No practice report today because they practiced early in the morning so players and Sumrall could attend Pro Day at the Saints indoor facility. I was there, and it looks like Adin Huntington helped himself. he's been projected as a potential seventh-round pick despite having only an OK season as a senior transfer, but his measurables are really good for his position as an edge rusher. He apparently had a 38-inch vertical jump and a 10.6 broad jump. I did not get many times or numbers, but that's impressive. For example, Caleb Ransom's outstanding numbers at the NFL combine in addition to his insane 4.33 40 times were a 40-inch vertical and a 10.9 broad jump, and he's a DB where the numbers are a lot better in general.

Tyler Grubbs did not participate today because of a pulled groin. Also absent were Phat Watts and Jacob Barnes and Thomas Peterson among eligible seniors, but the other 17 performed in front of scouts from all 32 NFL teams.

The full list:

Terrell Allen
Reggie Brown
Yulkeith Brown
Javon Carter
Johnathan Edwards
Dontae Fleming
Jalen Geiger
Rashad Green
Eric Hicks
Ethan Hudak
Huntington
Patrick Jenkins
Vincent Murphy
Ransaw
Josh Remetich
Micah Robinson
Mario Williams

The three receivers all looked fast and probably helped themselves, but none of them are going to get drafted. Mario Williams, whose parents I met today, should be able to get into someone's camp.

Other than Ransaw, who definitely will get drafted, Huntington, Jenkins and Edwards are the next best bets, with all of them hoping to go at the end of the draft. Everyone else will be undrafted and simply hoping to get into a camp somewhere. I

After the players lifted weights, did the vertical and standing broad jump, two reps of the 40-yard dash and a shuttle run, they broke into individual position work. TJ Finley was the quarterback throwing passes to those guys, which surprised me because I did not realize players still in college could do that. Apparently Kai Horton served in that role two years ago in the Pro Day I skipped.

For the first time, the players had a cheering section, with various Tulane staffers and a bunch of players who arrived after practice ended whooping and hollering for the guys they thought ran well.

Robinson ran a 4.39 40 I heard, helping himself, too, but I don't see him getting drafted even though he played in front of Edwards at cornerback.

I had a short 1-on-1 interview with Ransaw before the media as a group interviewed Sumrall, Jenkins and Remetich as well as Ransaw, who did not say anything he did not give me. Ransaw did not run the 40 today because there was no reason to after his performance at the combine, but he did the shuttle run and the individual drills.

SUMRALL

"Excited to watch our guys work. Really good group. Proud of what they did at Tulane and really proud of the product they put out there on the field today. Fast times, and you could tell whether guys are prepared or not, and our guys looked prepared today, which is cool to see that everybody showed up ready to go and put their best foot forward. It was really cool for our current team to be able to get here and watch them go through this process, and hopefully we'll have some guys follow in their footsteps."

On having all 32 NFL teams or close to it have someone attending:

"It didn't hurt that you have a top-end guy like Caleb who ran the 40 at the combine, so that doesn't hurt them when he's going to do drill work. It's nice to have a top-end-of-the-draft marquee type guy that can maybe get other guys a look or attention, but then the depth of this team. You look at both cornerbacks today, Johnathan and Micah both ran really good times. All the receivers represented themselves well. Pat Jenkins looked really good. I think there was a lot of interest in different guys having a fit at the next level, so that's a positive. Any time you can get 31 or 32, that's a positive."

On Ransaw at next level:

"It's been fun to see him grown. He's from my hometown basically. I grew up in Huntsville, and he's from Harvest, which is out in the sticks a little bit more. I'm a city boy compared to him, but I remember watching Caleb in high school. What he is going to bring to an NFL team is he's got five-position DB physical ability. He can go outside and play corner. He did that for us in '22 at Troy. In '23 he played in the slot and in '24 here he played in the slot. His long-term position could be safety, which is what he played in the Senior Bowl. He's got the physical ability to be a five-position DB. More impressive is he's got the mental makeup. He is a football junkie. He had an illness about a year ago and I went to visit him when he was in the hospital, and he was in the hospital bed watching PFF (Pro Football Focus) and other DBs in this year's class that he thought he could compare to. He loves the game. He's a football junkie. High character, competitive, really a good representation of what all our guys that are here today are, but I think he's got a really bright future. As he's gone through the draft process, he's elevated. He's helped himself out at every step of the process so far."

On Johnathan Edwards getting invite to Senior Bowl and proceeding from there:

"Johnathan's a cool story. He came to us from Indiana State, got here in June last year. He's big and fast. You can't teach his size and speed. When we got him, it was like getting the ball in play, a guy we were able to teach a lot and him learning a lot. He's a sponge. He got the late call-up to the Senior Bowl game. His response was is that a good thing to be invited to that game, and I'm like, yeah, it's a pretty good thing, you need to get there. Well, what if I don't have a ride? I was like, I'll drive you. His ceiling is really high. He has a lot of development left. His best football is not just a year in front of him. It could be four, five or six years out in front of him potentially because of the type of athlete he is."

On the two plays last year where he ran down guys who were in open field headed for touchdowns:

"Yeah, the Louisiana-Lafayette one where he ran the running back down, that was the first glimpse where we all like, whoa. We knew in summer workouts he could run well, but that's the first time you really saw it translate on the field. He made another one at UAB. He's got such great speed, he can recover from a bad movement if that makes sense. At the Senior Bowl he was in a one-on-one period in a rep that he was not clean at the line of scrimmage, but he was able to recover because he's got such great athleticism and speed, and he's got length that helps with that, too. Just a gifted kid with a bright future, and I look forward to seeing where he lands because he's got a lot of development."

Kam Williams is confirmed in the transfer portal and is not coming back.

Sources tell me Kaleb Banks, Mari Jordan and little-used reserves Spencer Ellliot and Michael Eley skipped the first College Basketball Crown practice today and are expected to enter the portal.

Of the relevant players, Rowan Brumbaugh and Asher Woods practiced along with Gregg Glenn and Percy Daniels. Glenn announced publicly last week he was returning.

With Pro Day coming up tomorrow, the stars were out to watch Tulane's Saturday morning practice. Michael Pratt, who may be in town to throw to the receivers tomorrow, was there along with Parry Nickerson, Lorenzo Doss, Mario Williams and Josh Remetich for the shorts and shoulder pads workout that featured the first significant contact of the spring. When I got there, the linebackers and safeties were doing a tackling technique drill hitting cushions at full speed under the direction of linebackers coach Tayler Polk. It's still too early for me to get a read on individual players, but it is very easy to see the difference in size and speed of the entire roster compared to five years ago. Tulane will have lot to overcome in the fall with so few returning starters on both sides of the ball--likely among the fewest in Division I--but the guys stepping into roles will be talented. On Thursday, I noticed how abnormally tall Middle Tennessee transfer Dallas Winner-Johnson was for a linebacker. Saturday it was early-enrolling freshman wide receiver Antwaun Parham, who is 6-4. Whether he develops into a big contributor remains to be seen--the Wave is still waiting on the 6-5 Sidney Mbanasor--but he looks the part of the big, skilled receiver Willie Fritz never was able to find. Having said that, the first play I saw him involved him was one where the ball skipped off his hands on a fade route in the end zone.

Some of the numbers on the roster we were given on day 1 are inaccurate, so hopefully that issue will get fixed. There was a No. 12 playing cornerback on Saturday and I did not know who he was, as well as a No. 33 playing nickel. In seven-on-seven drills, Kadin Semonza made a nice pass to Garrett Mmahat, who continues to produce in practice but has not proven he is game-ready at receiver. TJ Finley hit Zycarl Lewis deep a little later. Kellen Tasby dropped a snap, bringing up memories of his rough mop-up series against Temple last year when he had to be replaced for not knowing the plays, but he did respond with a TD pass to Parham over the top.

When they went to a spirited 11-on-11 at the end of practice, Finley showed off his big arm strength by overthrowing Shazz Preston by about 10 yards on a deep ball. There was nothing Preston could do there, but he had a rough day. Finley then had a bullet pass deflect off the hands of Bryce Bohanon on a crossing pattern. My concern with Finley is how hard he throws all of his passes. He needs to dial it down on some of them, although the gun is a nice tool to have when necessary, as when he hit Bohanon through a tight window past Kevin Adams for a big gain to kickstart a long drive that started inside the 20. He then hit Zycarl Lewis over the middle and Mmahat on a quick out before Preston dropped a hard throw on the corner in the red zone. A quick pass in the backfield to Maurice Turner did not produce much, and the drive ended when Finley eas ruled to be sacked by DeShaun Batiste. Finley who stepped up in the pocket when Batiste got close to him, disagreed with the call.

Donovan Leary was next, and he looked to have a long completion to Anthony Brown-Stephens down the sideline, but Jahiem Johnson, who had a strong first week, got back to knock it down. Leary threw wide of Anthony Miller on the short sideline. Preston then caught a short pass and slipped on his cut with room to run. Bohanon caught a short pass and juked a defender to get extra yards. Shaun Nicholas got open on an out pattern against E'Zaiah Shine before Leary threw over the top to a wide open Brown-Stephens for about a 35-yard touchdown. Safety Chase Green got lost in coverage, and the offense celebrated wildly on the sideline behind the end zone, mobbing Brown-Stephens. And when I say celebrated wildly, I have never seen a practice celebration that intense by the offense in the 16 years I have covered practice at Tulane.

I did not catch the full series from Semonza, but Preston dropped a pass in the end zone before he completed a short scoring toss to running back Zuberi Mobley.

The starting offensive line at the moment appears to be no-brainers Derrick Graham and Shadre Hurst on the left side, with Elijah Baker at center, Landry Cannon at right guard and Reese Baker at left tackle.

Injured guys who did not practice included wide receivers Omari Hayes and Oliver Mitchell and defensive back KC Eziomume.

Before I got there, Ty Thompson went down with a knee injury that could keep him out a while. Observers who were there said it did not look good at first, but they added he was walking under his own power. More importantly, Jon Sumrall gave a relatively positive diagnosis.

"Ty tweaked his knee a little. It's nothing major. We'll image it either today or tomorrow. It doesn't look like a several month type thing. It may be a lateral meniscus, which I'd like to inject (him with a pain-killer) and get him through some of spring and then even if we had to shut him down at the end of spring with a week left, because he's been doing some really good things quite honestly."

The practice tomorrow will not be open to reporters because it will be earlier in the morning and Sumrall will head to the Saints facility for Pro Day, which I will attend.

Here is the rest of Sumrall after practice plus our Thursday interviews with Jesus Machado and Arnold Barnes.