Although Shazz Preston practiced a little bit Wednesday for the first time since preseason camp began, he did not receive regular reps and I am skeptical that he will get any snaps on Saturday. He's still not full speed, and a return against North Texas seems more realistic to me. If he does play Saturday, Jon Sumrall said today it would be for fewer than 20 plays and more likely just a handful.
Staying healthy has been important for Tulane's offensive line this year. The No. 2 line today was Reese Baker, Elijah Baker, Caleb Thomas, Landry Cannon and Darion Reed from left to right. With the exception of Thomas, that's quite the contrast in experience from the starting unit of Derrick Graham, Shadre Hurst, Vincent Murphy, Josh Remetich and Rashad Green. Rice is tied for seventh nationally with 20 sacks and is first in the AAC, getting most of that pressure from its front four (12 different players have at least one sack), so the offensive line will need to be on point Saturday.
Sumrall said today Rice almost always plays opponents close and makes it tough on them, but that's simply not true this year. The Owls trailed Sam Houston 31-7 early in the third quarter, fell behind Houston 26-0 after three when the Cougars were absolutely punchless offensively against anyone else (before changing QBs for their last game) and trailed Army 28-0 at halftime, so they've been out of half of their games early. If Tulane starts fast, it probably will be four times in seven games the Owls are done by halftime.
The two-minute drill at the end of Wednesday practices has become a big thing for walk-on kicker Bobby Noel, who is not in the running for playing time but kicks on Wednesdays because the regulars get the day off while doing most of their work on Tuesday and Thursday. Today, Darian Mensah hit Bryce Bohanon and Mario Williams for good gains to move the ball to the defense's 25 on the first two plays. He then scrambled for a 1-yard loss when no one was open and hit Makhi Hughes as a safety valve for 5 yards before a Hughes run up the middle was ruled to be a 1-yard gain. The field goal team rushed on the field, and Noel sent a low line drive through the uprights (it was ugly but effective) as the offensive players whooped and hollered and celebrated with him.
It was the first good-football weather day of the fall, and the energy was evident most of the way. I did not put much stock into Sumrall's criticism of practice yesterday--it was good coaching to get the guys' heads out of the clouds and no cause for concern--so I'm not putting much stock into today's rebound, either. This team is on a mission to win out and potentially get a playoff spot and will be up for every game, although that does not guarantee good play.
I talked to Sumrall, Ty Thompson and Johnathan Edwards after practice. It was Thompson's first interview since losing the battle for the starting QB job.
I will say this about Sumrall--his handling of the QB decision was next-level coaching. I've covered Steve Spurrier, Urban Meyer and Wllie Fritz (among others), and Sumrall being willing to start the unheralded Darian Mensah over more heralded and experienced competition AND getting Thompson to buy in and give the team a tremendous asset as a wildcat QB is as good or better than I've ever seen. So many coaches would have gone in a different direction, and almost none of them would have gotten the most out of two guys. Really, really impressive.
SUMRALL
On Thompson adjustment to wildcat package:
It wasn't in the training camp plan because he was in the competition to be THE guy. Once it became evident that Darian was going to be the game 1 starter, we didn't really want to do it in game 1. We just wanted to play that game for what it was, but really at that point we felt like Ty with his physical traits--he's big, he's athletic, he's got a really strong arm--and the type of competitor he is, and really how he handled the news of not being the starter made me go I want to find a role for this guy, because was he pleased to not be the starter? No. But he was like, coach, I want to do whatever I can to help this team. And then him and Darion are attached to the hip. I'm telling you, you go around town and they are together half of the time, so they've become really good friends. It's fun to watch their relationship. But the package, once we got into it, I kind of went into the offensive staff room and said, guys, we're going to create some stuff for him because from a defensive perspective, it's a problem. You put just one of them on the field, you put both of them on the field, you start changing them, it's like all right, how do you game plan for all this?"
On the element of him being to throw it out of wildcat look:
"He can throw it for real. It was funny because he missed the easiest one he had against UAB, that little jump pass. My son could make that throw, like come on, man, but we've really had more planned plays in every game plan we've actually run, so there's more that hasn't been shown. It's kind of a fun thing to have. It's taken on a life of its own. I think our guys have drawn energy off of It. I think Darion has drawn energy off of it. It's made everybody on the team better."
On it being unusual that Thompson took not starting as well as he did:
"I think the first few days after being told, hey, Darion's going to take the reps with the 1s for the foreseeable future, he wasn't happy, he was disappointed, he was frustrated because he's worked incredibly hard, but the way he approached what he did next at practice, the very next day he frickin brought it. It was like all right, this guy's wired right. Ty's been great to be around. He's fun every day. He has a great attitude. Usually when you just keep showing up, good things happen."
On knowing he was this type of athlete:
"At 5:50 in the morning in January, February running, we didn't know he had the foot issue yet. It's something he came here with we think, and he was beating wide receivers and DBs in races. I was like, oh, wow. I knew he ran good. I didn't know he ran that good. I was like, wow, this guy can really run."
On knack for knowing where to run in wildcat:
"Honestly, I didn't know how he would be there because we had not just run him during training camp. We were trying to run the whole offense, and so you don't really know the instinctive piece how a guy's going to see the runs, and he's got a good feel for it."
On explosive plays defense has allowed (seven gains of 45 yards or more):
"A couple of them is schematic things we've cleaned up in the bye week. A couple of it is guys not communicating a check and having 10 guys doing the right thing and one guy not. That's been something last week when we kind of recalibrate and look at things that have gone well and things that haven't gone well, that was without question defensively one of the big things we discussed and watched and talked about as a staff to pinpoint how can we maybe improve that area for sure."
On not giving up many plays of 10 or more yards or 20 or more yards compared to other teams but giving up all of the home runs (five on essentially running plays and two on passes):
"I'm not accustomed to that. It's something that bothers me. That has not appeared much in the last several years in any situation I've been. it's frustrating because that will cost us a game if we don't get it fixed. It will cost us a game."
On Johnathan Edwards speed (he has saved two touchdowns by tracking down runners on huge gains):
"He can run run. In the Lafayette one he hit 23 miles an hour in the GPS, which the only other guy I've been around in my career that hit hit that was DK Metcalf (at Ole Miss and now the franchise record-holder with the Seattle Seahawks for 50-plus yard touchdown catches). I've never had another guy hit 23 on the GPS, and then Johnathan hit it against Lafayette, which is eye-opening. That guy (Thompson) has hit close to 23. He's hit 22. He's gotten close."
