Marley now listed as starter at MLB w/Thomas as a backup. Harris now the starter at WLB where Marley formerly started.

UNCOMMITTED VISITORS

1) Trey Creamer, RB, Cartersville, GA. (Cartersville High)

6-0, 175

Skinny: Rivals has him as a 3-star DB recruit, but Tulane is recruiting him strictly as a RB. He has offers from seven mid-level Power 5 schools, including Louisville.

Rivals profile: https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/27216

2) Jakyle Holmes, RB, Ponchatoula

5-10, 195

Skinny: Has offers from Arizona State and Minnesota as well as some smaller D1 programs.

Rivals profile: https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/94002

3) Shannon Forman, DT, Baton Rouge (Southern Lab)

6-2, 254

Skinny: Has offers from Jackson State and Troy as well as Tulane. He is the Rivals database but does not have any stars.

4) Kevin Ledee, WR, Houston (Cypress Ridge High)

6-3, 182

Skinny: Has offers from Illinois, Memphis, Bowling Green, Colorado State and UNLV. He is rated the highest 2-star possible (5.4).

Rivals profile: https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/35595

5) Chris Allen, Baton Rouge (Southern Lab)

6-4, 233

Skinny: He is a four-star recruit with offers from just about every elite program in the south, including LSU and Alabama. Ranked as the 12th best OLB and 209th best overall prospect by Rivals.

COMMITTED ELSEWHERE

1 and 2) LB Bruce Jordan Swilling and DB Jeremiah West, from St. Aug in New Orleans

Skinny: Swilling is a 4-star Georgia Tech commitment and West is a 3-star ULL commitment.

3) Josh Clarke, LB, Riverdale

Skinny: He's a 3-star OLB who committed to Ole Miss and is rated the No. 38 prospect nationally at his position.

ALREADY COMMITTED TO TULANE

Davontavean Martin
Cameron Jackel
Will Wallace
Jaylon Monroe
Stephon Huderson
Caleb Sampson

2018 PROSPECTS

Devin Winters, DT, McDonogh 35
Greg Clayton, WR, Lutcher
Damone Clark, LB, Southern Lab
Kyle Jackson, LB, St. Aug
Juan Monjarres, DE, St. Aug
Garland LaFrance, RB, St. Aug
Joey McNeely, DL, Kinder
Markus Martin, LB, Southern Lab
Shawn Preston, DB, St. James
Chris Reid, QB, East Coweta, Ga.
Lance Robinson, DB, De La Salle
Collins Woods, WR, Blount, Ala.
Devin Brumfield, RB, Covington
Anthony Williams, WR, Hahnville
Cedric Anderson, WR, East Feliciana High

With all 19 of us picking Tulane, we all got the two points for the Wave's opener, a stark contrast to last year when Duke buried the Wave. We had a few 7-point weeks and a few 3-point weeks.

I'm glad I didn't know Ole Miss was ahead of FSU 28-6 until after the fact because, in a pool from my old magazine in Florida, I went 3-7 straight up while picking the Rebels to beat FSU and would have thought I had salvaged the week when they took that huge lead.

7

Gretna Green
MNAlum
Rcnut
DrBox

6

Mono41
ny oscar
highwave
winwave
Kettrade1
jjstock2005

5

LSU Law Greenie
diverdo
WaveON

4

buck2481
Guerry
Harahan Wave

3

Charlamange8
Golfer81
Wavetime

Picks breakdown

Tulane over Wake Forest: 19 of 19
Wisconsin over LSU: 11 of 19
Houston over Oklahoma 10 of 19
Alabama over USC 18 of 19
Texas over Notre Dame 6 of 19
FSU over Ole Miss 11 of 19
Auburn over Clemson 1 of 19
Texas A&M over UCLA 5 of 19

No one on the Tulane football team impressed new coach Willie Fritz more than sophomore wide receiver Andrew Hicks, who worked insanely hard to rehabilitate a torn ACL he sustained in spring drills and was on course to play as soon as the beginning of October if the coaches decided not to redshirt him. It was amazing comeback story, and Hicks looked pretty good as he jogged along the sideline during preseason camp.

Unfortunately, Hicks tore the same ACL in a non-contact drill at the Saints facility last week and is back on crutches. I saw him yesterday and didn't even realize it was Hicks, but I confirmed it after practice today.

I'm not sure it would have been wise to play him this year considering the normal timetable for an ACL recovery, but it's a moot point now, and the injury could not have happened to a more hard-working guy. Hicks played i 11 games with one start as a true freshman last year (two catches, 52 yards, one TD), so he has a redshirt season available and will not have to apply to the NCAA down the road for an extra year.

"He's going to be out for the season," Fritz said. "It's very unfortunate because he worked his tail off to get to this point."

Wide receivers coach Jeff Conway said Hicks' original timetable to come back was November, leading the coaches to assume he would get a medical redshirt, but he worked so hard that he was far ahead of the curve and definitely might have played.

"I think there was a chance, yes," Conway said.

Conway was a little emotional talking about it.

"For him to injure it again in a non-contact at the Saints (facility) was tough," Conway said. "He just slipped and fell running routes on air. It's very frustrating, and I'm sure he's frustrated. I feel bad for him, but our own experiences are what forge who we are, and Andrew will be an even stronger player from having to go through this. It seems dark and desolate right now, but I'm positive with the way he came back from the No. 2 surgery (Hicks also had knee surgery in high school), this No. 3 will make him even stronger. One thing about it, that guy's committed."

In other news, Fritz said after practice today he definitely would use two quarterbacks against Southern but had not finalized the plan and was going to talk about it with his staff. He does not want to identify which freshman quarterback will relieve starter Glen Cuiellette. Darius Bradwell played one possession against Wake Forest in the second quarter last Thursday and failed to get a first down while running four consecutive times. Johnathan Brantley has received a lot of reps in practice this week, but Fritz listed knowledge of the offense as the determinant of who was No. 2 earlier this week, and Brantley has been behind Bradwell in that department since Bradwell participated in spring drills. I'm not sure which way Fritz will go, but it will be interesting to see Saturday.

The starters for the Southern game will be the same as for Wake Forest. I took down the second-team defense yesterday, and it had Luke Jackson and Quinlan Carroll at end, Braynon Edwards and Eldrick Washington at tackle, P.J. Hall at nicknack, Will Harper and Sean Harper at safety and Thakarius Keyes and Stephon Lofton at cornerback. Taris Shenall and Roderic Teamer were getting a rest at that point, altering the depth chart a bit.

There are several injured players, but none of them are projected starters. Guards Phabion Woodard and Brian Webb, who were competing for the top backup spot to Leeward Brown at right guard, are two of them, leaving Jason Stewart as the No. 3 guard if they are not ready by Saturday. Freshman cornerback Tre Jackson, listed as Donnie Lewis' top backup, also has not practiced along with wide receivers Jacob Robertson and Tristan Cooper, linebacker William Townsend and running back Miles Strickland.

One quick note: I'm hesitant to ask about the injuries because, in a polite way, Fritz made it clear when Nola.com's Will Guillory asked about an injured player yesterday that he does not want to talk about some of them, adding that reporters did not have to be permitted to watch practice if he was not happy with what got out. It's a feeling out process at this point. But I have not gotten one negative word about anything I have written here or for The Advocate from anyone on the staff.

Here is the rest of Fritz from today:

How was practice today?

"It was good. We cut back a little bit on Thursdays. We didn't go with pads right now. This week was a little bit different, too, because we kind of had a jumpstart by going an hour on Monday. Normally we don't go on Mondays to start working on the upcoming opponents. I think we went an hour and 48 minutes today or something like that (EDs note: I can't imagine CJ having any idea about the exact time spent at practice on a day)."

Are you moving into the renovated locker rooms today?

"No, I think we're moving in tomorrow. We were going to go today, but I don't think they have all the Ts crossed and Is dotted, so we're going to wait until all that's done."

How do you feel practice has gone all week?

"Not bad. You start getting into school, it's still hot and it's a long morning. We get them up at 6, we meet at 7, we get on the field at 8:45, we get out of here around 11:30 in the morning, they shower, they go to lunch check and they go to class. They are up and at them, some of them from 5:30 and some from 6 o'clock. We just have to get in the habit and rhythm and the routine of it. I'm still working on it"

Has Larry Dace been a surprise?

"Well, Larry played quite a bit last season. The thing about Larry is he's really assignment sound, and that's half the battle. If you know what you're doing, you've got a chance, and when two guys know what they're doing, usually talent takes over. The guy with more talent is going to play more, but Larry is very assignment sound."

How excited are you going to be for your first game in front of Tulane fans?

"This will be 270th head coaching gig. It's going to be exciting, but I approach all these games the same way as when I was the head coach at Blinn and we were playing Cisco in front of 100 people. As a coach you've got to make sure you're making proper decisions down there and staying two or three plays away. I want to coach in here. It's a beautiful venue for the game."

How do you make sure the players don't take Southern for granted? That may sound stupid, but I've seen it happen here in the past.

"I don't know how anybody could do that. We're scratching and clawing to get a win. I know our coaches, our approach to this game is no different to last week or next week or the week after. As I told these guys, all these games count 1. None of them count 2 and none of them count a half. They all count 1."

Is there anything you can do to help Glen Cuiellette cope with emotions in his first home start?

"No, I don't think he's that kind of kid. He'll be able to handle it. He's a sharp, composed guy."

Do you know what your plan is for the quarterback rotation?

"We're going to play two. As a matter of fact, we're going to talk about that right now, get the whole week in and make an educated decision."

Is Tulane planning to have post game highlights and pre and post game press conference videos posted anymore? I enjoyed watching these on Youtube in the past, but i can't find them this year. Can you pass on to whoever your contacts are at Tulane that they need to do this for the fans.

I didn't used to bother with these since the SID office posted the quotes on TulaneGreenWave.com, but since that no longer is the case, and the Nola.com video appears to have issues, here goes. I actually got there a minute or two late because my son had the day off from school and had a temper tantrum before I dropped him off with the baby sitter, so I will skip Fritz' preamble except for his assessment of Southern and get to the questions.

"Southern played Louisiana-Monroe last week and lost 38-21. It was probably a lot closer game than the score indicated. They are explosive offensively. They have a little return guy, a receiver who's extremely quick who averaged 45 yards on kickoff returns against ULL and had a couple of catches and turned them into big plays as well. Their quarterback has the ability to extend plays with his legs, and they've got some very explosive receivers on the outside. Defensively, they probably played like a lot of people in that first ball game, kind of learning how to play leverage and tackling and all those other kind of things. I saw some pressure they were able to bring. Our pass protection really has to improve."

Is Tulane healthy?

"We're pretty healthy at this point in time. I try to do a good job during the week of staying on our feet. We are thin at a few spots. If we lose a few guys it would be a big problem for us, but we've done a good job staying healthy. Kendall Ardoin, who did not play last week, will be able to play this week, so that will help us out at the tight end position."

Most coaches hate the term "moral victory," but is that what happened against Wake Forest?

"I hate the term, too. We did some good things. We felt like we had a great opportunity and didn't close the door. That's disappointing. When our guys are in that situation again, we have to close the door and find a way to win."

What was your assessment of the offense against Wake Forest?

"We have to score more points. We did a decent job at times between the 20s. If you take away a lot of our minus plays, we probably had 350-something yards of total offense, which is OK this day in age but not great. It's OK. When we cross the 50 and get in the red zone, we've got to make something happen and get in the end zone. If we're not getting in the end zone, we're kicking field goals. We got in the situation where we had one blocked. I didn't know if we were going to get down there again, so I went for it in the fourth down situation. We've got to play better. That's everybody. A lot of people talk about the quarterback, but we need better play from the quarterback, the wide receivers, the running backs and the offensive line."

You had four passing attempts in the first half and then opened it up a little bit more. Was that an adjustment to Wake Forest or did you get a little more confidence in Glen Cuiellette?

"I think we got a little bit more confidence in Glen. We also got in some down and distances that weren't good for us. There are not many offenses out there that are going to look good on second-and-long and certainly not third-and-long. We're definitely not. We've got to stay out of those situations. We are going to have them a couple of times a game and still have to be able to convert, but we'd like to stay out of those situations."

Will you go with Johnathan Brantley as the backup to Cuiellette this week instead of Darius Bradwell?

"We're going to wait until after Thursday. We need to see who has the best grasp of the offense."

Do you want to play a ton of players against Southern? (Eds note: some reporters just don't get that coaches never are going to assume publicly they are going to blow out a weak opponent.)

"We want to play the guys that will help us win."

You mentioned yesterday the receivers ran some poor routes that contributed to the pressure on Cuiellette when he tried to throw. How big of a factor was it?

"It was a factor. It's everything. It's the receivers running the right route with the correct depth and the proper tempo coming out of the break. It's the whole thing. Sometimes that makes the quarterback pat the ball and hold it a little bit longer. It's the offensive line being good in protection. It's the running backs knowing sometimes they have to block in pass protection like everybody else. We didn't do a great job in pass protection with the backs. It's everybody. It's not just the offensive line. It's everybody in the offense."

Do you expect a big difference in playing the first home game instead of being on the road again?

"I've always talked about it. It's an old saying I guess, but your greatest improvement should come between week 1 and week 2. We've worked a lot of the kinks out--coming out of the locker room, halftime, what we do in between series, all those kind of things. They are comfortable with how I like to do things. We will have great improvement from week 1 to week 2."

Glen had 22 carries when he got the job because of his throwing prowess. Was that something you didn't expect?

"He needs to do a little bit better job of pitching the ball. We probably had four or five pitching opportunities in the game Thursday night, and he has to be comfortable doing it. We are trying to provide some more drills, which we've been doing, to put him under pressure where he pitches while he's running full speed. You've got to be just as accurate then as you are throwing. That's probably one of the reasons why he had a few more carries than normal, but it's also how they were playing us. The guy who was accounting for the pitch was kind of slow playing it and staying in between the quarterback and the pitch. Sometimes that made (Cuiellette) put his foot in the ground and get vertical."

Does anyone have a list of recruits planning to visit for the game this weekend against Southern?

Thanks.

Roll Wave!!!

Tulane practiced for an hour this afternoon after getting three days off after the loss to Wake Forest, working on scout stuff for Southern and special teams drills like onside kicks.

Interestingly, they had scout teams for both the offense and defense instead of having the starters go against each other. Last week Fritz said he did not have enough bodies to do that, but since today was a no-contact practice, he did not have to use real offensive linemen on the scout team. Tight end Trey Camissa was one of them, as was defensive tackle John Washington.

Freshman linebacker Larry Bryant had a rough go against the scout team, getting burned twice by a walk-on receiver Bryan Newman on deep sideline routes. The first time, a coach yelled at Bryant to stop looking at the quarterback, and he responded with a nice breakup on the next play, but about 10 minutes later, he let Bryant beat him again on the same route for about a 25 yard gain inside the 5.

Nico Marley made a nice play on an onside kick, leaping to grab the ball securely. He makes mistakes at linebacker, but he's a true football player who does a lot of things well.

I had Fritz to myself because I was the only media member in attendance.

You said in the preseason you are the exact same guy after a loss as after a win because you want to be even keel. Is today an example of that?

"Yeah. It was back to work, back to practice. I kind of have a one-day pout rule. I told the kids I was encouraged (by their immediate response to the loss). The locker room was quiet. We got on the bus--quiet. The airport, quiet on the airplane. Quiet when we got back. When you put a whole lot into something and don't get the results you want, that's discouraging to you at the moment. The only thing you can do is bounce back, though. You should care about it, but now we have to bounce back. It's part of handling adversity."

Wake Forest did not get past its own 38-yard line in the second half (until causing a fumble in the final minute). How frustrating is it to lose a game like that?

"Well, it's just frustrating. I felt like we were playing on their side of the 50 quite a bit in the second half, and we had some opportunities. We just have to cash in on them. We were real close on about five, six seven plays and just didn't quite get it done, so we've got to learn from it. The next time we get in that situation, we need to finish."

Did you want to see more big plays from the running backs you were so high on in the preseason?

"We had some stuff. They got in the open field a couple of times. It's different when it's a real game. There's real tackling going on, real leverage. You have to get experience in that. We're going to get it going. We just have to keep improving every single week, and we're going to bounce back this week."

The offensive line struggled, particular in pass protection. What do you do there?

"We've got to get better. We got into some situations where we had to throw and we had a few of them (breakdowns) in max protection. But it wasn't just the offensive line. Sometimes that involved the tight ends and the running backs as well in protection, the quarterback going in the right place and a receiver running an incorrect route and the quarterback having to hold the ball. When you get into pass pro, it's just like a run play. Everybody's involved in, and we can play a lot better than that."

I guess the locker rooms will be ready for the game?

"They better be. We don't know where they are going to dress at (if they aren't). I went in there this morning and they've gotten quite a bit more done. I think we'll be able to get it going."

Have you decided whether or not you will use two quarterbacks against Southern?

"We're not 100-percent sure. We're evaluating that position just like we are all positions?

After watching the video, how would you evaluate Cuiellette's performance?

"He did some good things. There were a few times maybe he went the wrong way or something, but he's going to get better. It was the first game he's played in three years. I thought there were some really good things that he did. He's got to build on those and start minimizing mistakes as much as he can, and that will give us a heck of a chance."

His teammates talked about how poised he was.

"He had some poise without question, but it's everybody. We all have to elevate our level of play."

Would you have liked to have seen more pitches on the option? It looked like Glen was hesitant there and ended up keeping the ball when he should have pitched it a few times.

"We have to get comfortable pitching the ball without question. I thought there were four or five times we could have pitched the ball and had some productive plays. I really did."

You mentioned it after the game, but how tough was it to not get any takeaways?

"It's big. We just need to get a little more pressure on the pass plays. Sometimes when you're playing man coverage it's a little bit more difficult to get a takeaway. Interceptions especially, when we're on the second or third guy in on a ball carrier, we need to rip the ball out. We are always talking about ball awareness when you're approaching the ball carrier. How's he carrying it, what's the best takeway technique to utilize. If we had gotten two or three takeways, that would have been great for us."

Did you come out injury free?

"For playing our first real game and first real tackling, we came out of the game unscathed."

On a normal week, will you take Monday off and practice Sunday?

"Most of the time what we'll do on Mondays is watch the film of the game and then lift weights. I gave the guys off Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They had three days off, which is unheard of during the year. The next time we'll get that is our off week. Hopefully everybody took advantage of it. We came out and got an hour workout in here and got a little jumpstart on Southern."

From what I wrote down during the pregame:

3 QBs: Cuiellette, Bradwell, Brantley
4 RBs: Badie, Thompson, Hilliard, Rounds
3 TEs: Wadleigh, Jones, Medina (I did not see Ardoin, but he might have been there)
8 WR: Breaux, Scott, Mooney, Glenn, Encalade, Dace, Owens, Johnson
9 OL: McLeod, Leglue, Stewart, Brown, Taylor, Jacquet, Santa Marina, Diaz, Johnson
11 DL: Woullard, Edwards, Smart, Aruna, Kennedy, E. Washington, J. Washington, Williams, Wilson, Carroll, Jackson

7 LB: Marley, Graham, Bryant, Harris, Bowie, Marbley, Thomas
13 DB: W. Harper, Franklin, S. Harper, Lewis, Teamer, Keyes, Napoleon, Davis, Allen, Nickerson, Shenall, Lofton, Hall

5 ST: Dirocco, Block, Neenan, Eatherly, Harvey

Guys I might have missed include Webb, Ardoin, Tre Jackson, Woodard, Devon Johnson and Bell.

50 players got in the game, as per the box score on the TulaneGreenWave.com.

Everyone on here saw the game and has their own opinions on the good and bad we all witnessed, so I won’t belabor any of that. But, I always like to look through the “participation” listings after a game to see who played, and, equally important, who didn’t. As close as I try to watch, I miss some of the players. And sadly, the official site, who is my only other source, tends to err on occasion also.

Regardless, using the official site as a source, ten of our 22 true freshmen saw action last evening against Wake Forest. With the exception of our snapper, Geron Eatherley, most of them played very limited roles. The others included Darius Bradwell, Chris Johnson, D.J. Owens, Darrell Mooney, Lawrence Graham, Larry Bryant, Will Harper, Sean Harper, and P.J. Hall.

Twelve true freshmen on scholarship did not see the field: Johnathon Brantley, Phavion Woodard, Tyler Johnson, Jacob Robertson, Miles Stickland, Coby Neenan, DeAndre Williams, Deion Rainey, Takarius Keyes, Eric Napolion, and Tre Jackson. Since Jackson was probably our most “highly rated” recruit, his lack of playing was a bit of a surprise, at least to me.

Among returning veterans there were few surprises. All eleven of our returning seniors saw significant action including recent scholarship recipient, Marshall Wadleigh, who played a number of snaps at tight end, along with his special teams responsibilities. Several juniors sat out this game: Sergio Medina, Trey Scott, Jason Stewart, Tristan Cooper, Eric Bell, and Williams Townsend. Townsend is apparently hurt, but, after moving to wide receiver, I was surprised that Scott didn’t see the field. Stewart, Cooper, and Bell have not been significant contributors in the past, so their “sitting” was not a big surprise.

Four sophomores did not play including Andrew Hicks, who may be out for the year. I cannot explain the other three: Devon Johnson, Kendall Ardoin and Stephon Lofton. Johnson was thought by many to be our next starting tackle even last year and Ardoin did some good things in his time on the field in 2015. That Wadleigh is now playing in front of him is a surprise, unless he has an injury I’m not aware of.

We also had four redshirt freshmen not play. These included Keyshawn McLeod, Brian Webb, John Washington, Jeremy Francis. McLeod is our backup center and unless Dias goes down, he’ll probably sit all year. Webb and Francis don’t appear to be serous contenders for playing time but I’m surprised John Washington is so far down in the depth chart. I’ve not seen any practices, but I thought, coming out of high school, he’d be a major contributor by now.

Anyway, we only played 50 kids yesterday and most teams (including us in the past) play about 60 each game, so some of the players who did not see the field against Wake Forest will get their opportunity in weeks to come. Regardless, it does appear that some of our redshirt juniors may be heading toward graduation (hopefully) after this season rather than a fifth year on scholarship.

Roll Wave!!!

A tough loss. Tulane should have won but did not have a versatile enough offense to make a play when it mattered most.

I talked to Fritz, Cuiellette, Dace and Smart after the game. Here are the Fritz quotes:

FRITZ

"It was very disappointing. We got in some passing situations and obviously that's not our strength. We had a tough time protecting tonight. Four-man rush most of the time. It was just a lot of guys that were playing their first game. I saw some bright spots at times. Everybody's got to do their job and someone's got to make a play. There are some calls we'd like to have back--offense, defense and kicking game. But those are the kind of games we've gotta win. It's one reason I got hired here."

You elected not to go for a field goal down 4 with four minutes left. Was that an easy decision?

"I didn't know if we'd get back in there. Andrew's strength is really not long field goal kicking. Early in the game I almost wish I would have gone for that one (a blocked 43-yarder in the fourth quarter). We had one blocked. It was just a low trajectory on the kick. I just felt like you don't know if you are going to get down there again, and then they had to go the long field. If we don't jump (offside), we get them to punt it with quite a bit more on the clock. It would have been 3 minutes instead of 1:26 or something."

Cuiellette had nothing going on the fourth-down play there. What happened?

"It wasn't executed very well. They had a good defense against it and we tried to spread them out and see if they would go out with us. They didn't, and they had more people than we could block."

Josh Rounds was wide open for a touchdown and could not stay on his feet after hauling in that long pass from Cuiellette. Was that another missed opportunity?

"Yep. We had some opportunities. We had our backs four or five times out in the open field, and they had to make a guy miss. We had Larry (Dace) over the middle one time and didn't hit him in stride. That would have gained maybe another 20 yards, so there were a lot of opportunities. We didn't get any takeaways. That's disappointing."

The possession where Darius Bradwell went in during the second quarter did not pan out. What was the thought process?

"We had a couple of option plays where the quarterback had the opportunity, and we just wanted to see what Darius could do. It was a tough spot to put him in--a brand new freshman, and we're throwing him out there. It was a tough spot for Glen. It was the first time he's played in a couple of years. They'll get better. They are going to get much better."

How did you feel about the defense?

"The one touchdown they scored, heck, I think we missed three tackles on the drive. We could have held them to a field goal or pitched a shutout. That's all so different. We don't have a ton of guys. We're thin at a few spots and just aren't able to tackle much in practice. I had them work on the drills I wanted, but it's different when you get out there and do it. They will be a much better tackling team in game 2 than game 1."

What positives did you share with the team?

"We kept competing defensively and I think offensively we moved the ball. We just didn't do a very good job inside the red zone. There's a lot of good things to take away, but there's no moral victories. I told them that in the locker room. One of the reasons I got hired is to win these type of games. When we get these type of situations, we have to do our job and make a play. There are probably about 20 plays we can go back and look at, if we had made the play we would have had a chance (to win). We'll get better. We are going to improve."

What happened to Leeward Brown?

"He cramped up. He's fine."

Here's what they handed out today at the press conference.

OFFENSE

WR (H): Larry Dace, Devin Glenn
WR (Z): Devon Breaux, Chris Johnson
WR (X): Terren Encalade, Darnell Mooney

TE: Charles Jones; Kendall Ardoin OR Marshall Wadleigh
LT: Todd Jacquet, Tyler Johnson
LG: Chris Taylor, Jason Stewart
C: Junior Diaz, Keyshawn McLeod
RG: Leeward Brown; Phabion Woodard OR Brian Webb
RT: John Leglue; Kenneth Santa Marina OR Devon Johnson

QB: Glen Cuiellette; Johnathan Brantley OR Darius Bradwell
RB: Sherman Badie OR Dontrell Hilliard; Josh Rounds OR Lazedrick Thompson

DEFENSE

DE: Robert Kennedy, Daren Williams
DT: Tanzel Smart, Eldrick Washington
NT: Sean Wilson, Braynon Edwards
DE: Ade Aruna, Quinlan Carroll

MLB: Eric Thomas; Rae Juan Marbley OR Eric Bowie
WLB: Nico Marley, Zachery Harris

NKL: Richard Allen, P.J. Hall
CB: Parry Nickerson, Thakarius Keyes
CB: Donnie Lewis, Tre Jackson
FS: Jarrod Franklin, Will Harper
SS: Roderic Teamer, Taris Shenall

SPECIALISTS

PK: Andrew DiRocco; Randy Harvey OR Steven Logan
P: Zachary Block, Coby Neenan
DS: Geron Eatherly, John Leglue
HO: Glen Cuiellette; Zachary Block OR Terren Encalade
KOR: Dontrell Hilliard; Sherman Badie OR Devin Glenn
PR: Dontrell Hilliard; Larry Dace OR Terren Encalade

Other than Hilliard being listed as the top kick returner instead of Badie, there's nothing to contradict anything I saw or Fritz said in the past week. I think Shenall would come in at nickel before Hall, but they didn't want to list him twice.

I'm not going to do this every week, but it is interesting to compare Tulane to a team with a similar private profile that is in a Power Five conference. Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson is on his way to a very highly rated class in 2017 (eight 3-stars, one 4-star), but how have the Demon Deacons fared in the past?

OFFENSE

QUARTERBACK

John Wolford, junior, 3 stars, 5.5 (East Carolina was biggest offer other than Wake)
Kendall Hinton, sophomore, 3 stars, 5.6 (No. 26 dual-threat QB in nation)


RUNNING BACK

Cade Carney, true freshman, 3 stars, 5.5 (North Carolina offered)
Matt Colburn, sophomore, 3 stars, 5.6 (19th all purpose back in nation)

WIDE RECEIVER

Cortez Barnes, redshirt sophomore, 2 stars (athlete), 5.4 (Boise State offered)
Tabari Hines, sophomore, 3 stars, 5.5 (Duke offered)
Alex Bachman, sophomore, 2 stars, 5.4 (no other offers)

TIGHT END

Cam Serigne, redshirt junior, 2 stars, 5.4 (Temple offered)

OFFENSIVE LINE

LT Justin Herron, redshirt sophomore, 3 stars, 5.6 (No. 57 OT nationally) (BC offered)
LG Tyler Hayworth, redshirt senior, 3 stars, 5.5 (Cincy offered)
C Josh Harris, senior, 3 stars, 5.6 (No. 42 OG nationally) (Maryland and USF offered)
RG Nathan Gilliam, redshirt freshman, 3 stars, 5.6 (Kentucky, South Car, Cincy offered)
RT Ryan Anderson, redshirt sophomore, 2 stars, 5.2 (no other offers)

Analysis: Wake has seven 3-star guys and four 2-star guys in the starting lineup, although the fact the best player, TE Cam Serigne, is a 2-star tells you something about recruiting rankings. The three guys who were nationally ranked at their position aren't scary. Hinton was OK as true freshman backup QB (390 rushing yards, team-best 7 rushing TDs, 11 INT, 9 TDs passing). Colburn gained 239 yards, averaging 3.6 per carry behind a young, bad line. Harris was the starting center after playing guard earlier in his career.

As you would expect, the offers from other schools were not that impressive even for most of the t3-star guys. Wake is a lower-tier ACC school with little tradition, so it's not going to normally beat out big schools for players.

Tulane has five 3-star guys in its starting lineup if you count Badie (Cuiellette, Taylor, Brown, Badie, Jacquet). The rest are 2 stars.

DEFENSIVE LINE

DE Duke Ejiofer, redshirt junior, 3 stars, 5.5 (Rice offered)
DT Willy Yarbary, redshirt sophomore, 2 stars (as DE), 5.4 (ECU, Cincy offered)
DT Josh Banks, redshirt senior, 2 stars, 5.4 (as DE) (Minnesota offered)
DE Chris Calhoun, sophomore, 3 stars, 5.5 (Duke, Indiana offered)

LINEBACKERS

Buck Jaboree Williams, junior, 3 stars, 5.5 (a lot of offers from good programs, including Tulane)
MLB Marquel Lee, senior, 3 stars, 5.5 (as OLB) (Maryland offered)
Rover Demetrius Kemp, redshirt sophomore, 3 stars (as athlete) (Minn, Ga Tech offered)

SECONDARY

CB Brad Watson, senior, 2 stars, 5.4 (no other offers)
FS Ryan Janvion, redshirt senior, 3 stars, 5.5 (as athlete) (Boston College, Duke offered)
SS Jessie Bates, redshirt freshman, 2 stars, 5.4 (Indiana, Iowa offered)
CB Dionte Austin, sophomore, 3 stars, 5.6 (No. 52 CB nationally) (lots of good offers)

Analysis: That's seven 3-star guys and four 2-star guys, only two of which had offers from programs significantly better than Wake Forest. It's an experienced group with six upperclassmen and two redshirt sophomores.

Tulane has one 3-star starter in Smart and one off the bench in Marbley. That's it. The Wave defense is built around under-the-radar guys coming out of high school like Nickerson and Marley and Thomas and Franklin.

It's back. With Tulane opening on Thursday night, I'm getting this up today. The rules have not changed, with eight games a week based on the point spread from VegasInsider.com consensus. You are allowed to drop you worst weekly score at the end of the year, which means you can miss a week without being penalized much.

The contest will run for all 12 weeks Tulane plays but will not run during the bye week. The Tulane game counts double, with every other game counting as one point.

Home teams are listed first. Neutral site games will be noted as such. For any novices out there, if Tulane is an underdog by 17 points and you pick Tulane, the Wave has to lose by 16 points or fewer or win outright for you to get the pick right. -17 means favored by 17 for the team on the left. +17 means an underdog by 17 for the team on the left.

Wake Forest (-17) Tulane
LSU (-10) Wisconsin (at Lambeau Field in Green Bay)
Oklahoma (-11) Houston (in Houston but not on Cougars' home field)
Alabama (-11.5) USC
Texas (+3.5) Notre Dame
Florida State (-4.5) Ole Miss (Orlando)
Auburn (+7.5) Clemson
Texas A&M (-3) UCLA

Here's the story from ESPN.com. Boise State, East Carolina and apparently Memphis did not make the cut, although it's hard to believe--no, make that almost impossible--to believe Memphis is not on that list. It has eight AAC schools, BYU, two Mountain West schools (Air Force, Colorado State) and Rice.

http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...ws-list-expansion-candidates-least-12-schools

Today's practice started around 8:30 and ended at 10:30 in what will be last workout in pads before the Wake Forest game. Tulane will practice without pads tomorrow before having a walkthrough on Wednesday and heading to the airport.

Wille Fritz is electing not to name a backup quarterback before the Wake Forest game. He's probably told the players, but it looks like he wants an element of surprise. If I had to go off of today's practice, I'd say Brantley is the guy, but it's hard to tell with the scout-team work being conducted by the starters. I got to practice at 9:30 and he was getting reps a lot more than Bradwell, but many of them were scout-team reps.

Most of the players were standing on the sideline while the scout-team work was going on, because as Fritz pointed out over the weekend, he does not have enough players to have two scout teams. He said he's never done this before, so let's hope his experience as a coach will carry him through. It seemed odd to me watching so many guys standing on the sideline doing nothing, but the biggest practice of the week was yesterday, and most teams begin tapering off three days before a game.

The first thing I saw when I walked into the stadium was linebacker Zachery Harris leaping to deflect a pass that Nico Marley intercepted. It was an athletic play by Harris. He's quickly becoming one of my favorite players on the team even though he does not start.

"I think he's back to full speed and will be 100 percent by the game time," said defensive coordinator Jack Curtis, referring to the groin injury Harris sustained last week. "He looked like he is in practice right now. He's got some fresh legs, and he looked real good. He brings a little more speed at linebacker to us, so he's going to be important to have on the field at times. We're excited about seeing him get into the game. He's another guy that's going to receive plenty of reps on Thursday."

Curtis guessed Harris played safety in high school, but he did not, starring at outside linebacker for Holy Cross while making 253 career tackles. His skills as a pass defender, though, could come in handy after starters Nico Marley and Eric Thomas struggled defending the pass last year.

"He's fast," Curtis said. "He's our fastest linebacker. We can put him in some coverage situations where he can match up with some wideouts if he's got help, so we're planning on doing that kind of stuff."

Curtis coaches the safeties directly, and he does not want Jarrod Franklin and Roderic Teamer to play every down back there.

"We've got a little depth there," he said. "We'll play three or four (extra) safeties during the game. it's important to keep people fresh so that you still have a little juice in you and a little gas in the tank coming into the fourth quarter. If it's a close game, you want to be able to have your best players out there with some energy still about them and not have them worn out."

Two backup safeties who definitely will play are Taris Shenall and Will Harper, a true freshman who participated in spring drills.

"That's probably the key to where he's at right now being able to see some playing time," Curtis said. "If he weren't here in the spring, it would be a lot more difficult for him. Getting those guys in early sure pays off. He was here in the summer time learning and then coming through fall camp, he's done a real nice job. I'm real happy for the way he's progressed. He's definitely going to see playing time on Thursday night."

Shenall will play at nickelback and strong safety and maybe even cornerback is Parry Nickerson or Donnie Lewis gets dinged up or needs a breather.

"He's going to probably be the utility guy," Curtis said. "He's played some corner here before, he's played safety and he's going to end up playing some nickel for us. We try to not overwhelm him with too much, but he's playing some different positions to provide some depth back there. We're not a real deep team in the secondary. He's a guy that can play and has a little experience."

Fritz said he told his coaches not to put in too much before the first game and overwhelm his players. Curtis admitted it was a fine line.

"You want to have enough defense in to be successful but not to have too much in so that you're going to make mistakes and give opponents an easy score," he said. "That's what we're trying to figure out right now. As these guys are maturing going through the season, they'll be some more additions, but we have to make sure right now they're very confident in what we have called and they can play fast."

Curtis did not reveal what percentage of his total package had been installed, but he talked about what he expected to see from Wake Forest. The key may be slowing down tight end Cam Serigne, who caught 46 passes for 562 yards last season.

"They're basically an 11-personnel team (1 back, 1 TE, three receivers) and they do a lot with their tight end," Curtis said. "He's a very versatile player. They split him out as a wide receiver, he's a tight end and he's a motion back. We have a good big of 11 personnel stuff in, but at the same time, it's hard enough to win a game. Don't lose it and be smart with your calls and don't do things that you don't have 100 percent confidence that they know what they're doing. Teams will make enough mistakes in that first game, you can take advantage of it. We need to play really sound and play hard and get lined up quickly and try to allow them to make a mistake and take advantage of that, not us be the guy that's going to give them something."

Fritz said he was generally happy with the practices this week.

"We cut back a little bit and we're going to cut back a whole bunch tomorrow," he said. "We just want to get quality repetitions in. I think the guys, the coaches and trainers and managers and everybody is ready to play a game."

Here was Fritz' comments on the backup QB situation:

"We rotated both of them today. We have some packages that both guys might play in, but they are a little bit different."

At that point I asked him if he preferred not to reveal the plan until game time. His one-word answer: "yep."

I still believe the game will be won or lost with the play of the offensive line. If those guys open up holes, Tulane can win this game. If they don't, Tulane won't.

Here's Fritz on the five starters:

"I feel comfortable. We've got an opportunity to be pretty good up there I think. I don't know this league. I've been watching on film, but that's about it. We've got good size. Those guys, if they play hard every snap, we have a chance to be good up front. That's a big deal for us. We have three or four of those guys that are playing hard almost every single snap. We've got to have everybody do that every snap."

Wake Forest had a pretty good defense last year, giving up only 24 points to FSU, 20 points to Lousiville, 28 to Notre Dame and 33 to an awesome Clemson offense. Facing FSU, Notre Dame, Clemson and offensively prolific North Carolina skewed their numbers a little bit--there's nothing eye-catching about a defense that allowed 4.2 yards per carry. a 61.8 percent completion rate or 5.6 yards per play. Tulane's numbers on D were 4.1, 61.0 percent and 5.8 yards per play).

Fritz assessed the Demon Deacons' strengths on D.

"They just don't get out of position much. This guy (coach Dave Clawson) has been running the same scheme for a long time, since Bowling Green, so this is what they do, but they just don't get out of position a whole lot."

I am feeling better about Tulane's chances after researching Wake Forest, and just like the past two years, I think this is the most important game of the season and will be a real tone-setter.

Two years ago, the ridiculous come-from-ahead, bonehead-plays loss to Tulsa ruined the season right when it started. The offense actually looked good for two quarters that day and really never did again.

Last year, the Duke debacle reinforced the players' belief that the coaches were in over their heads and torpedoed the season from the get go.

If the Wave plays like a well-coached team on Thursday, it will gain a lot of confidence. I may have gotten too hung up on how difficult it is to make a transition from one staff to another when assessing the year, but sort of like three years ago with Julius Warmsley and Chris Davenport, Tulane needs to take full advantage of Tanzel Smart's final year. Guys like him don't grow on trees, and with his work ethic, he should be even better than last year, when he was pretty dominant.

I can't wait.

Guerry, will you bring this back for the Wake Forest game?

The talented DT from Weatherford (Texas) talks about his recruiting status.

https://n.rivals.com/news/mckinney-holding-onto-eight-offers

Preseason camp is over, and we know who Tulane's starting QB will be. Here's a look at the Green Wave at each position less than a week from the season opener against Wake Forest:

QUARTERBACK

1) Glen Cuiellette
2) Darius Bradwell

Analysis: Cuiellette earned the starting job because of his consistency and because of his personality. After spending two years on a college campus, he gets what it takes to be a scholarship athlete with a lot of responsibility. That's why it would have been very tough for Willie Fritz to name anyone else as the starter. Whether Cuiellette remains the starter hinges on his performance in the first few weeks, and I honestly have no idea what will happen. He is a much passer than he was under CJ or during the spring, but how he reacts in game situations remains to be seen. Bradwell is hard runner and a limited passer at this point, but if he gets good blocking, he can do plenty of damage with his feet. I'm pretty sure he will be the second QB because Johnathan Brantley makes too many mistakes running the correct play.

RUNNING BACK

1) Dontrell Hilliard
2) Sherman Badie
3) Lazedrick Thompson
4) Josh Rounds

Analysis: I've loved Hilliard's running style from the start and believe he is the most complete back on the roster. Let's see what he can do with 15 or more touches with coaches who know how to produce a running game. Badie I've never been as high on as others because of his upright running style and propensity for negative rushing plays, but there's no denying his breakaway ability or his speed. Thompson runs so hard in practice. It would be nice to see him fully healthy and fully confident in a big game. I guess there's a role for Rounds, too, but it's hard to use four running backs. It will be interesting to see what the staff does with him.

WIDE RECEIVER

Starters: Devon Breaux, Larry Dace, Terren Encalade
Backups: Darnell Mooney, Devin Glenn, Chris Johnson, Trey Scott

Analysis: I hope I am dead wrong about these guys because I'm not impressed and haven't been at any time. Breaux is the most accomplished of the bunch but never has been consistently productive. Encalade has some ability but nothing eye-popping. Dace runs the best routes but had a hard time getting separation when he played last year. Glenn is small and inconsistent, so the coaches will need to be creative to get him the ball in space, taking advantage of his sprinter's speed. Scott is inconsistent, too, following good practice days with mediocre ones. The best wideout on the team might by Mooney, who arrived on campus one day before the start of preseason camp. He makes plays and has outstanding hands. Whether he is ready for the spotlight of FBS football right off the bat is unclear, but he was a heck of a find for Fritz' staff. The best-case scenario is Breaux finally utilizing all of his athletic ability, Mooney not playing like a freshman and at least one other guy stepping up. Oh, and they all have to block well or Fritz will keep them on the sideline.

OFFENSIVE LINE

Starters: LT Todd Jacquet, LG Chris Taylor, C Junior Diaz, RG Leeward Brown, RT John Leglue.
Backups: LT Kenneth Santa Marina, LG Phabion Woodard, C Keyshawn McLeod, RG Jason Stewart, RT Devon Johnson

Analysis: The starters will play virtually every down, with only Santa Marina pushing for playing time among the backups. An ironman starting five is not unusual for an O-line, but Tulane cannot afford injuries. Line coach Alex Atkins knows what he is doing, and this staff has been more positive about the blockers than I anticipated. I still question whether Jacquet can get the job done at left tackle. The center of the line is in a better position with Taylor and Diaz capable of playing much better than they did in that train wreck of a system Tulane employed last year and Brown having real potential. I actually feel better about these guys than the receivers, but I'm not sure whether they will hold up against Wake Forest.

DEFENSIVE LINE

Starters: ends Robert Kennedy and Ade Aruna; tackles Tanzel Smart and Sean Wilson
Backups: ends Daren Williams and Quinlan Carroll; tackles Eldrick Washington and John Washington

Analysis: Smart is a beast. There's a reason Phil Steele listed him higher at defensive tackle (eighth) among draft-eligible college players than any other American Conference Player at any position (Houston's Greg Ward is the 23rd QB, if you're wondering). If he can become a little more dynamic as a pass rusher, he will complete the package. If Wilson stays healthy, he will be a good complement to Smart and Tulane will be sturdy up the middle. Eldrick Washington has potential, too, but the drop-off after him is significant to this point. At end, Robert Kennedy might be the surprise player of the AAC. He has to prove it on the field after doing little last year, but his combination of size, strength and motor are good. I have my doubts about Aruna's effectiveness for Fritz' staff, but his ceiling remains high. It's a matter of whether or not the lightbulb goes on as he tries to read plays and defend against the run. The other ends provide depth but aren't difference-makers.

LINEBACKERS

Starters: Nico Marley at WLB, Eric Thomas at MLB
Backups: Rae Juan Marbley and Zachery Harris
Next: Lawrence Graham and Larry Bryant
First-team SLB: Eric Bowie
Second-team SLB: William Townsend

Analysis: Marley will not freelance as much as he did the past three years, but the coaches understand he has to be unconventional, so there's no reason he won't be among Tulane's leading tacklers again. Thomas is underrated as a run-stopper, but both of them need to be much better in pass coverage than they were a year ago. Marbley and Harris would have given Tulane reliable backups, but Harris probably will miss the opener with a groin injury. Graham and Bryant look like good players in the future, but their immediate readiness is unclear. Bowie has made some plays, but I don't know how often the coaches will have three LBs on the field and how much time he will get. This is a good group.

CORNERBACKS/NICKELBACK

Starters: Parry Nickerson, Donnie Lewis, Richard Allen
Backups: Taris Shenall, Stephon Lofton, Tre Jackson

Analysis: I'm not really sure who the backup cornerbacks will be with Shenall playing primarily at nickelback, but it won't matter if Lewis and Nickerson play like they practice. Corners don't come off the field much when they are playing well. Lewis was tremendous in preseason camp, although his tackling ability will be put to the test in games. Nickerson is a natural who is fully capable of bouncing back from a mediocre sophomore season. Together, they are dynamic. The coaches are high on Allen, too. He followed a solid preseason camp with a disappointing performance last year but is getting a second chance. If he holds up, this is another position where Tulane will be grossly underestimated nationally.

SAFETY

Starters: Roderic Teamer at SS, Jarrod Franklin at FS
Backups: Will Harper, Shenall

Analysis: Shenall, a pretty good player, received double duty in a camp and will get on the field for significant downs one way or the other at nickelback or safety. Franklin has looked good in the back of the defense, and Teamer has the work ethic and the attitude to improve on a tough debut last year when he could not follow up on a fast start. I haven't' seen enough of Will Harper to have a solid opinion, although he looks the part. Here's a vote of qualified confidence in the back end of the defense. It would be nice if the Wave had more speed there, but Franklin and Teamer can handle themselves.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Zach Block at punter, Andrew DiRocco at placekicker, Hilliard at punt returner, Badie at kickoff returner, Geron Eatherly at long snapper.

Analysis: The tragedy that was Tulane special teams is over with Fritz in charge, but the kicking game might still be shaky. Blcok needs to be more consistent than he was a year ago, and DiRocco needs to display more range. The returners don't wow me, but Badie could be dangerous if he gets better blocking. Eatherly will eliminate the excitement from the long snap, a welcome relief.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Tulane's defense underachieved last year because of the team-wide dysfunction, playing brilliantly in the first quarter against Temple, shutting down Navy's rushing attack and even destroying SMU's line for two possessions before collapsing. The problem was concentration and toughness, something that was lacking because of the frustration at the inept offense. With 10 first-teamers having starting experience and Smart's dominance in the middle, I expect a dramatic improvement.

The offense, as I have made clear in most of my reports, is a different story. The running backs are the only proven unit, and it will take all of Fritz' running-game wizardry to sustain drives on the ground while opponents put extra men in the box and dare the Green Wave to throw. The key in the passing game will be to hit deep balls and make opponents pay for their obsession with the run.

If the line blocks well and the quarterbacks don't become deer in the headlights and the receivers make some plays when they need them, Tulane will be better offensively than outsiders think. But that's three big ifs.

I'd love to get analysis from everyone on the board with their views on how Tulane stacks up going into the opener. It's fun to watch a cohesive coaching staff that knows what it is doing. I can't wait for Thursday night.

Good news. It turns out linebacker Zachery Harris will play against Wake Forest. Willie Fritz said he looked fine today. With every practice but one being closed in the last several days (and I barely made it for interviews at that one due to a prior commitment), I've been flying blind a little bit. Harris' groin injury is proving to be less significant than they first thought, because it sure sounded like he had little to no chance to be ready when he first got hurt.

I really like Harris. He was playing well against Rutgers two years ago when he went out with a season-ending leg injury, and he had seven tackles against Maine last season after a rough first career start against Georgia Tech before being sidelined for the year.

Fritz said the only player who definitely would not be available for the Wake Forest game was reserve linebacker Williams Townsend, who did have a tackle last season. Townsend has a back issue.

If Tulane's defense plays poorly against Wake Forest, it won't be for a lack of experience. I count 152 career starts for the projected starters. Nico Marley leads the way with 36, followed by Tanzel Smart (24), Parry Nickerson (23), Jarrod Franklin (14), Eric Thomas (13), Sean Wilson (12), Ade Aruna (11), Donnie Lewis (9), Roderic Teamer (5) and Richard Allen (5). That's a lot, with end Robert Kennedy the only player making his first career start. If you're curious, the other players with starting experience are Taris Shenall (3), Harris (1), Rae Juan Marbley (1), Townsend (1), Daren Williams (1) and Tristan Cooper (1), who has been converted to wide receiver.

"It's helped us (to have that experience)," Fritz said. "Those guys have been there, done that, seen it. Technique and fundamentals might be a little different, but a lot of times it's the verbiage. One coach says it one way and another coach says it another way. I counted it up one day, and we have 260 or 70 starts on the team and maybe 23 or 24 guys have started at least one game (actually 30). On defense it's quite a few guys."

The scheme change negates some of that experience, but not all of it.

"There are some similarities with what we are doing to what they were doing in the past, so it wasn't totally foreign," Fritz said. "I remember the first day we came in we inserted a particular coverage, and that's one they ran almost every down last year, so they knew that one inside and out. Some of the other things take a little more time, but they've done a very good job of grasping what we're doing. I told my coaches to be careful about putting in too much. I'd rather get our base stuff in and then about halfway through the year hopefully have everything in."

Fritz said today all four running backs would play against Wake Forest, with two getting in at the same time frequently, something he has not done a ton in the past but always has been part of his package. The first two will be Dontrell Hilliard and Sherman Badie, with Lazedrick Thompson and Josh Rounds next.

"We're going to get them in and out of there a bunch," Fritz said. "We've got great confidence in all four of them, and all four of them are going to play. It's kind of group 1 and group 1A almost. We're going to more two-back personnel groupings to take advantage of those guys. They are good players."

The key to using two backs at one time is having one be able to block effectively. Otherwise, it's counterproductive.

"They have to be able to block for each other and carry out fakes," Fritz said. "They have to be able to be a pitch player. Those guys can do a lot of things, and that's what I like about all four of those guys. They are multi-dimensional backs who can do everything. Sometimes you have a guy who can just run it, and you worry if he's not carrying the ball. These guys are really good overall football players. We'll see how that goes. It's one of the good things about it--there's good, health competition there. Some places you don't have four guys."

He's a tight end/defensive end from Cathedral High in Natchez, Miss. Most rankings have him with three stars, but Rivals has him at 2 stars, maybe because he played more defensive end than tight end as a junior and Rivals correctly has him listed as a tight end. That's the position Tulane recruited him at, although he hopes to get a chance on both sides of the ball.

Cathedral is a catholic school that left the Mississippi High School Athletic Association before the start of last season because of a dispute about the eligibility of out-of-state students. It went 11-3 in an independent association that includes a few schools from Louisiana.

Here's a story about him on the eve of his commitment. I'm trying to reach him.

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/...ls-wallace-make-commitment-thursday/89251828/

And here are his Hudl highlights from his junior year:

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2980595/will-wallace

The long-awaited QB announcement came this morning, but there was no suspense left in the starter and there remains some suspense about who will be the second QB to play against Wake Forest next Thursday.

Here is the transcript of Willie Fritz' talk with reporters when Tulane returned to the Wilson Center after practicing at the Saints' indoor facility:

You have a starting quarterback?

"It's going to be Steve Foley. He will start at quarterback. … No, Glen is going to be our starting quarterback. He's had a really good camp. All three of the guys have done a great job. Right now he's got a little bit more experience and command of the offense, so he's going to be the guy. We're still looking at some packages that we can run with one or both of either Darius Bradwell or Johnathan Brantley. Two guys definitely will play Thursday. We're still going to make a decision about who that will be and how long they'll play. But Glen will definitely be the starter?

The plan is for Glen to play a majority of the snaps, right?

"More than likely. We are going to have to see the flow of the game and all the other kind of stuff. He's had a really good camp, as well as those other guys. He's been more consistent. That's a big part of it."

He doesn't have the raw athletic running skills of the other two guys. Is it good enough for what you're doing?

"He's a good enough athlete to do it. The thing I have to remind him from time to time is run full speed. With the option attack, the quicker you get out there to the pitch key, the bigger the opportunity for a big play. We just have to remind him some times, hey now, the ball's not weighing 20 pounds. Let's get out there. But he's got good enough athletic ability to do it. The guy I had at quarterback for four years at Sam Houston (Brian Bell) was not a great runner, but he was a smart runner and could really throw the ball well. It allowed us to run our whole offense. So he (Cuiellette) is a good enough runner."

Did it take longer than you expected to determine a starter, and when did you have a good idea?

"Ah, we were kind of thinking it the last few days. We just wanted to get more practices under our belt. We had a good discussion about it last night. Obviously I really take coach Ruse's (offensive coordinator Doug) advice. He works those guys on a daily basis. I try to watch all the film once, and that's hard with offense, defense and kicking game. He really scrutinizes and analyzes it. I have a lot of faith in him. And we talked to some other guys, too. Some of my analysts that are here watching practice, and we're charting everything that you can possibly chart. I got their input as well."

Was the battle tighter than what you expected it to be?

"Yeah, it was really tighter. It was hard to make a decision. There were some days where one guy would do better than the other, and the other day another guy would do better. Both Jonathan and Darius are really, really explosive guys. Great speed, and what it came down to was really consistency and understanding the offense."

Do you have a thought process on the percentage of snaps that Glen will take, or is it a flow of the game type thing?

"We'll play two. At Georgia Southern we always would play our other quarterback (Favian Upshaw) the first series of the second quarter and the first series of the fourth quarter. Then it started to change a little bit when the other guy (Upshaw) started playing better throughout the year. By the end of the year it was kind of 50-50 with those guys (Upshaw and starter Kevin Ellison). Other years it hasn't been that way. It may be a definite series or it may be this particular package that we're going to put the other guy in."

It will be a whole drive rather than a particular play?

"Yes. I think (putting them in for one play) is hard to do. I've done it before, but I think it's difficult. Craig Morton and Roger Staubach."

What is the depth chart like at wide receiver?

"We've had some guys. Devon Breaux, we're really glad we got him to come back. He's a little beat up right now and he'll take the rest of the day off on into tomorrow (when Tulane is not practicing) to get healthy. Terren Encalade is definitely going to play a ton for us. Larry Dace will play a ton. There's a lot of the freshmen that are going to be playing, so we'll probably play six or seven receivers, but those four (he actually named three, maybe he forgot Devin Glenn, but I'm not sure that's true) will play quite a bit."

It's been hard to separate the freshmen. Are there one or two that have stepped in front?

"Darnell Mooney has shown some great things. I think he'll be able to play in the kicking game. I've been very impressed with his practice habits. Some guys you have to kind of tweak and change a little bit, and he came in here with a motor on him and has just kept going. Chris Johnson has shown some really good things. D.J. Owens. Jacob Robertson is going to be out for a while (with a finger injury). He was looking good early."

Mooney came in a day before preseason camp started. How impressive has he been?

"Very good. He didn't have the benefit of summer workouts. He's not real big (6-1, 170), but he's very combative, too. Our guys have got to be able to block as well. They can't just be pass receivers. He's certainly shown me that he can do that."

The Tulane basketball team received a commitment Thursday from Chilean national team member Sammis Reyes, a 6-foot-7, 240-pound sophomore power forward, a source close to the program confirmed. He will be eligible this season.

Reyes played the 2015-16 season with Palm Beach State Junior College in Florida, averaging 7.6 points and 5.9 rebounds while shooting 48.4 percent from the floor and 56.0 percent on free throws. He started 25 of 32 games as Palm Beach State began 14-0 and finished 24-8.

ESPN’s Jeff Goodman first reported the commitment.

Reyes, who attended high school at North Broward Prep in Coconut Beach, Florida, signed with Hawaii for 2014-15 but never played there in a star-crossed year. He injured a toe early, left the team after coach Gib Arnold was fired for alleged NCAA violations in October of 2014, deciding to return under new coach Benjy Taylor and then broke a hand in practice.

He also tweeted that he had ACL surgery in the year before playing at Palm Beach State, but the injury did not appear to rob him of any athleticism. A YouTube video from his time there shows him throwing down numerous dunks in games.

Strong for his size, he does most of his work inside.

Reyes joins Renathan Ona Embo, a 6-4 shooting guard who played his junior year in San Diego before moving to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in a two-player class for Tulane under new coach Mike Dunleavy Sr. Embo, rated a three-star recruit by ESPN.com, reportedly received interest from Pac-12 programs.

Former Brother Martin star Jordan Cornish, a UNLV transfer, and Vanderbilt transfer Samir Sehic will become eligible in 2017-18.

Tulane will have 12 scholarship players this year, one under the NCAA limit.

The Wave finished 13-21 last season, leading to former coach Ed Conroy’s firing. Tulane has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 1994-95 and the NIT since 1999-2000.

Guerry,
We know that Fritz said that we are going to play two qbs and we have a pretty good idea that it Glen C and Bradwell. Do you think the series will be split up , will it be the hot hand or situational offense in how they play them both? I know you don't have a clue but just from your observation of the team, coach fritz and the team M.O... what do you think?