Former Bulldog great Terry Bradshaw sees great things for his alma mater under Derek Dooley.

"I am more stoked than I have ever been about what's going on," the former NFL great and current broadcaster, said on a recent visit to Ruston. "I like what I'm seeing. I'm excited about it."

Some coaches have to worry about their jobs after a 5-7 season. But Dooley, in his first season following Jack Bicknell Jr., is fine -- and the 5-7 mark wasn't unimpressive. Heck, they like the guy so much they made him the athletic director, too.

"I can pick out horses," said Bradshaw, "but being AD and head football coach? Are you kidding me?"

It's no joke what Dooley is doing with this program. He heads into Year 2 with reason to believe things can get even better quickly; and his optimism had to be raised with the late addition of a quarterback.

Having lost Zac Champion to graduation and then going through spring ball without a quarterback with any experience, Dooley was able to add former Georgia Tech quarterback Taylor Bennett to his roster, and probably to the No. 1 spot on the Bulldogs' depth chart.

Thanks to a loophole over the kind of graduate program Bennett sought, the lefty, who has started bowl games the last two years, was able to both transfer AND not sit out. He threw for 2,136 yards while starting 12 games for the Yellow Jackets last year.

Another reason for Bradshaw to be "stoked."

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