Tulane is one of the top contenders for the Franklin (La.) High edge-rusher

MORE: https://tulane.rivals.com/news/louisiana-edge-rusher-gharin-stansbury-moving-closer-toward-a-decision

Apparently Tulane has signed Georgia Tech defensive back, Ajani Kerr, as a graduate transfer for 2020. Kerr played in 29 games for Tech over a three year period after redshirting as a freshman and has one year of eligibility remaining. He was hurt this past year and only played in 5 of the first 7 games before sitting out the rest of the season. If healthy he clearly adds some depth and experience to a very thin defensive backfield.

By my count, he gives us 82 players now on scholarship assuming everyone returns. This also gives us 25 players for the 2020 recruiting cycle including 18 freshmen, two JC transfers, and five graduate transfers. Assuming my numbers are correct and all of the “newbies” enroll and are counted toward the 25 total, that would mean we are not able to sign any more graduate transfers including the much hoped for quarterback that Greenie fans have anticipated.

Does anyone have a better count or explanation of exactly our status on additional signees? For example, there has been speculation that Kyle Myers, the DB from Florida State, has not and may not enroll. That would certainly explain the need for another DB, but what are the facts of the matter? Any credible info would be appreciated.

Roll Wave!!!

DB from Texas

Previous offers include Houston, SMU, Washington State

Junior College transfer. Offensive Line-6 feet 4 315 lbs. Very good Student. I believe he played at Mississippi Gulf Coast. Not much more information.

I see that Tulane athletics finished 4th nationally within Division 1 in the NCAA’s helper helper challenge which is based on the number of hours athletes devoted to community service during the 2019-2020 school year. I recognize that community service is a requirement at Tulane but don’t think that fact in any way diminishes this achievement. Out of the couple hundred schools in the NCAA’s Division 1, that is still quite an accomplishment. From a New Orleans perspective, we should also be proud that UNO, who also has a community service requirement, finished first nationally in this competition.

Good on ya Privateers, but, as always, Roll Wave!!!!

https://www.helperhelper.com/2019-2020-full-report/

New commit from St. Charles HS, Mandel Eugene, LB.

I wrote the Tulane previews for Athlon's and Lindy's but had nothing to do with where the Wave was predicted to finish or its all-conference picks.

Athlon's picks Tulane fifth out of 11 teams behind Cincinnati, UCF, Memphis and SMU, with a 6-6 regular-season record for the third straight year and 4-4 league mark. The Wave plays all but Cincinnati in that group, also missing 10th-place USF, which Athlon's picks to go 1-7 along with East Carolina.

Athlon's has Tulane playing in the Gasparilla Bowl against NC State and predicts Cincinnati will get the access birth from the Group of Five conferences, playing in the Peach Bowl against Georgia.

Patrick Johnson is the only Tulane player on the first team, which is fair the way these lists are compiled. The running backs are outstanding as a group but none of them will get enough carries, and no one outside of the Tulane world knows who Tyjae Spears is.

Corey Dublin andCorey Dauphine are on the second team. You could make a case for Dublin being hire, but I think he is appropriately placed.

Cameron Sample and Jaylon Monroe are on the third team. Sample would be higher if he had been healthier in the past. Monroe still has to prove he can be consistent.

Amare Jones made the third team as a specialist. His return numbers were not spectacular last season, and jack-of-all-trade types like Jones usually don't fare well on these lists.

I expect Tulane to have more first-and second-teamers on the list that matters--the year-end All-AAC team.

Athon's ranks Tulane's recruiting class as the second best behind Cincinnati.

I have not bought a copy of Lindy's, but I know it picks Tulane eighth.

Just committed this afternoon. From Memphis. Had offers from Indiana and Vandy among others.

I will post more when I know more. Hope to reach him today or tomorrow.

Nothing is certain in drafts, but it appears Hudson Haskin will be the only Tulane player taken in the draft, which starts today at 6 p.m. with the first round and concludes tomorrow with rounds 2 through 5, starting at 4 p.m. on ESPN2 and the MLB Network.

Haskin was the last pick in the third round in the only five-round mock I unearthed and is rated the No. 74 prospect in another analysis, which corresponds to the second pick of the fourth round. Regardless, he figures to be gone if he is drafted. The draft value (signing bonus) for the last pick of the third round is $577,100, and the signing bonus for the last pick in the draft is $324,100. There are 130 total picks.

Undrafted players cannot receive a signing bonus of more than 20,000. Unless the draft projections and player rankings are wrong, Braden Olthoff will not be taken, and it is hard to see him leaving for $20,000. He still has two years of college eligibility left since all players' years are not counting for 2020, and he could pitch his way into a high draft position next season by coming anywhere close to what he did in five stars this year.

Some of Tulane's fifth-year seniors like Grant Mathews may leave because they already are getting old, although it is unclear what minor league play will look like this year. The most likely option is teams having a taxi squad that practices and plays at their training camp facility or in their own facility without being part of the active squad.

But the key is Olthoff. Tulane's outlook with him coming back would be significantly different than its outlook without him.

Here is a story about what will happen to guys who are not drafted:

https://sports.yahoo.com/what-happe...-could-create-a-wild-wild-west-003551599.html

Here is the first part of my long interview with Speer. There is plenty more to come.

In this unprecedented time, what have you been doing in the summer with these guys?

"When this whole thing started back in March, it was a Friday the 20th, well, the week prior to that, that Monday prior to that, we had shifted to 10 in the weight room only and all this. It was so new and everything, but Tuesday we got word that Friday we are shutting it down until further notice? A lot of people were saying June 1, July 1, but it was certainly with the school canceling and going to all on-line classes, it became kind of obvious that June 1 might be the earliest possible date we could back in, and that made sense because we were scheduled to start summer (voluntary workouts) anywhere on June 1. That just made sense. My staff and I wrote a program basically to carry us from that Monday (March 23) through June 1. Around that week we also started shutting down gyms, so we knew that was going to be a big problem. The program we wrote originally was for going home kind of like you do a recruiting program. They've got access to high school gyms and whatever. Well it became apparent they were shutting everything down, so we got together as a staff and drew up a body-weight workout and we didn't do it for (just) football. We did it for all athletes. We even had some administrators that wanted it so they could work out for a month. Then we updated it. And then the strength coaches that worked with the other teams could program how they saw fit, and a lot of them used the June 1 deadline as well.

"So that's what we did. A couple of weeks ago it became apparent that June 15 would be our starting date and the June 1 program was going to end, so I updated the program in a two-week cycle to get the guys to the 15th of June."

How much have they been able to follow the program?

"Well when this stuff first went down, the feedback was nobody had a gym. We've got two guys, one guy's dad is a gym owner, so he was fine, and another guy's dad used to own a gym, so he had a pretty good garage set up, but then a lot of our guys (would say) 'my dad's got a pair of 25-pound dumb bells or some kind of mix and match of that, but most of our guys had nothing. At the very beginning guys were going out and buying stuff. Guys were building squat racks and things like that, which was awesome, but for the most part, most of our guys as far as weight equipment goes, it was very sparse. I had one guy call me wanting to know how can I go about pushing a truck, so I gave him some advice on the truck-push program. We tried to be creative, but the initial feedback was they didn't have the means to do it. As this thing started to evolve real early, we told them the absolute most important thing right now is that you're running. They were in offseason shape. We had five spring practices. They were in good shape. It's easy to kick back and don't go do training. We talked to our guys almost daily. The strength coaches, we split up the call lists. We didn't call anybody on the weekend. I made a couple of weekend calls, but for the most part our guys got talked to very regularly. A lot of it was how's the workout going, but a lot of it was just small-talk stuff. That was really the best thing about the calls. It was just hey, how are you doing, how's your families, things like that. It was good.

"For the most part we're at the end of it now, so we're excited to get back in. I've got to get tested on Friday, me and my staff. Our guys will roll in Monday or Tuesday and we look for Wednesday the 17th to be our first day to work out as a team."

How much time do you estimate it will take to get back back where they would have been?

"There's no way to know until I see it. I don't even want to guess. There's no way to get that training back. It's gone. It's never coming back, so the worst thing you can do in my opinion is try to rush it and make up ground. We're not taking that approach. We've taking it as we've got a long time, let's write this thing the right way, implement this thing the right way and get our guys in shape for fall camp and through fall camp. That's priority No. 1. And when I'm talking about in shape and in condition, a lot of people think cardiovascular. I'm talking ankles, knees and hips. If you think about it, some of our guys may not have made a whole lot of cuts, so it's the ankles, knees and hips stuff we're going to have to address early on and work through that.

"If you look at the NFL back when they had the lockout in 2011, there was no football from the middle of March until the end of July, just over four months, and then when they started, they had 17 days from the beginning of training camp to the first preseason game. There were 10 Achilles tendon injuries in the first 12 days of camp, which is obviously way higher than it was normally. And these are the best in the world at what they do, but it showed if you're not doing the movements, bad things can happen. We're focusing early on on just getting able to operate again."

They are talking about starting preseason practice in the middle of July to give teams extra time to prepare for the season. Are you in favor of that?

"There's been all kinds of talk about all kinds of things, and we'll be ready whatever they say. If coach comes in next week and says we'll get to start some phase of preseason camp on July 15, that's fine with us. We'll just adjust. I'm not sure it would actually change a lot for us right now. It would change once camp got here, but it's not like we can speed it up. We'll adapt, improvise and be fine with whatever they decide. I will say this. Normally as a strength coach I would be not for that (an early start to practice). I'd be heck no, because like all the rest of the strength coaches in the world, I want as much time with the guys as possible. But in this case, I don't know that (starting practice earlier) is a bad thing because the main goal in all of this is being ready for football. It's not being ready for a bunch of running or being ready for a bunch of weightlifting. It's being ready for a whole bunch of football, so in our case I don't think that's a worst-case scenario, whereas in years past if we had a four-week summer I'd be very concerned."

In terms of the social distancing rules, how much is the new weight room equipped to handle this era?

"We've got to have limits, but it's not going to change what we do as far as order of exercise. My staff, we're all going in and we're going to do some re-arranging and our goal is to keep our guys from having to move around the room very much. If we can have a guy come in and dirty up his bar, his weights, his racks and not cross each other up, that's what we're going to do. It should not affect us from a well, they can't lift this way. No, we're still going to train the way we train."

How big a difference is it from if you'd had to do this in the old cramped weight room?

"Not even close. Not even close."

I saw an announcement on the Olineman from Duke but I can’t remember seeing one on the DB.

Just got off the phone with him. We talked about 35 minutes and he called me back to praise Keon Howard, whom he said he had been an "phenomenal leader" in the offseason and someone he had neglected to mention earlier. I will transcribe the interview tomorrow and post a portion of it then and the rest of it Wednesday.

The Tulane players will have their first workout on campus on June 17, and while acknowledging the difficulties they all have faced during the pandemic, Speer anticipates everyone being up to speed by the time they need to be. The rest I'll save for the transcription.

I talked to Travis Jewett today and am supposed to talk to Kyle Speer tomorrow. Feel free to post suggested questions for that one, and I promise not to erase the interview before I transcribe it this this time.

I had not talked to Jewett since my postgame interviews after Tulane beat Lamar 6-3 on Wednesday, March 11 to improve to 15-2, but with the MLB five-round draft coming up next week, this was a good time. We talked for 35 minutes, though some of it was off the record. Here is the first part of the on-the-record interview.

Do you anticipate Braden Olthoff's being on the team next year? Obviously a lot depends on the draft, but some projections have him not being taken.

"None of us are scouting directors so we don't exactly know what all of the clubs are thinking. Obviously five-round draft, so it's going to be tough for kids to get drafted because they've just pretty much whacked it (there will be 160 picks, with the first round and its 37 picks on Wednesday and the other 123 picks on Wednesday) If you don't get drafted, the most you can get (as a signing bonus) is $20,000. They can give you anywhere from a dollar to $20,000. Without speaking for him, I'll tell you that if he's not drafted in the five rounds, you'll see him again (in a Tulane uniform)."

He was untouchable in four starts, but is the knock on him just the mph on his fastball?

"Yeah. It just seems now is the new normal is everybody throwing 100 and all that. if you tried to pick him apart, that might be something. The other thing, too, is with this pandemic not a lot of people knew about him. A guy that never pitched any Division I innings, through the first month of the season who's this guy doing his thing and doing it well, not a lot of people got in there to see him. So what does that mean for his draft stock? To be determined. I'm sure his name's up on everybody's board. Now whether he fits inside of what they're wanting to do in a five-round draft, I'm not sure. I think that's certainly a dream of his, but at the same time I think he's grounded enough that he realizes he's in a good spot educationally and athletically. He has now put himself on the map, and if he comes back next year, it will be 'we've got to get in there and see this guy,' and he can push himself up that way. Right now we're all just kind of in a holding pattern trying to figure out. From out standpoint, selfishly, we'd love to have him back. We're getting better, man. It just takes time to get the roster going and get the players and get the monies where they belong. We're just getting better talent wise, and we still want gentlemen that want to play in the Big Leagues. That's something all these guys want to do. As long as it's the right situation for him, we'll support him, but boy, we'd sure love to have him back."

Everybody is important, but Olthoff is a true difference-maker.

"Yeah. As you know, the dirt circle 60 feet and six inches away is the key (to baseball) and such a big deal. He's certainly a talented young man, and he's just an invested person. He does good at school. He does good with all the tangible things about preparation and how he trains. He deserves what he's getting."

What is the word on Hudson Haskin? The mock drafts do not have him going in the first round.

"The good thing for him, too, is deep into the second round you get a million bucks. I think (Connor) Pellerin's name is floating around a little bit, too. He had a good (summer performance at) Cape (Cod) and has a good arm. I'm not sure, but he could (get drafted). I know about as much as you do when it comes to that. I know that both Braden and Hudson love it here and are not opposed to coming back. If that's the deal, they would be great. The thing is, they all are still in good positions. Hudsonas a draft-eligible sophomore, and (Olthoff will be a junior again). As long as they get what is fair and can take them out of this experience, I have to be in favor of it. We talked to these guys it's not about sitting around and telling your grandchildren that you played pro ball. It's telling your grandchildren that you made a living playing pro ball. Just the maturity and the reps and the education and the growth of the mind, you just want to make sure you're ready. And part of being ready is getting opportunities, and opportunities a lot of times come with the value of the signing bonus. As much as they invest in themselves, they need to get that from somebody else so they do have a chance to hang in there and try to make a living at it."

How about the seniors? They are allowed to come back, but how will that work, particularly with the redshirt seniors?

"I don't know about the redshirt seniors (Ty Johnson, Grant Mathews, Jonathon Artigues, Luke Glancy and Trent Johnson), but I think we probably will have a least a couple of seniors back (Keagan Gillies and Robert Price are the only two true seniors on the roster). Now which ones, I'm not so sure now. Ty Johnson's getting some attention in the draft, and Grant's been drafted before and continues to put up good numbers, so I can see some of those guys, Artigues possibly. We'll see. What I'm really waiting for now is the NCAA to make it's final decision on how many players you can have. Who's coming in and who's coming back? Only nine guys play at a time. In order to have too many, I'm not really prescribing to 50 (players). Kids are smart. They understand there's a situation at hand. We're going to have to see how it all unfolds and make some moves accordingly, but it's a tough time. And there's other logistical things in there, too. I'm sure budget cuts are going to be part of the pandemic. Social distancing, space, just in terms of our locker room."

Could Gillies be back?

"Yes."

Is Trevor Minder not projected as a possible draft pick?

"Correct. That I haven't heard or seen. I've obviously spoken to him, too. With the seniors who had exhausted eligibility and then the junior draft class plus Hudson, I was anticipating in a normal 40-round draft that we were probably going to lose them all. But now we're possibly going to get them all back. That should tell you right there where the logjam is coming from."

What is the range of roster size that the NCAA will allow next year in your view?

"That's a good question. The baseline basement would be 35, which is your normal number, plus any senior that returned, so if you had a team of five seniors returning, you'd be fine with 40. That's like a given. But is there going to be even a little more relief than that. That is the question. Not being too opinionated here, when you have a pandemic and you give everybody a year back when there's no transfer rule in place, when seniors are coming back and there's a five-round draft, there probably needs to be some kind of relief because we're talking about baseball careers that can be affected--people on college teams and then certainly high school and junior college kids coming in."

Currently we are looking to start the season with 1 sr qb and 2 true freshmen. An injury to Keon would be devastating to the season's prospects. But the list of currently eligible prospects in the Transfer portal is slim. What do yall think?

1) Trey Lowe III from WV seems to be the best of the bunch. He is immediately eligible as he is a R-SO who graduated. A dual threat guy who was a high 3* coming out of high school in Bolivar, TN.

2) Jack Allison is also from WV and was a 4* recruit coming out of high school

3)Reid Herring a transfer from ECU....

4) ??????

With no “live sports” to discuss, I thought some might like to look back at Tulane players in the pros.

According to the Tulane media guide, over 160 Tulane players have continued on to play pro football with about 130 actually suiting up in the NFL. Although a number of players had sterling careers and several were selected to the 1st team All Pro team and multiple pro bowls, none of our alums have been voted into the NFL Hall of Fame.

Comparing players from different eras, different playing conditions and rules, and different levels of competition is fraught with potential error. I’ve tried to select the 10 former Tulane players who I think had the most successful NFL careers, though I’m sure I’ve overlooked some or simply have a different view of the term “success.” In general I’ve given more weight to longevity and the success a given player had against his peers rather than other factors such as rushing, passing, receiving, or tackling statistics which vary greatly from decade to decade. I’ve also avoided ranking “my ten” because I found it to be too hard. Of course others may choose to do so at their leisure. Anyway, here’s my ten in alphabetical order.

Steve Foley Foley played in the NFL for 11 years and though he never made a pro bowl, he was key player to some very good Denver Bronco teams.

Matt Forte Forte recently retired after a distinguished 11 year career that saw him selected to two pro bowls.

Rodney Holman Holman was selected to three pro bowls during a 14 year career as one of the best tight ends in the NFL

Tommy Mason Mason was selected #1 overall in the NFL and #3 overall in AFL draft in 1961 making him undoubtedly the highest rated Tulane player ever to come out of college. While not matching those expectations, he went on to an 11 year career, being selected twice as a 1st team All Pro and three time to the Pro Bowl.

Max McGee McGee will always be remember for his performance, while hungover, during the 1st Super Bowl, but he was a terrific player through an 11 year career and was selected once to the Pro Bowl.

Mewelde Moore One of the favorite players of Tulane fans over the past 30-40 years, Moore played in the NFL for 8 years on some very good teams. He was seldom the featured back, however, and was never voted to the Pro Bowl.

Eddie Murray Murray had the longest career of any Tulane footballer, lasting 18 years in the NFL. He was named as the kicker on the All Pro team one time and also selected to two Pro Bowls.

Richie Petitbon. Petitbon is a name that many Tulane fans overlook when thinking of top NFL players but he played for 14 years and appeared in more Pro Bowls (4) than any other Tulane player. He was also named to the All Pro Team one time.

Eddie Price. Eddie Price played before my time but I actually met him through my father in the early 50’s when the Giants came to Washington to play the Redskins. He only played six years but during those six years, he was named 1st team All Pro twice and selected to the Pro Bowl three times. He led the league in rushing in 1951 and when he retired was #3 on the NFL’s all time rushing list.

Lionel Washington Washington played in the NFL for 15 seasons, more than any other Tulanian save Eddie Murray. He was never named to a Pro Bowl or All Pro team, but as a starter for some very good Oakland Raider teams through much of his career, I think he deserves consideration.

Unfortunately, my list does not include any QB’s, LB’s or Linemen but not from a lack of looking. Shaun King (6 years), Patrick Ramsey (9 years) and J.P. Losman (7 years) all had their time in the sun as starting QB’s in the NFL, but I don’t think their performance was enough to include them in the top ten. Similarly, linemen like Don Joyce on defense (12 years and 1 Pro Bowl selection), Don Maggs (11 years), and Eric Laakso (7 years) were very good pro players but I didn’t think quite qualified. Tony Sardisco is another I considered who played for 7 years in the AFL and made the ALL AFL 1st team twice. But who would he replace in my ten.

Richard Harvey (11 years), Burnell Dent (7 years), and Rusty Chambers (6 years) were excellent linebackers and special teamers who also deserve consideration. Jerald Sowell (10 years) was primarily a blocking back but a key player for the Jets during his time. Another of my favorites was Eric Thomas, possibly (along with Lionel Washington) the fastest player in Tulane history, played 9 years and was selected to one pro bowl before injuries derailed what might have been a great career. I’m still perplexed that a few years ago, when Tulane named an all-star team of the past 25 years, he was not included. But, like I mentioned earlier, everyone has their own opinion and own memories.

I’m sure I’ve overlooked some great players and I intentionally didn’t consider guys like Dub Jones and Bubby Brister who finished their college careers elsewhere, though I don’t think either would be in my top ten.

Anyhow, I hope we can soon move the discussion to our current Tulane team and preparation for the 2020 season.

Roll Wave!!!

Just posted it.

https://tulane.rivals.com/news/commitment-spotlight-bailey-despanie

It may not come through totally in the story, but he handled himself very well in interview. He's sharp.

I will do a position-by-position review after Tulane's five spring practices, looking ahead to the season.

QUARTERBACKS

With Christian Daniels moving to TE/WR, Tulane began spring drills with two candidates for the starting job--redshirt junior Keon Howard and true freshman Michael Pratt. The third QB getting reps, Josh Holl, is not a serious prospect. I liked what I saw from Howard and Pratt, although I still expect the coaches to bring in a graduate transfer in the summer. They want to win every year, and they cannot be certain it would happen next fall without a proven guy, and particularly now that spring practice was cut short by two-thirds.

1) Howard

Howard arrived at Tulane as an inaccurate passer when he transferred from Southern Miss two years ago. It was hard to gauge him last fall because he was operating the scout-team offense, but he definitely improved by the start of spring drills. He loves to run and is faster than Justin McMillan, but it is impossible to tell if he has McMillan's knack for running at the right time in non-contact drills. McMillan was outstanding as a runner last year--far better than Jonathan Banks ever was in that department. McMillan had his moments as a passer but was inconsistent and struggled mightily in adverse conditions (wind, cold, etc.). Howard is by no means perfect when he throws, but he was accurate enough in the spring to indicate he can get the job done if he throws the same way in games.

The red flag with Howard is his two years at Southern Miss. Yes, he was younger then and in a totally different system, but he practiced well enough to earn the starting job for a stretch as a freshman and sophomore. In his first start as a freshman, in November against Old Dominion, he fumbled on the Golden Eagles' opening possession, leading to a touchdown, and fumbled on the next snap after that, leading to another touchdown. After a three-and-out, he threw an interception. USM trailed 35-7 at halftime, and although he warmed up in the second half, leading three touchdown drives, he lost two more fumbles on sacks and was sacked for a safety in a 51-35 loss. He finished 12 of 24 for 230 yards.

In his next start, against North Texas State, he threw an interception on the second series and lost a fumble at the end of a long run later in the first half as USM fell behind 20-0. The Golden Eagles scored a touchdown after that as a result of a trick play he was involved in and tied it in the third quarter on back-to-back drives when Howard did not throw or run (first one) and another when he went 1 of 4 in the air. USM eventually went ahead 23-20, but Howard threw two interceptions in the fourth quarter in a 29-23 loss. He finished 10 of 26 for 135 yards with three picks. USM went to quarterback Nick Mullens in its season finale and used Howard only as a wildcat QB.

In 2017, Howard was more effective, although he got benched for Kwadra Griggs at halftime of the opener against Kentucky when USM trailed 14-3 and was the backup for the next month until Griggs suffered a wrist injury. Howard started the next five games, going 15 of 20 for 212 yards and three touchdowns against UTSA, 16 of 27 for 211 yards with one TD and two interceptions against UTEP and 32 of 53 for 301 yards with three TDs and two interceptions against La Tech--all victories--while also rushing for 63 yards on 13 against La Tech. When he threw an 84-yard TD on the first play the next week against UAB, he appeared to be rolling. But he struggled the rest of the way in a 30-12 loss, giving way to Griggs in the fourth quarter. He started against Tennessee the following week but was benched in the fourth quarter after turning it over twice in a row and following that with three straight three-and-outs. Griggs went in and immediately led a 90-yard TD drive to cut the deficit to 24-10. Tennessee snapped a four-game losing streak in the 24-10 win. Griggs then started the rest of the year, leading USM to three consecutive wins before a bowl loss to FSU.

Howard, then, was benched three times in two years after earning the starting job. That's a concern because it indicates he did not play as well as he practiced.

2) Pratt

Pratt had an eye-opening first practice with his quick decisions and good arm, making throws I had not seen since Tanner Lee (also in practice). He slowed down a bit as the defense adjusted over the next four practices, and his third one was downright rough. He looks the part of a quarterback who will be a big-time performer down the road, but it is hard to trust him to do it in year 1. The difference between college and high school is tremendous in terms of decision-making and the caliber of opposition.

I love the way Pratt uses his running backs as receivers since they are the most talented players on the offense. But he trusted his arm too much, throwing into coverage over the middle of the field and leading to a collision that might have have taken Ygenio Booker out for the next three practices. He also is not as fast a runner as Howard. When he scrambled, the difference was evident even though QBs were not allowed to be hit. Maybe his game speed will be better, but that's hard to judge.

Through five practices, Howard was the better option, as you would expect of a fourth-year guy. If he can be the running threat McMillan was--with more speed--and make accurate passes, Tulane could win with him next fall. Given his history, though, that's a big if. As for Pratt, I consider him more of a 2021 prospect who got an early leg up on Country Day star Justin Ibieta. Maybe Pratt's learning curve is really fast, but five spring practices were not enough to prove it.

Bailey Despanie of Carencro High Committed today!

That announcement came this afternoon and bodes well for the football season. College presidents and administrators had made it very clear that students needed to be on campus attending class to justify having a football season.

The semester will end Nov. 24 right before what normally would be Thanksgiving break.

Tulane hopes to begin practicing in mid-July to meet the six-week practice window that will be available because of the loss of practice and conditioning due to the pandemic. I'm still skeptical about the season starting on time, but this is all positive news on that front.

Was suspended indefinitely for a fight and arrest on Monday.

This would have been the day we learned where Tulane was playing in a regional.

Obviously nothing was guaranteed by a 15-2 start against generally low-rated competition, but it was clear to me this team had a lot of assets that were not going to disappear. I would have loved to see what this team could have done in the postseason with Olthoff in the opener and a potent lineup capable of doing damage for the entire regional.

I have requested an interview with Jewett that hopefully will take place this week to get his take on the future and who he expects to return.

With essentially no sports going on and this and other Tulane athletic sites either void of any discussion or focused on non-sports issues, I thought I’d take a look at Tulane football coaches during my time as a fan.

I stepped on the Tulane campus in August of 1962 as a true freshman and have followed the fortunes of the Wave ever since. Tommy O’Boyle was starting his first year as Tulane coach and over the intervening 58 years, he has been followed by 13 more. Two coaches, our best (Tommy Bowden) and worst (Wally English) were at Tulane for two years each. Chris Scelfo had the longest tenure, having coached the Wave for 8 seasons. During those 58 seasons, we’ve won 239 and lost 414 and won only 48 games against Div 1 teams with winning records for the season. Bennie Ellender logged 8 of those wins, leading all others. Scelfo won six, and Jim Pittman and Willy Fritz beat five teams each that won more than they lost. O’Boyle and Bob Toledo were the only ones whose squads never beat a team with a winning record. We’ve also had only had 14 winning years during that span. Six coaches had two winning seasons each: Pittman, Ellender, Vince Gibson, Bowden, Scelfo, and Fritz. Two others, Larry Smith and C.J Johnson, had one winning season each. Although Mack Brown was 6-5 in his last regular season, his team lost in the Independence Bowl to finish 6-6. Only Bowden completed his tenure at Tulane with a winning record while Gibson completed his three seasons 17-17. Four coaches, Pittman, Smith, Brown, and Bowden departed Tulane to “greener pastures.” While nine were simply let out to “pasture” (fired). Fritz, of course, is our current coach, who hopefully will join Bowden in the “winners” column and retire with honors from Tulane. While some of our hires have been “head scratchers” particularly in retrospect, most had something in their resumes prior to coming to Tulane that suggest possible success. My view of each of them:

Tommy O’Boyle. (1962-1965) A Former Tulane player, O’Boyle had been a head coach at Southwest Missouri State where he compiled a record of 16-4-1 in two years and then was an assistant coach for a number of years at Kansas State, Duke, and the University of Miami before returning to New Orleans as an assistant to Andy Pilney in 1961. The next year he was named as the head coach, which appeared to be a pretty good hire at the time. His first team, however, which went 0-10, is often cited as the worst in Tulane history but, despite the record, I seriously doubt that. The schedule (Stanford, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Vandy, and LSU) feature four top 10 teams plus Georgia Tech who was in the top 20. Once two platoons were allowed by the NCAA, O’Boyle put most of his best athletes on defense and came up with the nickname, “the posse,” whose players sported a hangman’s noose on their helmets. That clearly would not be allowed today. After a 2-8 season in 1965 and an overall record of 6-33-1, culminating in the third of the three 62-0 defeats by LSU, O’Boyle was fired.

Jim Pittman. (1966-1970). Pittman played his college football at Mississippi State where he served as an assistant coach for several years after graduation. He then spent a year as an assistant at the University of Washington before moving to the University of Texas where he coached for the next eight years, the last few as Darrell Royal’s chief assistant. Having played Tulane each of the previous four years at Texas, he knew what he was getting into and he was almost universally hailed as a “great hire” right from the beginning. Pittman’s first year benefited from Tulane’s departure from the Southeast Conference and against a much “dumbed down” schedule, his team went 5-4-1. Still, despite complaints by many fans about the schedule, the Wave beat Virginia Tech (8-2-1), Texas A&M (4-5-1), Virginia (4-6), Cincinnati (3-7), Vanderbilt (1-9) and tied Miami (8-2-1). Losses were to Stanford (5-5), Georgia Tech (9-2), Florida (9-2), and LSU (5-4-1). Today, that would be a formidable schedule indeed. Pittman followed that up with two losing seasons before going 8-4 in the “Year of the Green” in 1970, including a Liberty Bowl upset of Colorado. Tulane’s four losses were to teams with a combined 35-13 record. After the season, Pittman was hired away by TCU where he suffered a fatal heart attack during his seventh game for the “Horned Frogs.” He was known as a very tough coach and I can attest to the harshness of his practices while he was at Tulane. I witnessed them almost daily passing the football field to baseball practice. Hollering, cursing, and blood-letting were common. Quite a few players quit during his first spring.

Bennie Ellender (1971-1975). Ellender was also a very popular hire when he became Tulane’s coach. A QB at Tulane in the 1940’s he came to the Wave after eight years at Arkansas State where he went 52-20-4. In 1970 his team won the College Division National Championship, going 11-0 with Ellender named National Coach of the Year. In his first year at Tulane, the Wave went 3-8 with wins against Texas Tech, North Carolina, and Pittsburgh. An embarrassing loss to William & Mary, being defeated by Rice and Vandy, and being annihilated by Ohio University before the smallest crowd I ever personally witnessed at Tulane Stadium put a damper on the season. Still we played close games on the road against Georgia (11-1) and Notre Dame (8-2) before losing once again to LSU in the season finally. In 1972 we went 6-5 defeating only one team with a winning record but, in a harbinger of things to come, closed out the season by losing to LSU by the score of 9-3, a game which could have gone either way. The following year the Wave went 9-3 highlighted by our first win, 14-0, in over a quarter century against a 9-3 LSU team. Sadly, the season ended in our being routed in the Blue Bonnet bowl by Houston’s veer offense. The next two years Ellender’s teams went 5-6 and 4-7 despite 5-0 and 4-2 starts respectively. The first year’s fall coincided with the season-ending injury to QB Steve Foley and the Wave never recovered. Ellender was fired after the 1974 season, a decision that is still controversial among many Tulane fans

Larry Smith (1976-1979). Larry Smith was our third straight coach with an obviously solid pedigree. Having played football at Bowling Green, Smith immediately went into coaching, first at the high school level and then at Miami U (Ohio), Michigan, and Arizona. Known as a no nonsense defensive coach, he spent his last three years at Arizona as Assistant Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator before signing on with Tulane. At Tulane Smith was very organized and efficient but his first three years yielded a 9-24 record before the “break out” year of 1979 when the Wave behind Roch Hontas, Eric Laakso, Rodney Holman, Eddie Murray and others went 9-3 culminating in a heartbreaking loss 9-6 in the rain to Penn State in the Liberty Bowl. The highlight of the season was a 24-13 win over LSU in a game nowhere near as close as the score. After the season, Smith was hired away by Arizona to be followed by Head coaching stints at USC and Missouri before he retired.

Vince Gibson (1980-1982). When hired by Tulane, Gibson had just completed his thirteenth consecutive season as a head coach in college at Kansas State and Louisville. Although he’d only had two winning seasons in those 13 years and was fired from both jobs, he was fairly well regarded in the coaching profession and was still only 47 years old. Known as “Vegas Vince” because of his gambling style, he wasn’t an obvious hire. His three year tenure resulted in one bowl game and an overall 17-17 record including two wins against hated rival, LSU. Like Ellender’s firing, Gibson’s release is still controversial in some quarters, made even more so by the man who replaced him

Wally English (1983-1984). Wally English played his college football at Louisville and coached in the NFL for five years prior to joining Tulane. He spent five years as offensive backfield coach with the Detroit Lions and was QB and WR coach for two more years with the Miami Dolphins. These probably seemed like good credentials to take over his first college gig and first time elevation to head coaching, but it didn’t turn out that way. English’s tenure at Tulane was probably the most disruptive in the history of the school. It started prior to the first game when a Tulane student, evidently at English’s request, was caught spying on a Mississippi State practice. At roughly the same time, Wally’s son, Jon, transferred to Tulane after stints at Michigan State, Iowa State, Allegheny Community College, and Delgado Junior College. The NCAA ruled Jon ineligible but he sued the NCAA and Tulane to be allowed to play, which he did. His father put him in the starting lineup over Bubby Brister who promptly transferred and eventually spent a long career in the NFL. Eventually English lost his suit and Tulane was forced to forfeit any games they won during his time with the Wave. Compounding the problems, Wally had almost daily battles within the athletic department as he brought in close to 20 junior college transfers, many of whom didn’t bother going to class and, few of whom, ever saw the field of play. He was fired after two seasons and a 7-15 record (not counting forfeits) claiming he only wanted to start winning quickly and the administration hamstrung him at every effort. While the latter has a ring of truth, I personally believe he was the worst coach in Tulane history. Considering some of the competition for that dubious title, that’s saying a lot.

He seriously considered Tulane before signing with Maryland. Don't know if Tulane was in the picture this time, but he chose Western Kentucky.

Interesting that D.J. Owens, who last played for the team as a sophomore in 2017, and Phabion Woodard, who left after his first year in 2016, stuck around and graduated from Tulane.

FOOTBALL

Darius Bradwell

Larry Bryant

Corey Dauphine

Corey Dublin

Geron Eatherly

Merek Glover

Lawrence Graham

P.J. Hall

Sean Harper

Mike Hinton

P.J. Hurst

Malik Lawal

Jalen McCleskey

Keyshawn Mcleod

Justin McMillan

Christian Montano

Darnell Mooney

Coby Neenan

Darrell Owens

Jacob Robertson

De’Andre Williams

Phabion Woodard

Ben Bratcher

Will Harper

Randy Harvey

Andrew Zuckerman

BASKETBALL

K.J Lawson

Grant Quinn

Nic Thomas

BASEBALL

Keagan Gillies

Luke Glancy

Ty Johnson

Grant Mathews

Robert Price

Connor Whelen

With seniors being granted an additional year of eligibility, you would assume many may come back, but I don’t believe that will be the case.
Anything can change over the summer, but I can say with confidence as of now Ty Johnson, Grant Matthews, Luke Glancy, likely Artigues will not be returning.

Expect Oltoff to return. Minder will return and will be a hot prospect in my opinion. He needs to be moved to short stop.

Hunter Haskins is gone as we all know. There will likely be a few other names based on attrition or seniors departing.

You have to hand it to Jewitt. I think he has done a masterful job recruiting and reloading since Prices departure. He has talent on his roster now. It has taken some time, but the ”starting” roster this past season was solid gold, with a gap here or there. Better than it had been in sometime purely based on talent, and it appears our Friday night pitcher is coming back and more talent is coming to campus next year.

Jewitts hiring of new staff members provide the needed boost when he was feeling some pressure.