It’s obviously only mid-season, but today’s game against ECU offers a great opportunity.

1. A win could, depending on the Cincinnati game today, put us on top of the AAC standings before hosting a very hot Cincinnati this coming weekend.
   
2. It would mark our first sweep of the year in conference.
   
3. A win would likely move us up about 4 places in RPI while a loss would likely drop us 7 places from our current #40 position (depending on how opponents do in their games).
   
4. It would add yet another win against a projected “top 50” RPI team. That would make our record 6-2 against such teams (according to Warren Nolan).
5. It would likely propel us into the top 25 or at least put us in the national discussion in the various polls.

A loss would not be devastating, of course, but a win would be terrific. From an RPI standpoint, when home victories only count 0.7 and losses count 1.3, going 2-1 results in a 1.4-1.3 weekend, which is not what we need. After the SELA loss at home earlier in the week, our RPI went from #45 to #55, mostly due to the 1.3 loss but exacerbated by our opponents’ poor showing at the same time.

Anyway. Continued great pitching, solid defense, timely hitting, and, hopefully, a large home crowd always gives us a good chance.

Roll Wave!!!

Apparently we have another late addition, long snapper Geron Eatherly of Texas. Was committed to Oklahoma State. Apparently we offfered a full ride and he flipped to us...
https://mobile.twitter.com/EatherlyGeron

The best news from Saturday's practice, which was exactly like all the others, is Parry Nickerson finally returned from his leg injury and participated. He was one of three players who fielded punts on special teams and also did individual and a little bit of team drills.

Zach Block did not have good distance or hang times on his punts. Dontrell Hilliard tried to field one and dropped it. Then Larry Dace tried to field one and dropped it. Finally, Nickerson held on to the third one before Hilliard caught the next one. The fifth punt was a low wobbler that caused Block to hang his head but actually took a good bounce and went out of bounds at the 6. Would have been perfect in a game even if the execution was not what he wanted.

In 7 on 7 passing drills, Glen Cuiellette missed an open Hilliard on his first throw. Darius Bradwell then threw way behind a walk-on receiver (I think Frank Thomas) who had gone in motion. Bradwell completed a pass to the same receiver on his next attempt. but the good passes were few and far between. The drill ended when Taris Shenall jumped a route and just missed what would have been a pick-six on a Bradwell throw.

Willie Fritz confirmed Andrew Hicks will miss the season with the ACL tear he sustained in practice last week. Tulane will need a couple of its incoming freshmen to contribute at wideout because the numbers are scarily low. Rickey Preston will not be back this spring, either, but no player beside Hicks is out for the fall.

There's nothing new to report on the depth chart. The offensive line was a little different because Chris Taylor and John Leglue sat out, with Todd Jacquet at left tackle (speaking of scary; Ade Aruna ran around him like he was not even there on one play), Kenneth Santa Marina at left guard, Junior Diaz at center, Leeward Brown at right guard and Devon Johnson at right tackle.

Zachery Harris is the linebacker who gets the most reps with the first unit other than clear starters Nico Marley and Eric Thomas, but Eric Bowie got some work, too, and William Townsend appears to be a pass-rush specialist when he gets out there with that unit.

Eric Bell got some time with the second-team D-line along at tackle, with Peter Woullard and Robert kennedy at end and Braynon Edwards maintaining his spot inside. Quinlan Carroll looks very quick off the edge, but how much of that is due to inadequate OTs? I'm not sure. Carroll told me he finally feels 100 percent healthy after suffering an ACL injury against Houston in 2014.

I would give some play-by-play, but I don't want to sound like a broken record. Taris Shenall almost had a pick-six against Darius Bradwell when he jumped a route in 7-on-7 work. Bradwell also could not connect with walk-on Frank Thomas in the flat after Thomas went in motion and had no one close to him. Glen Cuiellette did not fare much better.

I will post Fritz' full quotes tomorrow, but he admitted the low numbers at wide receiver and offensive line have affected the way Tulane practices. By my count, the Wave had 57 scholarship players practicing at the start of the spring. Hicks, Daren Williams and Rickey Preston have not practiced this week, lowering the number even more.

“We’re a little thin in spots, so I’m having to slow down the tempo when we’re repping plays,” he said. “Usually I like almost three plays in a minute, but we just don’t have the depth, so we’re having to extend practices a little bit longer than we normally do.”

The immediate impact will be on next Saturday’s spring game, which originally was going to feature the first live tackling in Fritz’ tenure.

“It’s going to be difficult for us to tackle,” he said. “I really wanted to do it, but with the numbers that we have, I’m very hesitant to get out and tackle. We had seven offensive linemen at the end of practice today. We have three scholarship receivers for the rest of the spring. We’re having a tough time at some positions.”

Fritz added that the team's conditioning was not great, another concern in practice. He expects a different situation in August.

“We’re not in great shape right now,” he said “We really used our offseason program to get stronger. This summer we’re going to run like crazy and be in incredible shape when fall practice rolls around.”

Tulane has four practices left, with the listed schedule of Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Fritz seems to like back-to-backs, though, so I would not be surprised if Wednesday's workout gets moved to Tuesday.

Fritz is hard-nosed, but he's also very generous. For the second straight Saturday, he imported refs for the practice, and when they left the field, he had the entire team clap for them. Earlier this week, Jack Curtis told me that when Georgia Southern went on the road, Fritz was the first guy to get in there and unload luggage from the inside of the bus. He is an every-day guy in the way he carries himself and does not put on any airs.

I like RPI, specifically in baseball with its long season. Winning is what counts and beating good opponents counts more. And “running up the score” doesn’t mean anything. Nor, in my mind, should it. You win or you lose. It’s all that counts.

But, I don’t like the fact that a team’s RPI can go down even with a win under some circumstances. For example, had we not played Alabama A&M, a truly terrible team with a 5-27 record and a current 13 game losing streak against Division 1 opponents, our RPI would be #35. Had we played them on the road and won, it would by #36. Beating them at home leaves us at #40. Too bad that game wasn’t rained out.

Even beating a so-so Illinois team two out of three at home hurt us—a lot—because it covered three games. We only got credit for 1.4 wins against 1.3 losses (barely .500) and added 36 wins and 39 losses to our opponents’ record. Had we not played them at all, we would be ranked #31 by RPI. Surprised? Of course, we all expected Illinois to fare much better this year-- and maybe they still will. I hope so.

Nonetheless, there are at least two positives about this disturbing situation (RPI going down despite a win). One is that it encourages teams to play tougher competition, not just load up on weak teams. It also encourages schools to play more road games, not just play before friendly crowds in familiar surroundings. Both of those are good for college baseball in my view.

As noted with the Alabama A&M example, winning at home or on the road can affect RPI a great deal also. We’ve only lost two games at home, against Illinois and SELA, but those each counted 1.3 in the loss column. Had we won either game (and it doesn’t make any difference which from and RPI standpoint), it would have added .7 in our win column and subtracted the 1.3 from our loss column. We’d be #28 in the nation from an RPI standpoint.

Winning one of the games we lost on the road (pick any one) would have added 1.3 to our win column and reduced our losses by 0.7. That would have moved us up to #29.

As the year goes on, the impact of a single game will get less and less, but as of now, winning or losing has roughly a ten place result in RPI positioning. By the end of the year, it will be more like 5 places.

And, in the end, while RPI is a good "indicator" of a team's relative position, many other factors will play important rolls in determining who gets "at large" bids to the NCAA regionals, who hosts, and who are selected as "national seeds." We need to win

Roll Wave!!!

I see on his twitter that Coach Fritz is planning on football camps in Monroe, Shreveport, and Lake Charles, as well as two at Yulman. I guess he's serious about Louisiana after all, even north Louisiana, where we have been almost absent for many years.

https://twitter.com/CoachWEFritz

Roll Wave!!!!

I am covering the baseball game tonight, so this will be quick, but here are my quick thoughts:

1) It's obviously a risky hire, but I like it better than everyone else on the seemingly underwhelming list of candidates that has been posted elsewhere. When Dunleavy had talent, he won in the NBA, and his teams in those years looked very well coached. I was against James Jones (coached at Yale since 1999 and never had a good team until he got really good talent for that level the past three years), really against Greg Gary (nothing other than playing at Tulane recommended him, although I loved his shooting stroke when he played for Perry Clark) , Doug Gottlieb (wrong personality, would not have been committed enough in my opinion), or Joe Pasternack (his resume is good, but I talked to a few people who did not like his personality and felt it would be a bad fit).

2) There is no direct precedent for a hire like this in college basketball. Larry Brown won a national championship as coach at Kansas, while Dunleavy has never coached in college. Avery Johnson is much younger than Dunleavy, and for what it's worth, I've never been an Avery guy, dating back to the days when the Mavericks were my favorite NBA team and he coached there. Dunleavy had a rep as a really good Xs and Os coach early in his NBA career. It's been a long time, like maybe forever, since Tulane had that.

3) Obviously the assistants he hires will be key. Tulane has not had good enough players to win since the first two-thirds of the Perry Clark era. Dunleavy can't change that if he does not upgrade the talent level.

I missed about the first hour of a morning workout that ended at exactly 10:15, the time it was supposed to stop according to the schedule. The Wave has reached the midpoint of spring drills, with seven workouts before today and seven more after today.

The day featured more of the same, heavy on position instruction and tackling drills administered by Willie Fritz and very light on completions during 11 on 11 work. I did not see a significant gain on any pass play, but Fritz continues to be upbeat about the development of the QBs. As has been the norm, the very first pass of the 11-on-11 work at the end of practice, this time from Glen Cuiellette, was nowhere close to being complete on a downfield throw.

Parry Nickerson did not return as Fritz had hoped, missing another day with a leg strain. And Daren Williams, who did not participate in Saturday's workout, remained out with an unspecified injury. Defensive tackle Brian Webb was on the exercise bike when I arrived and also sat out the practice. Peter Woullard went down with a right knee injury during a contact drills and stayed down for a few minutes while trainers attended to him, but once he got up, he walked without much of a limp.

The tackling drill Fritz administered today was for the linebackers and defensive backs. One player took a three-step run at another and drove him straight back on to a cushion, with Fritz hollering out " right shoulder, left hook" for the first half of the drill and "left shoulder, right hook" for the second half of the drill. The player being tackle holds a cushion in front of him and lands on a cushion, allowing the hits to be pretty ferocious without the chance of anyone getting hurt. The drill went on for about 10 to 15 minutes.

The offensive linemen got yelled at quite a bit today. Todd Jacquet got an earful from Alex Atkins when he stopped playing after his man beat him to get to Cuiellette. No whistle blew since quarterbacks are not allowed to be hit, and Cuiellette took off running while Atkins chewed out Jacquet. Devon Johnson took some criticism today, too.

The first-team offense in the 11-on-11 work had Terren Encalade and Trey Scott at wide receiver, Dontrell Hilliard at running back, Devin Glenn at H back, Charles Jones at tight end, Jacquet at left tackle, Chris Taylor at left guard, Junior Diaz at center, Kenneth Santa Marina at right guard and John Leglue at right tackle.

The first-team defense had Quinlan Carroll and Ade Aruna at end, Sean Wilson and Tanzel Smart at tackle, Nico Marley and Eric Thomas at linebacker, Dedrick Shy and Richard Allen at Donnie Lewis at cornerback and Richard Allen at nickel (Jack Curtis says he almost always uses corners rather than safeties at that spot, a departure from what Lionel Washington did) and Jarrod Franklin and Leonard Davis at safety.

The second-team defense had Robert Kennedy and Peter Woullard at end, Eldrick Washington and Braynon Edwards at tackle, Zachery Harris, Rae Juan Marbley and William Townsend at linebacker (with Townsend blitzing off the edge), Jeremie Francis and Stephon Lofton at cornerback and Roderic Teamer and Will Harper at safety.

Quarterbacks are not supposed to be touched, but Cuiellette got inadvertently tripped up as he ran downfield on one play and landed awkwardly. He got up fine. Darius Bradwell will be a load when he runs downfield. He has a thick chest and runs with a purpose.

Ed Daniels showed up today and asked a few questions after practice along with me. Here is what Fritz said.

What are you thoughts on where the passing game is?

"I thought we had a good day. This is all new to everyone, the quarterbacks, the receivers and the offensive line. We are doing a better job of protecting right now, a better job of running routes and catching the ball and the quarterbacks are becoming more accurate. It's a work in progress, but we are a lot better today than we were three or four practices ago."

Has any one quarterback distinguished himself as a passer?

"We have three guys who have shown some things but not consistently. It's kind of a yo yo right now. One guy is third, second, first and the next day it may be different. We're looking for someone who can be consistent. Not even consistently great, just consistently good where you know what you're going to get out of him every single day. They are starting to get there."

Will you have a trimmed down playbook until you start to see that consistency?

"Well, we're throwing quite a bit at these guys right now--a lot of different sets, motions, formations. We have a lot of moving parts with our offense. That's also part of the evaluation process. If they have a hard time figuring things out, they are going to have no chance of in-game adjustments and halftime adjustments and each week having a little bit different playbook depending on the opponent that you're playing. That's part of it, too. We're throwing a lot of stuff and seeing what sticks and which guys can learn it."

So offensively and defensively do you feel like you'll be relatively complicated?

"You have to be great in fundamentals and techniques, but you have to have enough diversity offensively and defensively. You can't let them get a bead on how you're going to line up every single time. Teams are too good, coaches are too good and players are too smart, so you've got to be able to do some different things, but there's that certain point in there where the kids aren't able to react properly to what you're trying to do, so you have to have a happy balance there."

So if a guy is a good athlete but is not picking up the scheme, would he sit in favor of a guy who isn't as good?

"Yeah, he would be limited in what you are going to have him do. You may have a guy only in a certain package because that's what he can do. Hopefully we don't have guys like that here at Tulane."

You mentioned the other day you switched to Seahawks tackling system a few years ago after teaching something else your whole career. Can you elaborate on that?

"One of my coaches came up to me, (linebackers) coach (Michael) Mutz as a matter of fact about three days before fall practice my first year at Georgia Southern, and he said hey, watch this (video). I watched it about 10 to 20 times. I watched it a bunch and I decided to go ahead and implement what they were doing. I think it's great for football. Number one it keeps the head out of contact. Number two, you can do a lot of different drills and take the body to the ground. It's more rugby-like tackling. Anyone can google it. It's just Hawk tackling, Pete Carroll tackling. It was very gracious of coach Carroll to share this with all levels of football. They do it in the NFL, Division I, II, III, high school. It's one of the things I talk about when I speak in clinics, but I call it Wave tackling."

What is Daren Williams' status?

"He's injured right now and we'll get him back as soon as we can."

I talked to defensive coordinator Jack Curtis on Saturday. I will post it tomorrow. He is not big on giving specifics about individual players, but he gave a good overview of his philosophy as a coach.

Another good story on the Offensive line, Guerry. Thanks!!

My take at this point:

On paper, we may have the worst offensive line going into 2016 of any team in the BCS and probably worse than many in the FCS. Including true freshmen, we have 12 scholarship linemen on the roster. We haven’t had a decent offensive line in years and lost three starters off of last year’s woeful line. Not that the players lost were very good, but they were apparently better than the guys they kept on the bench-- guys we’re depending on this year.

We have two returning seniors, Chris Taylor and Todd Jacquet. Taylor has started 28 games in his career and has had periods of very good play and other times that were not. He’s undoubtedly our best lineman, regardless. Jacquet has started 18 games in the past four years, several at tight end as a freshman. At his best he’s been inconsistent. At his worst? Consistently bad. That sound harsh, but it’s what I have observed. This year, we’re evidently moving him to the critical left tackle position. He needs to improve greatly.

We have two redshirt juniors on the team. Kenneth Santa Marina was one of the most highly thought-of recruits in the Curtis Johnson era. In his three years so far, he’s redshirted, appeared in six games (mostly on special teams), and sat out a year in academic exile. If he doesn’t contribute in this, his fourth year, it could well be his last at Tulane. Jason Stewart’s football future is also on the line. He’s also entering his fourth year at Tulane and has yet to get within about 50 pounds of a realistic playing weight. Whether it’s lack of discipline, a hormone problem, or whatever, I’d guess this is his last shot.

We have three sophomores on the line. Raul Diaz will most likely man the very important center position this year after starting in four games as a redshirt freshman. Like Chris Taylor, Diaz has shown some real potential. His health is critical in that we don’t have a “tested” center anywhere on the roster behind him. John LeGlue and Devon Johnson are the other two sophomores and will likely compete with Santa Marina for the tackle spot opposite Jacquet. LeGlue actually started one game last year and probably is the leader for the position, but he has very limited experience in game competition. And he hasn’t looked particularly good in those appearances. He did, however, take up the slack last year as a deep snapper and will probably compete for that job also. Devon Johnson is another veteran who hasn’t done much. Many fans expected him to take over the starting right tackle job last year. Instead he showed up overweight (though not in the Jason Stewart class) and fell far down the depth chart. Even though he appeared in 11 games, it was exclusively on special team and in “garbage” time. Though this will only be his third year, he’s another one who needs to show something soon.

We have three redshirt freshmen: Leeward Brown, Keyshawn McLeod, and Keeyon Smart. Brown got a lot of pre-season hype last year but was redshirted anyway. He appears to be out of shape based on pictures and his listed 344 pound weight. But someone has to grab the left guard position and he might be the guy. He still needs to trim down and get down to business. McLeod is apparently getting a shot to back up Diaz at center, probably because, at 250 pounds (roster weight), he’s simply not big enough to play elsewhere on the line. At 6’4” he needs to add some size and muscle. Smart, of course, is a big disappointment this spring. His brother has a tremendous work ethic and may be the best player on the team. Keeyon’s lack of eligibility (for whatever the reason) cannot be taken as a good sign. He needs to “fix” whatever the problem is and get ready to play. By most accounts, he could be a really good player.

Our two incoming freshmen, Tyler Johnson and Phabion Woodard, both look to have future potential, but, in truth, NEED to redshirt. With Smart’s future in question (only based on his current ineligibility) and 2-3 guys who can’t seem to control their weight, we could be down to 8-9 offensive linemen very quickly. An injury or two could make the situation almost impossible. Since we almost always lose a few starts along the offensive line even in a near injury-free year, the situation is critical and these kids may be forced to play.

Of course, what I’ve described above, is my impression of the group we have based on past performance. Thus, my original “on paper” caveat. Between now and the end of spring practice, we could see some major changes. Some guys may all of a sudden “get it.” Could a defensive lineman move to the O-line? Over the next few months, will we add a transfer or JC lineman who can step in immediately? Will the new coaching staff, new techniques, and improved strength and conditioning produce necessary results? Will the “potential” shown by some of these guys turn into down-after-down performance? All of these things could happen.

Our QB play will be important this year but I don’t see any way that we’ll get “all-conference” level play at the position (though there is always hope). Regardless, the O-line will be the key to our offensive performance this year (and most years). Coach Fritz and staff have inherited a woeful legacy in this line. We’re all hopeful for a winning season and a bowl bid; some of us are dreaming of even bigger things. But, if the line plays like it did last year, it will be hard to improve much on our 3-9 record. A win or two based on special teams alone and reduced turn overs would be about all one could expect. But, I really like our coaching staff and Coach Atkins and Coach Speer are particularly impressive in my mind. If we can stay healthy, I look to major improvements.

Roll Wave!!!

The rain started falling hard just after Tulane's first practice in pads on Friday morning, which was perfect timing. It was even better for me because after I conducted interviews under the stadium, the rain stopped again, allowing me to stay dry walking back to my car. And that, of course, is the most important thing.

As you would expect, it was a spirited practice today, with everyone knowing the first contact workout would be followed by a week off for spring break. There was no live tackling--Willie Fritz, like most coaches, has altered his philosophy on hitting as his career has gone alone--but the energy is always higher when pads are on.

Here are a few notes:

1) Donnie Lewis Jr. is making a good early impression on the new coaches. On the first play of an 11-on-11 team drill, he jumped an out route and picked off pass from Glen Cuillette intended for Andrew Hicks and raced to the end zone for a touchdown. Lewis had a second interception off of walk-on Dylan Richman, who has been around for a while but has a horrible hitch in his delivery.

"I just read my keys," Lewis said. "I watched the quarterback, saw it and just trusted my instincts and went. That's definitely a good start with a pick-six."

Lewis has liked what he has seen in the first week of practice and does not plan to crazy for spring break, saying he will follow the workout routine the coaches gave him while back at home in Baton Rouge.

"It's new coaches, a new system and new everything," he said. "These coaches are coming out and pushing us even more knowing that we had a 3-9 season last year. That gives them even more of a reason to push us."

Lewis said the toughest part of spring so far has been learning the new system, which has a different terminology, a different tempo and different techniques. He also has noticed a higher emphasis on tackling. On Friday, they had a donut drill, administered by Fritz, where an assistant coach rolled a tire and the player had to make a form tackle of the tire, sticking his outside arm through the tire while driving it to the ground. Fritz applauded the players who did it the best, including linebacker Eric Bowie and cornerback Parry Nickerson.

"I definitely need to tackle better and work on my leverage," Lewis said. "The coaches are talking to me a lot about my leverage. I have length, good speed and good mobility."

2) The very, very early pecking order at QB is Darius Bradwell 1, Glen Cuillete 2 and Devin Powell 3.

That's not the order they go in team drills and 7-on-7 work--Cuillette goes first, followed by Bradwell, then Powell--but Bradwell has been slightly better in my view. Cuillette made the mistake on the opening play of 11-on-11 today and did not complete many passes, also throwing an interception to William Townsend on a deflected ball. Bradwell seldom threw perfectly, but he did get the ball to his receivers, making Rickey Preston go low to catch a throw, Hicks go low to catch another one and Josh Rounds jump up to catch a swing pass. Rounds then juked Nickerson with a sweet move. Not all of Bradwell's throws were caught, though. He had one that went into the ground about five years in front of his target. I joked that he should have been called unintentional grounding.

The closest to a big pass gain came on a rare accurate deep ball from Richman, who is not in the running for playing time. But Larry Dace, who usually catches everything within his reach, made a poor attempt to locate the ball as it floated down to him and let it go through his hands. Later, Dace made the catch of the day, getting his foot down just inside the sideline on an out pattern.

Obviously, nothing is decided at QB. There will be more ups and downs from Bradwell and Cuillette in the next 12 practices.

3) Sean Wilson must not have impressed the coaches before spring practice started

If I had listed a lock for first-team status going into the spring, I would have put Wilson only slightly lower than Tanzel Smart and Nico Marley, but he has not worked with the first team yet. The D-linemen running with the first unit were Ade Aruna, Daren Williams, Smart and, believe it or not, briefly Braynon Edwards. The second-team line was Robert Kennedy, Luke Jackson, Eldrick Washington and Wilson. Washington then moved to the first unit, with Edwards sliding back to the second unit.

The starting O-line was Todd Jacqet at left tackle, Leeward Brown at left guard, Junior Diaz at center, Chris Taylor at right guard and John Leglue at right tackle. The second O-line was Devon Johnson at left tackle, Brown at left guard, Keyshawn McLeod at center, Jason Stewart at right guard and Kenneth Santa Marina at right tackle. Tulane has nine bodies on the line, so that encompasses everyone.

4) The coaches are really emphasizing finishing every play

That includes running to the sideline after finishing a rep. A couple of players drew the coaches' when they thought they were loafing as they went off the field. They have to run, not walk, or risk getting yelled at as Fritz' staff tries to change the culture. Sherman Badie has been criticized by Fritz quite a bit for not finishing plays this week, but Fritz was happier with his effort on Friday. Dontrell Hilliard appears to have really separated himself from the crowd at running, but there are plenty of us who think he separated himself in the preseason last year and the coaches didn't notice. Hilliard is in shape and is running well.

5) This and that

The lights were on this morning because the cloud cover made it dark. …When Devon Johnson left 10 minutes early because he had to meet with a tutor, Alex Atkins yelled at him to change the time in the future because that was under his control. … In a sign of respect between two of the most talented players on the team, linebacker Nico Marley gave a fist bump to Hilliard after Hilliard stoned him in a blocking drill.

I talked to Kevin Peoples yesterday. Here's what he said.

What do you like the most about Tanzel Smart?

"First of all, before I met him I just liked how dang good a player he was. You put on that film, and as coach your responsibility is to be able to like a player like that. But after getting to meet the kid, he's the hardest working kid on our team. He gets the most reps. He wants to fix all his technique flaws. He's hungry. He's got a chip on his shoulder. He's exactly what we're looking for in the way he plays and the way he approaches the game."

Sean Wilson started off spring drills not with the first team but has worked his way up. What has he shown you?

"Sean's steady as heck. He's got good length. He is another very conscientious kid. He wants to do right. You tell them what you want them to do, and they do everything in their power to do it. It's really a pleasure to coach those guys. Sean's a great kid and he's a good player. He does everything we ask him to do."

So has it been easy to coach them?

"Absolutely. It's easy to work with these guys. The work ethic was here. I've been very blessed with the transition. They've been a joy to coach."

Eldrick Washington began the spring on the first team before getting banged up a little bit. What do you like about him?

"First of all, weight room wise and numbers wise, he's phenomenally strong in the weight room. He's another kid that really works hard, so between those three we are going to have a good chance to have--I would consider those three kids starters. Unfortunately, injuries happen, and when one does, the other one has to step up."

How much weight would Braynon Edwards have to lose to play for you?

"I tell you what, he's an unbelievable athlete. He's lost some weight from when we got here, and that's going to be a big thing for him in the summertime, having the table discipline. If he could lose 20 to 30 pounds, it would be outstanding."

Ade Aruna arrived with terrific raw ability but little football experience. Where is he in his development?

"He's close. He's another great work ethic kid. He's hungry. These kids are hungry to win, and it's easy tow work with those guys, but he's a special player. This is a very talented group. Ade might be the most talented guy. If he puts some things together he's going to have a real, long successful football career if he can stay healthy and do all that stuff. I think he's going to have a huge year for us."

The other end spot is wide open, but Quinlan Carroll has gotten a lot of reps with the first unit. What have you seen from him?

"Quinlan was a guy that sort of surprised us. Coming in you have some ideas and you hear some things, but he's exceeded our expectations. His quickness--he's got confidence in his (formerly injured) knee. He's doing a great job. Daren Williams, who has not been with us because of an injury. He was having a good spring, too."

When did he get hurt?

"It's been a little over a week ago now. It was after we got back from spring break. We have to take all the precautions we need to. We'll get him back in the spring. He's got a concussion. He doesn't want to have a concussion, but he's got to go through protocol. He's a tough kid."

What about Peter Woullard and Robert Kennedy?

"Both of those guys have done great. Peter is really coming along and Robert is a strong, powerful guy learning to play fast. It's a great group."

Some of the assistants on this staff inherited no depth at all. Do you feel like you got the good end of the stick?

"I don't know. They say if you love New Orleans, New Orleans will love you back. Getting here and having this group of guys, I feel very lucky. The work ethic has been great. I'm happy with those guys."

You have five practices left. Where do you want these guys to improve the most?

"We need to improve on everything. We're trying to install the defense. We put in a few new things today, so we have to try to get as much installed and have a good idea going into the summer of what next year will involve, but we have to get better at everything--playing faster, stopping the run. But again, you tell these guys what you want, and they are going to do everything to fix it and solve the problems."

With last night’ 14 strikeouts, we are now striking out 8.9 times every 9 innings, a fearsome pace. This continues a trend begun in 2012 when we struck out only 5.34 times per 9 innings. Since then, our K numbers have risen to 6.55/9 innings (2013) to 7.2/9 innings (2014), to 7.9/9 innings (last year, to today’s partial-season numbers.

Of the players with at least 20 at bats, we have six players fanning more than once every third at bat:
Pierce 10/20 (50%)
Brown 21/46 (46%)
Rowland 11/26 (42%)
DeHart 19/45 (42%)
Hope 38/100 (38%)
Willsey 28/75 (37%)

As a team, once we get to two strikes, we’re striking out over half the time (51.8%). And we’re getting to two strikes almost half of our official at bats (48.4%). Despite last night’s season-high five “called” third strikes, we’ve only struck out looking about 25% of the time (24.3%). I think that is pretty good, but don’t have any data to support that thought.

We’ve obviously put up better power numbers this year and that tends to correlate somewhat with more strikeouts, but almost a strikeout per inning over a long stretch is pretty darn high. The only solution I’ve preached for 50+ years is to hit “good” pitches early in the count and don’t swing at bad pitches. Taking good pitches or swinging at bad pitches can get you to 2 strikes very quickly. And when you get to 2 strikes, the pitcher has a big advantage and the umpire also comes more into play. The only time you can make an out taking a strike or swinging and missing is with 2 strikes. That’s a big deal and accounts in large measure for the huge discrepancy in success depending on the count. We’re hitting .149 with 2 strikes and exactly .400 prior to 2 strikes. Both we and our opponents have posted similar stats for many years. The ratio will probably never change much.

To better success...

Roll Wave!!!!

Tulane's ninth spring practice under new coach Willie Fritz played out a lot like the previous eight in perfection conditions Tuesday morning at Yulman Stadium. It's really hard to gauge the strength of this team because its best attributes on offense--the talented running backs and the freedom for the quarterbacks to run--does not translate to accurate analysis when there is no tackling of anyone in team drills and no touching of the quarterbacks period. When Darius Bradwell takes off like a tank on a zone-read play, would he get downfield if he were allowed to be hit? It's hard to say, but Fritz' history indicates the answer is yes.

The one thing that can be gauged, though, is the passing game, and I can't sugarcoat it. Bradwell and Glen Cuillette are pitiful when they throw downfield. That's just the reality. It could change as they gain more experience in the offense, but in 26 years of covering college football, I've never seen less accurate quarterbacks in practice. Here are words I never, ever thought I would write: Devin Powell is by far Tulane's best passer. I'm still not taking him seriously because of all the other things Fritz requires his quarterbacks to do, and Powell has been the third quarterback in the rotation, but he completes pass downfield in team drills, something Bradwell and Cuillette almost never do.

As has been the trend at almost every practice, the first throw I saw yesterday was Bradwell overthrowing an open Trey Scott on a deep ball in a seven-on-seven drill. Scott, Devin Glenn and Terrell Encalade have consistently gotten open this week, but the ball rarely gets to them. Bradwell did complete about a 20-yard pass on curl--in to Encalade a few plays later, but even that one was high and slightly behind him, forcing him to jump to make a nice grab.

When they started 11 on 11 work, Bradwell overthrew an open Glenn on his first pass. Then Cuillette tried to hook up with Encalade on a deep sideline pass and threw it too wide, forcing Encalade to try to catch it over the wrong shoulder. He didn't, and he may not have been inbounds anyway.

The three quarterbacks rotate in and out pretty quickly in Fritz' practices, a difference from CJ's, when each one got a long stretch. Powell came in and connected with tight end Charles Jones for a nice gain. Cuillette replaced him and misfired for Scott deep. Powell returned a little later and completed a pass on the sideline with good touch before hitting Encalade with a perfect deep ball on the last play of the practice.

Most of the plays in between were runs, with Bradwell in particularly preferring to tuck the ball and head up the middle with plenty of steam. But again, it's hard to rate those plays with no one being allowed to touch him.

Ade Aruna scored the only touchdown of the 11-on-11 portion, picking up a fumbled handoff between Cuillette and Josh Rounds and running 10 yards into the end zone. I had not noticed Aruna a whole lot this spring until that play.

Sherman Badie has improved significantly with each practice. He looked tentative before spring break and the coaches were on him a lot. Now he looks like he did in the preseason and the first half of the regular season in 2014, running with speed and balance.

As they do every day, they spent plenty of time on tackling drills, emphasizing the should to things Hawk tackling system Pete Carroll coaches. One player (I did not catch the number). It was linebackers and defensive backs tackling linebackers and defensive backs while the other position had separate drills. At one point, a player got criticized for hitting Nico Marley too high in the drill (I did not catch the number), which seems a bit harsh. It's hard not to tackle Marley high.

The practices are efficient and organized, ending right on time and moving from drill to drill smoothly. I think there was too much speculation under CJ's tenure that practices were disorganized, but I will say in the second half of last fall, the defense routinely finished its scout team work about 15 minutes before the offense, so all of the defensive players just stood there watching the rest of the way. I'd never seen anything like it covering any team's practice before, and it was almost every day. Maybe it was the influence of Jason Rollins helping the defense practice faster, but it was strange and made it feel like things were deteriorating. There's no standing around under Fritz and his staff. Although they allow frequent breaks because of the low numbers at key positions (offensive line, wide receiver, linebacker), their guys are active when drills are live.

I've liked what I've seen from Encalade and Scott at receiver. They get open. The next step is getting the ball to them. Andrew Hicks and Rickey Preston are banged up, leaving the group even more thin than it was at the start of spring.

Nothing changed on the depth charts yesterday. Kenneth Santa Marina continued to get time at right guard with the first unit, with Todd Jacquet and John Leglue manning the tackles. Sean Wilson continued to practice ahead of Eldrick Washington at defensive tackle after not getting a sniff on the first until for the first week-and-a-half. Wilson is not a good interview, but I'll try to talk to him soon to see what was holding him back at first. He probably won't say, but you never know.

Parry Nickerson was out for another practice. I'm hearing now he has plantar fasciitis, but Fritz told me last week he had pulled a muscle.

Tanzel Smart had to leave practice midway through to go to class. I'm just guessing Fritz did not have to deal with that at Georgia Southern or Sam Houston State. I'm also guessing he won't have to deal with that in the fall now that Troy Dannen is AD and will do what he can do in his power to help his coaches.

They have not announced yet whether the 10th practice will be Thursday or Friday (the original schedule is Friday), but Saturday's coaches' clinic practice will be a 3 p.m. I am not covering baseball for The Advocate on Saturday, so I will be at that football practice.

Guerry do you have anything on Montalbano's injury? I'm hoping it's not the UCL.

I've been focusing on the quarterbacks as the reason for Tulane's abysmal passing attack in the spring (and trust me, I am not exaggerating when I say there are no downfield completions in 11-on 11 drills in most of the practices. Zilch, zero, nada. But the complete lack of depth at wide receiver is just as significant.

Today, Tulane's second-team wideouts were Reed Green and Chaz Augustini, a pair of walk-ons who have never played in a game. Green almost came down with a lofted sideline pass from Darius Bradwell but could not hold on to it as he crashed to the ground, and he came up a little gimpy on one leg after the effort.

The reason for the shortage: Rickey Preston and Andrew Hicks are not practicing due to injuries, and Hicks is now questionable for the fall after having surgery to repair a torn ACL Thursday. The injury happened last week in practice when he knocked knees with a teammate at the end of a pass route, but no one knew how serious it was at the time.

"He went across the middle, he bumped knees with somebody, he got up and he walked off," coach Willie Fritz said. "It turned out to be an ACL."

Preston suffered a concussion in practice and has been in the concussion protocol all week. His return for the last week of spring drills is possible but not certain.

As a result, Tulane has converted tight end Trey Scott, former walk-on Larry Dace and Terren Encalade as the only available true wideouts, with H back Devin Glenn also in the picture but not lining up wide. That meant Augustini and Green got a lot of work Friday, with predictable results. Green's near catch was the only thing close to a completion at the 11-on-11 drill at the end of practice. With four receivers coming in for the fall, the problem will not be nearly as severe, but this team has zero proven, productive wide receivers.

With Daren Williams out with a minor injury, redshirt junior Quinlan Carroll has been getting a lot of reps on the first-team defense. Carroll has three career tackles but has impressed the coaches in the spring, practicing ahead of Robert Kennedy, Peter Woullard and Luke Jackson. I talked to defensive line coach Kevin Peoples today and will post his comments about all of the defensive linemen soon (except for Jackson, whom I forgot).

Nothing changed on the depth charts today, although Eric Bowie got more time with the first unit at linebacker when the Wave used three linebackers. The starting corners were Donnie Lewis and Richard Allen because Parry Nickerson continues to be sidelined by a leg injury. Leonard Davis continues to start at free safety ahead of Roderic Teamer. Kenneth Santa Marina continues to start at right guard. And Sean Wilson continues to start with the first unit at defensive tackle after beginning spring at the bottom of the depth chart.

"They wanted to see a reaction out of me to get better," Wilson speculated. "They wanted me to get angry to get that first spot back, so I got it back. Last spring was the same thing. They put me on the second team and wanted to see me improve. I think they did it because some people don't take that well, and they knew I could."

I had Fritz to myself today--he would not comment on whether or not he was interested in the Sam Houston QB transfer or not--and here's what he said. For starters, he told the team the practice had started slow but finished fast is post-practice address before coming over to talk to me.

On the H-back position:

"What we've got to do this spring especially--we're adding four receivers in the fall--but I also don't want to just play a receiver in a position just because that's what we're supposed to do. I was talking to Sherman (Badie) and Dontrell (Hilliard) and Josh (Rounds) and Lazedrick (Thompson), saying you guys have to learn some receiver stuff so that we can put you out there. We'll teach them three or four routes because those guys are good athletes. It will help us with our depth and now we're not necessarily running two backs."

On if lack of depth at receiver and offensive line was unprecedented in his coaching career:

"When I was the head coach at Blinn (Junior College), I think I had 54 on the team, so I had to do a really good job of managing practice. The thing we're trying to do is be physical but stay on our feet. We're finishing plays with effort, but we're not finishing plays and taking guys to the ground. That's what we're working on."

On Tanzel Smart:

"The number one thing is the guy wants to be a great player. He works extra every single day, not every other day, every single day. I'll go in here and do a little running, and he'll be in there on the elliptical. He's trying to keep his weight down. He's trying to get a little bit quicker. He's a good athlete. I bet the guy's a good basketball player. He's got good movement. He's got long arms. He's got a great jump off the ball. We've got to take advantage of his quickness. Sometimes you get those guys inside and you have them keeping the offensive linemen off the linebackers. We got to take advantage of him. The linebackers need to keep those offensive linemen off him."

On Sean Wilson:

"We feel like we've got three or four guys who can start. Eldrick Washington's been hurt a little bit and been out, but Sean's got good size, good quickness, good power, and so does Eldrick. Up on the defensive line we feel like we've got eight guys that can play Division I football."

On Ade Aruna:

"He's got to put together a year that matches his athletic ability. He's a tremendous athlete. He's got great want-to, and he's just like a sponge. He's absorbing everything that coach Peoples is teaching him. He is going to be a great player, and we need him to be that way next year."

On the other end spot:

"Quinlan Carroll has impressed me. Peter Woullard has done some good things. Kennedy, Luke Jackson, we have some guys who can do some stuff there. If we have to, we can also play a linebacker at that position."

On getting transfers:

"It's difficult for us to get transfers. They've got to graduate and they have to have a high GPA, so it's difficult for us to get transfers. We're going to build this program into a consistent winner with high school kids."

Fritz also talked about the injury to Hicks and said they are going to work on kick returns next week after ignoring it in the first three weeks of spring drills.

After Saturday's practice, I talked to Jack Curtis for the first time. It wasn't the wide-ranging interview I have posted in the past with coordinators because I had to talk to Fritz and players for the notebook I was working on that day, but Curtis, who doubles as the safeties coach, talked about how he ended up on Fritz' staff at Georgia Southern and gave an overview of the Wave defense.

What is your impression of the defense you inherited?

“Well, every day we come out here and we’re learning and installing, so we’re going at a really slow pace right now. We want to get our guys playing fast, and in order to do that they have to know what they’re doing and understand the defense. We’re not going real fast. We’re seeing the speed pick up. Every day we come out here and see it a little bit faster. We’re getting better. I think we’re ahead of where I thought we’d be with the defensive line right now. It’s really a talented group there. Things on the back end are a little bit slower with the adjustments and learning what to do, but I’m very pleased with where we’re at.

How would you describe your defensive philosophy?

“Our philosophy is you have to do a little bit of everything and be pretty good at it to be able to adjust to what other teams are doing. We’re going to blitz about a third of the time, we’re going to drop about a third of the time and we’re going to play base about a third of the time. We have to do it all to be good in today’s game because you are going to see different opponents do different things to you, and you have to be able to adjust to what they’re doing. We have to put enough defense in to give ourselves a chance to win and at the same time keep it simple enough that our guys can play fast and know what they’re doing.

What are your impressions of Leonard Davis and Jarrod Franklin?

“I’ve been really impressed with Leonard just with his leadership ability. I think that comes with him playing quarterback in high school and being in a leadership position. He’s come out here and kind of taken over that in the secondary. He’s a very football smart kid out there on the field. He can get people lined up. He sees things fast and reacts quickly. I’ve been very impressed with what he’s doing.

“Jarrod Franklin has showed up a couple of times and made some real nice plays this spring. He’s had some interceptions. He’s a talented player as well.”

The previous staff used Franklin at linebacker primarily. How is he handling the adjustment back to safety?

“I think he’s in a more natural position. They had him playing a nickel, and our nickels are basically a cornerback. We are a little bit more athletic and a little bit more cover ability at our nickel with the defense we are playing. He’s a kid that’s big enough to drop into the box. He’s 205 pounds. We can play him as a linebacker when we get the eighth man in the box.

What are your impressions of the defensive line?

“Tanzel Smart and Ade Aruna and some of those guys are really playing well. It’s a talented group. There are going to be a lot of guys in that group that can play, so probably at this point I’d say it’s one of our strengths on defense. That’s a good thing up front. We’re going to be able to apply some pressure on people without having to blitz. We can win some one-on-ones.

What are your impressions of the linebackers?

“That group probably has the most on them about learning. There are a lot of different alignments, and usually that group takes a little bit longer to get going and know what they’re doing, but everybody’s locked in and giving great effort out here. I’ve been real pleased wit that. These guys have bought in to what we’re trying to get accomplished. It makes coming out to practice a lot of fun.

Willie Fritz inherited you at Georgia Southern and retained you as defensive coordinator before taking you with him to Tulane. How did that play out?

“I’ve known him for a long time, but I’ve never coached with him until he came to Georgia Southern but had several guys that I’ve coached with over the years that coached with him. It’s an unusual situation when a coordinator can stay on from a previous staff to a new staff, but I was very fortunate to stay on at Georgia Southern and be part of that. He’s a fantastic guy to work for. I love him. It’s been good. We’ve been winning a lot of ball games with him, but that’s what he’s done his whole career. It’s been fun to be hitched up on his wagon. It’s been a great ride, so I’m looking forward to doing some great things here at Tulane.”

Did you have choice to go to Army when your former coach at Georgia Southern, Jeff Monken, took the job there?

“It was up in the air. I don’t know for sure. I was not going to be the coordinator at Army, and once that happened, it happened pretty quick. I was not going to go to Army as the coordinator.”

How did you get the job with Fritz?

“When he came in and accepted the job on the official day, he called me up that night and we went out and he offered me the job that night. Of course I’d known of him for a long time but never had worked with him. We had a lot of mutual friends. For instance, Doug Ruse our offensive coordinator, I coached with him about 17 years and he was with coach Fritz. (Defensive line coach Kevin) Peoples had coached with him about three places already, so there was a connection there.”

How much had you talked to Fritz in past

“Not real often. We were more of acquaintances and saying hello at conventions and that sort of thing. We’ve been to clinics together and seen each other a few times. It was more of a friendship. There were times he had a question and he would call me and I’d call him, so we were not once a week buddies or anything like that. It probably went back to ’96 when I first met him.”

As you predicted they moved it up a day.

Aside from some special teams work midway through, Saturday's practice was no different than the other practices in pads this week as Tulane put on a typical display at Junior Day of what a normal Willie Fritz workout looks like.

My apologies for not noticing earlier, but Calvin Thomas decided to skip his final year of football. I realized today he was not even on the numerical roster they handed out on day 1 of spring drills that I have been bringing to each practice, although because of an oversight he still is on the roster at TulaneGreenWave.com. Tackle is still a pretty deep spot on the team, with Tanzel Smart, Sean Wilson and Eldrick Washington all appearing to be starter caliber and Brian Webb, John Washington, Eric Bell and Braynon Edwards backing them up.

For practice today, Tulane had five healthy scholarship cornerbacks--Dedrick Shy, Taris Shenall, Richard Allen, Donnie Lewis Jr and Jeremie Francis--plus walk-on John Helow, a true freshman from Jacksonville who had plenty of reps. I did not see Stephon Lofton. The Wave had five healthy safeties--Jarrod Franklin, Leonard Davis, Roderic Teamer, Will Harper and walk-on Sam David, plus Tristan Cooper, who is a no-contact jersey after having surgery right after the season. The Wave had seven linebackers--Nico Marley, Eric Thomas, Zachery Harris, Eric Bowie, Rae Juan Marbley, William Townsend and a walk-on I did not recognize. The Wave had six ends--Ade Aruna, Daren Williams, Quinlan Carroll, Robert Kennedy, Luke Jackson and walk-on Paul Staudinger.

Fritz has combined the fullback/tight end position into one spot with five players. Charles Jones, Kendall Ardoin, Marshall Wadleigh, Sergio Medina and walk-on Trey Camissa, who was a defensive end last year, are practicing together.

The field goal drill, the first I've seen this spring, was interesting, with three kickers attempting from the left hash and then the right hash. A guy I have never heard of, sophomore walk-on Randy Harvey, started off by connecting from 28 and 30 yards. Harvey, from Destrehan High, joined the team last fall. Andrew DiRocco, who had a pretty good year as a sophomore after looking really bad in the preseason drills, then missed wide left from 29 yards and had a low 31-yard attempt blocked. Finally , Steven Logan, who was in the competition to be the kicker before suffering a leg injury last August, connected from 28 yards (it was close) and 30 yards.

The punting drill was next and was uneventful, although John Leglue's snaps were on the money, as were backup Aaron Golub's. No one else did any snapping. Larry Dace was one of the guys returning punts, which was quite surprising.

The less said about the quarterbacks' passing, the better. Although Willie Fritz insisted the quarterbacks were accurate in one of the six-on-six drills, I did not see it. What I saw were a series of misfires with no big gainers in the brief 11-on-11 work at the end. Even in quarterback-receiving drills, Darius Bradwell threw into the ground for Trey Scott and low for walk-on Reed Green on simple swing passes. Bradwell is tough, though. In the 11-on-11 action, he took a pop as he started to run from a defensive tackle and dished out as much punishment as he received before racing downfield.

I did not see a single significant completion, but Scott showed off his speed by getting behind everyone in the secondary on a deep ball from Bradwell that sailed a few yards over his head. Scott almost turned in a spectacular catch on a deep sideline pass from Devin Powell but could not quite haul it in after reaching up with his right hand and trying to bring it into his body.

The first-team offensive line was Todd Jacquet at left tackle, Chris Taylor at left guard, Junior Diaz at center, Kenneth Santa Marina at right guard and Leglue at right tackle. The second team offensive line was Devon Johnson at left tackle, Leeward Brown at left guard, Keyshawn McLeod at center (he had one bad shotgun snap), Jason Stewart at right guard and Leglue at right tackle.

Really, it was an uneventful practice, with nothing even resembling scrimmage action. There were nine referees brought in for the 11-on-11 work, and when they left, Fritz hollered out "Thank you, guys. Appreciate it."

I talked to Derrick Strozier as I walked on to the field. He's given up pursuing football and has a steady financial job downtown. Devon Walker was at the practice, too. One of the players at junior day who followed me on twitter last night, wide receiver Nate Shelton from Sachse, Texas, introduced himself to me and said he was hoping to be offered a scholarship. He's also looking into Kentucky.

Here's what Fritz had to say: Keep in mind there were a few people asking questions who had not seen Tulane practice at all until today.

Talk about Junior Day

"A big part of running a successful Division I program is you gotta recruit year-round. We're really blessed in a hotbed of high school football here in New Orleans. We've got guys here from all over the state of Louisiana, all over the city of New Orleans. We've got people here from Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia. We've got quite a few kids from Texas here, so a lot of bonafide Division I players came to watch the Wave practice today."

What are you trying to get out of a day like this for those guys?

"I wanted them to see the campus. We talked to them a little bit. We've got a world class education to sell here at Tulane. Not too many schools in the country have that to sell. We have a beautiful campus. Hopefully they got to see a little bit of New Orleans, one of the top cities in the United States to vacation in, and now you can go to school here and be here year-round. Then also seeing some football. We have a great group of coaches, and they get to see us coach and how we operate."

How would you evaluate the team after two weeks of practice?

"There have been some good things. I don't know if I'm ever going to split it up again where I go practicing before spring break and then coming back afterwards. We're staying relatively healthy. There are some spots we've got great depth and some spots we don't have very good depth, so we have to do a good job of managing practice, but we're heading in the right direction. We have a long way to go, but we're heading in the right direction."

How would you evaluate your quarterbacks?

"They are all doing a good job. There's a little bit of inconsistency. One day, one guy has a great practice and the other guy doesn't, and then it changes. Just the consistency of throwing and running the football we need out of those guys every single day, those guys have to be on the right page every play."

The passing has been inconsistent. Is it far too early to be concerned?

"You know, I saw them today when we saw them throwing the ball seven-on-seven, particularly the second group of 12 was pretty darn good. I think we were nine of 12 during that time period, so they were pretty darn accurate and we had a drop in there as well, so it's getting better. It's a combination of a lot of things. It's the quarterback throwing the ball accurately and throwing on time. It's great pass protection by the offensive line. It's the receivers running a route right and catching the ball."

How would you define the role of your H back?

"That guy has got to do everything. That H back, tight end, he's got to do it all. He's got to be able to run routes. He's got to be able to split and play out on the perimeter. He's got to be able to seal block defensive ends. He's got to lead out on linebackers. He's got to wrap around and cruise to the inside backer, to the alley runner, the free safety. He's got to be able to block the force players. He's got to do it all. He's got to be a pass catcher, a run blocker and a pass protector at times as well."

Do you want your running backs tto have specific roles, and how do you divide the carries among so many guys?

"Well it really helps you out if they can do everything. Teams start keying in, when this guy's in there they throw the ball more or when this guy's in there they run this play. Defensive coaches are too smart, so we'd like to have a guy who can do everything well. Believe me, we can divide the carries up. That's not a problem. A perfect game for us is being able to run the ball 40 to 50 times and throwing it 20 to 30 times. That's the mix we'd like to have."

Parry Nickerson has been out for a while. When are you anticipating getting him back?

"I hope he's going to be back on Monday. We'd like to get Parry back. He pulled a muscle or something."

You inherited Jack Curtis as defensive coordinator at Georgia Southern, kept him and have brought him with you to Tulane. What do you like about him?

"Coach Curtis has done a great job with our defense. I kept him at Georgia Southern when I took that job because I had a little background with him (Curits coaches at Central Missouri after Fritz left). We get a lot of kudos for our offense. Last year we were the 21st-ranked defense in the nation. Jack and our defensive coaches do a sensational job."

Have you had a chance to talk to Mike Dunleavy Sr?

"Yeah, I met him one day in practice. Last Monday I had a chance to meet him. I think it's great for the university. Our athletic director is getting after it now. We want Tulane to be a power not just in football but in all sports."

You are conducting the coaches' clinic next weekend. Can you talk about that?

"I'm really looking forward to it. We're going to have I think a couple hundred coaches here next Saturday. We're going to go Friday and Saturday April 8th and 9th. Get on our website and get in contact with us. We'd love to have as many coaches here as possible."

Andrew Lopez, who, BTW, is doing a better job of covering Tulane, particularly recruiting, reports that Coach Fritz has signed a safety for the 2016 class, Thakarius Keyes from Mississippi:

http://www.nola.com/tulane/index.ssf/2016/03/tulane_adds_class_of_2016_sign.html#incart_river_index

Coach Fritz confirms the news on his twitter, so it must be true.

Keyes apparently has only played football the past two years but he has some length and speed that could make him a real “steal” over time. His highlights on hudl: (http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3596939/highlights/321238383)

I was a little surprised by this signing since we have a large number of defensive backs and could really use offensive linemen, but coach must have thought this kid was “too good” to pass up. It does suggest, however, that recruiting for 2016 may not be over.

Roll Wave!!!

Here are some of the prospects who will be attending Junior Day tomorrow

QB Ryan Glover, 3-star from Woodward Academy in Georgia
RB Jalen Greene, 3-star from Sandy Creek in Georgia
CB Jeff Hubbard, 3-star from Woodward Academy
DB Quincy Addison, a safety from Angleton Texas who is not in Rivals database but is in the others
OT Corbin Smith, from Nederland Texas (in Rivals database but not rated)
LB Josh Clarke, 3 star from Riverdale
DT Caleb Sampson from Northlake Christian in Covington (in Rivals database but not rated)
DE J'arius Warren, no stars from Long Beach, Miss.
CB Corey Straughter, 3 star from Neville
S Jacorion Andrews, 3 star from Neville
DB Jeremiah West, 2 stars from St. Aug
DE Dennis Collins, 3 stars from West Monroe
QB Justice McCoy, 3 stars from St. Aug
ATH Devion Warren, 2 stars from Ouachita
WR Jeremy Singleton, 3 stars from Brother Martin
WR Takulve Williams, 2 stars from St. Aug
WR McLane Mannix, no stars from Midland Texas
WR Gavin Holmes, no stars from Justin Texas
RB/DB Troy Young, 2 stars from Mobile Christian
DB Amik Robertson, 2 stars from Thibodaux
DE Chris Turner, 2 stars from Hammond
DT Zi'Yon Hill 2 stars from New Iberia Catholic
OL Jonathan Hawkins, not rated from Livonia
WR Dontaze Costly, 2 stars from St. James
WR Davontavean Martin, 2 stars from Ellender in Houma
ATH Jatarvious Whitlow, no stars from Lafayette Ala.
LB Gajuan Davis, 2 stars from Ozark High in Carroll Ala.
LB Chris Ross, no stars from Enterprise, Ala
WR Eugene Minter, no stars from Parker High in Birmingham, Ala
LB KJ Vault, unrated from Hoover, Ala
DE Troy James, 2 stars from Madison Prep in Baton Rouge
LB Donovan Perkins, 2 stars from Zachary
RB Javin Myers, 2 stars from Woodlawn

Having moved Friday's scheduled practice to Thursday despite a dicey weather forecast for both days, Tulane clearly made the right call, working out in cloudy but dry conditions this morning.

Cornerback Parry Nickerson remained out with a leg injury and spent most of the workout on an exercise bike, and wide receiver Andrew Hicks did not practice. Linebacker Zach Harris returned after missing Tuesday's practice. And, as I expected, defensive ends Robert Kennedy and Daren Williams were fine. I did not notice them in Tuesday's 11-on-11 work but must have missed them.

When Willie Fritz referred to himself as the "tackling coach" after the first practice, he was not kidding. He is hand-on in all of Tulane's tackling drills this spring. Today, the Wave had a drill where players had to tackle a moving hoop that a trainer rolled. and Fritz was right there yelling encouragement and criticism. After the first four or five players did not do it the way he wanted, he praised safety Jarrod Franklin for having the right technique, and he liked what he saw the rest of the way.

"My background is as a defensive coach, and the last time I checked, tackling's pretty important to having a good defense." Fritz said. "We work on it as much as we can. I have a way that I do it. I switched a couple of years ago. Pete Carroll, the Seahawks head coach, came up with what they call Hawk tackling. We call it Wave tackling here. We're using a lot of the principles that the Seahawks use. There are a few thing that we modified as well, but we're trying to practice physical tackling without hitting bodies and getting guys hurt. The majority of injuries occur with body to ground contact, so we're trying to take the ground out of the equation as much as possible."

Fritz elaborated on what he emphasizes.

"We use our arms when we wrap up," he said. "We glorify all tackles, not just the big hits. We've got a little bit different style of doing it. I started doing it two years ago, and I was really hesitant to do it because I had a way of doing it for 25 years. I switched, and we were much more efficient tacklers, and it was amazing. We're staying with it and trying to get better and better at it every day."

Franklin liked the extra work on tackling.

"The tackling drills they are implementing have been very good for us," he said. "We had a problem with tackling last season, and that was a big part of our losses. Staying on it is definitely something that we need. It's going to help us in the future. Coach (Fritz) definitely talks about it doesn't matter what kind of tackle it is as long as you bring them down to the ground and do it the right way."

Franklin, who intercepted a pass from Glen Cuillette in 11-on-11 work, said the entire defense is completely different than what Lionel Washington and company ran under Curtis Johnson because it is a lot more complex.

"I really do like the new defense they are bringing in," he said. "It's a lot different that the one we've had previously. Learning all the new calls, learning all the new plays is awesome. It's just a lot harder and a lot more complex. The playbook has a lot more calls and a lot more checks. The coaches emphasize all the time that we have to learn the playbook, and when we do I know we're going to be (clicking) on all cylinders."

The first thing I saw when I arrived at practice was an ugly incomplete pass by Darius Bradwell. That's par for the course for all of the QBs in the first two weeks, but I don't think this offense will rely much on the passing game in the fall. Bradwell loves to run and appears to get downfield in a hurry when he does, although it is hard to gauge since the defenders are not allowed to touch the quarterbacks. Cuillette threw a nice pass to Devin Glenn in 6-on-6 work, but I didn't see any other pretty completions until the last play of the day, when Devin Powell connected with Larry Dace on a sideline route. Dace barely dragged a foot inbounds.

The first-team offensive line in 11-on-11-work today was Devon Johnson at left tackle, Chris Taylor at left guard, Junior Diaz at center, Todd Jacquet at right guard and Kenneth Santa Marina at right tackle. The second-team line was Jacquet at left tackle, Leeward Brown at left guard, Jason Stewart at right guard and John Leglue at right tackle.

Because of the lack of numbers up front, the pace of the practice was slower than what Fritz normally wants.

"If you notice today, we took some breaks and took a little longer in between sessions and periods that we were running," Fritz said. "We are going to always have to be aware of what we're short at."

interestingly, Fritz said the offensive linemen have some familiarity with what his staff is teaching.

"There are some similarities as far as some of the schemes," he said. "They ran a lot of inside zone last year, and we're running a lot of inside zone with the option. It's just them getting used to coach (Alex) Atkins' vocabulary and how he says things. He's one of the top offensive line coaches in the country and does a phenomenal job."

The first-team defensive line had a new face, which is one I've been anticipating since the start of spring drills--Sean Wilson. He played left tackle, moving ahead of Eldrick Washington. The other first-teamers were Daren Williams at left end, Tanzel Smart at right tackle and Ade Aruna at right end. The No. 2 D-line was Peter Woullard at left end, Washington at left tackle, Braynon Edwards at right tackle and Quinlan Carroll at right end.

The rest of the depth chart did not change from two days ago. Former running back Devin Glenn and former tight end Trey Scott have practiced exclusively at new spots, with Glenn focusing on H back and Scott at wide receiver. Fritz likes some things about Glenn and wants improvement in other areas.

"He's got great speed, and right now he just has to get more consistent with his hands," Fritz said. "Sometimes he'll make a really difficult catch and then the same pass will be thrown to him and he'll drop it. He's got great speed and great change of direction and is a tough guy, too."

Once again, Fritz said one of his biggest adjustments at Tulane was his players' unfamiliarity with the option.

"It's really ball-handling," he said. "I took that for granted. I was at Sam Houston for four years, and those guys had run some option. I went to Georgia Southern and those guys had been running option since they were babies. The mesh point, pitching the ball, these guys had never done it before. That's the big difference. We have to really accent that a lot more than any place I've ever been."

Tulane will have something similar to a scrimmage on Saturday, but not exactly. The practice starts at noon and ends at 2 p.m. at Yulman Stadium and should be open to the public.

"We are going to have what we call a thud tempo," Fritz said. "We're going to tackle but we're going to stay up high and not going to be on the ground. It's going to be a little bit of a physical practice, but we're still learning how to practice the way I want them to practice. We'll do a little bit more kicking game, we'll have officials out here and we're also having junior day, so we'll probably have hopefully 100 or 150 seniors-to-be here. I'm sure there will be some parents here and maybe a few extra fans, high school coaches. Hopefully we'll have our best practice because that's what we're trying to do every single time out here."

Although it did not rain Wednesday morning as predicted, Tulane's decision to move its fifth spring practice up a day paid off in beautiful weather. A day after coach Willie Fritz ripped the team for a sloppy practice coming off spring break, he was much happier with the effort level and attention to detail.

"It was much better than yesterday," he said. "We got back to basics in some of the different things and really worked on tackling a bunch. It was a much better workout. Unfortunately a lot of them took last week off (doing no conditioning work on their own during spring break), so they are pretty fresh right now."

The tackling drill for the defensive backs and linebackers involved one player making a form tackle on another while driven him into a cushioned mat. It's easy to see who loves football in that drill because Nico Marley ate it up, with coaches giving pointers to each player as to where to put his shoulder as he was tackling. The players being tackled had to make sure they didn't get careless because this was a live drill in shorts and pads with bodies falling on top of each other. Without question, Fritz and his staff practice tackling a lot more than CJ's staff did.

One problem is Monday's practice was that two offensive linemen became overheated and had to sit out (Fritz did not ID them), leaving Tulane with seven bodies at the position and limited what they could do for the rest of the workout. All nine players were in action Tuesday, so when they went 11 on 11 only one player had to double up on the first and second units. They do a lot of fast-paced substituting, another chance from the CJ era when the units stayed on the field longer before getting a break.

The first-team defense in 11 on 11 was Luke Jackson and Ade Aruna at end, Tanzel Smart and Eldrick Washington at tackle, Marley, Eric Thomas and Eric Bowie at linebacker, Taris Shenall and Donnie Lewis Jr. at cornerback and Jarrod Franklin and Leonard Davis at safety.

The second-team defense was Quinlan Carroll and Peter Woullard at end, Sean Wilson and Braynon Edwards at tackle, Bowie, Rae Juan Marbley and someone I did not identify at linebacker, Dedrick Shy and Richard Allen at cornerback and Will Harper and Roderic Teamer at safety.

Cornerback Parry Nickerson was at practice but did not have his helmet on, sitting out with an unspecified injury. Linebacker Zach Harris, who has been injury plagued at Tulane, also sat out the live drills, leaving the Wave with four scholarship linebackers at another very thin position.

If you're wondering where Daren Williams and Robert Kennedy were, I'm assuming they rotated in as a unit at DE but I'm not sure. I will check Friday to make sure they are not injured.

The first-team offense line was left tackle Todd Jacquet, left guard Chris Taylor, center Junior Diaz, right guard Devon Johnson and right tackle Kenneth Santa Marina, who practiced ahead of John Leglue. Whether that has any significance or was just an experiment remains to be seen.

The second-team offensive line had Leeward Brown at left tackle, Johnson at left guard, Keyshawn McLeod at center, Jason Stewart at right guard and Leglue at right tackle.

On the first play of the 11-on-11 drill, Darius Bradwell tried to connect deep with Rickey Preston but the pass was broken up in double coverage down the sideline. It was another day of incomplete passes, with Glen Cuillette struggling more than he did Monday. On one play, Cuillette bobbled a shotgun snap, then panicked and launched a wobbly duck about 15 yards out of bounds. He accomplished what he was trying to do, killing the play and living for another down, but it looked ugly.

Josh Rounds dropped a swing pass from Cuillette, but that's been rare for him. As you'll see later, he has impressed Fritz along with all of the running backs--Dontrell Hilliard, Sherman Badie and Lazedrick Thompson.

The best offensive play of the day was a TD pass from Cuillette to Rickey Preston in the corner of the end zone. I did not catch the number of the player Preston beat, but it was a nice throw and there was not a lot of separation.

Larry Dace runs out routes better than anyone on the team. He made a nice catch on the sideline. Although the defensive players insisted he was out of bounds, it was ruled a good catch and appeared to be legit.

It's not a good idea to lose your focus with this staff. On one play in the 11-on-11 session, they screamed at Preston to get on the field when the offense was one player short. He got into position, then took an option pitch from Bradwell and got chewed out again when he ran out of bounds instead of continuing down the field.

Dontrell Hilliard lines up with the first-team offense every day. Fritz probably did not realize how good Tulane's running backs were when he arrived based on the pitiful numbers the ground game produced in a dysfunctional offense last year, but he's learned pretty quickly.

"He (Hilliard) can be a a quality back," Fritz said. "This offense, number one you have to be a complete money back. I talked to them about that. I had a kid the last couple of years who led the nation in yards per carry (Matt Breida, who averaged 7.9 yards on 203 carries in 2015), but he also was a great pass protector, a great receiver and a great blocker on the perimeter. We've got to expand our total game. We're looking for guys who can play like Matt Forte, guys who are complete running backs.

"Dontrell's got some really good ability. Good size, good change of direction, lateral movement, good speed. He's got a lot of want-to.

"I really think our top four backs here are very good players. Josh Rounds has impressed me. Sherman Badie's impressed me. Z (Lazedrick Thompson)'s impressed me. They've all impressed me. All of them have got good size. All of them have got good speed. All of them have good hands. This is a different offense, but I've had some really good backs and these guys can really flourish in this offense."

I asked him if he though Badie could be a complete back.

"Oh yeah. He's the same way. He's got a good body, excellent speed and very good hands. It's tough with how we're practicing to really gauge a guy's toughness at times, but with everything we're doing, I've been impressed with the way they finish runs and their practice habits. We have a good stable of backs. I'm excited about those guys. Those four guys are going to play a bunch for us. How much will be determined by their play. I'm not going to be able to give a final true evaluation until we play a couple of games, but watching what I've seen them do on tape and what I've seen them do in practice, there's no reason they can't be outstanding in this offense."

Fritz was happy to have all nine offensive linemen available.

"We need to have them," he said. "We need to have nine of them with the tempo and the pace I'm trying to practice at."

The practice ended earlier than expected at 9:55. Fritz said he was not sure whether the next workout would be Thursday or Friday, with the call being based on weather, but current forecasts indicate rain on Thursday and better conditions on Friday, so I anticipate they will stick to the original schedule.

any newd

Anyone have a practice report?

I'm not impressed with any of the names that have emerged to this points thanks to Scott Kushner's solid work. But I also don't expect any of those guys to get the job.

Doug Gottlieb I can't imagine getting the job. I like his work on radio and CBS, but he also comes across as self-absorbed and carries some baggage, both from his college days and from inflammatory statements he has made that have gotten him in trouble. Plus, it's hard for someone in his financial position to do the necessary work to succeed. It would be far too risky a hire.

Anthony Grant, whom I covered at Florida as an assistant, is one of the nicest guys I've ever met. He also failed as a coach at Alabama, and if you can't win at Alabama, I don't see why someone would bet on you winning at Tulane. Two of Grant's three predecessors at Alabama--Wimp Sanderson and Mark Gottfried-won a lot more than Grant, and his successor at VCU, Shaka Smart, won at higher level than Grant. He does not appear interested anyway, and that's a good thing in my book.

James Jones, who coached Yale to the tournament this year, appears to be a good coach. But he's been at Yale for 17 years and never had a legitimately good team until 2015. He made the CIT twice, which is no different than Conroy's level of success, before finally having an NCAA-tourney caliber team the past two seasons. And last year Yale blew the automatic bid by losing to a horrible team in its last regular season game. Plus, the recruiting is totally different at Tulane than Yale, so Jones, to me, is a huge question mark.

Tulane has a lot to offer. It's one of 86 teams in leagues that have virtually every game nationally televised--the Power 5 leagues plus the Big East and AAC--and that matters. It's unclear how much Dannen can pay a new coach, but the guys mentioned so far are either retreads or have major question marks.

I've also heard rumblings about how Middle Tennessee coach Kermit Davis should be in the picture. This is a team that did not win CUSA, finishing three games behind UAB, then benefitted from UAB losing on its home court in the CUSA tournament before beating Old Dominion 55-53 in the championship game. Middle Tennessee played out of its mind to beat Michigan State in the first round, an upset I think is the biggest in NCAA tournament history, before falling flat in a 25-point loss to Syracuse. He did not win a division title in his first nine years at Middle Tennessee but has been pretty darn good the past five years. Again, he would hardly be a home run hire even though he has Louisiana experience as an associate coach to John Brady at LSU.

I'm surprised Chris Beard's name has not surfaced. He's won right away everywhere he has been, including Arkansas-Little Rock this year. In general, I much prefer the quick-fix guys over people who needed a really long time to become successful at their schools.

1. Comparing this year's first few spring practices to last spring's, do you see the vision in Coach Fritz's master plan and do you see it progressing?
2. What is the differences in the qb skills and attributes ? who do you feel will win the job and why?
3. The strongest unit on the team and the weakest unit on the team?
4 What player or player are going to benefit the most from this new coaching staff or new scheme.
5. how much or many wash out guys are you expecting from the spring