With the NCAA rule gives you five years to play five seasons moving forward, UL right tackle George Jackson will be one of the last sixth-year performers for the Ragin' Cajuns.

And he's making the most of it.

After missing most of last season injured, Jackson is both playing at a high level and offering valuable leadership to another young offense for the Cajuns.

"Anyone who has played as many snaps as he's played for us, there's a lot of value in that and George has played really well this year," UL coach Michael Desormeaux said. 

Most of all, Desormeaux appreciates Jackson's commitment to the program, taking him with Lunch Winfield as UL's two representatives to the Sun Belt Media Days in July.

"He's a guy who has never wavered," he said. "He's always wanted to be here. He's been a starter for a long time."

Desormeaux credits Jackson's leadership as a big reason the offensive line has been making the running game such a huge part of UL's 5-2, 2-1 start to the season.

The Cajuns are currently fifth in the Sun Belt at 200 rushing yards a game.

"It's definitely fun," Jackson said. "As an older guy now, just being able to get the young guys going and just being able to take the leadership role, it's just definitely a great opportunity."

With all of his experience, Jackson is navigating his final season more like a professional player than earlier in his career.

"Taking that step forward of film studying and just being able to play fast throughout the game, knowing what the defense is about to do," he explained. "Our coaches put us in a great position each and every week to just go out there, play fast, and dominate."

Adding to the enjoyment is the line being more healthy this season, compared to last year's historically long injury list.

"Definitely, having all the guys each and every week is definitely a big role because you play next to the man next to you," Jackson said. "You know, we always have a big role of saying five equals one because we all play as one and just being able to play out with the same collective group of guys each and every week ... that's always the goal."

More Kerry Wilson

Whether it's special teams or now contributing in the secondary, redshirt junior safety Kerry Wilson's name keeps popping up during the Cajuns' five-win season so far.

Wilson had three tackles in UL's 33-6 win over Troy, including the final fourth-down stop that put the exclamation point on the impressive victory.

"I have a lot of respect for Kerry," Desormeaux said. "He's earned it day in and day out. He's filling a role that we have a big need and he's doing it well."

With the loss of senior safety Collin Jacob to a broken arm, Wilson has joined forces with fellow reserves Lake Bates to keep the ball rolling.

Desormeaux credits his maturity and persistence in Wilson being ready for the unexpected challenge.

"Last year, he kind of started to get a little bit of a role on some special teams and start to kind of earn a little trust and a little bit of respect that way," Desormeaux explained. "All he did was he just kept showing up day after day and continued to climb the depth chart.

"Unfortunately, we've had some things that have happened that have maybe pushed him further up than maybe what you expected at the beginning, but he's played really well."

Numbers game

There's a lot of numbers to consider in this matchup between UL and Southern Miss on Saturday in Hattiesburg.

Let's starting with scoring. UL ranks fifth in the Sun Belt at 30 points per game and second on defense at 19.3 points a game. Southern Miss is 11th on offense (24.2) and 13th on defense at 32.7.

In total yards, UL is 11th in the league on offense at 377.9 yards and first on defense (298.3), while Southern Miss ranks No. 8 on offense at 394.5 and 13th on defense (446.7).

In terms of the running game, the Cajuns lead the Sun Belt on defense at only 104.3 yards and are fourth on offense (200.3), compared to Southern Miss being 10th on offense (133.7) and dead last on defense at 252.0 a game.

With the passing game, the Cajuns are 13th offensively at 177.6 per game and No. 3 on defense at 194.0, while Southern Miss stands third on offense (260.8) and fourth on defense (194.7).

If those categories tell the tale, the Cajuns should be able to run the ball effectively Saturday.

But the game is in Hattiesburg and the other numbers that don't favor the Cajuns is UL is 2-24 all-time in games played there. As a head coach, Desormeaux is 1-1 there with a 23-13 win in 2024.

"They were having a really tough year and we won by 10," Desormeaux remembered the 2024 win. "We had to grind it out. Like, we had a really good team that year. It is what it is. I felt like, honestly, I felt like that, that was kind of like this year.

"They're going to play us really hard. We've got to show up and we got to get ready to roll from the jump."