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Patience Pays Off as ULM Offense Shows Improvement

Patience Pays Off as ULM Offense Shows Improvement

Football Oct 24
By ULMWarhawks.com Online Columnist Paul Letlow

MONROE, La.  – ULM offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez isn't known for his patience.

Still, the veteran coach realized that he had to give the Warhawks time to find their footing this season. With a first-year staff installing a new system for an overhauled roster, Rodriguez tried to manage his expectations.

"I always step back a little bit and realize, this is the first year," Rodriguez said. "It's not only the first year, but a lot of guys offensively who are playing weren't even here in the summer. I try to remember that and not get too upset when things don't go exactly the way we want. But they're a good group of guys and they want to learn."

Case in point is quarterback Chandler Rogers, a player who joined the team after attending ULM's football camp for portal transfers over the summer.

"I'd talked to him a little bit throughout the summer," Rodriguez said. "We invited him to our summer camp for prospects. I liked him on film and I talked to Jay Hopson, who had recruited him at Southern Miss. He used to be on my staff and said good things about him. Really, from talking to him at camp and watching him perform, I thought, 'This guy has a chance to maybe help us.' I'm glad we brought him along."

Rogers began the season as backup to Rhett Rodriguez and saw abbreviated action as a change of pace quarterback. However, Rogers became ULM's starter four games ago after Rodriguez suffered a lung injury in the win over Troy.

"He's a freshman and he's still learning but he's a very intelligent guy and very competitive," Rodriguez said. "Rhett knew the system a little bit, but all the pieces around Rhett were inexperienced. So now, you've got an inexperienced quarterback with inexperience around him. But I've been really proud of how they've grasped what we put in so far."

After rough outings in losses to Coastal Carolina and Georgia State, Rogers' progress was evident in ULM's 31-28 win over Liberty as he passed for 225 yards and two touchdowns.

"I believe we began clicking and growing together as an offense in that second half against Liberty," Rogers said. "Once that clicked, we understood what we needed to do."

A 28-point third quarter served as his official breakout. The Mansfield, Texas, native went 9-for-9 for 91 yards, including TD strikes of 12 yards to Andrew Henry and 14 yards to Zach Rasmussen in the third quarter as the Warhawks rallied from a 14-0 halftime deficit to take a 28-14 lead in the Liberty game.

Rogers took a quantum leap in ULM's 41-31 win over South Alabama on Saturday night by passing for a career-high 369 yards and four touchdowns. While completing 25-of-35 passes, Rogers connected with nine different receivers.  Four of those receivers had catches of 20 or more yards.

"Coach Rich Rod demands excellence," Rogers said after the game. "He wants perfection. He's very hard on us, especially me as a quarterback because I have to know everything. I have to know checks and I have the responsibility of leading the offense.

"But at the same time, he ensures that whatever he calls that I'm able to run it at a high level. He wants me to play with confidence and I did that tonight."

Head coach Terry Bowden appreciates the way Rogers responded to the challenge of starting so soon in his career.

"They meet long amounts of time," Bowden said. "He's getting better because he's very coachable. He's got good running skills and good throwing skills. You can tell by the way a ball comes out of a kid's hand if he's got a good spin on the ball. Chandler has always had a good spin on the ball."

While Rogers continues to make plays as a runner, he's been able to make explosive plays in the passing game too. An 81-yard touchdown pass to Will Derrick in the fourth quarter gave ULM the lead for good.

"He's a competitive runner and he has pretty decent speed," Rodriguez said. "Really good athleticism and he can make all the throws. The biggest thing with Chandler, as it is with any young quarterback, is being able to scan the field both pre-snap and post-snap and be very decisive in his actions. I thought he was more decisive yesterday than he was a couple weeks before then. As he continues to learn and get experience, he'll get even better with his decisiveness and decision making."

With 40 yards rushing, Rogers accounted for 409 yards of total offense on a night when the Warhawks gained a season-high 555 yards. ULM came into the South Alabama game averaging 18.2 points and 260.2 yards per outing. The Jaguars defensively were giving up 297.8 yards per game while allowing just 177.2 yards passing.

"We had a great game plan coming in and felt very confident about it," said Rogers, who has completed 69-of-110 attempts for 959 yards and nine touchdowns while rushing for 253 yards on 92 attempts. "We had a great week of practice coming off the win against Liberty. We turned that page on Liberty and focused on South Alabama. We made sure all our focus and attention was on South Alabama."

Rogers, who is completing 62.7 percent of his passes, said he's been putting in the work to make the most of his opportunity as ULM's starter.

"Definitely film study with Coach Rodriguez and on my own time," Rogers said. "Just that growth and maturing, recognizing coverages and knowing where to attack them. Also, with reps, you see things faster. I think the game slows down when you get more reps."

Meanwhile, Rhett Rodriguez is still mending and his timetable on returning is uncertain.

"I haven't put much thought into it because Rhett is still few weeks away," Rodriguez said when asked how he'd manage the quarterback situation if both Rhett and Rogers were available. "He's still getting X-rays every week and they're all coming out clear.

"He's slowly starting to throw just a little bit last week and will probably increase that a little bit this week. If he's ready by the end of the season, that will be a good problem because he's intelligent enough to be able to step right in, but we'll have a plan for it if he's ready and able to come back this year. Our hope and expectation, not just with Chandler but with Jiya (Wright) and some of the other young quarterbacks is they'll get better every week in practice as well."
 
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