Guerry, saw where LSU picked up four star Destrehan LB Kolaj Cobbins yesterday. That was their 9th commitment for 2024.

I am surprised with the season we had that we have no commitments for the 2024 class as of today. Have all the coaching changes effected our efforts to date? Do we have any commitments that have not been announced? Are we seeing more higher rated kids that we are involved with? Please see if you can find out if we are close to landing anyone. Thanks!

I am in Fort Worth today and missed Tulane's sixth practice of spring drills, but I was there Wednesday for practice No. 5. They moved it up from Thursday because Willie Fritz flew to Pennsylvania later Wednesday to be honored Thursday with the national coach-of-the-year honor he got in association with the Maxwell Award. Here's the report.

I hesitate from making judgements on running backs when there is no contact--Sherman Badie was a beast in those situations, and yes, I know he had the 200-yard outburst against Tulsa in Tulane's first ever AAC game, but he turned out to be pretty mediocre the rest of his career--but Duda Barnes really looks the part. He has the size, the speed, the instincts and the acceleration to be special down the road. We'll see how he looks in scrimmages and how well he picks up the intricacies of the offense, but color me impressed.

Tulane's walk-on receivers have pretty good hands, but I was amused when Trevor Evans got one hand on a deep ball in the end zone from Kai Horton running a fly pattern, could not make the spectacular catch and then was legitimately angry at himself, smacking a cover on the stands in the back of the end zone as if he should have made the play. As you may recall, he made an incredible catch in garbage time of a game last fall, so I guess he thinks he should make one like that every time.

Bailey Despanie and DJ Douglas continue to be the first-team safeties. Those two spots and nickelback appeared to be the most wide open on the roster entering spring drills. A.J. Sam got some run with the first team at nickelback Wednesday after Kentrell Webb occupied that spot to start spring drills. The linebackers were Tyler Grubbs and freshman Jean Claude Joseph again, but I did not get a chance to ask Fritz about why Jesus Machado and Corey Platt were not practicing for the second straight day because Fritz left immediately after practice to get ready for his flight to Pennsylvania. Still, it is interesting that Joseph is working ahead of Taylor Love and Mandel Eugene at the moment. When I asked Fritz about Joseph earlier this week, he said he had a lot to learn like any should-be high school senior. Defensive coordinator Shiel Wood is coaching the linebackers with Michael Mutz gone.

The first-team defensive linemen continued to be Keith Cooper and Devean Deal on the outside and Eric Hicks and Patrick Jenkins inside.

I was surprised when Jarius Monroe got first-team All-AAC honors from the coaches last year after being a backup for most of the season until Jadon Canady got hurt at the end oft he Memphis game, but it looks like the coaches knew what they were doing. Monroe had the big interception in the Cotton Bowl and made a terrific play in 11-on-11, jumping a route and surprising Michael Pratt with a pick six on the outside. That almost never happens to Pratt in practice, but Monroe showed great anticipation and easily outran Pratt to the end zone as he chased him in frustration. In general, though, the 11-on-11 featured a lot of short completions underneath, although Makhi Hughes caught one for a sizable gain in the open field. Evans ran another fly pattern to the end zone, but Pratt overthrew him. Maybe one of the other receivers would have caught up to it, but not Evans.

I never transcribed the quotes from Shield Wood after the first practice. Here they are along with an interview we did with Shaadie Clayton-Johnson:

WOOD

On day 1:

"Exciting. Just good to get out there on the field and get a feel for how coach Fritz runs practice and see the energy and the enthusiasm the guys have. It was outstanding how they ran to the football. Certainly we have a long way to go with a lot of work to get done before we're ready to play that opener in September, but it was an exciting first day and I'm excited to be here with these guys."

On how this all came together:

"Coach Fritz ended up kind of reaching out, and one thing led to another. We had a chance to get on an interview virtually, and that was a lot of fun just to have the chance. It was kind of a group of people on there, and once we did that we just kind of worked through the process and fortunately I ended up getting the opportunity to come here. I could not be more excited. My family, my wife, my two daughters, we are really excited to be a part of this Tulane University family and a part of this football program. Looking forward to move to the Big Easy here sometime soon."

On one of first things he wants to implement:

"I would say that I want us to understand how to play hard. You hear playing hard and you think effort, well, yes, that's part of it, but that's kind of the baseline. There's other things you have to do well defensively to be able to play hard, and it's a process you have to go through, but at the end of the day if we come out of this spring and we say we play as hard as anybody in the country, then we'll have done something, and that will be a great start."

On his style:

"I want us to attack absolutely. The nature of what we do up front is an attacking style. If we're attacking, we're putting stress on the offensive lines, we're putting stress on the quarterback, we're putting stress maybe on the offensive coordinator as far as how he sees things. If we're attacking up front, that's a great way to limit those plays. If you look at our defense this past season, we were really high nationally in terms of limiting explosive plays, and at the same time we are set up to where we can be very aggressive up front on first, second and third down, so that will be a challenge for us. Like my predecessor said, I'm on board with that. The big plays, we'd like to keep those as low as we can."

On if the best way to limit big plays is putting the quarterback on his back:

"Well, no, I think this. The type of defense that we run, if those guys up front are beating blocks and making plays, that's the style of defense that we want to play, and then we want to be sound. We want to match numbers. We don't want to have busts. We don't want to give up big chunks. There's a lot of different ways you can go about doing that from scheme to scheme, system to system. Certainly I think we're an aggressive style, but at the same time we want to be really good in terms of limiting their big plays and if they are going to score, making teams have to drive the ball and do that gives us ample opportunities to get a stop at some point."

On linebackers replacing Nick Anderson and Dorian Williams:

"I'm impressed. One of the things you do when you take a new job like this is you go through and you try to evaluate the personnel. That's a process that takes a little bit of time, and there's two ways to do it. You can watch tape from practice. You can watch game film. And then you can go back and look at their high school film, and between those three different ways, you try to see what skill sets guys have that allow them to play at a really high level, and you take those evaluations and then you look at what we're going to do. Maybe it's a little different than some of the things they've done in the past here, and you try to show the guys maybe the best positions they can play to be the most successful based on their talents and skill set. But in terms of linebackers, I've been very impressed. We had several guys that played in reserve roles and played a good many snaps, so they've got some film from last year. We've got a group that is hungry to learn. In general we have a group that's probably outstanding from a leadership standpoint, and their ability to dissect what's going on up front and process things really well, and then I like the physical skill set that I've seen so far. It's day 1, and I'll learn more about them as we go, but I'm encouraged right now for sure."

I made it to both of Tulane's most recent practices but did not see a ton Saturday after having to go to Devlin Fieldhouse during that workout and retrieve a tape recorder I'd left there after Friday night's basketball game. But one thing is crystal clear: the Wave has more speed at wideout than in any other year of the Willie Fritz era, and they can make plays. Lawrence Keys looks likes the borderline 4-star prospect he was coming out of McDonogh 35 in 2018. After sitting out nearly a year-and-a-half at Notre Dame, he had to wipe the rust off at Tulane a year ago and got better as the season went along. He already is ahead of where he was at the end of the year. Today, he caught a long touchdown pass on a post from Michael Pratt in 7-on-7 drills that was a preayty throw and catch. The two connected again on a deep corner route in 11-on-11 drills. Fluid is the word I would use to describe Keys, who is destined for a huge year if he can stay healthy in the fall.

Dontae Fleming, the transfer from UL-Lafayette, looks good, too. He is fast and showed excellent concentration to haul in a pass that was deflected durign 11-on-11 work today. A little earlier, he beat Andre Sam for a big gain on a fade route, adjusting to catch a slightly underthrown ball from Pratt. Chris Brazzell can run, too, and has made a lot of catches in every practice. Yulkeith Brown is really fast, and though not as polished as Fleming to my eyes, he beat two defensive backs to the sideline in the red zone for nice grab from Pratt in 11-on-11 today and also scored a touchdown on a corner route in 7 on 7. And I haven't even mentioned Jha'Quan Jackson, who had an 87-yard touchdown against USC, or Phat Watts, who still is not practicing, or Jalen Rogers, who is the fastest receiver on the team. From 1 through 6, this is a solid-looking group. The only blatant drop today came from Bryce Bohanon on a quick out from Kai Horton, but Bohanon rebounded to make a good grab on an inside route from Kai Horton during 11 on 11 work.

Louisiana Tech transfer Tyler Grubbs got plenty of run with the first-team defense today, but they were mixing and matching a lot. For one segment, true freshman Jean Claude Joseph, one of two early enrollees along with Duda Barnes, was on the first team alongside Grubbs, and he definitely is not ready to be a starter yet. With Michael Mutz having left to become defensive coordinator at Stephen F. Austin over the weekend, Shiel Wood is coaching the linebackers, and Fritz will wait until after spring drills to fill that position along with the two other openings on the staff.

It's not a spring practice without a Rishi Rattan interception, and he made his daily pick on pass from walk-on Garrett Mmahat during 7-on-7 work. I've always wondered if Rattan will ever earn real playing time in a game, but he just is not quite fast enough to warrant it despite his good instincts.

Barnes continued to be impressive. Even if he not ripping off a big gain (which is hard to judge anyway when they are not hitting), he just looks the part of a good Division I running back. Makhi Hughes had some touches today, too, so they finally are getting to evaluate him after he got hurt in preseason camp last year as a freshman.

Angelo Anderson spent some time with the first-team defense at end today in Keith Cooper's normal spot. Anderson (43 career tackles) has not lived up to his high recruiting status in three years with the Wave, but he still has time.

The starting safeties continue to be Bailey Despanie and DJ Douglas.

Backup safety Shi'Keem Laister had an interception of a late Carson Haggard throw over the middle in 11 on 11. Haggard is good when he throws off his first read quickly, but he struggles when he holds on to the ball.

Tulane has one fewer cornerback, with Tyrek Presley being dismissed from the team last weekend because of a weapons charge. As I've written several times, he always looked the part as a receiver but never had the discipline or toughness to make plays. He disappeared into the deep background after he moved to cornerback and probably would have been no factor even if he had not gotten in trouble.

Tyjae Spears attended practice today after Nick Anderson was there Saturday. There also were some college coaching staffs in attendance today, with New Mexico State, an Alabama school I did not catch the name of and a couple of high school staffs from Texas.

The first-team offensive line has not changed in four spring practices. The No. 2 offensive line today was Matt Lombardi, Trey Tuggle, Caleb Thomas, Shadre Hurst and Sully Burns from left to right.

I talked to Sincere Haynesworth Saturday and Keys today in addition to Fritz today.

FRITZ

On coaching staffs watching practice today:

"I don't know. We had a couple of high schools from Texas and then a university from Alabama and New Mexico State. The offensive coordinator over there is a buddy of mine (Tim Beck, who was at Pittsburgh State in Kansas for 32 years).

On wideouts:

"I'm really excited about the two additions we got with Dontae Fleming and Yulkeith Brown. They really fit in. Lawrence really came on at the end of the year. He was a very good contributor last year, but I think he's got a chance to be an All-Conference first-team guy. Quan Jackson came on at the end of the year. We've got a good, deep group over there. The guy we thought was going to play a lot for us as a true freshman last year got hurt, but Chris Brazzell has really shown up the first four practices."

On the speed of the wideouts:

"Good speed. Dontae and Yulkeith both have legit speed. We have a bunch of guys who are 4.5 and under, so we've got good speed out there on the perimeter."

On replacing Mike Mutz:

"I'm going to probably wait until the end of spring ball to do something with that. Mike did a very good job for us and we're really happy for him with this opportunity at Stephen F. Austin to be a coordinator. Shiel will coach those guys. He's coached linebackers and secondaries. One of the reasons why I hired him was he did a really good job in his interview talking about defensive line play, linebacker play and secondary play. I was going back and forth. I'd ask him a question on D-line technique, fundamentals, something schematically, and I'd go back to the secondary and come to the linebackers. He just knows all of it, so he's going to coach the linebackers and coach C-Y (Josh Christian-Young) and coach (J.J.) McCleskey will coach the DBs."

On Jean Claude Joseph:

"Good. It's a huge learning curve for them. A lot of high schools don't have as big a staff as what we have where they are getting specific coaching on every single play, so that's the advantage we have. Arnold Barnes has gotten a lot better from practice 1 to practice 4. Jean Claude has done the same thing, so it's a steep learning curve for a brand new freshman who should be getting ready to go to prom."

R.J. McGee has been a role player all four years at Tulane, sometimes fading into the woodwork and at other times being a factor, but he saved his best moments for the end of the last two games. Without his two made shots and a loose-ball retrieval that led to his pass to Sion James for a dunk against ECU, Tulane likely would have lost its fourth in a row last Friday. Without his two free throws and blocked shot in the final second against Temple (Jaylen Forbes took credit for it but an Advocate photograph clearly shows McGee with his hand on the ball), Tulane would have lost and dropped to the No. 4 seed in the AAC tourney.

McGee, who has averaged exactly 4.0 points in each of the last three years, has been dealing with tragedy all year. He talked about it in a one-on-one interview yesterday before Tulane left for Fort Worth and the AAC tourney.

On if he blocked shot, not Forbes:

"Um, I'm going to give him credit for it. He needs it."

On his reaction to that play:

"My reaction to it was I was happy that that play was that easy to guard. During those times, teams will run the most elaborate play to get a shot up, and it's typically a shot we don't expect, and sometimes that shot goes in. We've always been on the opposite end of shots like that, so it was good to get a stop there."

On the feeling of being integral in two straight wins:

"It's a great feeling to help my team out any way they need. I've been here for a long time. I've lost a lot of games, so to win games that matter is a great feeling for me. It's progress."

On his two free throws:

"My thought process was to calm my nerves and to stay calm and do my free throw routine and make sure I don't mess up the timing because that's all free throw routines are nowadays. It's just timing. I did not mess up on either of those. The first one I thought was going to be all net. I did not think it was going to hit the front of the rim (it did before bouncing through)."

On what he has gone through this year:

"My father, my uncle and my aunt (died). It's just a thing of life and something everybody has to go through. You can't prepare for it and you can't do anything about it. They all passed away this year. My dad passed away in October. My uncle passed away in January. It's just been a downhill spiral. I'm optimistic about the future of my family and I'm optimistic about the future for me. One of the bright spots for my family is watching me out there playing, and so as much as I want to be emotional about it, I just want to give them something to look forward to when I play."

On dad dying in Chicago:

"He had a heart attack in his office, and it was just completely out of left field. There's really no explanation of it. He had a congestive heart failure. It was right before the season started, so I went home for two or three weeks to take care of that situation and came back to start in the scrimmage against Georgia Tech with little or no practice, and after that the season just ramped up and I haven't looked back ever since."

On his uncle dying in Dallas:

"My father's brother (starts to choke up). I missed a few days of practice for that one. I leaned on my teammates a lot and my coaches. My teammates and my coaches have been there for me every step of the way. They attended both events to make sure I was OK. I'm working it out."

On what has gotten him through this:

"My faith in God and my family and my friends and coach Hunter and the support that everybody has been showing me throughout this time. That's all I needed to go out there and perform. The love they showed me was insurmountable. They helped me out with things outside of basketball. They really became my family over the past three years, so I really appreciate them for that."

On if he will be back for fifth year:

"Yeah I am. I'm going to get my degree here."

On his role:

"I feel like my accomplishments here have been visible. I feel like everybody has seen what I'm capable of and what I can do and what I've done for this program. It's a mutual thing. You give me the opportunity, and I've been successful with some of the opportunities I've had so far. I just hope to continue with that."

On describing his game:

"I would say it's very versatile. It's very scrappy. It does't really rely on skill. More or less it relies on playing with effort. I get around a lot of my problems simply because I play harder than my opponent. I just rely on that."

On AAC tourney key:

"I would say the key is to stay grounded. This is my third time being here, and the one thing I'm sure will happen is teams are going to make runs and that it's a war out there. For us, our big thing is persistence and staying calm in times of trouble, looking to each other for advice and helping each other make plays so we do it by committee."

On creating own energy at tourney with few fans in stands:

"As you've seen recent history for Tulane, our crowds are going but we've dealt with that a lot. It will be nothing new to us. It will be new to the teams that we play because everybody else has humongous fan bases and they have thousands of people watching. For us it's just another game that we can take advantage of the small crowd."

On choosing Tulane in first place:

"Coming out of high school, I had no offers. I didn't any Juco offers, none of that, and then in prep school (he went to a Florida prep school for a year after graduating from high school in Chicago) and then even in prep school I still didn't have any offers until the last week of the season and I had two really good games and out of that I got about three to four offers from Louisiana Monroe. I also had Chicago State, St. Bonaventure and Florida A&M. They all offered first and then Tulane came afterward. I was like, all right, I'm good."

On if it was Hunter or Dunleavy who offered him:

"I had connections with the previous staff. They reached out and came to a couple of my open gyms early in the season, but the people who offered me was Hunter."

On being happy with decision:

"I do feel good about the decision. I'm about to get a degree, and this is one of the top schools in the country. I think it worked out for me."

RON HUNTER

On McGee:

"I've got the utmost respect for R.J. To be honest I don't know if I could have gone through what he's done this year and to be able to compete at this level. The great part is he's had his basketball family with him, but man, what he's gone through has been really, really tough, and I'm so proud of him."

On sending people to Chicago and Dallas:

"We wanted to make sure we were just represented and there for him. He's a great person. He's one of the better kids I've ever recruited in regards to being a teammate. Everyone on the team loves him."

On last two games:

"Whenever we need him, he's there. Really his whole career has been that way. This year it's been tough because his mind has gone so many different places. Anything great that happens for him, he deserves it. It's just been one of those years for him."

On momentum:

"This is probably the best position that we've been in since I've been here going into the tournament. Our league is such a tough league. Outside of getting a bye, seeding didn't really mean a whole lot because the teams are just so good top to bottom. Of course Houston sits on as island by themselves, but this is the best I've felt going into the tournament since I've been here."

On Forbes left off first team: (Jalen Cook made All-AACfirst team, Forbes was on second team and Kevin Cross was on third team)

"Control what you can control. That's what I told him. Some things are just unexplainable. We're definitely going to use that."

Guerry,

Do any of your sources have any info on what's going on? From what I've read on Twitter it looks like the PAC12 is looking to potentially add 4 teams and they are looking at Tulane as a travel partner for SMU. Also, it appears the PAC12 presidents like Tulane's academic ranking, research dollars and endowment.

What are your thoughts on conference expansion and Tulane in the PAC12? I'd personally rather see us in the Big12 but that is a long shot at best and most likely will never happen. Maybe one day we can be in the ACC if FSU and Clemson leave for the SEC - but who knows.

Roll Wave!

The only three schools playing in the FBS that are AAU members that are not in a P5 conference are Tulane, Rice and Buffalo.

The breakdown of AAU members in the P5 are:
SEC 5
Big10. 15
PAC10. 7
BIG12. 1
ACC. 5

Looking at these numbers the best fits academically for Tulane are the SEC, BIG10, PAC10 and the ACC. The SEC and the BIG10 are not happening. This leaves us with the ACC and the PAC10.

Travel costs would go up in both the ACC and the PAC10 but would be manageable. The only 3+ hour flights would be to the Pacific Northwest or the Northeast. We used to fly regularly to UConn, Temple, Boston, SF and UTEP. If we go to the PAC10 we would be in the Eastern Division with SMU, Colorado, Utah and the AZ schools. In the ACC we would be in the Southern Division with Miami, FSU, GT, and some of the Carolina schools.

Our biggest calling card besides our location is the AAU.

I missed the first 75 minutes today while taking my car to the West Bank for a repair, so I will have a more full report Thursday, but I saw plenty while I was there.

First, I guessed right on my preseason preview for The Advocate on three of the four players I had as being out for spring drills. Willie Fritz said Justin Ibieta and Jadon Canady were probably a couple months away but hoped to be full speed for the beginning of summer work in June. Adonis Friloux is closer, with an expected return in May or late April, so that rules all three out for spring drills. But Phat Watts is good to go. He would have practiced today, but he had wisdom teeth removed and was unavailable for that reason.

The first thing I noticed when I walked into Yulman Stadium was Cam Wire practicing with the first unit at left tackle. That comes as no surprise--Tulane had an opening with the graduation of Joey Claybrook and Wire appeared to be the best candidate. He said he loved his visit to Tulane after entering the transfer portal and could not have been happier with his decision, with Fritz adding Wire really wanted to stay close to home, making Tulane's recruiting job easier considering the number of offers he had. Wire joins the four holdovers up front in left guard Prince Pines, whom he grew up with and knows well, center Sincere Haynesworth, right guard Josh Remetich and right tackle Rashad Green. Kanan Ray, who elected to give up football after tearing his ACL midway through last year, has stuck around to serve as a volunteer assistant.

Arnold Barnes had a long run in 11-on-11 and another nice gain on a swing pass. Fritz made a point of saying the running backs all had to get better to replace a guy like Tyjae Spears, but it will not be a position of weakness with Shaadie Clayton-Johnson, Iverson Celestine and Barnes in the picture. I did not notice Makhi Hughes and will make sure to see his status at Thursday's practice. The coaches were high on him before he got hurt early last year.

Michael Pratt threw a pretty pass to Lawrence Keys on a deep out route, Keys has the potential to really break out in the fall after starting slowly a year ago but getting better as the season went along in his first season as a transfer from Notre Dame. Jha'Quan Jackson is back, too, of course, but the Wave needs to find third, fourth and fifth receivers. Watts is an obvious possibility when he returns. Fritz liked what he saw from transfers Yulkeith Brown and Dontae Fleming on day 1. while Chris Brazzell, Bryce Bohanon and Jalen Rogers all need to show marked improvement from their true freshman seasons.

Kai Horton and Carson Haggard were the second- and third-string quarterbacks. Haggard exhibited the quick release and decision making I noticed in the first week of spring drills a year ago, but his accuracy, which dipped the second they had their first scrimmage, is not what it was in that first week. He threw a simple swing pass at Rogers' knees and he could not hold on.

Darius Hodges was in uniform but did not have a helmet and did not practice. In his absence, Devean Deal was the edge rusher, which Fritz said would no longer be called Joker but Dog instead. Keith Cooper was the first-team end on the opposite side, with Patrick Jenkins and Eric Hicks inside. The second-team line was Angelo Anderson, Elijah Champaigne, Gerrod Henderson and MIchael Lunz in the limited reps I watched. I did not see Noah Taliancich or Kam Hamilton but probably just missed them.

Tyler Grubbs was one of the first-team linebackers. I assume the other was Jesus Machado but did not catch the number. New defensive coordinator Shiel Wood says he has gone with a 3-4 look at most of his stops, so it will be interesting to see if the defense changes or he adapts to the 3-3-5/4-2-5 look Fritz has used with multiple coordinators the past five years. It looked like the same alignment to me today.

The first-team safeties, as I predicted correctly, were Bailey Despanie and DJ Douglas. Kentrell Webb was getting reps at nickelback with the first unit. The corners were Lance Robinson and Jarius Monroe..

The second-team defense had Mandel Eugene and Taylor Love at linebacker, Andre Sam and Darius Swanson at safety and Kiland Harrison and Rishi Rattan at cornerback.

Fritz got angry when a defensive player popped Horton as he scrambled downfield. Horton was fine, but Fritz yelled there was a reason the quarterbacks were in a different colored jersey and warned his players to be more alert. I did not catch the number of the offender.

I will have more later with quotes from Fritz, Pratt. Wood, Slade Nagle and Wire.

We are averaging over 12k's a game. We have significantly more K's than hits this year. 32% of our plate appearances end with a K.
Not surprisingly we are batting .233 as a team. We have hit 6 HR's in 8 games. Just awful offensive baseball.

I finally made it to a scrimmage Sunday so I could get some familiarity with the team, although I'm not going to make any ironclad judgments off of one practice.

Jay Uhlman coached from the visitors' dugout while all of the players were in the home dugout. Interestingly, they started each inning with situational work, laying down squeeze bunts or sacrifice bunts or trying to steal home before starting over. I had not seen that before from any Tulane coach.

The starters on the green team were Reed Kellum at catcher, Brady Marget at first base, Chase Engelhard at second base, Gavin Schulz at shortstop, Simon Baumgardt at third base, Jackson Linn in left field, Jared Hart in center field and Teo Banks in right field. Brady Hebert was the DH.

The starters on the blue team were Brennan Lambert at catcher, Seth Beckstead at first base, Michael Lombardi at second base, James Agabedis at shorstop, Brayden Morrow at third base, Jake LaPrairie in left field, Adam Ebling in center field and Tracy Mitchem in right field.

The starting pitcher for the green team was Ricky Castro, who will start this Sunday at UC Irvine as well. He looked OK, allowing two hits and two runs in 3.1 innings before reaching his 70-pitch limit. I certainly did not see anything special in his stuff. Morrow ripped an RBI double down the left field line off him and Agabedis followed with an RBI single.

LaPrairie, who needs to bounce back from a dreadful second year and probably will start in left field when they determine Linn is not ready to make throws, struck out in his first at-bat against freshman Will Prigge, but he later doubled down the right field line (his shot bounced on the line) off of Brian Valigosky. The green team struggled to hit for much of the day before breaking through late on Lombardi, who pitches in addition to playing the infield. Lombardi walked Engelhard with the bases loaded, gave up an RBI single to right field by Baumgardt, a sacrifice fly by Hebert and two-run single by Kellum in the 6th inning.

Ebling made a terrific diving catch of a sinking liner early, getting a good jump on the ball and doing his best Hart impression. Linn had an infield single late but got thrown out on the base paths trying to advance to third on a grounder, getting chased back to second base and tagged out as he started to dive. He is fast but needs to be improve his instincts on the bases.

Chandler Welch pitched third for the green team and looked pretty good, striking out Ebling with a nice pitch.

After Prigge, Blake Mahmoud, LSU transfer Michael Fowler, Lombardi and Dyerburgh State transfer Gavin Smith pitched for the blue team. Although they got good results with the exception of Lombardi, I was not particularly impressed by any of them.

There were no home runs but several hard-hit balls, including a fly to deep center field from Morrow that Hart tracked down and a ripped liner from Beckstead that went right to Linn.

The key for this team will be Linn, Teo Banks and Brady Marget having huge years with the bat, Dylan Carmouche pitching like the ace he really wasn't a year ago, the other weekend starters being functional and finding a reliable closer. There appears to more depth on the mound--a huge problem last season--but it has to be quality depth, something that is unclear at this point. I do not think this team will hit many home runs, and it has to prove it can get on base enough to apply the running pressure on defenses Uhlman is looking for.

Tulane practiced on another unseasonable warm winter morning at Yulman Stadium, finishing more than an hour before rain finally arrived in New Orleans, going through a typical workout of one-one-one drills, 7-on-7 action, positional work, a special teams segment and an 11-on-11 at the end. I liked what I saw from the receivers in one-on-one drills better than at any time in the Willie Fritz era, although that stuff does not always translate into games. Lawrence Keys is fit and precise. Yulkeith Brown made a a tough catch in tight coverage that resulted in a congratulatory hand slap from receivers coach John McMenamin, Jalen Rogers got open deep. flashing the impressive speed he exhibited in preseason drills a year ago before games proving he was not ready in games as a true freshman. Chris Brazzell made a diving, deep catch. Even South Florida transfer tight end Chris Carter, who is carrying a bit of a spare tire in his belly and was a non-factor in the Bulls' passing game, made a nice move to get open over the middle. There were occasional drops, including one by Jha'Quan Jackson in 1-on-1 work and one by Brazzell on a Michael Pratt throw during the 11-on-11, but these guys look like they will get open more than groups in the past and can do some damage after the catch as well.

Fritz said Darius Hodges had labrum surgery after the season and will miss spring drills. Hodges has been at practice in uniform without a helmet.

Of the three newcomers at defensive back, A.J. Hampton is practicing at cornerback and Andre Sam and Darius Swanson are practicing at safety. The rest of the corners are Lance Robinson, Jarius Monroe, Cadien Robinson, T.J. Huggins and Kiland Harrison along with walk-ons Rodrik Williams and Brandon Kim. I am hearing they are considering moving Monroe to nickelback when Jadon Canady returns from injury in the summer, but that's wait and see.

In 11-on-11 work, the starting defense was Devean Deal, Patrick Jenkins, Eric Hicks and Keith Cooper on the line from left to right, with Corey Platt and Jesus Machado at linebacker, Kentrell Webb at nickelback, Robinson and Monroe at cornerback and Sam and DJ Douglas at safety. The second-team defense was Angelo Anderson, Elijah Champaigne, ,Gerrod Henderson and Michael Lunz, who later got work with the first unit in place of Deal, Taylor Love and Mandel Eugene at linebacker (I don't know where Tyler Grubbs was today), Shi'Keem Laister at nickelback, Hampton and Harrison at cornerback and Bailey Despanie and Swanson at safety.

In seven-on-seven work,Cadien Robinson intercepted a deep duck from Michael Pratt on a rare errant toss. Harrison had good coverage on a Pratt deep ball for Brazzell in the end zone during 11-on-11, running stride for stride with before the ball fell harmlessly to the turf. The quartebacks settled for mostly underneath routes to their backs, with Arnold Barnes and Shaadie-Clayton Johnson getting multiple catches. Bryce Bohanon made a nice grab of a sideline pass from Pratt. Near the end of the practice, Josh Remetich and Jenkins came to blows about something before being separated. Remetich is very nice off the field but can be a a rough customer on the field. I'd say he gets into more fights than anyone else on the team.

The offensive line was unchanged from Tuesday, with Cameron Wire joining the four holdovers as the first-team left tackle, but new OL coach Dan Roushar is not handing the job to Wire just yet, as you'll see in his interview. Barnes continued to run hard, and he is faster than you would think looking at his stocky build. Makhi Hughes dresssed, but I did not notice him getting many reps. Clayton-Johnson, Iverson Celestine and Barnes got the bulk of the work.

I really like what I've seen from Yulkeith Brown. I was a little skeptical considering his light numbers at Texas A&M, but it easy to see why he was a top recruit. He still is trying to pick up the offense, but he looks smooth.

Talked to Ron Hunter and Jaylen Forbes today.

HUNTER

On not letting beatdown by Houston linger:

"Mentally when we play Houston we just get out of character. You want to win the game so bad. It's not so much that they beat us, but we haven't played well. Part of that is Houston and they are No. 1 in the country, but I think we get out of character when we play them. We never turn it over 19 times. Every thing that we don't do, when we play them we end up doing. That's what we talked about yesterday and just kind of getting back. We've got a tough week. I've been coaching a long time and never had a week like this (four games in eight days). I'm not thrilled about it, either, but it's something out of our control. We just get ready and we play."

On Jaylen Forbes having six turnovers when season high had been three:

"Again, he and Cook's turnovers and all those things. I thought we were ready to play, but we get too amped up. We talked about it yesterday. We gotta start treating it like another game instead of the hype that goes with it because we just haven't played well with that. Bug again, I want to give them credit. I told the players we didn't lose to the best team just in our league. We lost to the best team in the country. They are doing a great job and we are still building and trying to get to that."

On difficulties Wichita State presents:

"They have a young coach and they finally have an identity now. They have his identity and they are playing good basketball, but right now it's about the mental factor. In the last week we have to play all these games. It's not necessarily who you are playing because we've seen them before. It's about mentally being ready to play and having an opportunity to get that 2 seed. We're really fighting for that 2 seed, something that hasn't happened since I've been here in this league. When we get it, we will have earned it."

On immediate goal:

"Let's just win Sunday. That's what I keep saying. Let's win Sunday. There won't be any practice or anything like that. We'll just turn around and play games. It's going to be AAU week. These kids are used to AAU basketball and we're going to turn it into AAU week. We're just playing games."

On if he will go to his bench more in final week:

"Game situation. Again, we'll see if we need to do that. I'm fine if we have to do that. One of the things I talk to you guys about is don't play tired. The media timeouts are a little bit longer on TV games. We'll see in that regard, but these guys are warriors. They've been resilient. They've bounced back every single time I've asked them to do that, so I don't think this will be any different."

FORBES

On flushing what happened at Houston:

"It's over with. On to the next thing. We've got to worry about the game's that coming up. We can't afford to just give games away we're supposed to win."

On if they were too amped up for Houston game:

"Maybe, but then again that's a good team on the other end. With Houston, they are always going to take away the first action. You've got to make multiple efforts to beat them, and we just didn't make enough of those multiple effort plays."

On six turnovers:

"They are pretty tough defensively, but I have to take care of the basketball. I've just got to stick to the things that I work on and just keep stuff simple. I feel like that's why the game got out of hand. I started turning the ball over and they started getting fast break points, which is tough to stop. I've just got to take better care of the ball."

On if will be easy to bounce back:

"I'm not going to say that. We've just got to be mentally tough. We just have to show our mental strength and just come out and defend."

On first Wichita State game:

"They know what happened last time, so they are going to come out fighting even harder. We just have to be that much more on top of our game. We just have to be ready from the jump. We can't be down that big at home. I'm pretty sure the crowd will have us hyped up, so I feel like we'll begin good."

On incentive of finishing second:

"It means a lot, but at the end of the day finishing second, that's not what we want to do. We always want to finish first. I feel like we'll still get a chance to see Houston in the conference tournament. Just get that second seed, get on the opposite side of Houston and meet them in the championship game. The third time's the charm."

Welp. While others saw the Houston debacle coming, I definitely did not. In the first game against Houston, the Cougars hit shots they don't always make, going 12 of 24 from 3-point range, while Tulane missed shots it normally makes, contributing to a 20-point defeat that could have been closer. This time, Houston did not shoot well at all from outside, going 10 for 32, but completely shut down Tulane's offense in the first half and rattled the Wave. After hitting two early shots, Kevin Cross was invisible, grabbing only two rebounds, and he receded even more after having a dunk attempt rejected. Jaylen Forbes had six turnovers, twice as many as his most in any other game this year. Sion James was a non-factor. Jalen Cook, unstoppable in a recent stretch, had four shots blocked in the first half while missing nine in a row. When he found his form in the second half, it was too late. Collin Holloway was overmatched. Tylan Pope competed very well but was a liability on offense, missing two 3s badly when the game was still close early and throwing up a floater that had no chance to go in because he was concerned about getting it blocked.

I have watched Houston quite a bit in the past month, and although this version is more talented than last year's, it also tends to drift for stretches of each game unlike a year ago, when it played hard every second. But the Cougars did not drift at all last night aside from a brief stretch at the end of the first half when they tried to make fantastic plays offensively and botched them. Houston broke Tulane's will on offense and passed well enough at the other end to get some easy baskets, compensating for its struggles outside.

Tulane still should be able to latch on to the No. 2 seed in the AAC tournament, where it can get a third shot at the Cougars, but this will test the team's self-belief. The Wave, which will be favored in each of the last four games, cannot let its confidence sag after that beatdown, which was every bit as bad and maybe worse than the 30-point margin indicated. Many of the same plays that became sloppy turnovers against Houston will result in easy baskets against Wichita State, East Carolina and Temple if the Wave maintains its confidence.

Sunday is the critical game because Wichita State has some physical advantages on Tulane and exploited them while racing to an 18-point lead in the first half in Wichita before Tulane rallied to win in OT. Get that win, and I think Tulane will run the table. It will not be good enough to get in at-large range but will bring momentum into the AAC tourney. Even going 3-1, and maybe even 2-2, will allow the Wave to hold on to the No. 2 seed. Memphis still has to play Houston again and is likely to lose to Wichita State tonight if Kendric Davis can't play.

The new start date will be Wednesday, March 1. The spring game remains March 25, and there will be two practices afterward, with all 15 taking place in March.

The full schedule:

Practice 1: Wednesday, March 1
Practice 2: Friday, March 3
Practice 3: Saturday, March 4
Practice 4: Monday, March 6
Practice 5: Wednesday, March 8
Practice 6: Saturday, March 11
Practice 7: Monday, March 13
Practice 8: Wednesday, March 15
Practice 9: Friday, March 17
Practice 10: Saturday. March 18
Practice 11: Tuesday, March 21
Practice 12: Thursday, March 23
Practice 13: Saturday, March 25 (SPRING GAME)
Practice 14: Tuesday, March 28
Practice 15: Thursday, March 30

If this schedule holds, I will miss only the March 11 practice to cover the AAC basketball tournament unless the Wave makes the NCAA tournament.

I

The Texas 6A all state football team was announced last week. Makei Williams made first team and LaJuan Owens made third team.

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Not sure if anyone noticed this, but some were asking if there was any effort to get us into a bigger conference. Here's the answer to that question

They have not released the full schedule yet, but the first day of spring drills will be Thursday, Feb. 23--two days after Mardi Gras--and the spring game will be March 25.

There will be no interruption for spring break this year, which comes later than normal at the beginning of April. The 15 practices will take place in the span of 31 days.

That is not ideal because it conflicts with the baseball team's home opener against St. John's and will force the Wave to play three games in five days before having to play three games in three days the following Friday to Sunday to win the AAC tournament, but it could not be avoided. It was the only feasible date considering the two teams' schedules and better than the alternative that was considered--playing Tuesday before the tournament started. The game needs to be played and could determine whether Tulane is the 2 or 3 seed in the AAC tourney (or the 1 seed if it beats Houston, runs the table and the Cougars lose at Memphis on the final Sunday).

Tomorrow's game at USF is vital. The Bulls are the best of the bad group of teams in the AAC and players might be looking ahead to Houston. Anything is possible, but I really can't see Tulane losing its final three home games or to ECU on the road. The one that could get away is tomorrow night.

Although I cover the Saints nominally, I do not know what Roushar's reputation is, but he certainly comes to Tulane with more impressive credentials than any O-line coach in a very long time. Before his 10 years with the Saints, he was the offensive coordinator at Michigan State for two season and the Spartans' O-line coach the previous four. The Spartans had back-to-back 11-win season in 2010 and 2011, spanning his last year as OL coach and first years as OC.

The quotes that accompany his hiring from current and former Saints players are glowing.

Roushar hiring story

Willie isn't messing around.

It's being reported that Troy's Shiel Wood is the new DC. Couldn't have the best SBC DC after Miami poached Guidry, so he goes after the second best and gets him!

I thought getting South Alabama's Corey Batoon would be a win, but this is even BETTER.
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I checked with Tulane and the AAC office this morning and there is no news to report at this time after the tragedy that postponed the game Saturday when ECU's long-time radio broadcaster passed away on Friday in New Orleans, reportedly from a heart attack.

The two teams' schedules will make it difficult to reschedule, but it needs to be played if possible or Tulane's tiebreaker advantage on Memphis will be meaningless. But it can't be played in the week of the tournament because Tulane will need to be as rested as possible to play three games in three days and ECU will play on the opening Thursday.

Here are the two teams' remaining schedules:

ECU

Cincy Wed Feb. 15
at SMU Sun Feb. 19
at Tulsa Tuesday Feb. 21
Houston Sat. Feb. 25
Tulane Wed March 1
at UCF Sun March 5

Tulane

at USF Sat Feb. 18
at Houston Wed Feb. 22
Wichita State Sun Feb. 26
at ECU Wed March 1
Temple Sun March 5

The only date remaining where one or the other team would not have to play on back-to-back days is Friday, March 3. I have no idea whether ECU charters or flies commercial and how feasible it is to play then.

The other possibility is to switch other games around to accommodate it, but I'm not sure Ron Hunter would want that.

Jay Uhlman, pitching coach Anthony Izzio, Cristian Sanchez and Brennan Lambert were on the podium.

JAY UHLMAN

"This is obviously an exciting time for our program with the start of the season being a week away on Friday. Final touches and getting us ready here with a few more scrimmages as we speed to the end. It's been a great fall. Our players have done a tremendous job first and foremost in the weight room. NIco Torrez has done a tremendous job with our guys. Our guys have realized real strength gains and speed gains. Baseball requires physical abilities, and he's done a tremendous job and gotten a lot of buy-in from the players. They are excited about where they are positioned with their bodies and their health. Certainly the coaching staff has done a tremendous job as well in terms of teaching baseball and the things that they are trying to get across with their specific position groups. I'm very excited about seeing those kind of things come to fruition and their labor coming out on stage here in another week or so. I'm very pleased with how quickly the staff has bonded with our current players and the strides that they have made. From where we were in August to where we are today, we'e made tremendous strides and that's a reflection of our entire staff. I'm very proud of those efforts, and we've got a lot of ball to play here in the next five or so months."

What way are you leaning at third base and left field?

"I'll start in left field. I certainly hope that Jackson Linn is healthy enough to go out there and be able to throw the ball accurately with something on it. That's still a work in progress. He could be DHing, and if he is that would be kind of a matchup situation in left field, so we'll just kind of play that as Jackson kind of leads us to where he is physically. He's made tremendous strides as an outfielder and just as a player. When he first got here, his routes in the outfield weren't tremendous. His base running skills were pretty rudimentary, so I'm really proud that he came back and he came back for the right reasons and the progress that he's made. It's kind of our little running joke in practice when I look at him and he makes a play or steals a base or makes a great base running read, we just kind of look at each other without saying it and we know what we're talking about. I'm really proud of him.

"Third base, Simon Baumgardt is an older guy, so he's been through the battles. He's right now if we started tomorrow our starting third baseman, and he's done a great job. He asked for that last year. I challenged him. I wasn't sure he was ready for that. He's taken that to another level. He'll probably be hitting towards the bottom of the order-sevenish--but he's been real steady at third base for us and I'm just happy with the gains he's made."

How much has Brennan Lambert stepped up as a leader?

"Yeah. He's been a huge reason for the gains we've made just in terms of buy-in. The guys look up to him. They respect him. This is his third program, so he's seen multiple programs and how they operate, how people are treated, the teachings and so forth. He was a guy last year that had a tremendous fall last year but didn't really catch it until the end. We got him back in the lineup at the end and he had a good conference tournament, so he really didn't get what he wanted. Sometimes when you don't get what you want, it's hard to stand out there and be the right kind of person and a leader and still be able to pull the standard of the program. He's taken it to another level this year. The guys respect him. He's always where he's supposed to be. He's doing extra. He's in the clubhouse early and late. He catches all the bullpens along with our other catchers. We have a thing in the program of don't tell people what to do if you're not willing to do the same thing. He's the guy with the rake asking guys to get rakes and clean this up and hey, this isn't how this works. He's been a great leader for us along with several other of the older guys. This is their program. It's player led and we really try to push them that way and let them hold each other accountable, and then if it gets to us, of course we need to hold them accountable."

How big a concern is depth for you?

"Depth is always going to be an issue in college baseball. As we move forward you'll probably see a little more depth happening because the draft went from 40 to 20 rounds, so more guys will start sneaking into college baseball. For us, with an $83,000 price tag, depth is probably always going to be a challenge. I'm not saying impossible, but the guys we have that are in depth kind of role, I'm really pleased with their development and the way that they've accepted their roles and the way they continue to develop, but a lot of that comes from our communication with them. We try to be open and transparent to them so that they understand the roles they are in so that they can prepare themselves mentally and physically for the things they are being asked to do. If they are not a frontline guy and they need to get in the weight room during the season and need to dedicate themselves in the cages or pitch design and what-have-you, they can do that. For me that comes with a level of trust and communication, so yes, depth will always be a concern. We do need to stay healthy, no question, and part of that's our responsibility, too--how we manage them in non-game days and even in game days. Maybe it's one less day of B.P. or two less infield-outfield or maybe it's a day off here and there that maybe they didn't think they were going to get. There are ways we are going to have to be creative with keeping their bodies healthy, but what also gets overlooked is keeping their minds healthy. Again, that's on us. We're the adults, so that's our mission is help them help themselves so when we get to May, we're the best version of ourselves and we're moving in an upward trajectory that puts us in position to be a postseason team, which some people out there don't believe we are."

How important is it to find your legs out west in the opening series against UC Irvine before you play 13 of the next 14 games at home?

"Anytime you can get on the road and face the challenges of the road, it's a good thing regardless of the opponent, but when you go to an opponent that's going to present different challenges, that's going to prepare us for what's to come in the AAC and where we're headed, so what you're trying to do when you schedule is balance a schedule that allows for strain, stress and also for growth. I think we've accomplished that. We're certainly going to have our hands full with the travel. That's certainly going to be something that we're going to have to be mature about and be able to help them manage themselves and stay healthy and read the room so to speak and say let's do less today or hey. we need to do more, we're not doing enough, so just the ability to be able to read our players. I think that's one of our strengths. I'm not sure how good we coach baseball, but we do do a good job of relationships and reading people, so we're going to have to do a really good job of that so we're able to stay fresh. But like I told these guys on several occasions here since we've been back--the investments that they've made is going to allow them to stay in the fight longer. I've been doing this a long time and I've been parts of teams and I've seen teams that when April and May hit, the dog days of collegedom so to speak, teams are ready to cash it in. They are ready to go home or they're ready to go into summer ball and they quit. This group, what they've been able to do amongst each other and the extra work that they've put in and the hay they've put in the barn is going to keep them from quitting before the other guy does. They're going to have something to play for and something to prove. Again, we can say all the things that we want--I've said this a million times--but we're going to have to do it, we're going to have to show it and we're going to have to give people a reason to come to Turchin and spend their money to watch us play baseball. We're going to have to do that. Nobody else can do that but us."

It was definitely the road less traveled to promote an assistant from a staff that never made a regional to be the new coach. Do you feel like you have won over the room, or is that to be determined by the results?

"I think you're always held hostage to how the results happen. There's a scoreboard. There's a win-loss column. Being a good human being is really important. It buys you certain things. Being transparent and honest with people is important. Just dealing with relationships is really important. When things are more difficult, it makes the road less bumpy. It gives you the opportunity to mend fences. The ability to listen is going to be important. I'd like to think that I have (won the room), but I certainly can't speak for everyone. But we have worked very hard as a program since I took over to really re-engage folks, to let them know it's their program. I want people to feel a part of this. It's not just us insulated against everybody else and it's our will against your will. For me it's people over policy, it's people over scheme so to speak."

Tulane did not make any players available because of the confrontation near the end of the game that almost escalated into a fight and left them too emotional in Ron Hunter's words. I was fine with it because I was on deadline and needed to be in and out of the interview room quickly.

Here's what Hunter had to say about another huge OT victory, one Tulane absolutely had to have in a stretch run where it has no margin for error if it wants to play its way into the NCAA tournament. Tulane now owns tiebreakers over Memphis (sweep) and Cincinnati (split but will get the edge on the Bearcats based on doing better against Memphis). With an easier schedule than Memphis the rest of the way, Tulane probably will lock up the No. 2 seed in the AAC tournament if it completes a sweep of Temple in their regular season finale at Devlin.

HUNTER

"Wow. A 45-minute basketball game with a lot to talk about. The resiliency of our group. The halftime talk wasn't very pleasant. I broke a couple of things. I haven't broken anything in probably 12 years because I thought we were still playing off the Memphis high. Cincinnati came in here and took it right at us, but I knew in the second half this team never quits, and they came in and just kept fighting. I thought R.J. McGee was huge. He's leaving us tomorrow. The dude's had a tough time. He's got another funeral he has to go to. He's had a tough year, so the minutes he gave us were incredible. We'll get him out of here tomorrow, but R.J. was terrific. Our big three are always good, but R.J. off the bench was just big for us."

On where this win ranks in recent stretch:

"Every game for us is like this. The Memphis game was like this. The Wichita State game was like this. All the top teams we play against are overtime games, and then you've got to find a way to win. I keep telling the kids that we control our own destiny. We don't have to scoreboard watch and hope somebody else does this. We said that about two weeks ago and that's what we continue to do, so we'll celebrate this for 24 hours. This was a big game for us. I feel like every game that we play is almost like an NCAA tournament game. It's that important to us right now, so we just have to keep fighting. I will say this, though. I hear the pundits out there talking about every team in this league and they're an NCAA tournament team, and I heard a national guy talk about that was a bad loss by Memphis. Come and watch our team play, anywhere, anytime, and tell me it was a bad loss. We're second in the American right now. This is a good basketball team, and I really got upset when I heard that. Because you sit at home and don't even watch and get on your computer. Watch this team play first. This is a really good team, and we're playing with a chip on our shoulder right now, but I had to get that out because I thought that was completely bogus when I heard that this week."

On comfort factor in OT now:

"One of the things that happens is the way we play, everybody shoots 3s. They shot 48 3s against us today. They shot 48 3s, so what happens is you get tired, so in overtime, you're playing a tough game and you have to go make those shots. That's what the defense does. Those same shots they were making early, in overtime they didn't make those same shots."

On Cook and Cross:

"All of my big three came to play. I don't think Forbes scored in the first half (he hit two free throws but was 0 of 4 from the floor before scoring 22 after halftime). Our big three, that's how they are. You aren't going to keep them down forever. We needed some other guys to step up, and that's why I thought R.J. was big. It was just a gutty win. I didn't substitute much. I felt like I just had to ride those guys the way we were playing, so I did that. I don't think I subbed Collin (Holloway) in the second half. We took T.Y. (Tylan Pope) out early and didn't bring him back until late, so we just rode them, and I'm used to doing that."

On dust-up between players with 36 seconds left in OT that led to two ejections, including Sion James:

"When you get in games like that, it's emotional. It's chippy. They (Cincinnati) needed this win and they knew that. Both teams needed and teams were scrapping. Emotions get hot, but I have to say this. We won this game because our crowd was incredible. The football team and the students. Forbes said, 'Coach, we can't hear you when you're calling (the defensive set), so we had to change our coverage because they couldn't hear. Usually we bark it out, but they couldn't hear, so we had to stop our coverages. Again, they had to just kind of play, but the crowd was terrific. One of the reasons I came to Tulane,.and I remember when I got here, so many people told me when this place gets loud, how much it helps us win. Teams don't want to play us in this building."

Pete Thamel reporting that Guidry is leaving Tulane for The U.

Thanks for your service, coach.
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