By Paul Letlow, ULMWarhawks.com Online Columnist
NEW ORLEANS – Respect for ULM football is growing in the Sun Belt Conference.
ULMWarhawks.com gathered thoughts from an assortment of opposing coaches and a notable player while attending Sun Belt Conference Media Days.
University of Louisiana Lafayette head coach Billy Napier:
"First of all, I think
Matt Viator is an exceptional football coach, and I've got tremendous respect for what he accomplished at his previous job at McNeese. I had some good friends who worked on his staff. He's a good coach and you can see that ULM is making progress and getting better. They were very, very close in a lot of games last year, and we've got a tremendous amount of respect for their football team."
Napier On Marcus Green: "You can't help but see
Marcus Green. He's a dynamic player that impacted every game he played in, not only offensively but as a kick returner. We'll need to know where he's at when we play them."
Arkansas State quarterback Justice Hansen:
"That game last year was wild. A lot of points were scored. It's funny, at the Manning Camp, I got to meet
Caleb Evans a little bit. I'd met him before and we were able to hang out for a couple of days, so that was cool. Definitely looking forward to that game. They have a lot of talented guys on that side of the ball, and I expect them to put up a lot of points throughout the season."
Troy head coach Neal Brown:
"Matt's done a tremendous job there and it's no surprise. He's been a winner everywhere he's been. I knew it was just a matter of time. When you watch them offensively, the quarterback is a big-time player. They probably have the deepest and two of the most talented receivers in our league. I think their offensive line is really underrated. The more those guys played together last year, the better they got. On defense, I think some of their statistics are a little misleading. In some of the games, especially the games they won, they made some critical plays late. They've got a lot of guys back on that side, so I expect them to be much improved."
Arkansas State head coach Blake Anderson:
"I know they've got almost everybody coming back offensively. The quarterback is playing great, big tall wide outs like we've got, and then Green in the slot can play for anybody in the country in my opinion. Hopefully, our defense can find a way to slow them down a little bit better and we can find a way to score one more than they do."
South Alabama head coach Steve Campbell:
"In joining the league, I've heard a lot of people talk about how good their skill guys are, how good the quarterback is, how good the receivers are and how explosive they are offensively. Here's what I know about a
Matt Viator team. Eventually, those sons of a gun end up being really, really good on defense. I played them when he was at McNeese. I don't care what level you talk about, McNeese was great on defense against a lot of people. So, I know that Matt has a very hard-nosed, physical type of football team that he coaches and that's how his players play. You don't like the combination of that with all those skill guys that they've got. That's what I know."
