LAFAYETTE — The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns held Media Day for the 2026 football season with players and coaches arriving about one month from a Sept. 5 opener against the Lamar Cardinals and carrying motivation from an unfinished 2025 campaign.
The Cajuns went 2-6 before winning four straight victories to earn bowl eligibility, then lost to Delaware in the 68 Ventures Bowl. Players said that sequence of events has set the tone for everything since.
"We're not just going to a bowl game, we're going to a bowl game and winning it," senior safety Collin Jacob said. "We're not just going to a championship. We're going to a championship and winning. Just having that calculated mindset carrying us from spring into the summer into fall camp we ain't settling for less."
"The way that we've asked them to practice, the things that we've asked them to do with what's acceptable and what's not acceptable they have continued to meet and exceed that day after day," head coach Michael Desormeaux said. "So that's where you get excited about the group that you have."
For the first time since Levi Lewis, the Cajuns enter fall camp without a quarterback competition. Lunch Winfield, who led a come-from-behind overtime victory against Marshall last season, enters camp as the unquestioned starter.
Winfield said the certainty of his role feels different from where he stood a year ago.
"It's definitely real different, man," Winfield said. "When you got a community, a team, and coaches that are behind you that believe in you and they're telling you, you're the guy it's a wonderful feeling. Being a starter is way different."
A redshirt junior tight end Caden Jensen said the trust Winfield has built extends across the locker room.
"Lunch is a great man," Jensen said. "He's a great player and a great man off the field. Having a comfortable relationship with your quarterback like that definitely helps the trust. He's gonna get the job done because he's proven it."
Before Louisiana kicks off the 2026 season against the Cardinals, the Cajuns will hold two scrimmages during fall camp.
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