Here is the second part of my camp preview, focusing on the defense and special teams:

DEFENSIVE LINE

Starters: DE/OLB Patrick Johnson, DT Cameron Sample, NG De'Andre Williams, DE Robert Kennedy
Backups: DE/OLB Larry Bryant, DT Davon Wright, NG Jeffery Johnson, DE Peter Woullard
Reserves: Torri Singletary, Nick Kubiet
Newcomers: Carlos Hatcher, Juan Monjarres, Jamiran James, Alfred Thomas

Johnson, Sample and Kennedy are locks to start, but the competition at nose tackle will be fun to watch. Williams had the edge in the spring, but the coaches love Jeffery Johnson's work ethic and upside. Don't discount Davon Wright, another early-enrolling freshman who was a beast in the weight room this summer. Tulane has to be better against the run after allowing 5.3 yards per carry last season AND losing its best run-stuffer in Sean Wilson. Cameron Sample will be significantly improved after a promising freshman season, and Kennedy is back to full health after giving his all on a gimpy knee when he returned from major knee surgery midway through 2017. Freshmen Jamiran James and Alfred Thomas are highly thought of, too, but they come in behind the others since they did not participate in spring practice. The bodies are there. Now it's about development.

Camp is going well if: Sample, Kennedy and Johnson play as expected. The coaches believe Sample will be an All-Conference lineman at some point in his career. Johnson, too, gained valuable experience as a true freshman, and Kennedy is both strong and crafty when at full strength.

Camp is going poorly if: The nose guards are not ready. Johnson looked very raw in the spring but was impressive in the spring game. Is he ready to start at such a pivotal position? Williams has not proven himself at this level, either. With all of the talented young guys, the future is bright, but the present is murkier.

LINEBACKERS

Starters: Zach Harris and Lawrence Graham or Marvin Moody
Backups: K.J. Vault, Bryant
Newcomers: Keitha Jones, La'Dedric Jackson

Despite losing leading tackler Rae Juan Marbley, Tulane is in good shape here. Harris, who finally remained mostly healthy last season, should improve on the 69 tackles he made. Graham, a coaches' favorite, ended spring on top of the depth chart after a consistently solid performance, but the talented Moody will push him, with all three guys getting significant playing time in the Wave's two-linebacker sets. It is not as clear cut after that. K.J. Vault is fast but did not make a big impact in the spring, while Bryant, who has yet to find his niche, was double-trained at inside linebacker and edge pass rusher.

Camp is going well if: Graham and Moody take turns in starring roles. The competition between them should be fun to watch. They have very different body types but both can run to the ball.

Camp is going poorly if: Harris gets hurt. He has been beset by nagging injuries throughout his career, and if he misses more time in preseason drills, it would be a setback. He appears ready to take over as a team leader.

CORNERBACKS/NICKELBACK

Starters: CBs Donnie Lewis and Jaylon Monroe, NB Tirise Barge
Backups: CBs Thakarius Keyes, Willie Langham and Chris Joyce, NB Will Harper
Newcomer: Larry Brooks

Along with nose tackle, the competition at the cornerback spot opposite Lewis will be the most important in camp. None of the candidates proved ready for the job in the spring, with each having good and bad moments. Monroe lined up with the first team for almost every practice, so he enters with an advantage, but the position will be won in August. Keyes made two tackles last year and Monroe made one. Langham was redshirted, and Joyce missed most of spring drills with an injury after enrolling early. Barge, by the way, may give Tulane a dynamic it has lacked since it had Jordan Batiste in 2013--a cover guy who can reach the quarterback on blitzes.

Camp is going well if: One of the young corners is consistent. The other starting corner, Lewis, has plenty to prove, too, but not in practice, where he already excels. The coaches believe he has the potential to be an All-Conference performer although he has not played like it yet. Regardless, he will not get much thrown his way unless someone emerges on the other side.

Camp is going poorly if: The quarterbacks pick on Monroe, Keyes and whoever lines up in their spot with regularity. So much of cornerback play is about confidence, so it would be a bad sign if they get beaten routinely in practice.

SAFETIES

Starters: FS Rod Teamer, SS P.J. Hall
Backups: Chase Kuerschen, Taris Shenall, Sean Harper, Quentin Brown
Newcomers: Dorian Camel, Macon Clark

Tulane appeared to hit on the right combination in the spring, moving Teamer from strong to free safety and inserting Hall as the starting strong safety. The proof will come once the season starts, but both of them played well in their new roles. The Wave has quality backups, too. Kuerschen's speed was exposed when he started at free safety a year ago, but he still made 60 tackles, the third highest total on the team, and has good instincts. He should provide quality downs after a failed experiment at linebacker in the spring. Shenall has started nine times in his career.

Camp is going well if: Teamer and Hall continue to make plays. Teamer played through injuries that limited his effectiveness a year ago, finishing with 48 tackles but struggling in coverage at times, including SMUs game-winning touchdown. He is more suited to free safety, where he can see the entire field and use his big hitting to good effect. Hall, a former cornerback, is better in coverage, although he still needs to translate his practice ability into games.

Camp is going poorly if: Someone gets hurt. It is hard to imagine anything going wrong in the preseason barring an injury.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Starters: PK Merek Glover, punter Ryan Wright or Zach Block, LS Geron Eatherly
Backups: Coby Neenan, Randy Harvey
Newcomer: Wright

All eyes will be on the competition between Wright and Block. The coaches probably hope Wright wins the job because Block has been mediocre for three seasons without getting better, but they will go with whoever performs better. Fritz said this spring that punting is the easiest position to judge, so the coaches will chart Block's and Wright's punts and make a decision. Glover will be interesting to watch, too. Fritz is high on him, pointing out he had never put on pads in his life before he played at Oklahoma last year, missed only one field goal and can be very effective from 40 yards and in. Randy Harvey likely will be his only competition with Neenan, who suffered a strong case of the yips, listed as a punter now.

Camp is going well if: Either Wright or Block punts well, and Glover makes field goals. It's that simple. Tulane does not have enough margin for error to survive without better kicking than it has received in the last two years.

Camp is going poorly if: Glover misses routine kicks. An inaccurate kicker saps the confidence from the entire team.

There is no such thing as a do-or-die opener, but I really believe the Wake Forest outcome will determine whether Tulane can have a breakthrough season.

It's important for so many reasons.

First, Tulane needs to wipe the bad taste out of it mouth from the the heartbreaking, infuriating way last year ended at SMU. The players used that loss as motivation in the offseason, but they need for something good to happen to validate all their hard work.

Second, it's time for Tulane to beat a Power Five school. The losing streak is at 11 since the Wave beat Rutgers in 2010, with consecutive defeats to Duke, Syracuse, Rutgers, Ole Miss, Syracuse, Georgia Tech, Duke, Rutgers, Duke, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma. Wake Forest is solid but vulnerable, having suspended projected starting quarterback Kendal Hinton for the first three games.

Third, it is time for Willie Fritz to beat a P5 opponent. He's never done it while operating at FCS Sam Houston State, Georgia Southern and Tulane, although he came awfully close against North Carolina State. Georgia and Georgia Tech at Georgia Southern and Wake Forest on the road in his first game with Tulane. After that frankly ugly 7-3 loss, he said he had been brought to New Orleans to win games like that. Two years down the road, with a significantly better team, would be a good time to start.

Fourth, what appears on paper to be a slightly tougher schedule than last year would make the path to success tough with an opening loss. Ohio State is a certain defeat. UAB on the road is not an automatic victory. The West is the better division in the AAC, and Tulane does not play bottom feeder UConn out of the East. A 2-0 start--yes, I discount Nicholls even though the Colonels are good for a FCS team--would give the Wave the momentum it needs to take on the rest of the schedule.

If Jonathan Banks stays healthy, I see big things in store for Tulane this year, but the margin for error remains small. Beating Wake Forest would set the right tone and give this team the positive mojo it has not seen since its 6-1 start in 2013.

It's football time in Nawlinz!!!

So excited!

This is what Mainieri said today in a news conference introducing LSU's signing class. but he was just covering for his AD Alleva. This was an AD-driven decision at both schools.

I have to ask about the Tulane series. You guys are not going to play this upcoming season. Were you disappointed by that, and were there plans to play? What is your perspective on it going forth, trying to play in the Pontiff Classic in 2020 and can it be renewed to what it was?

"I know any time there's change, it's going to create a lot of attention. I know when Skip (Bertman) pulled out of the Winn Dixie (Showdown, an annual event pitting Tulane, LSU and UNO against three teams from another state in the Superdome), that probably created a lot of trepidation with people. I'm sure when the Tulane-LSU football series stopped. it did as well.

"When I got here 12 years ago, one of the biggest challenges that I had was developing a scheduling philosophy. And one of the things that Skip told me, at that time he was the athletic director who hired me, was that he thought it was important we take our team around the state as quote, unquote the flagship university, a baseball program that had accomplished an awful lot in its history. It was good to go to different cities and take our team, and I've tried to do that. In fact this year we're going back to Natchitoches again. We've gone to Lake Charles and Thibodaux and Hammond and everywhere else in the state, so what I did was I came up with an agreement with all of the schools that if they come and play us every year, see we only have 14 midweek days. It's not like the where you could just play anybody as often as you want to do and wherever you want to, so you only have 14 midweek dates. And so trying to make it work, I presented to all the schools, all the coaches, that if they came and play us Baton Rouge every year, that every fifth or so year I would bring the LSU Tigers to their place, and in the meantime we would pay them a guarantee so it would be a non-budget item for them, and they didn't have to pay us, and then every fifth year they could charge whatever they wanted, they could make as much money, promote it any way they could and give them a little bit of an opportunity to generate revenue.

"So when it came down to UNO and Tulane, it was a little bit more complicated for me. First of all, UNO was the school that I had played at my junior and senior years, and I decided to do a home-and-away with them as a way to thank them for what they did for me in my life. And it was also right after Katrina, so I decided to have the home and away continue with Tulane to try to help them and rebuild their program and in the city of New Orleans and so forth.

"After the years have gone by, I've ended the home and away with UNO and after 12 years I just feel like it's time for me to treat Tulane the way I treat everybody else in this state, that if they want to play us here every year that we'll come and play them there every fifth year, so as you might imagine, I hear from the other schools all the time like how come you treat Tulane different than you treat us. I just kind of felt that maybe it had run its course, that home-and-away rivalry. I still want to play them, and in fact if they wanted to play us here next year they'd still be on the schedule. But they chose not to join the rotation, quote-unquote, like everybody else in the state. So that's their prerogative, and I understand that, so I did offer them the opportunity to take over as our opponent in the Wally Pontiff, Jr. Memorial Game, not for 2019 because we already had UL locked in for that year, but beginning in 2020 and it's my hope that every year thereafter, we'll play Tulane in New Orleans at the Shrine on Airline in the Wally Pontiff, Jr. Memorial Game.

"And so we'll continue to play them. We'll have a one-year hiatus and then we'll continue to play them, but it won't be here and it won't be at their place. It will be at a neutral site, and hopefully we'll have an enormous crowd to generate revenue for a really good cause."

Tulane has not released this stuff yet, so keep it under your hat, but players will report July 31, the first practice will be Aug. 1 and Media Day will be Aug. 7, which is a day the Saints are not practicing. The new SID, Tom Symonds, knows what he is doing and had a lot more experience than his predecessor.

I don't have the full schedule, but Tulane will practice almost every day leading up to the opener against Wake Forest. I assume some of the practices will be at the Saints indoor facility again.

They also are going to try to have a flag football game between the coaches and reporters on July 31, another day the Saints are off. If they can pull it off and get enough people to come, that's another good idea for drumming up coverage.

That's my count with preseason drills a little more than two weeks away from starting. The official roster does not have Fisher and Canteen but has everyone else who will be there, I presume.

The breakdown by position:

QB (3)

Banks
Ledford
Daniels

RB (7)

Dauphine
Bradwell
Huderson
Glenn (listed at WR again, which he may be but does not want to be)
A. Jones
Carroll
Booker

TE (4)

Jones
Ardoin
Wallace
James

WR (10)

Encalade
Mooney
Clewis
Robertson
Canteen
Owens
Toles
LeDee
Vallien
S. Brown

OL (15)

McLeod
T. Johnson
Fisher
Jackel
Dublin
Knighton
Briggs
Leglue
Claybrook
D. Johnson
Webb
Lewerenz
Hogan
Swann
Remondet

DT (5)

Williams
J. Johnson
Wright
James
Thomas

DE (8)

P. Johnson
Sample
Kennedy
Woullard
Singletary
Kubiet
Monjarres
Hatcher

LB (7)

Graham
Moody
Harris
Vault
Bryant
K. Jones
Jackson

CB (6)

Lewis
Monroe
Keyes
Langham
Joyce
Brooks

S/NB (10)

Teamer
Hall
Barge
Kuerschen
Shenall
S. Harper
W. Harper
Q. Brown
Camel
Clark

ST (4)

Neenan
Block
WRight
Eatherly

By my count, Tulane has 17 players left who committed during the CJ era, including zero from 2016. All four of the players who signed that year under Willie Fritz after committing to CJ's staff are gone.

2015 signees

Andrew Hicks
Zach Block
Rod Teamer
Keyshawn McLeod
Brian Webb
Taris Shenall
Devin Glenn

2014 signees

John Leglue
Charles Jones
Donnie Lewis
Devon Johnson
Robert Kennedy
Zach Harris
Terren Encalade
Stephon Lofton
Kendall Ardoin
Peter Woullard

By 2019, the number will be down to a maximum of three with only one certainty--Keyshawn McLeod. Brian Webb may move on after his redshirt junior year, and Andrew Hicks, who is listed as a senior but did not play in 2016, conceivably could be back for a final year, although it is exceedingly unlikely.

This year, Tulane will have eight likely starters from the CJ era, which makes sense since the guys most likely to stay through a coaching change are the ones playing the most.

I've learned over the years to pull my punches at times when it comes to Tulane issues because angering people just isn't always worth it, but I'm dumbfounded by the decision to end the LSU-Tulane baseball home-and-home series. I don't care that it was Joe Alleva who pulled the trigger. This is simply a series that has to be played from a Green Wave perspective, and Tulane played a role in the termination.

In my view Tulane made a mistake by not televising the LSU game at Turchin, regardless of any unfair terms offered by Cox, because it hurt a lot of fans who wanted to see it and either don't know how to or don't enjoy paying to watch a game streamed on their computer. Sure, LSU was petty and deserves plenty of blame for the ridiculousness of ending the home-and-home series over something that trivial, but I'm just looking at it from the Tulane perspective, and in my view it was an avoidable result that stinks. I don't understand the current sports scene where people in power seem to do everything they possibly can to hurt fans.

But enough about my thoughts. What are yours? Are you OK with not playing LSU at Turchin (and Baton Rouge) if it means refusing to bend to the Tigers' demands.

Also, I plan to write a story about the whole mess for The Advocate now that I am back in town for good after a long summer vacation to multiple places. If anyone wants to be quoted for a fan reaction, regardless of whether you agree with my take here, post your willingness here or email me to let me know.

Guerry- do you know if we have any potential academic risks? I know that most of the freshmen are already on campus, but I noticed that some of them are not yet in the Tulane database. Specifically Macon Clark, Keitha Jones, Carlos Hatcher, Amare Jones and Damien Tate. Are these guys just not on campus yet or are they still waiting to be cleared?

Also- Kevin Zhang was another player that was going to have some difficulty getting into school. Do you know his status? Thanks.

Good article. I get where you're coming from. I have to go with the over. If he doesn't go over this will not be the season we hope for and desperately need. We have to pick up where we left off with opening the offense up some. Banks is going to be the best QB we have had in some time. I hope and pray this staff let's him maximize his talent.

ROLLWAVEROLL!!!

Just posted the first in my annual summer over/under series, starting as always with a prediction on whether Tulane will be a bowl team.

I went over last year and came within a referee's call of being right. I'm more confident on the over this year, thought it's no lock considering the QB depth situation and the lack of depth overall.

https://tulane.rivals.com/news/over-or-under-tulane-will-win-5-1-2-games

Lawson is a four-star combo guard recruit from Canada whom one Canadian writer labels a potential one-and-done guy. '

He took an official visit to Tulane last Wednesday and will pick among his three finalists today, releasing the news on @NorthPoleHoops around 2 p.m. Central time.

He reclassified from 2019 like Ray Ona Embo did a few years ago, so he will be starting college a year early. He averaged 22.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists for GTA Prep in Ontario last year.

He also starred for Canada's FIBA under-18 team that lost to the U.S. in the gold medal game earlier this month and was the best player on the team.

Here is the article about him weighing the three schools:

http://northpolehoops.com/2018/06/22/aj-lawson-deciding-creighton-south-carolina-tulane/

And here is another recent article on him:

http://www.zagsblog.com/2018/06/10/canadian-star-a-j-lawson-closing-in-on-college-decision/

How come none are listed for next year?

Here is the first of a series they are doing with members of the 1998 football team...this one discussing that training camp in Covington...features Bernard Robinson, Jimmy Ordeneaux, Coach Bowden and Frank Scelfo.

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247 has a new 3* recruit listed. Jackson Fort, OL, 6'4", 287 lbs. This appears to be #4.
He is from Texas. Anyone know anything else about this young man?

I attended the MPA yesterday at Nicholls State and it was a good show. We sat in the shade with a steady, comfortable breeze at 6:30pm in John L. Guidry Stadium.

After reading that Jonathan Banks was going to be participating, I noticed that he was not competing in the Air-It-Out Competition. There were 39 college QB's in camp.

Guerry or anyone: Do y'all know why Banks was not there (or was he there for the camp and missed the competition)? The competition, by the way, was won by Alex Hornibrook, Wisconsin QB.

Tulane announced it tonight. He's a wide receiver who was a four-star prospect coming out of high school in Maryland.

He has had recurring shoulder problems at Michigan and Notre Dame and also had a personality conflict with Harbaugh at Michigan before transferring to Notre Dame as a grad student last year.

He might have two years of eligibility left if the NCAA grants him a medical hardship for the torn labrum that shut him down after three games last fall. He also missed all of 2016 with shoulder problems, but my source at Tulane says he is healthy now. He definitely will add speed to the position. He caught five passes as a freshman at Michigan but only one as a sophomore and one in three games at Notre Dame.

If his shoulder problems truly are behind him, he could be a huge pickup.

Here is a rambling feature written on him when he transferred to Notre Dame. It's not written well, but it contains a lot of background info.

https://www.ndinsider.com/football/...cle_1bdde42a-f6c3-11e6-a30a-67daaa722032.html

Our OOC (Out Of Conference) scheduling for the foreseeable future looks good. And garnering home and homes with other P6 programs is always a plus, rather than a 2 for 1. Below is a link to a tweet which lists all Tulane's OOC games for the next 6-8 years.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">How does a home-and home-series with <a href="https://twitter.com/NUFBFamily?ref_src=twsrc^tfw">@NUFBFamily</a> sound?<br><br>We think it sounds great! See you in 2020 and 2025.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RollWave?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc^tfw">#RollWave</a> <a href="https://t.co/KDXVvyzYiU">pic.twitter.com/KDXVvyzYiU</a></p>&mdash; Tulane Football (@GreenWaveFB) <a href=" Login to view embedded media ">June 20, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Just read an article on 247 Sports concerning the new transfer and redshirt rules scheduled to go into effect on 10/15/18. Is anybody up to date on these new rules? Looks to me that it will favor the P5
schools, but I can't say for sure. Hopefully this will inspire a good discussion for this board.

I'm hearing DL Ricky Samuel, a 3-star 60-2, 286-pound DT from Brewton (Alabama) Miller High, is in for an unofficial visit today.

He has offers from Tennessee, Troy. South Alabama and ULL and is someone Tulane really wants.

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Connor Richardson TE 6’6 230 from Germantown Tenn is all I have so far.

He fits the profile of a Willie Fritz OL--he's not very big (6-5, 260) but he's very athletic. Comes from Birmingham.

His offers are not impressive to this point, but Tulane knows what it is looking for in offensive linemen. 247Sports rates him 3 stars. He is unrated by Rivals.

This is a good hire. Gives hope about the baseball program.

A Tulane source tells me they have not decided whether he will play tackle or guard, but he started 25 consecutive games at tackle for South Alabama the past two years, earning second-team All-Sun Belt recommendation last season.

Here is the story I wrote for The Advocate in preparation for the announcement:


Spurned by one graduate transfer offensive lineman, Tulane has found a replacement.

The school confirmed Wednesday morning that Noah Fisher, a 6-foot-5, 315-pound tackle who started 25 consecutive games at South Alabama, would play his final season for the Green Wave on Tuesday night. He will fill the void created when South Lafourche alum Bailey Granier reneged on a decision to transfer to Tulane from Vanderbilt and enrolled at Central Florida earlier this month.

Fisher, a former two-star recruit from Decatur (Georgia) High, started 12 games at right tackle for South Alabama in 2016 before switching to the left side last season. He was a second-team All-Sun Belt Conference selection in 2017 as chosen by the league’s coaches and media.

Tulane had an opening on an offensive line that was supposed to return intact when two-year starting center Junior Diaz graduated and announced he was returning to his home state of Florida to play as a grad transfer for Florida Atlantic.

Jesuit product Corey Dublin, who started every game at left guard as a true freshman last fall, moved to center in spring practice. Granier was slated to compete for the spot Dublin vacated.

Whether Fisher, who redshirted in 2014 and started twice in 2015, plays his customary tackle position or guard has not been determined. Tulane finished spring drills with senior John Leglue at right tackle. redshirt junior Keyshawn McLeod at left tackle, senior Dominique Briggs at right guard and redshirt freshman Cameron Jackel from Shaw at left guard. Leglue and Briggs started all but the 2017 opener at those spots, while McLeod, who started the finale at left tackle, beat out junior Tyler Johnson in a close competition.

Joey Jones, Fisher’s coach the past four seasons at South Alabama, resigned at the end of 2017 and was replaced by Steve Campbell. Fisher, who graduated with a degree in political science, participated in spring drills before deciding Tulane was a better opportunity for his final season.

South Alabama, which went to a bowl game in 2016 but finished 6-7, slipped to 4-8 last fall. The Jaguars lost 52-0 previously winless Georgia Southern, Tulane coach Willie Fritz’ former school, in November, leading to Jones’ resignation.

Just announced today. The kickoff will be 7 p.m. for the Thursday opener.

That game is 91 days away.