Louisiana football held it’s first fall practice under Billy Napier Friday.
Napier now faces tough questions over the next few weeks with a number of positional battles brewing, none bigger than who will start at quarterback. Andre Nunez, senior, and Levi Lewis, sophomore, will compete for the starting job. It’s an eerily similar scenario Mark Hudspeth faced in 2011.
Hudspeth inherited a pair of quarterbacks who battled for the starting job, senior Chris Masson, who wore number 7, and Louisiana native lefty Blaine Gautier, who wore 17. Andre Nunez is a senior who wears 7, and Lewis is a left-handed quarterback from Louisiana who wears 17. Spooky, right?
Gautier wound up the starting quarterback as Louisiana won the New Orleans Bowl 32-30 that season. History gives Levi Lewis a point there. But as usual Napier plans to use the fall to determine his starter, not some weird coincidence.
"Soon as the reps become critical. That’s what it’s all about. Once you start putting a plan together," said Napier. "Obviously as we approach the first game, that’s when it becomes critical. But all that being said, if we don’t have a clear cut guy, it’s not beyond us to play two. It’s been done like that at places I’ve been. We’re using the same blueprint we used, going back 7-8 years ago."