Louisiana football coach Michael Desormeaux: QB Ben Wooldridge 'faster' than before injury
No coach wants to see their quarterback streaking down the field in chase.
In Louisiana football's 38-13 season-opening victory over Northwestern State Saturday night, senior quarterback Ben Wooldridge — less than 10 months removed from tearing his ACL in his right knee — took off after Cadillac Rhone in a full-sprint.
Wooldridge caught Rhone and made the tackle more than 70 yards down the field. It surely was a display of wheels for the 6-foor-3, 215-pounder.
And while Desormeaux wasn't exactly thrilled his quarterback was having to hawk down a defender to halt a touchdown off of running back Zylan Perry's fumble, there was still no concern about the health of his signal caller.
"I told Ben (before the season), 'if you can't physically do everything that you need to do to play your game, then you will not play Week 1,'" Desormeaux said. "That's not fair. This summer, fall camp, the guy, everything he does he did.
"I think he's faster than he was before, to be honest with you. I don't want my quarterback tackling people a whole lot but in that case, it doesn't matter, you got to get there. I was proud of him. That was effort, hustle play and that's who he is."
When the play went down in the first, the Ragin' Cajuns (1-0) were leading 7-3. Had Wooldridge not caught Rhone, UL would've been trailing Northwestern State, and while the sequence likely wouldn't have changed the ultimate outcome, it could've changed the perception of where the team is going into Year 2 under Desormeaux.
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Instead, the Cajuns' QB makes the stop and three plays later, the defense causes a fumble of its own, by Kendre' Gant and the Demons didn't cash in on the miscue.
It was yet another message Wooldridge was sending to his teammates and coaching staff.
"We talk about team football and hustle, effort and how that wins games. We were up 7-3 and you could have gone to a 14-point swing," Desormeaux said.
"I'm not surprised. I told (Wooldridge) if the quarterback thing doesn't work out, we look at DB."
Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU/UL athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Louisiana football QB Ben Wooldridge 'faster' after injury, coach says
