well,\u201d Tomlinson said. \u201cI was actually quite banged up heading in to the Pro Day and, you know, with God’s grace and adrenaline. I felt pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n
For safety Tyree Skipper who spent six years at UL, it was a special farewell day.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo just playing that, they made me come, they let me come back,\u201d he said. \u201cSo it was a blessing to strap up, you know, so I love it. I love the game and I love the Cajuns. So it was a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Skipper is confident he can play any of multiple safety roles at the next level if given a chance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could do the box, it’s on tape,\u201d Skipper said. \u201cI go play high, catch picks. I could do it also. Whatever they need me, I’m going to fill in, man.<\/p>\n
I’m going to adjust. I’m going to adjust to the circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a career with the Cajuns filled with injuries and surgeries, it was just nice for offensive lineman Jax Harrington to look and feel healthy while performing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s always a blessing to come in here, compete, especially for this program, \u201c Harrington said. \u201cTo have that red and black on, it’s always a blessing.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike you said, with all the injuries, I never take these things for granted. It was a blessing to feel as good as I felt. I came in, didn’t none of those injuries prevent me from performing at my best today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defensive end Jordan Lawson – another longtime Cajun performer \u2013 is hoping he did enough to impress scouts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really wanted to show that first 10 yards out of the 40, getting out of my stands and being explosive with the couple of steps,\u201d Lawsons said. \u201cObviously, for me, playing edge, they want to see that change of direction \u2026 so that was big for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lawson has 161 career tackles, 35 stops behind the line and 18 sacks, including 52 stops, 15 behind the line and five sacks as a senior.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust good football IQ, and good motor,\u201d said Lawson, who said he\u2019s up to 255 pounds. \u201cI’m willing to play really hard down the stretch for a quarter and still having the same type of motor and energy that that I had in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that’s going to be big on any level. So just excited to be able to showcase that on next level.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For 13 former UL Ragin\u2019 Cajuns, Wednesday was more than a reunion with old teammates in the Moncla…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,5421,82],"class_list":["post-562199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-hardwall","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}