Physical first day in full pads for McNeese

LAKE CHARLES – The sounds of shoulder pads clashing echoed out at the A.I. Ratcliff Practice Fields on Tuesday morning when the McNeese Cowboys geared up in full pads for the first time in fall camp – the fifth practice of the preseason.

The 2 ½-hour practice included around 24 live snaps that displayed some good things on both sides of the ball.

“We had some hitting going on out there with different types of drills,” said head coach Lance Guidry. “I was a little quick on the whistle with the running backs because when we hold them up, I don’t like us teeing off on them.

“We did get some tackling in and will get more in tomorrow (Wednesday). It’ll be a little bit more of a physical practice. All in all, it was a good day and had some good things happen.”

LIVE SNAPS NOTES
• QB James Tabary completed both of his passes for 25 yards in the first live period. His first completion was a 15-yard pick-up to WR Trevor Begue then followed that with an 8-yard screen.

• QB Cody Orgeron also completed both of his passes in live action – a 7-yard gain to WR Tre Roberts and 10-yard completion to TE Jacob Logan.

• On defense, DL Jonta Jones had a sack while Christian Jacobs and Chris Livings each recorded a tackle for a loss.

PRACTICE NOTES
• DWA intercepted three passes on the day in different pass scales and team drills.
• The Stampede (offensive line) first unit included newcomers Cutter Leftwich (center) and Tre Newton (RT) as well as returners Kyle Zenon (LT), Grant Burguilles (LG), and Caleb Gary (RG).
• Senior RB Ryan Ross ran with the 1s during team drills.
• It was a hot and humid day with heat index reaching 101 in the morning but the storms held off just in time for the Cowboys to get the entire practice session in.
• Calum Foster wore a DWA jersey in place of Darion Dunn who sat out practice to recover from dehydration suffered on Monday. Dunn is expected back in pads on Wednesday.