During an update interview with Rivals, 2024 CB Jaylen Heyward shared he may visit Tulane while in town for the Battle 7v7 tournament.

Any comments after the game on last ten seconds in your interviews? Disappointing finish. Plus Sampson spent ten plus seconds speaking to Cross in post-game handshake line. That was unusual

First pitch for the Tulane-Nicholls game is in about an hour-and-a-half.

I talked to tonight's starting pitcher for the Wave, Carter Robinson, yesterday. He spent two years as Mesa Community College in his home state of Arizona, leading the nation in innings pitched in his second season, and two more at ULL before becoming a grad transfer at Tulane for his final season.

CARTER ROBINSON

Why Tulane:

"When I entered the portal, coach Latham and coach Uhlman contacted me close together. I’d thrown against them a couple of times, and I guess they liked what they saw and I thought it was a fun place to play, a cool environment and I figured I’d come here for my last year."

So far, so good:

"It’s been awesome. It’s a change of pace for sure. It’s a really cool place. New Orleans is unique and the coaching staff is unique and the culture we have here is different than a lot of other places. It’s more tight knit than a lot of other teams I’ve been on."

On 112 innings in one year of juco:

"It wasn’t like there was a whole different process. I just went out and tried to execute pitches the same as normal and I just happened to be in a lot of good spots that year and had a good year."

Last year:

"Last year there were some struggles at times. There were a couple of different little changes I was trying to make. It’s never easy during the season obviously, but it was stuff I felt like I had to do for long-term success. I think I’ve ironed some stuff out now and feel really good about the way I feel going into the season."

Style:

"Just trying to execute pitches. It’s not something I try to analyze too much because it’s something you can’t think about too much. I try command my fastball, I try to mix pitches and I try to keep guys not on time. I try to disrupt timing a little bit."

Height on mound (he is 6-8):

"I don’t know. I’m not a real super high slot guy but I definitely get a little extra tilt just because of my height. And obviously as far as stressing my arm, the longer arm means I don’t have to stress my shoulder and elbow as much to throw the same velocity. I feel good going deep into games more than some other guys would."

No wear down in 112 inning year:

"No, I was good. I’ve been lucky enough not to have any serious arm trouble."

Pitched Saturday (one 1-2-3 inning):

"Yeah, it’s good. It’s always different when another team steps on the field and the game starts to matter, so it was a good little intro. Coach Latham talked about do you want to throw bullpen or do you want to throw to hitters. It’s such a different environment throwing to hitters, and I just figured it would be good to get my toe in the water before I go all in."

Dad was on rodeo team in college:

"In college he was a roper and a bull rider, and he did a little professional bull riding for a couple years afterward."

Not you:

"I’m too tall. Height comes from my mom’s side. That’s not me. Maybe after baseball career though."

Baseball the main thing:

"Baseball was always the sport. I used to wrestle in high school and my freshman year of high school. I played pick-up basketball and pick-up football at the park, but it’s pretty always been baseball."

Why Mesa:

"I had a couple of friends from high school who ended up going there. I missed competition. I went to University of Arizona my freshman year. I didn’t play. I just went as a student, but I missed baseball and missed the competition and just figured I should get back to it."

Offers out of high school:

"I had some opportunities—junior college, NAIA, D2 opportunities. I just didn’t see myself doing it forever, but as soon as I left, I missed it and realized it’s just different without baseball. I felt that was the missing piece, so I came back."

Plan for Nicholls:

"Go out and execute pitches. I can’t have too much of a plan. As soon as you get caught up saying I want go this deep, I want to have this many strikeouts, I want to give up this few hits, you get nervous. I’m just going to go execute every pitch and do as good as I can."

Close knit team:

"It’s huge. It’s a team game, so chemistry comes into it a lot."

Rowdy Tulane dugout caused controversy against ULL last year:

"They (Tulane) were the most annoying baseball team I’ve ever played in my life. I’ve told the guys, I’ve told the coaches, but now being on this side, it’s awesome. And it was fun last year, too. It gets you more into the game. I think everybody who comes here has a cool experience."

JEWETT on Carter Robinson

"It’s the experience, whether it be at the highly decorated junior college pitcher to his ULL experience and just having that ability. Sometimes you can find yourself on a Tuesday being a newbie. This gives us a grayhair out there that’s done it. The midweek games are important. If you can win those, you can separate yourself a little bit. I’m excited about his ability to go out there and act like he’s been there before."

On his height:

"When you’re that tall and big, you’ve probably got a chance to get down the hill, so then then closer you get to the hitter. I think it’s three miles an hour for every foot. He can make his 90 mile an hour fastball play a little hotter. He throws a lot of strikes, controls the running game and fields his position."

TREVOR MINDER on Robinson

"His experience for one is something that really wlll help him. He holds runners well, locates really well and just has a presence to him that’s extremely calming. He’s in the zone all the time, which allows the defense to stay locked in. Having him as a midweek guy is really good for us a whole. You can’t take those games for granted, and with him on the mound we’ve got a good chance to win every one of them."

1) THE STREAK SHOULD END

I really like the basketball team's chances to end a 23-year, 46-game losing streak to top 25 teams when it hosts Houston on Wednesday night. The short-handed Cougars, though still my favorite to win the AAC regular-season title, have become very sloppy with the ball recently, and Tulane turns teams over a ton. Much will be made of the Cougars' rebounding superiority--and the disparity is real--but Ron Hunter sacrifices rebounding to get more ball-handlers on the floor, which is why his teams almost always lead their leagues in turnover differential at the same time as being at or near the bottom in rebounding differential. Tulane beat Memphis earlier this year with a rebounding differential of minus-20, and although I would not recommend that approach on Wednesday, the key is just competing on the boards and grabbing the rebounds that are attainable. If the Wave does that, it will make up the difference in extra possession by forcing turnovers and not committing many. Tulane should be able to win it if makes open shots, something it could not do in Houston. Two of the three outside shooters need to be on among Jaylen Forbes, Jalen Cook and Jadan Coleman, and it would hep if Tylan Pope, who figures to play heavy minutes again because of his physicality--continues to knock down the one or two open looks he gets from the baseline, something that appears to be in his repertoire now. Coleman did not play in the first meeting, but he is coming off the two best games of his career. Cook has been slumping, but he is too good to continue struggling.

Houston was lucky to beat Wichita State in double overtime yesterday. Center Josh Carlton, who had never attempted a 3-point shot in his five-year college career, picked up a loose ball late in the shot clock and swished one late in regulation. The Cougars appear a little worn down, and with a potential conference-deciding home game against SMU coming up on Sunday, they could be ripe for that taking. That's easier said than done because Kelvin Sampson's team always plays with a tremendous will to win, but Tulane, which already is 6-1 at home in conference play, is explosive enough offensively to do it. The Wave needs to win because the bye that goes to one of the top five seeds is by no means a lock with Temple's recent surge. The Wave needs to finish ahead of either the Owls or UCF and still has to play both of them again. Temple, because of its victory against SMU, currently would win a tiebreak with Tulane if it beats the Wave in Philly this Sunday (if teams split their season series, it goes to the team that beat the highest seeded team). UCF, which beat the Wave in Orlando,, can sweep the season series by beating Tulane next week. The Knights are 8-7 and have two winnable games at home against Cincinnati and at Tulsa. Temple is 8-5, can get to 10 wins by beating Tulane and South Florida at home and still has a makeup date at home with Wichita State that has not been scheduled yet.

Tulane realistically could finish anywhere from third (if it goes 3-1 or 4-0) to sixth (virtually assured if it loses to Temple and UCF). Running the table to get to 13-5 likely would not net the Wave the No. 2 seed because SMU, by virtue of its sweep of Memphis, almost certainly would win a tiebreak with Tulane even if it loses to the Wave on the final day of the regular season.

Beating Houston is important because it is time to end the ridiculous streak of failure against ranked opponents. Getting the bye is even more important because this team is capable of winning three days in three days in Fort Worth to get the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. It is not capable of winning four games in four days. No team is.


2) DEFENSE RULES

It's hard to glean much from the baseball team's sweep of terrible UMass Lowell, a mediocre (at best) northern team that had practiced little because of the weather up there and looked exactly like a team that had practiced little. Travis Jewett's teams actually have gone 3-0 on opening weekend in four of the last five years. But defense is not affected by the quality of the opponent. and Tulane's fielders went the entire weekend without mishandling a grounder or misplaying a fly ball. Just about everything that could be gloved was gloved, and each starting outfielder made an excellent play, from the best throw I've ever seen from a Tulane outfielder when Ethan Groff gunned down a runner at the plate from right field in the opener to Jake LaPrairie's quick jump and sliding catch of a sinking liner to a couple of good reads by Jared Hart in centerfield. The only time they let one get by them was on a hard shot by UMass Lowell that somehow rolled all the way to the wall when Hart, who was shaded far away from where the ball went, took a poor angle, turning a single/possible double into a triple. There were two throwing errors on Sunday, one by Trevor Minder at shortstop and one by Chase Engelhard at second base that drew Luis Aviles off first base (he should have been able to keep his foot on the bag), but those happen. Minder looked very comfortable and showed good range all weekend. The defense simply looked more polished than an any other year under Jewett.

Other than that, I don't have much to say. The bats were good but not great. Dylan Carmouche looked very good on Saturday, but I want to see him against better competition. Neither Tyler Hoffman nor Michael Massey was sharp, but again, I'm not going to read much into a first start. Most of the relievers looked good, so depth could be better there. We'll know a heck of a lot more after the series at Louisiana Tech.

3) BACK-LOADED SCHEDULE

The two most interesting conference games for the Tulane football team in the schedule released late last week are the final two--another chance to finally beat SMU in AAC play on a Thursday, Nov. 17 at Yulman Stadium, and a trip to 2021 college football playoff participant Cincinnati on my birthday, Nov. 26. There is no way the Bearcats will be as good next year as they were this year, but with the culture and talent in place there, you know they will be at or near the top of the league again. That's a tough season-ending assignment.

The non-conference order we already knew, but Tulane will match last season's victory total after two games by beating UMass and Alcorn State at home. Then comes a trip to Kansas State where Willie Fritz will try to get over the hump and beat a Power Five conference team for the first time in his coaching career. After a probable win over Will Hall and Southern Miss, Tulane begins conference play with a trip to Houston for another Thursday night affair (it might be moved to Friday). The Cougars have clobbered the Wave every single time in Houston under Fritz, with a clear talent advantage at the skill positions. If Tulane writes a different storyline this time, the season could be good. The schedule is pretty friendly after that (ECU, at USF, Memphis, at Tulsa, UCF), but then again, nothing was easy for this team as it stumbled to a 1-7 conference record last fall. With wholesale staff changes, spring ball will be more interesting than usual as Fritz tries to right a ship that was reeling in the fall. I was very surprised Fobbs was not retained as running backs coach, but Fritz's running backs have been good everywhere he has been. It may not have been Fobbs' doing. The rest of the staff changes were expected and logical, but it remains to be seen whether the offense will click.

This is a surprise to me even though the first person who broke the news when his imminent hiring was revealed last month had him being the running backs coach.

Jamaal Fobbs has been the Wave's running backs coach every year under Willie Fritz. I'm not sure what this means for his status.

TRAVIS JEWETT

On replacing most of weekend rotation:

"College baseball is a transitional period in these guys' lives. Sometimes it's three years. Sometimes it can be four or five, but there's always in and out. What those guys did so well was help us win, which was good, and it gave them a chance to do what all of our guys on this team want to do--play professional baseball, so somebody on the next level thought they were good enough and took them from us. Now there's open holes, and good teams find a way to plug and mix and match. We'll certainly miss those guys, but we feel like we've got some capable bullets out there to try to cover their loss. I'm pleased with our pitching right now. I don't know if it's Olthoff and Benoit and Gilles and Aldrich at this point, but there's a lot of good youth in there. There's some nice junior college and grad transfer pieces. Every year that I've been here, not only our pitching staff but our team gets collectively deeper. Our competition from within continues to get better. We have a lot of options out in the bullpen. Especially early you are probably going to see a lot of guys get in some different roles, trying to figure out what those will be or won't be throughout the course of the season, but I know there's not many guys on the team that I'd say if we run him out there, we don't have a chance to win. I feel good about our length, and there are some returning guys in there, too, that have gotten better. We're excited about it."

On competitive depth being biggest difference between this team and earlier teams:

"Yeah. I would. I don't like to compare one team to the next because every year is different. I don't know how this team is going to cement itself in terms of a legacy or a pecking order, so to speak. They'll determine that, but what's nice is we have four really good catchers, so we can split the guys up and actually play a pretty good scrimmage. Trevor (Minder) can play shortstop for his team and not have to rush up and get his at-bat and then go play shortstop for the other team. We're layered. We've got some multitalented position players that can play all over the field. We can have two really good teams, which creates competition, so our scrimmages have been good that way. We have a battle going on. I'm sure I'll get some questions today about who's starting, but there are too many days that end in Y between now and then to make a whole bunch of determinations. But I like it. The kids feed of it and they see it as good competition. It's not alienate this guy in my spot. They are helping each other. They truly want to see everybody have success."

On what it will require to win league:

"Believability really from the kids. We were second last year and were off to a 15-2 start before the COVID the year before and were ranked in the top 20 in the country and finished third the year before that. We're at about a .600 winning percentage the last three years. We've had 14 players drafted in that time, including first-rounders and second-rounders. I think we're ready. I want the kids to expect that next step because that's what it's been--third and then a short COVID and now second, so what's next. Now it's time to show up. It's time now to forget the door handle, use your foot and kick the door in. We're good enough. It's not going to just come overnight, but we have a vision and we know what it's going to take. The next step is just to get on top of this thing. You mentioned East Carolina. Very good, no question about it, but so are the other seven teams that you didn't mention. I would be safe to say without being up here sounding grotesquely egotistical, but the objective is for us to finish in the front of this league."

On return to relative normalcy after two years of COVID issues:

"Can you promise me that? That's what I'm fully anticipating as well. Playing four games in a weekend is a bear. It's not a grind. We don't use that word in our program because we're playing baseball, but it's tough when you have nine innings of scheduled baseball and it could be more if you get into a tie game. It strains your roster, it strains your mind, it strains your feet, so the ability to get back to some normalcy that way, three games, will be helpful for everybody. I'm a little bit concerned obviously with the things that could still happen because if it was completely over, I wouldn't have gotten a spring '22 protocol from the NCAA or the league about what are we going to do, and now they are talking about we could possibly play a game with one umpire now. Players that aren't double vaccinated and boosted or eligible for a booster are subject to close contact tracings and things like that, so there is still going to be some deal. We can't control it but we can respond well to it if it were to happen to us."

On Mississippi State coming to Turchin for weekend series:

"You just gave me chills by just talking about it. I would be remiss if I sat up here and said that I haven't looked at that. I know our kids have. We don't steer away from those type of opportunities. Those will get here when they get here, but we are excited about it. We all know it's there, and there's quite a few games before that that we'll need to insert ourselves into this arena and hopefully win through it and continue to get better because by that third week we'll have a monster on our hands no doubt. But this is the first time since 2005 that Tulane has hosted a defending national champion. Fullerton came here at that point. I can't wait. I'm excited about it. Baseball, unlike any other sport, is so fickle. We go to Starkville last year and had the lead in the bottom of the ninth inning of all three of those games (winning the first and losing the next two). The season passes and now we're talking about them as the defending national champion, so it just tells you we're right there. Now we'll have to not leave the putt short anymore. it gives the kids a good feeling that we're close, but this game requires routine-ness and consistency and finishing moments all those types of things. We'll certainly being looking forward to seeing them for sure."

On hitting ability:

"The only thing that might slow us down is I screw up or get in the way too much. Talented, there's some left, there's some right, there's some power, there's some speed, there's some wand ability with the bat. If you want to stand around and get into a haymaker fight, we can stand in there with you. If you want to get into more of a tough bull-riding event where it's going to be tough to score, we can get in there with you, too, so we just have to talk about being holistic and being what we say, 'always, always.' Whatever the game says that day, then we have to attack it as such. We're capable of winning games in a lot of different fashions. You mentioned quite a bit of returners. Luis Aviles and Trevor Minder and Bennett Lee and Chase Engelhard. Jake LaPrairie had a lot of good at-bats and moments for us and was on the cusp of that freshman All-American speak, so that would give us two-and-a-half and Jared Hart's experience and Frankie Niemann's gray hair, and the next thing you know, you've got a nice nucleus of veterans, and that's coupled around this new group. The recruiting that these guys are doing at this fine institution with this fine cost with 11.7 (scholarship), I'm excited. Our veterans have to stay humble and they have to get better and they can't just live off of last year and be stagnant. Our young guys look at them, so they are seeing replication about what it takes, and then this freshman-junior college-grad transfer, there's 21 of our 40, so more than half of our roster is new. It's a nice mix. The Banks and the Linns and the Masseys you've heard of for sure, but we've got 6-5 Brady Marget and Brady Hebert is a national champ out of LSU-Eunice last year. Lambert has come in here and probably taken maybe the most consistent swing out of anybody. What I like about our depth and experience, too, is probably I can take the first game or two and tell them to sit right next to me and just watch and get a feel for the speed of a college baseball game and then we'll certainly try to insert their talent as it gets going, and the sky's the limit from there. We'll see how it all plays out, but I do like our abilities on offense."

Here's the link:

By the numbers

Also, here are some quotes after Tulane's overtime win against Temple.

RON HUNTER

"Sometimes during the season you've got to be lucky, and I thought today we were. They had some guys who didn't play and some of the other guys stepped up. When I heard they weren't going to play, my head just sunk because I was a a player and what generally happens is you just relax. I thought we relaxed early and gave them confidence. But if you look at all their games, all their games are close also. He's a really good coach defensively. I think we both are and we gave up a lot of points today. What happens is mid-February Saturday games, you've got to find a way to scratch out wins. We did a great job of just hanging in there. We haven't played well the last few games. Next week we get an eight-day break and it can't come soon enough for us. Sometimes you have to win games when you just don't play well."

"Our crowd was great. I don't know if we win this game without our fans. They got into it. They got loud in there. Their kid missed a free throw because it was so loud in there, it gave us a chance. I couldn't even communicate to these guys here. It gave me chills to be honest with you. I just want to say thank you to our students. I didn't have to play for breakfast, lunch or dinner, so not only did we get the win, but we got the students here and I don't have to do Uber tonight, so thank you to the students and to our fans."

JAYLEN FORBES

"The crowd gave us the extra boost. We were tired mentally and tired physically, but the crowd played a big part."

"I felt like coming out the gate we gave them a lot of open looks and were soft defensively. Once we picked up our intensity on defense, that's when they started missing their shots."

SION JAMES on career high for points

"I was just trying to let it come to me. There are games like this and I'm glad it happened today because we really needed it. But really it's just trying to find a way to win games, and that's what we needed today and I'm glad I was able to do that."

The background for Robby Discher is pretty impressive. Wherever he has been, the special teams units have excelled.

Baseball media day is Tuesday, but I got a head start last Thursday and went out to Turchin Stadium for some interviews and intel. I believe Tulane's depth is better than it has been in a long time, and this should be a regional-caliber hitting team. The big question is pitching, and those questions won't be answered until the season starts. Tyler Hoffman has outstanding stuff but was mediocre on weekends last year. He has to prove he can stay over the plate. I've heard nothing but good things about Dylan Carmouche, who does not have overpowering stuff but has the makeup and control of an above-average Saturday starter. As for the rest of the staff, we'll have to wait and see. They showed good control in fall ball, but real games are a different animal. Freshman Michael Massey could end up being the closer--he probably has been the biggest surprise on the team--but his role has not been determined for certain and he can fill in in a variety of capacities.

I expect the opening-day lineup to be Bennett Lee at catcher, Luis Aviles at first base, Chase Engelhard at second base, Trevor Minder at third base, Brady Hebert at third base, Ethan Groff in left field, Jared Hart in center field, Jacob LaPrairie in right field and Frankie Niemann at DH. Teo Banks and Jackson Linn are talented and will be a factor on opening weekend in the outfield and one of them may start right away, but remember, Lee did not play on opening day last year.

JEWETT

On what he has seen so far:

"The thing that to me is the most obvious is just our internal depth. I'm not saying we're as good as we were on the mound last year, what-have-you, but maybe a little bit longer in terms of viable options. That's been good to try to formulate some different roles for different guys, and just our competitive depth across the field, we're a couple deep at each spot. Guys are fighting and competing. Nobody's talked about who's job it is or anything like that. We've still got two weeks to try to make decisions about who's going to play where and hit where and all that kind of stuff. That's been a cool thing and a prideful thing for us do to our stick-to-itiveness in the recruiting and year to year continues to get better. Everybody's healthy. That's been good."

On being able to survive injuries better this year:

"Yeah, I'm not wishing that on my worst enemy. When all of a sudden Bennett goes down and Trevor was obviously out for way too long, and don't forget Simon (Baumgardt) at the end. He was that guy we were playing around at first base and second base and third base and right field. The kids, I love these guys. They are awesome. They are present. They are spirited. They are positive. They are coachable. Just objectively every day we are coming out here each day and trying to move the needle north. Competitive depth on the mound, competitive depth all over the outfield and the infield and then the catching has just been fun to watch. Luis and (Seth) Beckstead and (Brennan) Lambert and Bennett Lee, so we've got four guys. I really feel like on a given night you could see three of those guys in the lineup--catch, DH, first base. It's nice to not have to hold on to them in case you get nicked and have to make a switch."

On leaning to Trevor Minder at shortstop:

"I am. I think I can safely say that to you out loud. He was a shortstop (in high school and junior college) and obviously (Collin) Burns moved himself into a style of player that was good and Trevor made a nice transition to third. That was still the objective going into the fall, but I'm a big believer in cross training. I like guys to put their feet in different environments and learn different positions so that in case of maybe it's struggle and we need to juggle the lineup, I'm not going to put someone at shortstop today and it's the first time we've done it. All of our infielders play shortstop and they play second and they play third. Some of our catchers are playing first so we just have the ability to move around, and so when we were doing that, it was pretty glaring, not that he's better than anybody else, but just the command of the position, the maturity, the routine-ness to his ability to catch the ball, land his throws and just quarterback the field pretty good as an older guy, so I feel good about that. But until we were ready to say that publicly, we had to find somebody that could play third. Brady Hebert has done a good job. Now he is a shortstop, too, so it is a reverse there. He trains at short still, too, so if something happens or we make a switch, it's not going to be foreign to anybody, but he is, I don't know if I'd say the frontrunner, but he's spending a lot of his time in this build-up to the season at third just trying to learn the intricacies of it, all of the bunt defenses, just seeing the ball off the bat a little bit closer to the plate and all those types of things. He's doing a good job."

On outfield depth and where Banks and Linn fit it:

"That just stacks it out there. Jared and Groff have played a heck of a center field. Jared's getting a lot of reps in center and so is Ethan, but we're also playing Ethan in right and left and Jake in right and left and Banks and Linn in right and left. Those kids (Banks and Linn) have improved, which is good. They are what I like to refer to as big, strong, fast guys, and they have a lot of talent. I just want to see them keep moving forward. A lot if it, too, for them, it's not their physical talent. It's just the mental part of adjusting to college baseball, the speed of it, our sign system, all these types of things, not just, oh, my feet are in the box and I'm a threat to hammer something. They've continued to go forward. Teo had a really good weekend last weekend and Jackson is laying off the breaking balls in the dirt and things like that that you're looking for.

Fritz's Zoom call lasted nearly 25 minutes. He addressed the three signees and was asked questions about his new coaches and what went wrong in 2021.

"Including the three that we signed this morning, we have 23 new additions to our squad. We signed guys from 10 different states (seven from Louisiana, five from Texas, three from Florida, two from Alabama and one each from Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania). Seven of the 23 are from Louisiana and four of the transfer guys we have coming in had 4-star ratings and three are from the great city of New Orleans, so we are very excited about guys who signed back in December and also the guys we added today. Just giving a brief rundown of the guys who signed today, first is a defensive back, more of a safety guy, Kentrell Webb. He's from Paetow High School in Katy, Texas. His squad was state champions in a big classification. He was recruited by a bunch of guys. He had the fourth most interceptions in the nation for a high schooler with 10. It was a great run for those guys to be state champs. We're very excited about him. Coach Hampton, when we were recruiting him, said he reminded us of P.J. Hall, who played for us for four years and is now a graduate assistant coach over at Baylor. He does have a lot of similarities to P.J.

"Alex Bauman, we signed him as a tight end. He's from Red Bank Catholic High School in New Jersey. It's really a neat area of the country. Since we've cast a wide net here at Tulane, I haven't been to New Jersey much to recruit, but I went over there and spent a day. They were state champs. I had an opportunity to watch him play basketball. Believe it or not, he's a point guard for an excellent high school basketball team. They beat a team that was ranked in the top three in the state of New Jersey that Saturday after I saw him play. It was neat to watch him on the basketball court. I like trying to go watch guys play basketball as much as a I can, but he's an excellent tight end/defensive end. We're going to start him off at tight end. I think that's a great position for him. His brother plays tight end at Notre Dame. He's got great pedigree and is a tremendous addition to our team.

"All three of these guys are close to 4.0 students. These guys are all excellent students that we signed today.

"Shadre Hurst is the final athlete that we added to.our roster this morning. He's from Cartersville, Georgia, the high school there. It's an outstanding program year in and year out. He's a first-team all-state selection. I was over there in Georgia for a couple of years. We've got quite a few guys on our team from Georgia. It's great football over there in Georgia and Texas and New Jersey. He's got incredible strength. He's a 400-pound bench presser, about a 550 squatter, 335 power cleaner. He was runnerup to be the state champion last year in wrestling. I don't want to give him any bad luck, but he's undefeated right now and there hasn't been a close match so far this year. We're going to move him inside and play him at center. He's played tackle. He has great movement, great feet, good anchor, is an unbelievable pass protector and incredible at finishing blocks. We think there's a lot of similarities between him and Sincere Haynesworth, our great center who we think will be an NFL player some day.

Just a few added guys that are here right now. Sully Burns, an offensive lineman, gradauted early and is here right now going through our conditioning program, Carson Haggard, quarterback from Gulliver Prep down in the Miami area, he's here right now working out with us. (He then listed the six grad transfers).

On Jarius Monroe:

"He's a bigger, taller, stronger guy. I'm always talking about trying to get a little bit taller and longer out on the perimeter and wide receiver and cornerback, and he certainly fits the mold."

"We're raring and ready to go. i went down in the weight room this morning with both groups. Coach Hester is doing a superb job along with his assistants down there. Coach Svoboda is working with is offensive staff getting the new offense put in."

What will the new offense look like?

"There are going to be some similarities. Jim has a very specific program. I went against Jim when he was at Northwest Missouri. He did a great job offensively there. He went to UCLA for three years and then he went to Montana State and was there for a couple, then he actually took my place at Central Missouri. I left in 2009 and he's been the head coach there ever since. I know him well. The thing I like about him is I want a guy that can mix up tempos. Jim can do that. He can go fast, he can go regular speed and he can also slow it down and go four minute. I always kid offensive coordinators that not many of them can do a good job of going fast and slow. They are usually good at one or the other. That's one of the things I like about Jim. He's done an excellent job at time of possession. He's called plays for a long period of time. That's important as well. He's one of the better play-callers. So a lot of similarities. We will do some two backs, one back, inside zone, outside zone, we'll run some gap schemes. He's got some great play-action pass concepts he utilizes. They've had a lot of great offenses every place he's been. There are some things as far at terminology that I want to continue to keep doing. A downhill run scheme, but there will be a lot of differences. It's another offense I'm going to have to learn. The guy I hired I wanted to have a strong running game. To be a 50-50 team I think is very important."

How important is to have some stability at the position after going to your third coordinator in three years, getting a guy who will be here with you for a while and you have a certain comfort level with?

"It's very important. I'm kind of the poster boy for guys going from JUCO to Division II to 1-AA to Division I. He wanted that challenge. It's sometimes hard for guys to make that vault from the Division II level to the Division I level. I've got great admiration for what he's done at Central Missouri and his whole career, not just at Central Missouri. There'a lot more things to juggle at that level. He's very excited about the opportunity to just coach ball and recruit rather than having to raise money and check classes and teach classes, all those different things you've got to do at the Division II level. Yeah, it is important. I'd like a guy to be three, four, five years. If a guy does a fantastic job and he leaves after a year, so be it, too. That's good when he does a great, great, great, great job. We're excited about having Jim."

What impresses you the most about Kentrell Webb?

"Well he comes from a great program. Sometimes those big classification Texas high school guys, and I have a lot of history. I'm a former Texas high school football coach myself. They are so well coached and the offseason is like college programs, but sometimes the room for growth may not be there. I think there's a lot of room for growth physically. I think he's going to be 195 to 200 pounds. I think his best football's in front of him, which you hope for everybody. Sometimes I've signed some guys from programs where there hasn't been the improvement you wanted to see. They are almost tapped out. He's very well coached and has a great background and has a lot of room to develop. We need some guys back there. There are going to be some freshmen that come in. We feel great about Macon Clark and Larry Brooks and Jadon Canady can play both inside and safety and corner, but we need some help there, mainly the safety position. Kentrell and certainly Lummie Young will add some competition to those positions."

Shadre Hurst, an offensive tackle from Cartersville, Ga, committed yesterday. He is the first commitment in a few years that was not in the Rivals database, so I added him.

Listed at 250 pounds by 247 Sports, he is up to 268 pounds now and visited two weekends ago. 247 Sports lists an offer from Washington State. He is the third offensive lineman in the class, joining Sully Burns and Keanon McNally. I will try to reach him tonight and get his story. Cartersville went undefeated in the regular season and lost in the second round of the playoffs to eventual Class 5A champion Warner Robins, falling 24-17 in what was by far the sternest test for Warner Robins in the postseason. It won its other four games by 24 or more points.

Cartersville scored 30-plus points in eight of its games.

Dakota Williams, WR from Hahnville, committed to the Wave on Twitter. He's coming off of a serious injury, but Guerry listed Tulane as an offer.

Sorry for disappearing for a week. I've had debilitating knee pain due to lack of cartilage in my right knee, and it had gotten to the point where I could not walk the dog without severe pain. The result was a depressed me, but a visit to the orthopedist and medication are making a huge difference, giving me my quality of life back.

With the February late signing period looming next Wednesday, here were the official visitors this past weekend: One of the eight, Keanon McNally from Missouri, signed in December but wanted to take an official visit. Willie Fritz said on the December signing day they had room for another three to five players in February.

1) J'Mari Monette, a 6-4, 265-pound 3-star DT from Alexandria High.

Skinny: He has had offers from Texas, Baylor, Missouri and Mississippi State among others during the recruiting process, but most of them are not current. Tulane has a good shot at him.

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2) Kanye Varner, a 6-2, 241-pound 3-star DT from Jonesboro (Georgia) High.

Skinny: Rated the 49th best DT in the country and the No. 82 overall prospect in Georgia. Has a ton of offers but none that blow you out of the water. Clearly Tulane wants to get an interior linemen in February.

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3) Kentrell Webb, a 5-11, 186-pound safety from Katy (Texas) Paetow High with zero stars.

Skinny: Apparently his only offer is Air Force. Paetow won the Class 5A Division I state championship in only the fifth year of the school's existence.

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4) Quad Harrison, a 6-5, 213-pound TE from Birmingham John Carroll High with zero stars.

Skinny: Only offers appear to be from Liberty and New Mexico.

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5) Jason Reynolds, a 6-2, 208-pound OLB from Eagles Landing Christian High in McDonough, Ga with zero stars.

Skinny: Don't know much about him, but Eagles Landing, a 5A school, lost its last five games. MaxPreps has a highlight video of his first two games.


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6) Tyhler Williams, a 6-4, 310-pound center from Alpharetta (Ga.) Milton High with zero stars.

Skinny: Had an offer from Miami at one point. Tulane is the highest-level program with a current offer. and likely can get him if there is enough mutual interest.

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7) Shadre Hurst, a 6-2, 250-pound OT Cartersville (Ga.) High who is not in the Rivals database but is listed by 247Sports.

Skinny: Had an offer from Washington State and one from UMass. Not sure about the current status.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tough, strong and physical: Traits we love to see from our tight end room. <br><br>Welcome to NOLA, <a href="https://twitter.com/abauman325?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">@abauman325</a>!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RollWave?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc^tfw">#RollWave</a> 🌊 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UptownKrewe22?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc^tfw">#UptownKrewe22</a> <a href="https://t.co/nFCiyH42zp">pic.twitter.com/nFCiyH42zp</a></p>&mdash; Tulane Football (@GreenWaveFB) <a href=" Login to view embedded media ">February 2, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

This may have already been mentioned, but DB Kentrell Webb made first team Houston All Metro team. DT Gerrod Henderson made the second team.

Here is who took unofficial visits to the Tulsa game:

Already Committed

Carson Haggard,
Jaylin Lucas
Avery Sledge

Prospects:

1) Chris Brazzell, a 2-star, WR from Lee High in Midland, Texas who has been committed to Florida Atlantic since June.

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2) Mahki Hughes, a 3-star RB from Huffman High in Birmingham, Alabama who committed to Appalachian State in August.

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3) Tygee Hill, a 4-star DT from Karr who committed to LSU in March.

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4) Kalvin Dinkins, a 3-star uncommitted DT from Lake, Mississippi who visited Baylor in June and also has offers from Indiana, USM and UAB.

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5) Koy Moore, a former 4-star WR prospect who signed with LSU in 2019 and entered the transfer portal in October. Man, would he be a huge get. He had five catches for 71 yards when he entered the portal, but he was the No. 131 player in the country out of high school according to Rivals.

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Tulane still interested in J’Mari Monette & Theron Johnson, along with DE from Georgia Reynolds

Some quick thoughts on Tulane's game at sixth-ranked Houston tomorrow night

--The last time Tulane beat a ranked team was Dec. 22, 1999 against North Carolina State at the brand new New Orleans Arena (now the Smoothie King Center).

--The last time Tulane beat a team ranked this higher or higher was Feb. 5, 1983, at No. 4 Memphis. The Tigers dropped to eighth in the AP poll the following week and Tulane beat them again at home seven days later to complete the season sweep. The highest ranked opponent Tulane has beaten since then was Indiana in the fifth place game of the Maui Invitational on Nov. 23, 1994 (The Wave had lost by 2 points to No. 13 Michigan in the opening round).

But I think the Wave has a chance to pull the upset. It will be hard because Houston locks down defensively, ranking second nationally to LSU in field goal percentage defense. EDIT: Houston is No. 1 now after LSU got torched by TCU, holding opponents to 36.3-percent shooting. Only two teams have shot better than 40.4 percent against the Cougars, and those were their only two losses. Alabama actually hit better than 50 percent in a win, and Wisconsin hit 46.9 percent.

Tulane, though, has shown the capability of being a terrific offensive team. Its first half against Cincinnati was outrageously good, as was a 10-minute stretch in the second half against UCF, its entire game against Tulsa and the first 10 minutes of its game against Wichita State three days ago. Obviously sustaining that level is not easy, particularly against a team as good as Houston, but Jalen Cook and Jaylen Forbes are capable of going off against anyone. Forbes, a rhythm shooter, will need to knock down his first couple of shots because he tends to fade offensively when he starts slowly. And Kevin Cross's versatility could give Houston problems. I don't see him scoring a whole bunch on the block, but if he draws defenders and hits open cutters, he will be effective. Tulane will get beaten on the board as always, but I like the way this team has competed for rebounds in the last two weeks.

If Cook and Forbes are scoring early, this could be a fun game. Houston has not seemed to be bothered by losing leading scorer Marcus Sasser for the year early as well as key reserve Tramon Mack, but there is not way a team can survive hits like that and not show the effects eventually. Maybe that time will be tomorrow night.

To be clear, I do not expect Tulane to win, but I do think it's conceivable, something I could not have said about any Wave team this century.

Any word on who is visiting?

Tulane will have beignets (from Cafe Du Monde) along with bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches for all fans while supplies last tomorrow morning (the doors open at 10 a.m. for the 11 a.m. tipoff), holding Ron Hunter to his word after the Wave's historic blowout of Tulsa on Wednesday. Wichita State is a much tougher opponent and will have both of the players back who missed the previous meeting--matchup nightmare Morris Udeze, a 6-8, 245-pound forward, and Dexter Dennis, a physical guard from Baker in Louisiana. Tulane won the first meeting by 1 point when Nobal Days took a charge in the final second.

Here is what Hunter said today:

"I'm really excited to have another home game here. We've had a two-game stand and I said earlier how important this week was for us, and we took care of business on Wednesday, and we'll have to do it again against a really good team on Saturday."

So there will be breakfast?

"Yes, there will be breakfast. I've also just been informed that I will have to buy 50 pizzas for the pep band that they are getting after the game. And then after the game I'm going to apply at a fast foot place because I need a side job to pay for all this."

Can you go through the actions after the game after you made the breakfast guarantee?

"My AD called a hundred times but I wouldn't take his calls because I knew he wanted some money from me for paying for this. No, people are really excited about it. The jokes that I've gotten from a lot of even coaching buddies said that hey, they can't make the game but can I send some breakfast over to them. But we just need people in here. I thought the last game was tremendous to have a crowd in here, and we're expecting another big crowd here--probably the largest crowd since i've been here--Saturday."

How important is getting a win tomorrow?

"We've said that. I don't shy away from it. I'm excited that actually we're playing games going into February, and I keep saying that. Our kids understand that. It's almost reversed. Usually Wichita State is coming in here and trying to hold on for a championship, but they are a good team. They didn't have everybody the first time we played them. They are really well coached. They have the (AAC) preseason player of the year (Tyson Etienne) on their roster (he is shooting an abysmal 33.9 percent and went 2 of 13 in a win against UCF this week), so we've got our work cut out of us, but we hope playing at home gives us a big boost."

How important was it to get contributions from a lot of different frontcourt guys against Tulsa?

"It's always important because we need everyone playing with confidence. You never know when you're time is going to come, and we always tell guys to stay ready. That's the beauty of this team. We have a guy (Quentin Scott) who doesn't play for two or three games and comes back and plays well. Nobal goes two or three games maybe not playing and then wins a game with a charge. That's what I love about this team--everybody's excited about playing and they understand their roles. When their times comes to play, they are ready to play."

What do want to see from such a young team?

"Consistency, I've been talking about that, that's when I'll know when we peaked, not that you have a great performance on Wednesday and come back and don't play well. That's what happens to young teams. We've got to get to the point where consistently for 40 minutes we're playing well and we're doing it in back-to-back games. That to me is when a team is starting to peak and you're getting older. That's why I kind of liked how we handled the other day. It wasn't a big rah-rah thing in the locker room after the game. We're almost expected to win and learning how to win. That's where we are in this program right now--learning how to win and the continuity of winning."

Are you worried about guys looking ahead to Houston next week?

"I'll be honest with you. I didn't even know we were playing Houston until you just said that. We haven't even talked about Houston. Right now we have Wichita State. Houston seems like a lifetiime from here now. We're worried about 11 o'clock, which is an earlier start for us, getting ready to play at 11 o'clock."

Is that early start a concern?

"That's why I'm buying breakfast for the Tulane students. They don't even get in until 11 o'clock in the morning, so I figure hey, don't go to bed, I'll pay for breakfast and you can cheer a little bit, then you can go home and take a nap."

As has been discussed on this board already, Tulane has 12 assistant coaches on the staff now, so two of the coaches will have to leave or be demoted unless one of the new hires is only going to be an analyst, which I find exceedingly unlikely.

I've got a pretty good inkling on what will happen, but not strong enough to publish or even put here when guys' careers are at stake. I will ask Fritz about it on the Zoom call for next week's February signing day, but it may be too early to get an answer. New blood was definitely necessary after the 2-10 season and after six years of struggling to beat bowl teams. Fritz has done what no other coach since Bowden left has done--beat bad teams consistently and convincingly--but Tulane has not gotten to the point where it beats contenders.

Ron Hunter insists Tulane's late-game offensive struggles have nothing to do with the heavy minutes Jaylen Forbes, Jalen Cook and Sion James are playing. Whether he's right or not, it doesn't really matter because he always plays his top guys a ton of minutes and is not going to change.

Still, I crunched the numbers to see what was going on yesterday and found out the the three guards, who rank 1-2-4 in the AAC in minutes played per game, are shooting a combined 16 of 62 in the last 10 minutes of regulation (plus the OT against ECU) in conference games. That includes their going 4 for 7 against Memphis, but it has been all downhill from there. They went 0 for 5 against Cincinnati, 6 for 16 against ECU, 0 for 4 against USF, 2 for 6 with what could have been a critical missed free throw in the final seconds against Wichita State, 2 for 11 against SMU and 2 for 13 against UCF, with one of the two makes being the meaningless 50-foot heave by Cook at the buzzer.

Individually, Cooks is 5 of 23 in those situations (21.7 percent compared to 48.8 percent in the first 30 minutes) Forbes is 5 of 22 (22.7 percent compared to 46.3 percent in the first 30 minutes) and James is 6 of 17 (35.3 percent even though he made his first three shots in the last 10 minutes against Memphis, compared to 50.0 percent in the first 30 minutes).

As a team, Tulane has scored 24, 12, 14, 20, 14, 10 and 11 points in the last 10 minutes of regulation in its seven league games. Of the five games when scoring was a major problem down the stretch, Tulane held on to beat Cincinnati and Wichita State but lost leads to East Carolina, SMU and UCF.

That's the background heading into tonight's game against hard-luck Tulsa, which is 0-6 in the AAC but lost five of those games by five points or fewer. With a win, Tulane would be 5-3 in the AAC and tied for third place with Temple (and UCF if it wins at Wichita State).

HUNTER

On Tulsa:

"It's like us. Every game they've had has been a close game (almost true, but they were blown out by Cincinnati in the lone exception). I think you're going to be a desperate team, and we better come playing desperate because they've lost six in the league and they don't want to go down and lose seven, so we've got to make sure that we play desperate because we're trying to fight for something also."

On similarities between two teams (close games, bottom two in in the AAC in rebounding, both near the top in forcing turnovers):

"A lot of similarities. They play a matchup (defense) also a little bit and Frank (Haith) is a very good coach. There's a fine line between winning and losing, especially at this level. You've got to make sure that you win your fair share of them. I'm glad we're playing this game at home. We've got to play well at home. The way the season is shaping up, if we can just win our home games it will put us in great shape in March."

On backcourt being 1,2 and 4 in minutes in AAC and if there is a correlation between that stat and their struggling to shoot at the end of games:

"Not when you're 18, 19 and 20 years old, and we had a week off last week. I would say the correlation would be because we had the week off (as the reason for the poor shooting down the stretch against UCF). With media timeouts, it seems like it takes forever. I don't buy into that (the heavy minutes being an issue). I've been doing this for 30 years and I've always played my guys, especially in league play, about eight guys. I'll rest them in the first half, but when they get to the second half they usually have to finish that. This isn't something new. We just sometimes have to make better decisions."

On Sion James missing a couple of out of control drives to the basket late against UCF:

"That's what I'm talking about with consistency, that we're making the same plays we were at the 17-minute mark that we're making at the 39-minute mark. There's a reason that you're open sometimes. I thought he was a monster with his aggression defensively, Sion is still 18 years old and still trying to figure this whole thing out, and really Tulane. These guys are trying to figure out how to be a championship team. Just two (actually three) years ago we didn't win a game, and now we're talking about trying to fight for a championship. Inside of that growth, you are going to have these (ups and downs). This team next year will have gone through so many things, they'll learn it, but you've got to go through those things to get to it."

On Cook playing huge role after riding bench for LSU last year:

"Yeah, when the game plan is for you every single night, you've got to pick and choose where to do certain things, especially at the offensive end. That's the thing that he's learning. Each team is doing somethign different to him, so he's got to be able to counteract some of those things, and we have to help him with that also. It's all part of the process in that regard. I'm smiling now because I sat here two years ago and thought, man, can this really happen here? We're in a situation now where for a very long time, Tulane basketball is back. You can believe that."

On Forbes rough shooting against USF:

"Yeah, sometimes we overcomplicate things. When the ball goes in, you win, and when it doesn't go in, you lose. As coaches sometimes we want to give all these formulas, but we were 5 of 25 (on 3-point shots). When you're 5 of 25 from the 3-point line you probably don't win many of those games, but our defense held us in there for a very long time and that's what keeps us in games. When we make those shots, we win. That's what I told the guys today. Sometimes we overcomplicate it, but when you make shots, you win."

On two-game home stretch against Tulsa and Wichita State:

"I think this is the biggest home stretch I've had since I've been at Tulane. If you come out and win these two games, you put yourself in great shape. It won't be easy. This is a very hard league, but we're playing at home. If we can get these two wins, it really sets us up for March."

NM