The burning question heading into SBC Media day for UL football was who will be its starting quarterback? Here's how the battle for QB1 is going.
NEW ORLEANS — Cajun Nation is entering countdown mode with a little over a month separating them and Louisiana football game days for the upcoming 2025 college football season.
On Tuesday, the Ragin’ Cajuns attended the 2025 Sun Belt Conference Media Days and answered some questions ahead of this fall's kickoff. The hot topic is who will be the Cajuns' next starting quarterback?
“The competition is something that you can’t ever get away from,” UL football coach Michael Desormeaux said. “Having that type of depth creates real competition. It doesn’t push you whenever you know there’s no one behind you who can go out there and take your spot.”
Entering his fourth season at UL, Desormeaux is no stranger to positional matchups. Last season, Ben Wooldridge and Chander Fields were battling it out. This season, the Cajuns have three competitors in redshirt junior Walker Howard, redshirt freshman Daniel Beale and redshirt sophomore Lunch Winfield.
Who can ball in the fall?
After a solid spring camp for the Cajuns, all eyes and attention turn to preseason camp when the quarterback battle will heat up and one of the three will earn his starting spot.
Out of the three, Beale has the most college snaps, after playing in three games with UL last season. With the lack of significant experience among the three, camp will be even more important to determine who the guy will be.
So far in the spring, Desormeaux has been impressed with Howard’s bounce-back ability.
“I thought Walker did a really good job of taking it for what it was,” Desormeaux said. “If he didn’t have a great day, it just was what it was and it’s like a blank slate coming into the next day. I think sometimes when you’re younger, you press a little bit because those guys haven’t really been in those situations.”
Beale and Winfield have also shown promise in their live scrimmages throughout the preseason giving them a taste of what it’ll be like on Saturdays.
The ability to bounce back and handle the pressure isn’t the only attribute a future Cajuns quarterback will want heading into the fall. Senior offensive lineman Jax Harrington, who was one of two Cajun players accompanying Desormeaux for this year’s SBC media day, wants his future quarterback to show sacrifice.
“I want somebody that’s going to put the team before himself,” Harrington said. “I’ve been around Ben Wooldridge and, as a football player, he’s an elite competitor because he’ll do things that no one else is willing to do. He’ll be the first one in the facility and the last one to leave.”
Filling in Wooldridge’s shoes and the amount of sacrifice he put in won’t be easy after he three for nearly 2,500 yards passing, 17 touchdowns and just six interceptions last year. Similar to last season, Desormeaux and his staff are hoping this three-way competition will breed another calm, cool and dedicated starting quarterback as well as a just-as-ready backup.
“Fall camp will be incredibly important, I mean you want the guy that’s peaking and that’s playing really well going into the season to be your guy,” Desoremaux said. “That’s why we’re never in a rush to really make that decision. We got to continue to push them and we’ve got a really good plan of splitting up those reps.”
Shannon Belt covers high school sports, the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns and LSU men's basketball for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow her high school and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ShannonBelt3. Got questions regarding HS/UL athletics? Send them to Shannon Belt at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Louisiana football's Michael Desormeaux weighs in on quarterback race
Category: General Sports
