Guerry. I would be very curious to find out from our strength coach how our football team is taking care of things during this shutdown. Obviously they are not at school and in most parts of the country local gyms are closed. How are they staying in shape?

Also would be interested to know what other AAC schools are doing. Did they close down their weight rooms like we did?

Although the most important catch in Willie Fritz's four years as Tulane coach came from a tight end, the position never has been a huge factor in his passing game. Charles Jones' easy reception of the 2-point conversion that beat Navy at the end of 2018 and sent the Green Wave to its first bowl game in five seasons were the only points a tight end scored that year. Tight ends have four touchdowns in four seasons, with Kendall Ardoin hauling in one in 2016, Jones two in 2017 and Tyrick James one on a beautifully set-up 45-yard strike against Florida International in the opener last season (never to be repeated).

Those days appear to be over. Extrapolating five spring practices into a season of actual games is a risky proposition, but the tight ends were heavily involved in second-year offensive coordinator Will Hall's passing attack earlier this month. Every day, they were targeted regularly in 11-on-11 dills, so the following numbers figure to be dwarfed when the Wave returns in the fall.

2019: 23 catches by tight ends (James 19, Will Wallace 4)

2018: 17 (Jones 10, James 4, Wallace 3)

2017: 18 (Jones 13, Ardoin 5)

2016: 6 (Ardoin 4, Trey Scott 2)

If James stays healthy, I will be very surprised if he does not catch at least 25 passes this year. Even though he looked a little heavy to me at first glance this spring, he moved well and got open on a variety of routes. He is a threat running down the seam and on out routes, giving the Wave versatility it lacked in the past. He also has good hands, snatching the ball out of the air before defenders can do anything about it.

Redshirt freshman Keshon Williams did not have many grabs that I noted, but one that did register was impressive. He ran a deep post and caught a long pass from Keon Howard for a big gain in the fourth practice. Howard had to scramble before releasing the ball, but Williams gave him a nice target. He will be a factor in the fall.

Wallace is more limited as a receiver but is a good blocker with decent hands. Don't look for him to be running many deep posts, but he can be effective on shorter routes and will get those opportunities if Hall commits to throwing to the tight ends.

I don't recall seeing redshirt freshman Conner Richardson involved or converted linebacker Keitha Jones, but Tulane added a 3-star prospect in Reggie Brown in the 2020 class, an indication Hall takes tight ends seriously. Having six tight ends on scholarship is more than you would expect.

Along with quarterback, wide receiver was Tulane's biggest question mark entering spring drills, with no proven productive player at the position. It was a huge concern considering the wideout corps was not great last fall despite the presence of Darnell Mooney, who turned out to much faster than I realized, and J.J. McCleskey, a grad transfer who was quite productive at Oklahoma State.

Without that duo, I had no idea what Tulane would do, but some of the questions were cleared up in the five spring practices. The position remains a concern, but less of a concern than just a few weeks ago, in part because the running backs and tight ends look like they will be even more heavily involved in the passing game than a year ago, when they combined for 76 catches to the wideouts' 117.

Here is my assessment of the 10 scholarship wideouts on the spring roster:

1) Jha'Quan Jackson

He was the most consistent of the group by far. Never mind his paltry three catches as a true freshman. He has improved tremendously, displaying outstanding quickness, good hands and the ability to get open consistently. In some ways he reminds me of Mooney, who was clearly the most talented of the young receivers at the beginning of Willie Fritz's tenure. Jackson is 5-10, 170. Mooney was 5-11, 175 last year. Obviously, Jackson has to show he can translate his practice performance to games, but it sure looks like he will be able to do it. He was one of the highest rated members of the 2019 signing class, and it easy to see why. He started the bowl game against Southern Miss, indicating how well he practiced leading up to it.

2) Mykel Jones

Jones did not have many catches in the portions of the five practices I watched, but he caught a long ball for a touchdown and made a diving grab on an inside route. He also just looks the part, running smoothly. The concern when he arrived was his lack of production at Oklahoma, where he never made a big impact while competing with ultra-talented players. His 16 grabs for 310 yards in his second year were his career highs in both categories--with a long touchdown catch and run at the start of the third quarter of the 2017 Big 12 Championship Game his signature moment--and he caught only two passes in 2018 and 2019. But he can be a huge playmaker for Tulane and is bigger than McCleskey, who was really small.

3) Jaetavian Toles

Toles did not practice in the spring as he recovered from surgery for a torn pectoral, but he did enough in 2019 to warrant beginning fall drills as a starter in my view. He caught at least one pass in nine games (it was exactly one in seven of them), and although his numbers (13 receptions, 160 yards, 1 TD) were disappointing considering his terrific late touchdown catch, spin and run that helped Tulane clinch a 2018 bowl bid against Navy, he has the potential to double those numbers in his senior year. He started only three times last year, which surprises me.

4) Phat Watts

The smaller of the Watts twins (6-0) was the second most productive receiver of the spring. He is fast and looks like he will excel with the ball in his hands. He also was unrecruited by D1 schools out of Petal High in MIssissippi, which is why he and twin Deuce went to Juco ball first before arriving at Tulane. He was hurt for a portion of 2019, hurting his numbers, but it appears the Tulane coaches knew what they were doing by recruiting him.

5) Christian Daniels

It remains to be seen how quickly Daniels adjusts to games at his new position, but he looks like a natural, although Fritz considers him more of hybrid TE/H back than a true wideout. Daniels has a willingness to go over the middle and gets off the line of scrimmage quickly, but he is still raw. His degree of impact depends on how much he develops, and the cancellation of the last 10 spring practices likely hurt him more than most.

6) Jacob Robertson

This might be too low, but I did not see him do a whole lot in the spring. After a midseason surge last year (four straight games with a catch), he did not produce much the rest of the way with one grab for seven yards. Robertson needs to prove he can get open against high caliber defensive backs. To this point, I have not seen it, but others are higher on him than I am.

7) Sorrell Brown

After two separate knee injuries cost him his first two years, there was a lot of anticipation for him to make an impact in the spring. It did not happen, at least in the segments of practice I watched. The coaches remain very high on him, so it may be that I missed his big moments. I can't recall him making a significant catch in the latter half of the five practices, and I don't have any in my notes. He missed an opportunity for a long touchdown in one practice when he slowed down before the ball arrived when he was open and then watched it go over his outstretched arms. He looked tentative on his leg, which is perfectly understandable. He drew rave reviews from observers at the beginning of preseason drills in 2018, and he still has time to return to that form.

8) Dane Ledford

Ledford missed at least two practiced with an injury, but he usually makes plays when he is out there. The problem is it did not translate into game production last year, when he also looked good in practice at times before getting hurt. The question is whether he has enough speed to be a factor. He has not proven he can shake defensive backs.

9) Deuce Watts

He is down this low only because he missed most of spring with an injury. After leading run-dominated Jones Community College with 24 catches last year, the taller of the Watts twins (6-3) obviously has the ability to be a significant factor.

10) Tyrek Presley

Presley has struggled to stay healthy since arriving last year, when he caught three passes for 55 yards against UConn but played sparingly before and after that game. He did not practice much if at all this spring

A week after keeping athletic facilities open for athletes who chose to remain in New Orleans, Dannen announced they have all been closed with the exception of the Hertz training room on an appointment-only basis.

You won't be seeing an update from me in The Advocate on this because all stringers have been put on a six-week hiatus, with our status to be reviewed then. My guess is it will continue until the sports world is back to normal, whenever that may be.

15 or so who signed NLI and will hopefully be on campus in June. What honors they won this past year; All District, Region, All State what other schools pursued them until signing and what they might be participating in Spring sports. Finally, have they grown any (height, weight & speed) would be interesting to know. Thx

With the return of Corey Dauphine, Tulane had six scholarship running backs for the last three spring practices, and you could make the case for five of them (some cases would be stronger than others) to be the Green Wave's leading rusher in the fall.

Here is my assessment of each, in descending order of the likelihood of them being the leading rusher. There can be a lot of legitimate debate on this.

1) Tyjae Spears

Spears was held in check In his one game against quality competition last year, rushing 10 time for 31 yards against SMU with a long gain of 7 (although he caught three passes for 41 yards), but he was rusty, playing for only the second time in eight games as the coaches made sure he was eligible for a redshirt. But from what I observed in preseason scrimmages and in practice last fall and this spring, he is Tulane's most complete back with that X factor that makes a player special. He also is loaded with confidence about his ability and expects to be a huge factor now, not later.

In his other two games of significance, he helped lead Tulane's second-half comeback at Navy (although Cam Carroll played an even bigger role) with 12 carries for 60 yards and ran for 89 yards on eight carries with an 88-yard touchdown reception against hapless Missouri State, an FCS opponent that finished 1-11. He is a game-breaker with good vision, good moves and the ability to change speeds, and the coaches love his work ethic. The key for him will be making sure he has the offense down and is reliable in pass protection, a factor most of us almost always ignore and coaches always consider essential.

2) Corey Dauphine

Despite getting only 72 carries--39 fewer than Darius Bradwell and the same number as Carroll--Dauphine led the running backs with 575 yards thanks to his absurd 8.0 average per attempt. He carried the ball 124 times in 2018, so just think what he can do with a bigger workload if he stays healthy. As he told me when he returned, he needs to work on reading defenses, but he is not just a track guy playing football, as one practice observer tried to tell me in the spring. He is as good as anyone in the country at turning the corner and accelerating to the end zone. His seven touchdowns were three more than any of the other running backs, and he has more power than most believe. If he gets the touches, he easily could be Tulane's leading runner, but I'm not sure he's mentally there for every snap. HIs mystifying inability to be any factor in the passing game--his two receptions a year ago were the first of his career at Tulane or Texas Tech--is indicative of some shortcomings. On occasion, he lacks focus.

Still, there's no one like Dauphine to put fear in defenses when he gets to the open field. His getting a sixth year of eligibility will be good for at least one more victory than Tulane would have had without him. He's a difference-maker.

3) Amare Jones

I'm off the Jones bandwagon, but it will not take much to get me back on it, and I know Fritz and Will Hall absolutely love his potential and work ethic. After a fantastic game against Army on the first weekend of October last fall (nine carries, 65 yards; six receptions, 104 yards), he did not match that production the rest of the year and was caught in the backfield trying to create the home run play too often instead of getting what he could. An ankle injury was a significant part of the equation, but his rushing attempts were paltry the rest of the way (33 carries, 169 yards with a high of 39 against Temple), and he did not break as many tackles as his backfield mates.

Maybe it took some time to get used to the slotback role Hall created for him, but I don't see Jones as Tulane's bellwether ball-carrier in the fall. He might lead the Wave in combined yards rushing and receiving--he is an excellent route runner--but it is hard to see him having the most rushing yards alone unless his slump in the second half of 2019 was more about health than I realize.

4) Cam Carroll

The people who loved Lazedrick Thompson in the CJ era probably expect Carroll to emerge as the top back this season because of his size and power. I always felt Thompson was overrated, with an upright running style that made him easy to tackle until he had a full head of steam going, which rarely happened with CJ's offensive lines. Carroll is better than Thompson, with legit power, as he proved in a tour de force against Navy in the second half last year, but he does not have the moves or instincts of Spears, and he said in the spring he, like Thompson, has a tendency to run too high. After bruising Navy's defenders with 71 yards on eight impressive carries, he failed to average four yards in his next three games before having a decent Armed Forces Bowl.

Look for Carroll to be more involved as a receiver in the fall (he had two catches for zero yards last year), but I don't see the same dynamism in him as the three backs I listed in front of him. There will be games when Tulane needs his power, and he will be a factor each week, but probably not the No. 1 guy. Regardless, he gives Tulane yet another different skill set in a diverse backfield. As one coach told me, finding a way to get all these guys enough touches is a really nice problem to have.

5) Stephon Huderson

Fans used to groan when Huderson got the ball with all the talented running backs around him, but then he gained 100 yards on seven carries against Tulsa in a game Tulane needed to win to clinch bowl eligibility (the Wave likely would have finished 5-7 if had lost to the Golden Hurricane). He did not exactly build on that performance, gaining 42 yards on 14 carries for the rest of the season, and had not done a ton before then, gaining 149 yards on 30 attempts. The question is whether that game was an outlier rather than an indication of his potential.

Huderson's best strength is his versatility. He is the best pass blocker of the group, and he is a better receiver than his numbers indicated (three catches, 70 yards). He tweeted at the start of spring drills that it was time for him to go from role player to big-time contributor, and i believe his skills are underrated. Yet, he lacks the explosiveness of Spears, Dauphine and Jones and the power of Carroll. Too often last year, he appeared on the verge of a good gain when he was tripped up. The coaches really like him, but I just don't see him taking away many carries from the other guys in his senior year. Just like last year, the Wave will need him at some point because running backs get dinged up more than any other position.

I am not doing a write-up of Ygenio Booker, but he's a heck of a sixth-string running back who can be a factor in the passing game out of the backfield and lining up wide. He's the second most talented receiver behind Jones of this group.

Troy Dannen's statement:

https://tulanegreenwave.com/news/20...hletics-addresses-the-impact-of-covid-19.aspx

I assume you get paid on a contract basis by the Advocate/TP in effect for piece work. Obviously with everything now out of season, it could starkly be no sports means no work. So I hope your editors decide to engage you to write about the ancillary effects of all this or whatever. I know you have a family to support.

Scott Kushner then you have taken a proactive interest in covering Tulane sports for this niche audience. I know it's been a challenging way to make a living. However it has brought pleasure to this Tulane fan to have at least occasionally "higher order" discussions about something which some/many of your regular readers are passionate about.

For what it's worth I'm keeping my Rivals and TP subscriptions. Who knows maybe TP readership overall will pick up and they make a news reporter out of you! Hang in there. We need you.

Tulane practiced Thursday morning with no clear realization it might be the last practice of the spring. In fact, I neglected to ask Willie Fritz a question about coronavirus because it felt like a normal day at the time. It wasn't until I got out of the shower after returning home and turned on the TV to watch conference tournament basketball games that I realized cancellations were progressing rapidly.

But enough about that. Here's the report:

Jaetavian Toles, Tulane's leading returning wide receiver, missed the first five practices and will not not be back if the Wave resumes practice. He caught 13 passes for 160 yards last year in what I consider a disappointing season. I expected more from him after preseason drills, but he still rates as Tulane's most experienced wideout. Fritz said he had surgery for a pectoral tear and will be back in the summer.

Patrick Johnson, Ygenio Booker, Chase Kuerschen, Chris Joyce, Juan Monjarres, Connor Richardson (who is wearing a different number than listed, which is why I had not mentioned him earlier), Jackson Fort and Kanyon Walker all missed practice again. Monjarres, coming off knee surgery, did stadium steps during the workout. Kuerschen, who got hurt two practices ago, did stretching exercises while lying on his back. Walker, who has not practiced once since arriving last year to the best of my knowledge, still has crutches as he recovers from a hip injury. Richardson was on the exercise bike for a good portion of practice. Deuce Watts returned after missing a couple of days.

I was there for the start of 7-on-7 work. Keon Howard's first pass was almost intercepted by two players. Linebacker Jesus Machado read the throw over the middle and had it bounce off his hands when he jumped to catch it, and it deflected right to Willie Langham, who was playing nickelback and he could not hold on to it either. Howard then hit Jacob Robertson for a nice gain and Jha'Quan Jackson, my favorite receiver in the spring, made a great diving catch over the middle. He is really quick off the mark, and as Fritz said Tuesday, he has no fear going over the middle. Granted, these are not full-contact practices, but he runs those routes in a different manner than anyone else.

Michael Pratt's first pass went off Amare Jones' hands. Pratt loves throwing quick passes to his backs in the flat, and he hit Tyjae Spears there on the next play for what would have been a sizable gain in a live drill.

When Howard went back in, he completed a pass to Stephon Huderson on the outside before Mykel Jones made a diving catch. Jones looks the part of a big-time receiver but had not made a play like that in the first four days. Phat Watts then dropped a pass on the sideline.

When they went to 11-on-11 work, there was a change on the offensive line. Walk-on Timothy Shafter replaced Cameron Jackel at left tackle, but it did nom go well for Shafter. On one of the early plays, joker Armoni Dixon, who has a quick first step, ran around him like he was a turnstile to sack Howard. The rest of the line was the same as usual.

The first-team defense had Cam Sample and Carlos Hatcher on the outside, Jeffery Johnson and De'Andre Williams inside, Machado and Kevin Henry at linebacker, Langham at nickelback, Jaylon Monroe and Kiland Harrison at cornerback and Larry Brooks and Macon Clark at safety. Harrison, who won a fastest-man contest at a Tulane football camp in 2018 before signing, will be a factor in the fall.

The second-team defense was Alfred Thomas and Torri Singletary on the outside, walk-on Noah Seiden and Jeffery Johnson again (Davon Wright must not have been practicing), Nick Anderson and Dorian Williams at linebacker, K.J. Vault at nickelback, Levi Williams and walk-on Grant Hamel at cornerback and Ton'Quez Ball and Tyler Judson at safety. Clearly, Marvin Moody must not have been practicing, too.

The 11-on-11 started with Pratt, who bobbled the first shotgun snap and then misfired on a scramble after never appearing to get comfortable because of the bobble. Most of the plays were runs before Howard came in and got "sacked" by Dixon in the play I mentioned earlier. Howard completed back-to-back passes to Phat Watts and Christian Daniels on quick outs before Josh Holl came in and connected with Amare Jones. Holl had a chance for a long touchdown on the next play when Phat Watts got wide open against Langham, but he threw inaccurately.

Jackel began alternating with Shafter on the first and second teams.

When Howard went back in, he hit Cam Carroll in the flat and Will Wallace in the middle before throwing a touchdown pass on the sideline to Phat Watts. K.J. Vault looked lost in coverage there. I don't see him winning the job at nickel.

Pratt threw a pass about 20 yards down the field toward the sideline that looked like it was going to be intercepted, but tight end Tyrick James snatched it at the last second like a DB undercutting a route. It was a heck of a grab and a pretty good throw, too. Pratt also hit Carroll and Jones for short gains before Brooks broke up a pass for Amare Jones on the sideline. I expect Brooks to have a big year at strong safety.

They had the horn blowing over the loudspeaker on every third down like they do during games when the opponent has the ball, which was incredibly annoying to those of us standing close to the loudspeaker. Practice ended at 10:08, and we will see when they are able to practice again.

Quick interview with Fritz:

Have you gotten what you wanted to get out of the first five practices?

"Yeah, I think so. The thing you gotta do is you can't have it be drudgery with the guys. Every workout you've got to get everything out of them you possibly can. I see great improvement in a lot of guys. We pride ourselves in recruiting Division I guys and having a culture where they stay here and retain them year after year and developing them. You've seen some guys that have gotten better since they got here. That's a big deal for us."

How is Christian Daniels developing?

"Well, he's a really good athlete. I think he was fifth in the state of North Carolina in the 60-meter dash or something like that indoors. He's got great speed. He's got great length. He's a tough kid. I hate having a good athlete standing over there on the sideline. He can help us in the kicking game. He can help us a tight end. He can help us as a running back if we needed him to do it. He can do some wildcat stuff if we wanted to put him in there. I think he can be a frontline guy in kickoff return. He can be a guard or a tackle on punt. He can be a hold-up guy on punt return. KIckoff he can run down the field and cover, so there's a lot of stuff he can do and help us."

NM

College World Series has been cancelled, that won't change.

I'm good friends with a head baseball coach in the ACC and he said that there's talk that the baseball season will resume after April 1st, but that's a 25% chance. That's a direct quote.

If the baseball season is cancelled then every athlete will receive a redshirt year for this season.

We're living in crazy times, I think this is all nonsense but they're treating it like the bubonic plague. Anyway, my point is we should all be prepared that the next time you see a Tulane sporting event it will probably be the football season opener

Prior to the season, the big question was whether our pitching could hold up. After back to back seasons with 5+ ERA’s (5.47 in 2018 and 5.74 in 2019), suggesting that pitching was a problem was vastly understating the issue. Topping that off, arguably our best three pitchers (Roper, Solesky, and Cellucci) went pro.

Well, so far, through a little over a quarter of the regular season, the composite team ERA is 2.47. Who’d a thunk it? But what’s ahead of us is vastly more challenging than what we’ve seen so far this year. Frankly, when our schedule came out I thought it was the weakest I’d seen in years. Guerry later pointed out that most of the teams we had on tap were favorites or near-favorites within their respective conferences. So far, they haven’t shown it. The combined record of our 15 opponents so far is 90-145 (.383). That’s REALLY bad. Our future opponents, for interest, have a winning percentage of .613 almost exactly the reverse, one being .117 below .500 and the other being .113 above .500.

Of interesting is the fact that five newcombers (Olthhoff, Aldrich, Benoit, Jannetta, and Slagel) have pitched 70.8% of our innings thus far with a combined ERA of 1.39. As a group they are allowing 5.46 hits, 2.99 free passes (walks & HBPs), while striking out 11.0 men every 9 innings. By comparison, the other 12 pitchers who have appeared in at least one game have a combined ERA of 4.67 (still a point better than last season’s entire staff), while allowing 8.53 hits, 7.91 free passes, along with 7.31 K’s every 9 innings. The free passes among this group is obviously a concern.

As we go forward we need more than the aforementioned five to contribute. From this weekend, it looks like Gillies, Campbell, and Price are the most likely candidates though I always hold out hope for Pellerin. We could also use another lefty which suggests Holcomb, who had a very good summer but has been terrible in four appearances for the Wave.

Anyway, the two games against Lamar this week will challenge our pitching depth as it leads into the weekend series against Long Beach State. It doesn’t get any easier the following two weeks either with eight straight away games at S, Alabama, a weekend series at Dallas Baptist, an away game with LSU, followed by a weekend at Wichita State. We'll know a lot more after that opening conference series, some 13 games from now (half-way through the regular season).

Roll Wave!!!

I’m not sure what the remainder of the season will bring or, for that matter, if we’ll even see a complete season due to the Corona Virus situation. Regardless, the best I can tell, we’re going into the Long Beach State series in good shape physically. The fact that Slagel and Jannetta had rough outings this week is somewhat made up for by the performance of Holcombe after a tough beginning on Tuesday and Johnson on Wednesday. The fact that the team came back from being down multiple times by multiple runs also suggests something good.

Long Beach State did not play any mid-week games this week so they are coming in fresh with all arms ready to play Tulane. Currently, they have a 10-5 record against much stronger competition than our Wave has face, taking 2 of 3 each from California, Mississippi State, and Xavier, and sweeping three from Wake Forest, while winning a single game against San Diego and losing single games to Washington and San Diego State.

They are not a good hitting team, batting only .248 as a team with three HR’s in 15 games and don’t score a lot of runs. Hopefully, we can continue that trend. But their strength is on the mound. With a team ERA of 2.38, they are one of very few teams with a better ERA than the Wave. And their weekend starters have been extremely impressive. Adam Semanaris, a lefty, is their Friday night guy with an ERA of 1.23 and 36 K’s in 22 innings. That’s a LOT of strikeouts. Saturday’s starter, another lefty, Alfredo Ruiz, has a 1.8o ERA and 24 K’s in 25 innings. Luiz Ramirez (2.78 ERA) is their Sunday starter, a righty who has fanned 27 in 20.1 innings. Between them they’ve only walked 16 guys in 47.1 innings—not bad. Unfortunately, getting to their bullpen hasn’t been much of a picnic either. Their top five out of the pen have a combined ERA of 2.00.

Based on the season so far, I think we compare well with their starters on Friday and Saturday; not so much on Sunday. Clearly, their relievers have fared better than ours. But if we are slightly disadvantaged overall on the mound, I think our hitting should make up for it. In short, I’d rather face their lineup with our pitching (even the bullpen) than face our lineup with their pitching.

All things point to low scoring games but, overall, I think we match up well. More important, I pray for the health of everyone as our nation and the world combat this virus. Sports doesn't seem all that important under the current circumstances.

Still, Roll Wave!!!

Tulane's basketball team finished last in the AAC, but through no fault of Christion Thompson. He gave this team everything he had, and in conference play, he finished seventh in scoring (15.3), ninth in rebounding (6.3), send in assist/turnover ratio (1.8), tied for fourth in steals, fourth in free throws made (88), 10th in field goal percentage (.444) and 10th in minutes (34.5).

He's a thoughtful, hard-working guy who burned to win and can be happy with his effort even though the wins never came. I talked to him yesterday right before Tulane headed to Fort Worth for the ACC tourney.

I do not think Tulane will beat UConn--in fact, I think the Huskies will go on a run to the tourney final and lose to Houston--but it would be well deserved for Thompson if the Wave advances.

CHRISTION THOMPSON

You’ve done well for someone Rhode Island thought was only a glue guy. What has your experience at Tulane been like?

“My experience has been a good one. I was talking to my mom and talking to the coaches, and it’s just been a blessing to come here. I talk to my family, and my brothers were talking about a lot of times you make plans and the plans go through. I planned to come here this year and expand my role as a player and be better for a team and help build this program, and that’s what we did. The wins didn’t come, but they will come. Everybody just has to stay true to themselves.

You were sitting in a chair courtside about 20 minutes after the UConn loss and looking very glum. How hard was that loss on Senior Day?

“It was hurtful. When you put so much into something, you want to see the goal and see the end product, but you have to stay patient. I’m a big believer in trusting the process, but I’m also a big believer in trusting your work. You’ve got to be confident and you’ve got to believe in God and believe that everything you work for will eventually come to light and you will start reaping what you sow in a good way.”

I counted seven people on the court with you for Senior Day.

“Yeah, I had my family, my girl, my mother and my brother. My other two brothers had to work and couldn’t make it, my stepdad and my grandfather.

What did it mean having them there?

“It meant the world to me. Being able to come home and just having those people and having family the whole year, being able to finish my career at home, it meant the world to me.”

How much does it mean for you to prove you could be a big scorer and do all the things you did within the framework of a team?

“I thank coach first off giving me the opportunity. These coaches basically told me we just need you to come here, play hard and believe in us. It took for me to start to buy into the program and buy into the system that we have here and being able to play my game. Like I told you at the beginning of the year, I knew what I wanted to bring to the table. I was able to do that and more. I also taught these young guys what it takes to win and just be a winner. Winner doesn’t always mean you’re going to win the game, but just having the characteristics and the work ethic of a winner, it plays a role.”

What was the reason you guys finished last?

“I want to pick the right words. I think it’s just having those big-time possessions in the game that you’re not able to come through with. It’s not so much offensive end. It’s on the defensive end. Rebounding and turnovers and not getting a key stop that you need with two minutes left. It’s the little things that come with being a new team. I know we’ve played together all year, so being a new team is not an excuse as of right now, but as this program continues to grow and these guys continue to get closer. Once they come together and everybody is able to click and mesh well, I’m more than certain that this will be a top program in this conference.”

Coach Hunter says he wants to get five guys just like you. How nice does it feel to hear that?

“It’s a big compliment, and I take it to heart. I try to strive and play like it’s my last every day. I take pride in playing hard and doing the little things that other people aren’t able to do. I talk to the younger players all the time, there are so many scorers out there in the world, but there are not people who want to do everything else. Even in life, people who do the other things make a career and get paid.”

What are your future plans?

“I want to see where basketball can take me. I know I’ll be able to play basketball after this, so when it’s all said and done, I will sit down with the coaches, sit down with my family, pray and ask God and let God lead the way like he led me to come here.”

What are you most proud of?

“I think I’m most proud of just being able to show everything that I can do, not letting myself down. I knew what I could do, but it takes a lot to be able to come out and perform every night. I started fast and slowed up during the season but I was able to come back. I just trusted myself. I never gave up on myself. When stuff got harder, I just had to work harder and that’s just something I’m proud of. Really I would say not folding under pressure, being able to impact this team in ways that I impacted this team. We didn’t get the wins I wanted, but if I had another year, I guarantee we would have gotten it right.”

What do you need to do Thursday against UConn that you didn’t do Sunday?

“We have to just stick to the game plan. We just have to rebound better. We lost that game on the rebounding. There’s not many games we won the rebounding, and this game it did hurt us. Just coming back, regrouping, staying together, playing like we played and getting even more contributions from everybody and doing the little things. I’ve got to do that better. Last game I strayed away from rebounds. I finished with four rebounds, and I can’t do that in order for us to win. I’ll be looking to get more rebounds than points this game.”

How much have you paid attention to Rhode Island this year?

“I haven’t really talked to a lot of those guys. I wish them the best and I talk to Jeff Dowtin, the point guard, and I talk to Tyrese Martin, their shooting guard who was my freshman last year. I tell them there’s a lot of media stuff, especially now there’s going to be a lot of media that comes. Jeff knows. He took us to the tournament two years. I just tell them stay together. A lot of people are going to try to break y’all down and try to say what’s y’all problem, but only you know what the problem is inside your locker room and you are the only people that can really fix your problem.”

Do you wish you had another year?

“I’m ready for my next chapter. I’m not saying I’m not ready. I’m ready to get paid for playing basketball, but you always get the what ifs when something’s coming to an end. What if you would have done this? What if you would have done that? I don’t regret going to Rhode Island. I don’t regret staying at Rhode Island four years, but I wonder and I wish if I had one more year with this team and coach Hunter, what it would be like. I know we definitely would have gotten over the hump that we need to get over.”

Do you feel like the guys are ready to take that next step without you and K.J.?

“This is the thing. Coach came into this without me and K.J, but he got everybody else that build this program with and he’ll have his coaches on the road and they have their eyes on a couple of guys that I know, a couple of guys that can come and fill the void. I’m not saying they’ll be better than us or they won’t be better than us. You never know. You see all the time a guy transfer who wasn’t able to play for one team come over and excel just like I did this year, so I’m expecting big things from them. I know they’ll be ready to play and coach Hunter will have them ready for the season whenever that comes around.”

Do you think this team can make a run in Fort Worth?

“Yeah, definitely. I’m a competitor, so I definitely have hope. Guys are not feeling like we’re going there to lose. I think we can make a run. It’s definitely going to be unexpected, but if you look at it we’ve been playing our best ball. We just haven’t been able to finish the games.”

What happened in the eight-game stretch where you guys were not competitive?

“In that eight-game stretch it was kind of like we weren’t together as a team. We were doing things that went against the game plan and went against what we need to do to win. It was really to a point where you just have to buckle down and say we’re not losing. We came out and ended up getting a win, and that one win, from there on out, it was like this is the standard, this is what we need to do. We were able to get better and grow as a team. We haven’t been able to finish recently, especially the last two, but the way we’ve been playing is definitely eye-opening. We’re growing.”

I got there later today than the last two practices, but I was in time for the entire 11-on-11 drill at the end of the workout. On the first play, freshman quarterback Michael Pratt showed why he has created some buzz with teammates when he threw a rope to Jha'Quan Jackson on a slant for a nice gain. Tulane has not had a quarterback making throws like in the Willie Fritz era. Pratt drilled it through a tight window, and although Jackson fumbled at the end of the play (there's no live tackling, but someone stripped him as he ran, it was a heck of a connection. Pratt still has a lot to learn, but the arm talent is there. I hesitate to say who he reminds me of on first impression--Tanner Lee. Lee did not pan out for a variety of reasons, but he made throws like that when he first arrived before becoming hesitant in games. Pratt can take a very different course.

The rest of the drill was not as good for Pratt. He scrambled a few times but does not have the speed of Keon Howard. He missed Jacob Robertson on a corner route in the end zone. He apparently made some poor decisions in practice before I arrived (see Willie Fritz Q&A at the bottom). But he has the tools.

Howard, who definitely is throwing better than in the past, had a pretty connection with tight end Keshon Williams on a post route on his first pass, hitting him in stride. He also hooked up with running back Corey Dauphine, whose lone catch in the Armed Forces Bowl was the first of his college career. Dauphine ran into the flat and was wide open due to a coverage bust, but if they ever could get him involved in the passing game, he would be a weapon.

Howard missed walk-one wideout Ryan Thompson on a throw a little later, and that was it for him. Walk-on Josh Holl came in for some reps, and they finished with walk-on Josh Coltrin getting one play. He tried to connect with Phat Watts in the corner of the end zone and had him, but a defender tackled Watts before the underthrown ball arrived. It would have been an obvious interference call if they had had refs like they did on Saturday.

Practice wrapped up with one Oklahoma-style battle in the center of the field between the Glover brothers, with backup kicker Casey representing the offense and starting kicker Merek representing the defense. Again, I was blocked from viewing it by a circle of players, but Casey won, apparently bulldozing Merek to the edge of the circle as offensive players whooped and hollered. "You've got bragging rights, Casey," Fritz yelled.

If I were rating the receivers purely on what I've seen in the first four days, Jackson would be No. 1. He's quick, has good hands and runs good routes. As I interviewed him after practice, offensive coordinator Will Hall yelled over to me, "you're talking to a good fellow right there." Jackson played in six games last season, making a 14-yard catch for a touchdown against UConn and a 17-yard grab against Temple for his only two catches, but he clearly has gotten better in the offseason and with the motivation of open receiver spots.

If I had to pick a running back, and they are harder to judge in non-tackling workouts, it would be Tyjae Spear. I expect him to lead the team in rushing this year because he does everything well, but the competition is stiff. Ed Daniels was at practice today and he really likes Cam Carroll because of his size and decisiveness. Dauphine led the running backs last season, and the coaches still love Amare Jones. It's a nice problem to have not knowing who the best of a really good group will be.

I got buck's tip confirmed about Patrick Johnson, and this is something I should have known but did not. He had surgery right after the bowl game for a torn labrum that he played through for the last five or six games a year ago. He did not have more than three tackles in any of the last six games and his only sack in that span was one where he came in untouched and clobbered the Southern Miss QB in the bowl game. He did not set the world on fire in his first six games, either, but he recorded three sacks and had two games with five or more tackles (Houston, Memphis). I remember thinking he was the only defender playing well against Memphis, when he made a season-high six stops and was very active.

Johnson will miss all of spring drills, and Fritz said he would be ready to go by June.

The depth chart was no different today than Saturday. Chase Kuerschen missed his second straight practice with an injury, and Fritz said he would be back Saturday hopefully. The other guys out were Juan Monjarres, Kanyon Walker, who still is on crutches, Ygenio Booker, Deuce Watts, Jackson Fort, Tyrek Presley and walk-on tight end Connor Prouet.

They were doing a kickoff drill when I arrived. Amare Jones, Mykel Jones and Jha'Quan Jackson were the returners.

I will have a full report tomorrow or Monday but don't have time today. They had an extended 11-on-11 drill in full pads, though no tackling was allowed, and then had a modified Oklahoma drill at the end of the workout where they put the ball on blue pad and the offensive player went 1-on-1 with a defensive player and had to cross the goal line within two cones placed about five yards apart.

Michael Pratt had a rough day today. Really rough. Keon Howard looked pretty good. Corey Dauphine practiced and drew compliments from Willie Fritz.

The spring roster is out. Looks like Nick Kubiet (DL) and Jacquez Norman (DB) are the only ones missing from what I expected. I’m a little surprised that Coby Neenan is still listed, but who knows. Anyway, at present that leaves us with 83 scholarship players going into the fall and the opportunity to sign two more prior to the season. Be interesting.

Roll Wave!!!

Talked to Braden Olthoff and Daniel Latham yesterday. Southern is a decent team that was tied with Mississippi State in the seventh inning of its regional opener last year, beat LSU 8-2 in the regular season and can play with Tulane. Probably not as good as Florida Gulf Coast, which Tulane swept, but close. Tulane may need better pitching on Saturday and Sunday to sweep. We'll see. Southern' Sunday starter threw a no-hitter against Prairie View five days ago.

OLTHOFF

Did you feel like you fit in the first day you got here?

“Oh yeah. This summer was definitely an interesting first day. It was very humid. I kind of didn’t know where I was going, but I met a few of the guys in the dorm and we hit it off right away. What they always do here is bring their incoming freshmen and a lot of their juco guys in early in the summer, and that gives us a chance to get used to it and get a feel for things.”

Did you imagine starting off this well (21 innings, 34 strikeouts, one earned run)?

"Definitely not. I've always prided myself on pounding the strike zone and just attacking hitters, and it's gone very well so far. I've got great teammates behind me. I trust giving the ball up to the pen. I've got guys in the field who can make big plays."

Daniel Latham told me you were pretty new to pitching when you went to junior college. What is the history there?

"Yeah, so I actually didn't start pitching until my senior year (of high school), so that's why I didn't really have anyone looking at me out of high school. I wasn't surprised by that at all. I just had two JUCOs that I was kind of talking to, and then my freshman year there (at Palomar College) my pitching coach, Bobby Shore, really just changed all of my mechanics completely and then by my sophomore year I got more comfortable with them and was getting into the flow of things, but I'm still learning stuff all the time."

How have you gotten better from last year (when he had a 2.51 ERA at Palomar)?

"Two things that definitely have helped me was I learned my slider with about five games left of last year, so I didn't really have that pitch at all. That's a big pitch for me this year. And then I also threw my changeup a few times each game last year and didn't really feel confident in it, and this year I feel very confident in it, so those two pitches definitely help me."

What is the key for you to be successful?

"I think it's just attack first pitch. I feel confident once I get 0-1. Then I can have the pitcher right where I want him and can go with any pitch at any time. So it's getting ahead of the hitters and then really 0-1, 0-2, just expanding (the zone), not throwing anything too fine but also staying around the zone where it looks good and they'll still get a lot of swings."

You have your personal catcher in Haydan Hastings, who was with you at Palomar.

"Yeah, it's been great how that's worked out. He's caught all of my starts so far. He caught every single one of my games last year except for one, so he knows exactly what I want to throw when I want to throw it, so that helps a lot."

Did you guys want to go to the same school together, or did it just work out that way?

"No, that wasn't the plan. It just kind of worked out that way. I talked to Tulane earlier in the fall and then the coaches reached out and said they were looking at me and I told them about Haydan. They came out and saw him and then he had committed, too, so that just worked out really well. I don't think it happens very often, so it was very cool."

How does he help you the most?

"He just really knows how each one of my pitches works and just from last year, when one pitch isn't working, there are a few cues that get me right back on track, so it's nice having someone who is so familiar with me."

DANIEL LATHAM

You mentioned in the preseason that Olthoff got better almost too soon but it ended up working out that you could still get him.

"Yeah. At junior college he didn't use his changeup a lot. He didn't throw the slider he's throwing now until like four games left in the season or something like that, so the pitch repertoire is a little bit enhanced this year, and the way he's commanding all four pitches is just uncanny. It's pretty ridiculous what he's doing right now."

He also has his personal catcher. How did that work out?

"We had a need for a catcher. We had need for a junior college catcher that could come in and be defensive for us. It just so happens that we had seen that guy catching great and it just kind of worked out that way. A little bit of dumb luck for us to have a need and him to have interest and availability, so it worked out for us that way. I was joking the other day. They are all too young, but it's Eddie Perez for Greg Maddox. They've got Javie Lopez, but he doesn't catch Maddox. That's his guy, so it kind of worked out that way."


You told me you've gotten players from Heartland Community College, which is where you got Clifton Slagel, who has not given up a run. Who were they?

"I've had a pitcher and a catcher from there. I had a guy named Pat Cashman (who started and performed well against Tulane twice in 2016, when Southeastern swept two from David Pierce's AAC champions, but took both losses when the Wave swept Southeastern in 2015), who was a midweek starter for us and got drafted from there, and then another guy named Daniel Wasinger, who was a catcher for us and got drafted by the Diamonbacks and is a catcher in pro ball now. Just had a little bit of history with some of their guys, knowing what they are about. I had a little cheat sheet in how he would transition."

What was your recruiting philosophy in identifying JUCO pitchers who could be successful for you?

"With JUCO guys it's not a lot of projection. What you see if what you get, and if they get better, that's an added bonus, but you have to see if what they're doing currently is going to slide into what your plans are on the mound. You start looking at how they are performing and the actions of their balls but also what are their numbers, how competitive are they, what type of situations are they pitching in, how have they handed big moments. A lot of things like that will give you a little bit of an idea about how they are going to come across as it goes. I had those feelings about Braden and Jack (Aldrich) and Donovan (Benoit) and Slagel."

You said in the preseason when you recruited the three weekend starters your vision for them was Aldrich as the sandwich guy on Saturday between Olthoff and Benoit. How often does the vision work out like this?

"You always have a plan. Usually it doesn't play out exactly how you see it, but so far, so good on that. A ways to go."

Benoit walked seven in three innings last Sunday. What was causing the issue?

"That's certainly not characteristic for him. He just had a couple of mechanical things going on that were getting him off line a little bit and limiting his chance to throw strikes, stuff that we've been working this week to address and clean up. I think you'll see a better version of Donovan this week going forward. I'm excited about the opportunity for him to get back out there. I know he's itching to get back out on the mound and get going again."

After conducting its first spring practice in shorts weather, Tulane worked out in sweater weather on Thursday morning for session No. 2 of what will be 15 practices. It was a spirited day, and the defense was sharp in a 7-on-7 drill that was taking place when I arrived.

Safety Chase Kuerschen broke up a pass from Keon Howard to Tyrick James. Linebacker Dorian Williams leaped to deflect a Michael Pratt pass over the middle, and safety Ton'Quez Ball intercepted it. Kuerschen dove to intercept a Howard pass for Amare Jones over the middle.

There were plenty of completions, too. Pratt hit tight end Tyrick James on a sideline route with a pretty throw. James looks a little heavy to me, but the weight did not keep him from getting open. Howard connected with Cam Carroll and. Stephon Huderson in in the flat and Tyjae Spears on a quick out. Pratt threw a bullet down the middle of the field for Jha'Quan Jackson but missed him.

After the 7-on-7, they broke into position work., and five players who will be returners spent that time catching balls from a Juggs machine in one end zone: Amare Jones, Jacskon, Spears. Mykel Jones and Jacob Robertson.

In one interesting change, Macon Clark is getting reps at nickelback, with Kuerschen and Larry Brooks occupying the safety slots. Fritz said it was just a matter of them getting guys reps at different positions, but the move makes sense. Tulane is very shallow at nickel, with reserve K.J. Vault the only returnee, and getting Kuerschen, Brooks and Clark on the field at the same time is a good idea. The backups safeties were Ball and Tyler Judson, and they were aggressive today.

Here is Fritz on Clark:

"What we're doing is rolling a whole bunch of those guys. We want to be able to play multiple positions in the secondary, so we've got Chase Kuerschen and Macon Clark and Larry Brooks and Ton'Quez Ball and Tyler Judson. I'm probably leaving a guy or two out, but a bunch of dudes that can play multiple spots. That really helps your depth."

I was a little distracted Tuesday because there were a lot of TV reporters at practice and people kept coming up to me to talk. That did not happen today, and I confirmed Christian Daniels is playing receiver. Here's Fritz on his role:

"He's a tight end, H back, wide receiver. He may even end up playing a little bit of back for us. We want to get him out there on the field. He's a good athlete, and we want to get him out there where he can play. He'll be involved in the kicking game."

When they went to 11-on-11 work, Fritz got frustrated with a false start. Tulane racked up more penalties that almost any team in the country last year, and he has double down on his emphasis on playing mistake free. He yelled that they want to win all of their close games this fall and will not be able to do it with it mistakes like that.

"Our big goal is go from good to great," he said. "We want to be a more disciplined team. We had way too many penalties last fall. We are emphasizing that right now. We've got to limit that. This is a really good league and a very balanced league. There are going to be a lot of close games. The most disciplined team is going to win those close games."

Howard threw the best pass of the day early in the 11-on-11 work, hitting James on the sideline in tight coverage. He did not have much space to get it in there, but he did it. Howard then threw too high for Amare Jones on the sideline and a little high for Phat Watts on the sideline, forcing Watts to jump to grab it and slowing down his momentum. Clark broke up a pass for Carroll before Howard hit Spears underneath. Howard should have had a touchdown when Jackson broke clear on a deep route, but he underthrew the ball badly. It still would have interference because the defender (I did not catch the number) grabbed Jackson, who looks swift in the first two practices.

Pratt has a lot of confidence, trying to get balls in tight windows. He just has an air about him. One of the visiting coaches observing practices predicted today he would be a star down the road. Pratt began by hitting Deuce Watts over the middle for a nice gain, then hit Jackson over the middle on a quick-developing play. He tried to hit Jones on a slant, but Jones dropped it in traffic. He connected with James for a short gain and then overthrew Daniels on a deep route down the sideline. Ygenio Booker dropped Pratt's next throw. Howard's final pass should have gone for a TD when he threw deep to Sorrell Brown after a nice fake that suckered in the safeties. But Brown, who has not played due to two knew injuries in his young career, slowed down and let the ball go over his head.

I cut my teeth covering Florida football practices in the 1990s (they were closed around the turn of the century), and the biggest difference was the number of deep balls completed. It happened all the time in Gainesville during practice, and through three coaches (Toledo, CJ, Fritz) it happens seldom at Tulane practices. I like the way the passing game has looked in the first two days of spring, but the lack of execution on deep balls continues.

Twice today, Pratt had to go up to a running back, pat them on the shoulder and check to see if they were OK after he threw into coverage. On the first one, Judson and Booker collided, and Booker's helmet flew off. Booker took a couple of seconds to get up but appeared fine. On the second one, Jones got hit on a low throw as he and the defender went for the ball.

Patrick Johnson was on the field today but was wearing a hoodie and did not practice. Dane Ledford did not practice, running agility drills on the sidelien. Juan Monjarres was on the exercise bike again for most of practice.

FRITZ

Did you like the energy at practice today?

"Yeah, when you go every other day they ought to all be energetic. We talk about having 15 great ones. I was a little worried about the weather coming out this morning, but it cleared for us and we were able to go. Every practice should be like this."

It looked like the defense was getting its hands on a lot of balls.

"You know what happened is they run route combos and we've practiced them now from Tuesday and a lot of stuff that had big windows on Tuesday had smaller windows. Guys are starting to understand route concepts, and now coach Hall is going to go ahead and change some alignments and give them some formations and personnel groupings and splits that make it look like it's going to be one play and it's going to be something else. It's a little bit of a game of chess between the offense and defense."

You have five talented running backs with different skill sets but all of them are versatile. How important is that?

"It's great. They can all run routes and they can all run with the ball inside and outside. The big thing we're challenging them all in is pass protection. We have to do a much better job of blocking for each other. We were a little bit better last year and have to get a whole lot better with that and there's no reason why we shouldn't."

Huderson has been a role player for you in the past and is now a veteran guy.

"He can do everything. And the thing that's so tough for coach Hall is to call plays and he had to get a specific guy in there to run a play and it kills you if you're trying to run tempo. You want to have guys that are versatile, and our running backs certainly are."

Does Amare Jones have room for improvement?

"Oh yeah. He needs to keep punt catching and kick catching. He runs great routes. He can run inside and outside. He's tough and will block you. The sky's the limit for the guy. He's really a versatile guy, big-time."

Tulane's spring practice opened Tuesday morning with perfect mild weather and an overcast sky, 59 days since the Green Wave beat Southern Miss in the Armed Forces Bowl. The gap was supposed to be smaller (54 days), but coach Willie Fritz delayed the start by five days as he hired two coaches to replace departed defensive line coach Kevin Peoples and departed secondary coach Chris Hampton.

New DL coach Byron Dawson and new defensive backs coach Josh Christian-Young were on the practice field for the first time today, but all eyes were on someone else making his debut--freshman quarterback Michael Pratt. Pratt, a 3-star signee from Florida, will compete with quarterback Keon Howard for the starting QB spot in the spring.

Both had their moments. Pratt has a quick release and was making fast decisions in an 11-on-11 drill, probably because he has not had time to digest Will Hall's offense. When he completed three passes in a row at one point, one offensive player on the sideline hollered out that the defense could not stop the offense. Pratt threw to Phat Watts twice in a row on a quick out and then hit Amare Jones on two instant throws after taking the snap. Getting the ball out quickly definitely was not a strength of Justin McMillan, so it was interesting to watch. In another session, Pratt completed a sideline pass for a decent gain to Tyrek Presley, beating tight coverage, and another quick out to Jha'Quan Jackson. But his last throw was his worst of the day--he missed a receiver badly over the middle. I believe the target was Christian Daniels, who I did not see throwing today, but I will double check Thursday.

Howard loves to run and is good at it, but he also made a beautiful deep pass to tight end Keshon Williams. It should have gone for a touchdown or close to it, but Williams got uncertain as he looked for the ball and ended up turning around to face Howard by the time it arrived, and he dropped it. At the end of the series, Hall went up to Howard, slapped him on the shoulder and said, "great pass."

Dropped deep passes were the story of the day for Howard. Earlier, he thew long for Jackson on the sideline and got it past good coverage, but Jackson dropped it. At least running back Ygenio Booker, who I expect to play a big role in the passing game next fall, held on to a Howard pass over the middle. Howard also hit Jones with an intermediate pass over the middle for a touchdown on the final play of the day. Practice ended right before 10 a.m. after starting around 8.

The third quarterback was walk-on Josh Holl, and the drop-off, as you would expect, was tremendous.

The first-team offensive line was exactly what you would expect: Joey Claybrook at left tackle, Corey Dublin at left guard, Sincere Haynesworth at center, Ben Knutson at right guard and Cameron Jackel at right tackle. The second-team line was Nik Hogan at left tackle, Michael Remondet at left guard, Stephen Lewerenz at center, Trace Oldner at right guard and Timothy Shafter at right tackle. Colby Orgeron and Jackson Fort were the odd-men out among scholarship linemen along with Caleb Thomas, who is an OL rather than a DL.

Redshirt freshman safety Kanyon Walker continues to sit out with an injury and was carrying crutches. I don't recall him practices after early August in the fall.

Defensive end/joker Juan Monjarres, recovering from knee surgery, was on an exercise bike throughout the morning, but Carlos Hatcher, who also had knee surgery after both of them got hurt around the same time, practiced. Since they were in shorts and it was the first day, the linemen did not get to show a whole lot, but at one point, the first-teamers were Cam Sample, De'Andre Williams Davon Wright and Hatcher. Patrick Johnson and Jeffery Johnson have not been supplanted. They just were not out there for that session. I will watch the defense more closely Thursday after spending most of my time watching the QBs and receivers today. The first-team cornerbacks while I was watching were Jaylon Monroe and Kiland Harrison, who might be the fastest player on the team.

The return guys were Mykel Jones, who looks fast on the field, Jones and Jacob Robertson.

They were alternating punts to the left, center and right to give those guys work (they weren't exactly punts because there was no snap), and Ryan Wright was very accurate following instructions. Coby Neenan was less accurate, and Casey Glover had some major issues. He punted one off the side of his foot and into the stands on the right sideline. Another almost made it to the stands, and a third bounced into the stands.

John Leglue, who made the Green Bay Packers roster last season, came out to watch practice.

I will post quotes from Willie Fritz, Dawson, Howard and Jones shortly. I also requested Hall and Pratt, but they were not made available.

I will have transcripts of the baseball interviews from yesterday in my next post, and with spring football practice starting tomorrow, look for full coverage as usual of each day.

But here are a couple of quick notes on the now 23rd-ranked baseball team (D1Baseball.com) that continues to pass the sight test (mine anyway) as a regional participant but still has work to do on paper and needs to win its next six games to get to 15-2 entering a brutal portion of the schedule with a tough home series against ranked Long Beach State followed by eight consecutive road games (at Sun Belt favorite Dallas Baptist, a weekend series at perennial regional team Dallas Baptist, at LSU, at Wichita State to open AAC play).

Only three of Tulane's first 17 games will be against 2019 regional teams, and that's next weekend's series against SWAC champion Southern. Cal State Fullerton, which was ranked when Tulane played it, lost three of four last week to fall to 4-7, including a weekend series defeat to San Francisco. Florida Gulf Coast is 4-7, too. ULL is 4-8. But UNO followed its big win against Tulane by clobbering UConn in the first two games of a three-game series at Maestri Field--the Privateers' best series win in ages--to improve to 7-5.

After last week's failed experiment with midweek pitchers, Jewett tole me he is going with freshman Luke Jannetta as the starter against Texas Southern. That's an excellent idea. The NCAA selection committee counts every game equally, and you can't throw away those Tuesday and Wednesday affairs. Jannetta has not given up a run in 11 innings this year, and although his one inning of work against Middle Tennessee was shaky (two singles, two line-drive outs), his previous 10 innings were excellent and he throws strikes. Texas Southern beat Mississippi State last Tuesday but had been outscored 96-28 in its first nine games.

After some meager hitting in the first two weeks, I like the look of Tulane's lineup, particularly if catcher Luis Aviles continues to be the real deal. He was ticketed as the starting catcher before a preseason hand injury, and he made a huge difference Saturday and Sunday in his first two games.

This in the my preferred order when Ty Johnson returns:

1) Johnson
2) Hudson Haskin
3) Trevor Minder (absolute stud)
4) Grant Mathews
5) Luis Aviles
6) Frankie Niemann
7) Jonathon Artigues
8) Ethan Groff
9) Collin Burns

Haskin will start getting better pitches to hit with Johnson in front of him and Minder behind him. Mathews, who always has been streaky, has been scuffling lately but is a big-time hitter. Aviles went 3 for 6 with a home run and two doubles. That's a potent top 5 if Aviles proves he can hit better pitching than he faced over the weekend.

1) Spring practice is coming. Spring practice is coming.

Part one of the quarterback decision begins next Tuesday when the delayed spring practice begins and Michael Pratt, Keon Howard and Christian Daniels begin trying to show they can be Tulane's starting QB next fall. We all discount Daniels and probably for good reason, but he is still on the roster and will get his shot. I'm skeptical about Howard because of his ball-security issues at Southern Miss, but Tulane would not have recruited him if he had not shot. Pratt comes with high credentials but not the type of credentials that usually lead to first-year success. Maybe he is the exception, although it is hard to get a true read in practice how a newcomer will perform in games. I still expect Tulane to bring in a grad transfer in the summer because Willie Fritz does not want to have a regression and simply cannot trust the guys he currently has on the roster. Maybe 15 practices in the next month will change my mind.

Tulane also needs to find a nickelback, with K.J. Vault the only returning player at the postion, figure out the exact roles for its five talented running backs (Amare Jones, Tyjae Spears, Cameron Carroll, Stephon Huderson and Ygenio Booker), find a starting offensive tackle and guard on the right side (Sincere Haynesworth at center, Corey Dublin at left guard and Joey Claybook at left tackle are set), find out whether Jesus Machado is ready to contribute and linebacker and whether Kevin Henry is good enough to start, among many other things. But all eyes will be on the quarterback and an unproven group of receivers, with Oklahoma grad transfer Mykel Jones and the Watts twins trying to prove they make up for the loss of Darnell Mooney and Jalen McCleskey. I will have full coverage of every practice I attend, which should be all of them unless the Advocate decides to send me to Fort Worth for the AAC basketball tournament.

2) Tulane is going to finish last in the AAC in hoops

What Ron Hunter guaranteed would not happen almost certainly will happen unless Tulane beats Memphis and UConn at home AND at least one of three teams, ECU, USF and UCF, loses all of its remaining games. The Wave loses every two- and multiple-team tiebreaker for the bottom seed, so it will have to be free and clear of a team to avoid being the bottom seed. Assuming it is the bottom seed, its first game will be the second game on Thursday, March 12 in Fort Worth, Texas, and its opponent will be the No. 5 seed, most likely either SMU or Wichita State. Win that, and the Wave would be in the quarterfinal in the second game on Friday against the No. 4 seed, again most likely either SMU or Wichita State.

Since leaving the SEC, Tulane has won two conference tourney games only once, in 2016 in an unlikely run under about-to-be fired coach Ed Conroy. Hunter's team has an outside chance to do it the way it is playing right now, but Jordan Walker will have to continue playing well, Teshaun Hightower needs to keep hitting 3s to open up his driving lanes and the Wave needs either K.J. Lawson or Nic Thomas to get hot from outside. We know Christion Thompson will play well, and Lawson likely will play well, too. This is the team I thought we would see all year, but it disappeared for an eight-game stretch of awful basketball. The future is bright under Hunter, but it would be nice for the present to feature a positive run in Fort Worth.

3) The baseball team needs to take care of business this weekend

The hidden secret about Tulane's good first two weeks was the questionable quality of the opponents. Florida Gulf Coast was supposed to be good, but it has failed to score more than four runs in its first eight games and is 2-3 in its five games not involving Tulane, losing two of three to Kent State and to FAU while beating Eastern Michigan. ULL is 2-7 and has scored two or fewer runs in six games. Cal State Fullerton is 3-5, and its huge series win at Stanford to start the year does not look as impressive now that the Cardinal is 1-7, having been outscored 36-14 in its last five games.

In other words, last night's debacle against UNO cannot be repeated even once against Middle Tennessee. Tulane's weekend pitching appears to be the real deal, with Braden Olthoff a breakout star, Luke Jannetta terrific out of the bullpen and Donovan Benoit a solid Sunday starter with plus stuff. If Saturday starter Jack Aldrich improves, Tulane should be in good shape on weekends with bullpen guys like Clifton Slagel (7.1 innings, no runs) and Justin Campbell available. It is not clear whether Keagan Gillies is the answer as the closer, but he will get more opportunities when he returns from his shin bruise.

As for last night, it was just an awful performance all the way around. A host of pitchers proved they cannot be trusted. The bats were nonexistent against a former weekend starter who had good stuff. And the defense was terrible, a clear sign of an unfocused team. You'd think they'd get tired of losing to UNO, but they only put up token resistance against an inspired opponent. I don't get it. But it should not bleed into the weekend because the pitchers are different.

By the way, I've gotten a ton of twitter questions about why Krishna Raj is not pitching more. He made his debut last night, but the simple reason is he has no command of his pitches and did not have any command for most of last year. After going 8 2/3 innings without allowing an earned run as a freshman, he gave up 29 earned runs in 34 2/3 innings with 25 walks and 11 hit batsman. That's an ERA of 7.54. On a staff with terrible pitching, he was below average except for his first three outings. He did not have a good fall or preseason, either. At the moment he is not in the picture for meaningful innings.

Various sources are reporting that Byron Dawson (HC at Evangel) is the new DL coach and Joshua Christian-young (army corners coach) is the new DB coach.

I caught up with K.J. Lawson at basketball practice yesterday, and if anyone had any thought he might return for his final year of eligibility in college basketball, forget about it. He's married and ready to move on with his life. Here is what he and Ron Hunter had to say about his year with the Green Wave.

Lawson is one of the more unique players I have covered. He is clearly mature, but he also is very guarded in what he says on most topics. I get the feeling he believes he has been burned by the media in the past.

Your are vegan. How did that come about?

"It's old, man. It's my lifestyle. I don't know. My dad put me on to it and it was just a change of diet, change of habit. I didn't see it on the Internet. I didn't watch it on Netflix. It was just something my dad told me and I just changed my whole way. I just went cold turkey."

Was that easy or hard for you to do?

"Once you want to live better, I just did it. It wasn't a hard thing for me."

Where do you eat out in New Orleans?

"I don't eat out. I cook a lot. New Orleans has a lot of great places to go to, but I only eat out occasionally because my meals are planned throughout the week."

Since you're married, how different is the college experience for you than your teammates?

"It's really not a college experience. We are very different but we have one thing in common--basketball. It's kind of distant as far as how I look at things, but it's a great school."

Coach Hunter says your professionalism has rubbed off on your teammates. How much have you noticed?

"I've kind of been working on that my whole career, trying to be professional, trying to do the right things, trying to walk in my integrity. It's a great feeling to even do that and do the things I need to do to let my life shine amongst the people."

When did you get married and where did you propose?

"July 14. I met my wife (Sydney) at Kansas. I proposed the day before her birthday."

Obviously you wanted to win more this year, but how would you grade how the year has gone for you and the team?

"I really can't put one on it. I just had to re-evaluate. There are certain things you wish could have happened, but I have no look-back. It is what it is. You want to win, but it takes a lot. I learned a lot self-examining myself and seeing that it takes a high level and a high stake to win at a high level and nothing that you want to do is easy. Going from place to place, I've learned that all is vanity and vexation of the spirit, so I just feel like a lot of things are vexed no matter where you go, so you just endure through it."

NOTE: His line comes from the King James Bible verse of Ecclesiastes: "I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit."

You had won two games in a row and almost beat Tulsa at Tulsa for a third in a row. How do you feel you guys are playing right now?

"We are playing very free right now. Towards the end of the year a lot of guys have a lot at stake with us trying to go in and maybe get to .500 and just trying to give our best. I feel like we should have been playing a little bit looser early in the schedule. Now you are seeing what we could have been, you put the woulda, coulda, shoulda on it, but this is where we are and we're just going out there trying to compete every night and do it for each other and for the next people that want to come here and just build on something."

The Memphis game was emotional for you when you went back there. What do you expect from the return game, or is it just another game to you?

"I don't have any emotions. That's some stuff that had been burdened on me for about two or three years, but I don't have any emotions. It is what it is now. It's just another game. We'll go out there and play and try to get another W. That would be great to get a win over Memphis and maybe ruin their season, so that would be the great part about it. But it's just a game. We're going out there to play and compete and that's it."

You're not coming back to college ball next year. How do you envision your pro career?

"I don't envision it. I kind of envision it day for day. I try to sit down and envision what I'm going to do after this and try to rekindle some things, but I'm just day for day and focused on what's at hand. I'm just trying to get my second degree. Going pro I'll look at after the season but what I'm looking at now, I'm just trying to take care of my family and just do what's best for me."

How much did you have to change your game after your Achilles injury (which happened in his first year at Memphis in 2015-16)?

"I really didn't have to change my game. I feel like a lot of people wanted me to change my game and they played me in different positions throughout my career and that's why I feel like I was leaving multiple places because I felt like people didn't accept me as a player and they didn't coach me the right way to help me be the best I could be. Instead of trying to help me, they try to make you adapt to what they want you to be in their mind. I'm still a 2-3 player for anybody who wants to coach me, but I've always been a versatile player throughout my career, a top-50 player, small forward. It's always been there, and I've always had a problem with coaches trying to change it instead of coming to me and saying, OK, we want to play you at this but we think you should work on this and it coming down to where they are not talking at you but helping you advance your game to be seen."

How has your role been this year?

"I can't even say I've been doing what I want to do. I've just been trying to win. I've always been the scapegoat for a lot of teams trying to win. I get caught up into winning. I don't really care if my game gets off. As long as it gets off in the course of winning, I'm fine. I really don't care."

How much potential do you see for the guys coming back on this team?

"It's really hard to see because you don't have their whole team. You don't see the freshmen here so you don't know. They are going to be young, so they are going to have to fight through a lot of adversity and they are going to have to compete every night and hopefully guys have been watching how this has been going up and down and not just thinking it's easy."

Are you happy with how it's turned out for you here? You had other options.

"I'm content, brother. I can't really say if we'd been winning I'd be telling you a whole different story. I can't really say because I came into a thing and I could change it. I could have gone to another blue blood. I could have gone to Oregon to play with my younger brother (freshman Chandler Lawson, who is averaging 4.5 points for the Pac-12-leading Ducks), I could have, but I'm not looking at it like that. I came, and I evaluated the whole thing on education. I didn't do it off sports because I would have went back to Kansas. A lot of people think I got pushed out. No, I left on my own. (He averaged only 3.1 points but scored 13 in a first-round NCAA Tournament win). I left on the education. I could have come back and played for Coach (Bill) Self, but I didn't. I'm very close to that second degree (a Master's in liberal arts and sciences). It's at the end of this year, and I would have attained all my goals that I set out to get a degree and play professionally."

I attended Tulane on a basketball scholarship in the early 60's. For many years this was rung to celebrate Tulane basketball victories.
Tulane thru research has determined that this was a plantation bell. Said bell supposedly was used to handle movements of slaves thru their daily activities
The bell is now in storage. A committee has been made up to determine what should replace the bell in front of McAlister Auditorium, in the hopes to start a new tradition. In my opinion that bell was significant in the showing of Tulane joy and spirit thru out the years.
Tulane will conduct an investigation to find out more of the history of the bell.
VERY SAD!!
Any opinions?