The improvement of the Ragin’ Cajuns defense from 2018 to 2019 was arguably one of the biggest in the country.

Last season, defensive coordinator Ron Roberts’ squad was in the top 25 nationally for red zone defense, 4th down conversion percentage, scoring defense, passing yards allowed, and team passing efficiency.

Now, Patrick Toney assumes the role of DC as Roberts is at Baylor. Senior leaders like Michael Jacquet, Jacques Boudreaux, and Deuce Wallace are not here anymore.

However, head coach Billy Napier tells me he is confident in the experience he’s bringing back on defense. There are almost 30 Cajuns with significant playing time coming back on the defense alone.

Several returners are poised to lead as well.

“I don’t know if it’s necessarily going to be any one individual as much as it’s going to be the collective group. I think each individual has a challenge. We’ve given them feedback, strengths, weaknesses, things to improve on. A couple names that come to mind would be Joe Dillon, Ferrod Gardner, Percy Butler, Eric Garror, Zi’Yon Hill. Those are some guys right off the top of my head that I think have a really good opportunity to be great leaders on defense.”