With the 4th OL commit of this year’s Fritzmas cycle I took it upon myself to begin my long promised assessment of our current OL commits, so without further ado:



Charlie Clark (Marist H.S. Atlanta, GA.) 6-4 270 OG

Pros: Great at the point of attack, impact blocking is plus. Good pad level, with the quickness needed to play guard. Plays very hard, finishes his blocks.

Cons: Not sure about the level of competition, he will need some fundamentals work due to the change in scheme and will need some time to put on some weight.

Eval: Charlie is a junkyard dog, he gets after it, blocks his guy and goes to find some more. Fires out of his stance with a great pad level and leg drive.


Joey Claybrook (Starkville H.S., Starkville, MS.) 6-7 250 OT

Pros: Great frame, dude is huge. Got a mean streak with great feet and solid athlete. Comes from a winning program, state champion. Moves very well for his size.

Cons: Hand placement needs to improve, with high hips, he needs to play with a lower center of gravity. Not great at the point of attack, more of a finesse guy.

Eval: This guy looks like a prototype left tackle. Give him a red-shirt year with Coach Speer to put on some muscle and I can see him pushing for playing time sooner than later. Good looking OL.



Gage Mallory (Guyer H.S. Denton, TX)6-4 300 OG/OT

Pros: Pulls well with great short area quickness. A good athlete who can bury defenders. Violent with his hands, has a good punch in the pass set. He has solid footwork and is a mauler. He played at a high level school near Dallas with a history of success.

Cons: Not a great build, and he plays high. He can be undisciplined in his pass sets and is a bit of a lunger (he lunges after the defender instead of waiting of the defender and punching. His hand placement needs work.

Eval: A versatile and all around very athletic player who plays in a similar scheme to what Tulane employs. Is a winner and knows what it takes to win, can play Guard or Tackle but the way he excels at pulling he will probably be a guard at Tulane.



Cameron Jackel (Archbishop Shaw H.S., New Orleans, LA) 6-5 300 OT

Pros: Above average footwork, he pulls well for a tackle and show’s good short-area quickness. Excellent at the point of attack on run plays. Decent but not dominating in pass protection. A good in-line blocker and hard worker with good hand placement. He has been very well coached.

Cons: Doesn’t appear to be the size he’s listed at, and he doesn’t always finish his blocks. Seems to lack a nasty streak.

Eval: A good player from a high level program with a fairly complex offense. His ability to pull will make him a good “move” tackle. He has been well-coached and shows excellent fundamentals.

The new coaching staff looks for a certain type of player on the OL, tall, with excellent feet who can pull and get to the 2nd level. These guys are maulers, who make up for what they lack in finesse with great pad level and leg drive. You can coach up the pass blocking, but run blocking is as much more of an attitude and want-to and these guys seem to have it.

Jackel is the fourth offensive lineman in the class. He had early interest from Arkansas and attended a Razorbacks camp, but the Hogs had cooled off on him. He is the second Louisiana recruit among 15 commitments and the first from the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

He has a 4.0 GPA according to SportsNola.com and plans to major in electrical engineering.

http://sportsnola.com/recruiting-archbishop-shaw-tackle-cameron-jackel-commits-tulane/

Fritz is not engaging in coach speak when he says he wants good students. Hopefully he has a better eye for the guys who are not using athletics as an excuse to go to Tulane than Bob Toledo did, and I assume he does.

Rivals did not have him in its database (I added him). 247Sports rates him a 2-star recruit.

Tulane's practice (shoulder pads and shorts) ended at 9:30 today because the Green Wave will return tonight for a closed, primarily special teams workout at Yulman Stadium. The chances for me to eyeball the team are dwindling because the coaches have decided to keep reporters out of Sunday's, Monday's and Tuesday's workouts, leaving Friday morning and next Wednesday as the last chances before training camp ends.

I feel pretty confident in who will start at all but a couple of positions. The big news today is the ascension of Robert Kennedy as a first-team defensive end opposite Ade Aruna. I've liked the way Kennedy has played all preseason, and the coaches have rewarded him, moving him ahead of Quinlan Carroll and Daren Williams.

"He's really come on," Willie Fritz said. "The guy can run. I think he was a 200-meter guy in high school. He's really a hard-working guy, good change of direction. For a guy (who weighs) 260, he's got great strength. He's one of our stronger guys. He's a near 600-pound squatter and 360, 370 power cleaner, close to 400-pound bench presser, and he runs a legit 4.6, 4.7, which is a rare combination of size and speed. What really matters is he plays hard all the time. Some guys have that speed and they run 4.5, but they don't play hard. They might as well be 5 flat."

Kennedy, a redshirt sophomore, looked lost when former coach Curtis Johnson's staff moved him to defensive end at the start of his career. The move had to be made because he had gotten too big to be a linebacker, but he needed time to figure out how to play on the line of scrimmage. After being redshirted in 2014, he was a non-factor last season, finishing with six tackles and one sack while playing as a backup in all 12 games.

Fritz expects him to be a significant factor this season.

"Years ago, Jimmy Johnson and Dave Wannstedt at the University of Miami they started the de-evolution of football. You had big corners, you moved them to safety. You had big safeties, you moved them to linebacker. You had big linebackers, you moved them to defensive end. You had big defensive ends, you moved them inside. That way you have a faster team, and that's what we try to do with guys like him. You have to be able to project them to be able to play with their hand in the ground because it is different, but if you do that, you have a more athletic guy. Most of the guys that are really good athletes in high school are playing linebacker, they are playing safety, they are carrying the ball. That's where you have to project them, and it gets your team faster."

It also is pretty clear that redshirt freshman Leeward Brown will be the fifth starter on the offensive line. He has practiced with the first team at right guard almost exclusively the past week, ahead of true freshman Phabion Woodard, redshirt freshman Brian Webb and junior Kenneth Santa Marina, who is getting almost all of his reps at tackle now. Fritz has not made an announcement, but Brown appears to the be the best option.

"I'm just listening to what the coaches are telling me to do," said Brown, a product of Miami. "I know I'm still a young cat and am going to make mistakes, but I'm just watching film and trying to correct my mistakes on the field. I'm just trying to get my techniques down before Sept. 1."

Brown, who is listed at 6-3, 344 pounds, was a three-star recruit according to Rivals.com. He had offers from Louisville, Miami (at one point), East Carolina, South Florida and Temple before choosing Tulane in January of 2015.

"I'm just trying to have that dominant mentality and effort," he said. "Coach (Alex Atkins) preaches effort all the time. Just go hard every play. If you give great effort and lose (a battle), you'll be fine. Coach changed the mentality to a dog mentality. If we're not dominating the person in front of us, he's not happy."

Brown was very specific about what he needed to improve before the opener against Wake Forest, saying he had a hard time getting his second step down before making contact, something Atkins teaches. When he gets his footwork down, he feel likes he will be fully equipped to engage defenders.

At one point, as Webb was jogging back on to the field for reps, a coach yelled at him to pick up the pace, saying "body language screams."

One spot I'm not certain about is nickelback. Richard Allen has practiced ahead of Taris Shenall all preseason, but neither of them has done enough to be the clear starter. That position is a concern on defense because Tulane needs a complement for the potentially terrific tandem of Parry Nickerson and Donnie Lewis. If the nickel guys struggle, opponents will pick on them and avoid the outside corners entirely. Either Allen or Shenall needs to step up I also think freshman P.J. Hall could enter the picture.

Lewis, who returned to practice at full strength today after missing several days with a leg injury, was hands down the best skill player on the roster in the first week. Defensive coordinator Jack Curtis loves his cover ability and long arms.

"He sure helps us in the secondary," Curtis said. "He can shut down the outside. He has speed and length. He's an outstanding press corner, and that's what we need."

None of the quarterbacks threw well while I was watching today, but most of the practice focused on the option and running plays. Lazedrick Thompson is a beast in shorts, and although that can be interpreted as a snide comment, I don't mean it that way. His problem has been the sprained ankles that have sidetracked his career repeatedly, but if he stays healthy, I think he will get a significant number of carries running right up the gut this year. And unlike the past few years, there might actually be a hole there.

Devon Breaux dropped a pass in the end zone during a red zone drill. He's Tulane's best receiver but definitely still has to prove he can be reliable, which the Wave desperately needs him to be. Devin Glenn dropped a pitch on an option.

Johnathan Brantley resorted to his early camp habit of putting too much air on his long passes, turning them into jump balls that his receiver did not win. But again, this was a very limited sample size. There were not many passes at all in the last 45 minutes of practice today, but all three quarterbacks looked good executing pitches on the option, with those pitches going to a variety of players, including receivers.

The first-team defense in 11-on-11 work had Kennedy and Aruna at end, Tanzel Samrt and Sean Wilson at tackle, Jarrod Franklin and Roderic Teamer at safety, Allen at nickelback, Nickerson and Lewis at cornerback and freshmen Larry Bryant and Lawrence Graham at linebacker. No, neither freshman will start against Wake Forest, but they are getting reps with the first unit at times to prepare them to play this year. Earlier in the practice, Nico Marley and Eric Thomas were at their usual spots with the first unit.

''Whether they (the two freshmen) are ready yet, I doubt it," Curtis said. "They are still learning, but the plan is to have those ready to perform for us this year if needed. We're trying not to redshirt if we can help it. If they are going to be able to help us and provide depth, we are going to play them. They are getting a lot of reps. We're throwing them out there because who knows where we're going to be in the seventh or eighth game of the season from an injury standpoint."

Tight end Kendall Ardoin sat out practice with a shoulder injury.

Athletic director Troy Dannen was in attendance, as was an Oakland Raiders scout. Dannen said he had received zero complaints about the piped-in crowd noise during the Saturday night scrimmage, so the NIMBYs may finally be backing off. They played loud music again today as a distraction during 11-on-11 work but dropped the banjo selection that made Monday's noise so irritating. I left the practice field with less of a headache.

Last Wednesday, strength and conditioning coordinator Kyle Speer discarded the sling he'd been wearing since he tore a pectoral muscle bench pressing in the offseason. He said today he feels much more like his old self but has been told it is a six-to-nine month recovery process and maybe longer before he gets back to lifting the same weights he was before the injury. If you follow his twitter account, you know he burned the sling after it came off. He's a much happier guy right now.

Fritz said he did not know when Tulane's next scrimmage would be, adding he would have a pecking order at QB after that scrimmage. Tulane will practice at the Saints indoor facility tomorrow and have two practices on Friday--one at Yulman and one at the Saints--before taking Saturday off and returning Sunday night.

"We're going to look at that (scheduling a scrimmage) at the end of this week," Fritz said. "We're going to go all the way to Friday, give the guys a day off and Saturday we're not doing anything. We're coming back Sunday night. We don't have great numbers. We're getting a little thin at a few spots, and we have to be careful. This is different for me. This kind of reminds me more of Blinn when I was at Blinn Junior College. I had 58 beds and 58 players, so I had to kind of watch how I practiced. We have to do that here, too."

Here's Dan Wolken's story from USA Today. He lists Tulane as an intriguing wild card.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...days-conference-expansion-bob-bowlsby/8731718

I still don't see it happening, but now that Rick Dickson is no longer the AD and Troy Dannen is, Tulane has a fighting chance. It would help if the decision is delayed past September and Tulane surprises folks with immediate competitiveness under Fritz. While the New Orleans market and the academic attractiveness are obvious pluses, I believe too many ADs and presidents will look at Tulane's record in football and basketball and decide to go elsewhere unless there is concrete proof the Wave is turning it around.

I've never understood why The Advocate and I (never Kushner, only me) get criticized so much on the YOGWF site (and not just by one particular person who used to have a specific axe to grind), but when someone posted that The Advocate's coverage of Tulane had completely gone downhill in the last two years (and no one rebuffed him), I had to scratch my head. Some Tulane fans are either brain dead, ignorant or both because The Advocate's coverage has been prolific. I should know because it's cut into the time I devote here.

Answering a few criticisms I've seen posed:

1) The Advocate did not send anyone to AAC Media Days.

--Actually they did. They hired a stringer to cover it, and he wrote a story and a good notebook. I talked to him for about 30 minutes to prepare him, and he was hardly some guy off the street. On Sunday he covered the final round of the PGA for, I think, USA Today. He also sent me some quotes that helped me write the main story that ran in Thursday's paper along with the Five Questions and the other categories.

2) The Advocate did not even bother to change the position battles category or the depth chart after the Leonard Davis news broke.

--That page already had been put to bed when I found out about Davis yesterday evening. There was nothing that could be done about it. You'd think fans would be able to figure that out when news breaks the night before a story runs (Davis was kicked off the team yesterday), but I guess some people prefer to be negative cheapshot A-holes. Hardly a word about the main story, of course, because there was nothing to criticize in it.

3) Guerry mentioned Teddy Veal had transferred in his main story but then had him on the depth chart at punt returner. What a moron!

Actually, that criticism was correct.

I have no idea why I put Veal in there. It's not like I didn't remember he was gone. In fact, when I was alerted by email this morning that I had him on the depth chart, I didn't believe it, so I double-checked and sure enough, I had sent his name. It's bizarre. The only explanation I can come up with: I called up my story from last year to see what the proper formatting was for the depth chart, and because the punt returners were already names I had put in at other positions and the heights and weights had not changed from last year at that time (I compiled the depth chart more than a week ago), I tried to cut and paste Dontrell Hilliard or Parry Nickerson and mistakenly cut and pasted Veal. I took all of the depth chart info from the post spring depth chart that still is available on the Tulane web site, but I did not believe the placekicker or punt returner one, so I tried to make some changes. Veal, obviously, was not the change I intended.

It's also interesting the YOGWF poster (and one or two who agreed with him) assumed it was my mistake and not someone else's. In this case, they were right, but usually that stuff is handled by the newspaper desk and not the reporter.

I'm very proud of my work at The Advocate and most of my work here. I'm pretty mild-mannered, but it does tick me off when Tulane fans act like The Advocate provides crappy coverage, or even worse, has almost no coverage, with as much as I've written there. I guess constant losing turns people into whiners and complainers.

The change in schedule Willie Fritz outlined yesterday (in my practice report) will prevent me from doing interviews this evening after the closed practice at the Saints facility. I have a conflict.

The full reports will resume at their regularly schedule time and place tomorrow after the open practice at Yulman Stadium.

I provided periodic updates on twitter and then forgot about the finish. Here's the TulaneGreenWave.com recap of Lex Kaplan and Hunter Williams helping their California summer team win a championship.

Both of them had outstanding summers, with Williams picking up where he left off in Oxford and Kaplan rebounding from a season-ending slump with Tulane.

http://www.tulanegreenwave.com/news...bara-foresters-to-nbc-world-series-title.aspx

Tulane ended practice (shoulder pads and shorts) a little after 9:30 this morning, about 30 minutes earlier than normal because the Green Wave will return to Yulman Stadium tonight for a second workout. That's a change from the announced schedule of a workout at the Saints indoor facility. The reason is Willie Fritz wants to do some special teams work, and an NFL field's narrower hash marks present problems there.

"The field marking are quite a bit different," he said. "It's very important where we line up. The numbers are different, the hashes are different."

Tulane's new schedule is morning and night practices at Yulman today and Wednesday and the afternoon at the Saints facility on Tuesday and Thursday. On Friday, the Wave will practice on campus in the morning and then go back to the Saints facility for the last time in the afternoon before breaking camp for a couple of days. The Saints return to New Orleans to practice this weekend after holding the first few weeks of training camp in West Virginia.

It turns out Nico Marley missed Saturday's scrimmage because of an ankle issue. He said today he had never missed a practice until he sat out Saturday, adding the ankle still was a little ginger but would be fine soon. He dressed out today but did not get much work.

"We wanted to give him a couple of days off," Fritz said. "I'd like for him have played, but you get some of those injuries and the only thing that helps it is rest."

Missing the scrimmage was tough on Marley.

"It was one of the hardest things to do," he said. "I just wanted to run out on the field. Coach called for someone, and I was like, oh man, I don't even have my helmet on or shoulder pads, nothing. It was hard to sit out and watch it, but they did a hell of a job. The young boys came and played great. Jarrod (Franklin) had a great game. I just loved to watch that."

Defensive end Ade Aruna, who hurt an ankle in the scrimmage, returned to practice today. This is not coming from the coaches on or off the record, but I think Aruna is going to need to change a little to excel under this staff. He has appeared to overreact to injuries from the first day he arrived on campus, and I doubt that sits well with this staff. But we'll see.

Wide receiver Larry Dace and linebacker William Townsend were back, too, after missing the scrimmage with unspecified injuries. The only guys out were cornerback Donnie Lewis (leg injury), wide receiver Tristan Cooper, who was being given pointers on how to haul rope to an equipment vehicle with some of the other injured players as I walked to the stadium, cornerback Jeremie Francis, running back Miles Strickland.

"He (Strickland) hurt a metatarsal in his foot, " Fritz said. "He was in a boot for a couple of days and we are going to rest him a couple more days, but hopefully within three or four days he'll be back at it."

Freshman linebackers Lawrence Graham and Larry Bryant got good run with the first- and second-team defenses today. Graham has been getting reps with the second team for the last week, and Bryant joined him.

After playing loud crowd noise at the scrimmage on Saturday, Fritz brought it back to the last hour of practice today. I hate it, but that means it's service a purpose because it definitely is distracting, which is the whole point of it. He wants to toughen his guys up and prepare them for game situations. At one point loud hillbilly music was blaring, which is the definition of distraction and even made it hard to think.

"I actually like it a lot," Franklin said. "It makes you call calls faster, it makes you spread out the defense a lot better, so it works. I hope they keep it going."

After reviewing the video of the scrimmage, these were Fritz' thoughts:

"You know, you always talk about leverage on defense and you practice it and practice it, but when it's full speed and guys are really cutting full speed, it's hard for those guys to maintain leverage. I think that was a good lesson for us obviously. We had some cut opportunities and didn't take advantage of it. We had some times where the quarterbacks looked like they really put their foot in the ground and other times when they kind of waited a little bit and were a little apprehensive about hitting the hole and getting vertical.

"We've got some good backs. I've said that many times. We have an opportunity to have a good offensive line, but about three or four guys need to step up so we can have some depth."

"I saw flashes from a bunch of guys. I'd probably be incorrect if I named one or two guys, but I saw flashes from a bunch of people. We just have to get consistent and learn how to play hard for a long period of time. There are some guys who are having a difficult time doing that."

"We only played Tanzel (Smart) 12 plays. God dang, he's a good football player."

As expected, Fritz said it was still too early to separate the quarterbacks. Monday morning was the 11th practice of the preseason (it is listed as the 12th, but I don't believe they made up the two-a-day workout that was reduced to 1 once last wee due to weather).

"We're going to go this week," Fritz said. "We're going to change the pecking order a little bit based on daily evaluation."

Fritz was not happy that Johnathan Brantley ran the wrong play on his long touchdown run Saturday, but he liked the result.

"Luckily he's got legs," he said. "Guys who don't have legs, that play's done. It's a sack or a throwaway instead of a touchdown. When you make a decision to scramble and run it, be decisive. When you get into trouble is when they pat it and pat it and pat if. Hey, if you're first progression is not there and you look to No. 2 and No. 3, go. I had a quarterback many years ago, that was our best running play. Michael Bishop, he was the runner-up for Heisman Trophy, he played at Kansas State and he would drop back. One of my coaches wanted to put in a quarterback draw, and I said bullcrap, just tell the other team to cover everybody. When you get an athletic quarterback back there, it can really help you out."

Franklin, who had a strong scrimmage, gave his assessment.

"The defense did all right," he said. "I know there's little sections in our defense we can work on and levels that we can work on, but we know what we're working with right now. We see what our strengths are and what our weaknesses are. We have 18 more practices, so we'll get ready to work on those."

Leeward Brown continued to get reps with the first unit at right guard. I did not see John Leglue while I was out there, and Kenneth Santa Marina, his backup, was working with the first team at right tackle.

The scrimmage will be tonight at Yulman Stadium and is now closed to the public, which is a bummer.

Reporters will be allowed in but have to sit in the stands.

This is from Media Day

The offensive line before you guys got here did not perform well in run or pass blocking. Are you pleasantly surprised by the ability level of the guys you inherited?

"Ability is a big factor, but a lot of it is consistency doing the same thing over and over and over. A lot of offensive line play is more muscle memory, so just teaching them how we want it on offense and doing it over and over and over and over. We just completed practice 6, so we are going to have plenty more practices to keep building that muscle memory, and we'll kind of see what happens on the (Sept) 1st. It will be a good measuring stick."

Coach Fritz said today that Todd Jacquet has the potential to be an All-Conference player. What do you do to go about getting that out of him?

"Well just like we talked about before, just doing the same thing. The difference between offensive line and most positions is you've got to be able to do the same thing every single time the same exact way each time. So it's more of just building that consistency more than anything. He does have the ability. We've got some guys with ability, but ability only goes so far if you're not consistently fundamental in execution, so we just want to get that down."

What are your thoughts on Junior Diaz?

"Junior is a tough, old-school kid. He loves practice. He loves hitting people. You know, you have to have that kind of mentality to play this position, and he brings that to the offensive line."

What do you like about Chris Taylor, and what does he need to work on?

"Chris is like Junior. He's an old-school guy. He comes to work every day, blue collar. He doesn't like to miss practice. He might have a tweak here and a tweak there, but he doesn't want to miss. That's the good thing about the group, is they're exciting. They are doing everything we ask them to do, so hopefully we can do some good things this year."

Kyle Speer said John Leglue had one of the best offseason of anyone in the strength and conditioning program. Has that translated to the practice field?

"We're still working towards the goal. The offseason is important, and John's a guy that takes pride in building himself. He does extra in the meeting room, extra with the weights, extra time, extra sets. He's an extra guy, and you need those guys, too. He wants to be good, so he puts the time in."

The other guard spot is wide open. How close is that competition?

"It's close. It's fun. Of course everyone is getting quite a few repetitions honestly, but that position right there is one we have to take a closer look at, pick somebody and get it rolling. They are coming along. It's still too early to tell. We still have a bunch of football left. I think we are taking steps forward, which is good. We're not going backward. At my past school (Georgia Southern), I rotated the guards. I had three guards that played for me. In 2014, we had a three-guard rotation, so if they are consistently playing well, I'll rotate them. We are trying to get the best five, six, seven guys out there."

Georgia Southern led the nation in rushing the last two years, and Sam Houston State under Fritz rushed for more than 250 yards per game in his last three seasons. Do you feel like the personnel up front is in place for you guys to be an effective running team like Fritz's teams always have been?

"Well, that's the plan, to consistently run the ball. We want to consistently run it. The numbers will be sometimes higher and sometimes lower, but in the plan to win, we just want to rush for one more yard than our opponent. As long as we rush for one more yard, it's a high percentage we're going to win the game."

You have 23 practices to go before the season opener. What do these guys need to do between now and then?

"They need to understand the mental focus has to be there. A lot of guys can play on emotion, hype, things like that, but not the offensive line. You can be as hype and listen to as much music as you want to, but at the end you've got to get your feet down, get your hands inside and understand what's going on. I always talk about going about 65 miles per hour--not too fast, not too slow, staying on track and getting where you need to go."

Have these guys been receptive to what you're teaching?

"No question. No question. That's what fun about it is they've all bought in. They're all working hard, so if anything, I want it for them. They are doing everything we ask them do, so hopefully it will pay off for them."

With the bad weather supposed to last into Saturday, Tulane has canceled Fan Day and has not determined if it will be rescheduled.

They practiced at the Saints indoor facility today for the first time this preseason, giving them a chance to avoid the rain that fell almost all afternoon. Willie Fritz said Donnie Lewis returned to practice, meaning both first-team cornerbacks--Lewis and Parry Nickerson--were on the field for the first time in camp, and Fritz said they were pretty close to a 100-percent healthy.

"It was great," Fritz said. "The relationship that Tulane has with the Saints, we appreciate them allowing us to go out there. It's one of our best practices we've had. The energy level was fantastic. It was new surroundings, and there weren't any distractions. Obviously we had air conditioning, all those things. It's just a great facility, and we took advantage of it today."

Fritz elaborated on that:

"You want to get better, and guys were just thinking about surviving instead of thinking about doing the very best they can on every play. We've had really good effort. We've had really only a couple of really hot days. By the time we'd get done with practice, it was starting to big time heat up. We've had a couple of mild days as well, but with the rain and lightning, we wouldn't have been able to practice today (at Yulman Stadium)."

Tulane will conduct both of its practices tomorrow at the Saints indoor facility--workouts No. 8 and 9. The Wave skipped what was supposed to the second Wednesday practice last night because of the inclement weather, so Friday will be the first two-a-day session. Fritz would have loved to have a scrimmage at the Saints facility on Saturday, but it is booked for another event, so they will wait most of the day if they have to for the weather to clear so they can have a scrimmage at Yulman Stadium. It is unclear if it will be open to reporters now that Fan Day has been canceled.

"We are just going to see what happens," Fritz said. "We may adjust our practice based on the weather."

This will be quick because I have to get to Media Day.

Parry Nickerson practiced for the first time in the morning session (shoulder pads and shorts) but is still not 100 percent.

"He wasn't close to full speed yet," Willie Fritz said. "It's probably about two or three more days, but we got him out there moving around. He'll be all right in a couple more days. We play a lot of man coverage, and he does a good job playing man, can help in the kicking game. The quicker we can get him out here, the better."

Fritz confirmed that the open offensive line spot is right guard. In what has been a disappointing career to this point, Kenneth Santa Marina has lost his starting spot and actually practiced as the backup right tackle today, with Leeward Brown and Brian Webb sharing reps with the first unit in his place. Fritz said true freshman Phabion Woodard also is in the mix, as is Santa Marina. Watching practice today, I'd say Brown is the frontrunner.

"There are about four or five guys that have the possibility to start," Fritz said. "If we had to, we'll move a guy here and there to do it."

Fritz also confirmed that Todd Jacquet had a firm hold on the left tackle spot. In fact, he gave him a ringing endorsement, or at least gave his potential a ringing endorsement.

"Todd really came out of the box and looked extremely good," Fritz said. "We've got to get him going because he can be a really good football player. If he does everything right, he's got the ability to be an All-Conference type player in this league. He really does. He's got the size. He's got good feet. We've just got to get the consistency out of him."

Fritz was not happy with the practice this morning and was not particularly thrilled with yesterday's workout. His thoughts:

"I've been talking to them about it. Everybody has, to use a different word, something and vinegar in the first couple of practices. And then you start seeing guys tail off a little bit. They are the same ones who lose mental sharpness and crispness and intensity in the third or fourth quarter, or play 8 on a drive they start fading a little bit. It's humid out here, no one's disputing that, but we do a good job taking a bunch of breaks. We do a good job of letting these guys get off their feet a bunch, and we can go the full practice hard, every single one of them. I want 29 good ones, not 18 good ones and a couple OK and nine poor ones. We need to have 29 good ones in preparation for Wake Forest."

One other note, and I kid you not: Nico Marley did not get a single rep with the first-team defense while I was watching today. Zachery Harris joined Eric Thomas on the first unit, with Marley and Rae Juan Marbley on the second unit. I'm not going to read too much into one day, but that bears watching. Tonight's practice and Thursday's practice are closed, but I'll definitely be watching that closely on Friday.

The other starters on both sides of the ball were the usual suspects. I'd give the edge to Glen Cuiellette on Wednesday performance among the QBs. Brantley threw a beautiful deep ball to Darnell Mooney, while Darius Bradwell misfired on routine throws a little too often. But that's just off today. The race has not been settled.

Tom Schad ‏@Tom_Schad 37m37 minutes ago
Can confirm @JohnMartin929 report that former Tulane signee Jonathan Wilson has joined the Memphis FB team. He's at practice, wearing No. 38

Tucker, from Senatobia, Miss, a town about 30 minutes south of Memphis, had offers from Southern Miss and Memphis according to Scout but was not in the Rivals database (or, 247 for that matter). I'll have to add him.

He's rangy (6-2, 215) and was rated the No. 32 player in Mississippi by Scout. Senatobia went 10-2 last year, losing in the second round of the Class 4A state playoffs. I will try to reach him tomorrow.

Here's his Hudl page:

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2806865/travis-tucker

Practice was closed today, but I talked to Fritz, freshman wide receiver Darnell Mooney and Roderic Teamer after the workout. The news of the day is Donnie Lewis, who pulled up and limped off the field with an apparent leg or cramping issue at the end of yesterday's practice, did indeed tweak something in his leg. Fritz did not say what the injury was today, but he said Lewis did not practice. We'll see whether it turns into anything significant. Fritz added that Parry Nickerson likely would practice Wednesday in the first two-a-day session.

Here's what Fritz had to say today. For the third time in five days, there was no Nola.com presence.

How did you feel about this practice?

"It's real easy. They had a lot of energy day 1, day 2, day 3. We had a little talk today about taking advantage of every single practice. Some guys had a great workout. We had a seven-on-seven pretty early in practice and did a great job throwing the ball again. I'm just excited about the way we're throwing the football right now. It's looking like we're going to be able to do both, and that really opens up the pass and the run."

How disruptive has Tanzel Smart been. I know it's just shoulder pads right now, but is he already showing off that strength?

"The first couple of days we were having a hard time getting a play off when he was in there. We had some freshmen that were trying to block them. We feel really good about four of our starters on the offensive line, but we're still kind of searching for that fifth guy. I told those guys after practice, he's not playing, he's out here for real. He's got a motor on and is a real good player. If you relax (against him), it makes you look bad."

He's a guy who put in so much work this offseason. How much did you know he was doing individually and what does that say about him as a leader on this team?

"He's one of the hardest workers I've had. A lot of times I'll get done working about 6 or 6: 30 p.m, and I'll go in the weight room to get on the treadmill to start running. I've got my own key obviously, and I'll open it up and the lights will be turned off and I'll hear somebody grunting in the corner. And he's snuck in there somehow. He's in there doing something. That probably happened 10 times over the last three or four months, and that's after he had a hard workout in the morning. Sometimes I worry the guy overtrains. I've talked to him about that. You don't have to worry about him putting in the work."

With the locker room being renovated, what are the guys doing for lockers?

"For the visitors there's a locker room over there, so we're using that, and also the officials' locker room. Hopefully that will be ready by the first game. We play away the first game, but for the first home game it should be ready."

It is creating some logistical issues?

"No, it's all right. The kids have adapted. I don't sit around here complaining."

No one on your staff, including you, came up the easy way, coaching at a power five school . You all came up the hard way. How has that affected the way you coach?

"Well, maybe stuff like the locker room. Kids see us not complain and whine about stuff like that. I'm used to not having good stuff. This is like I died and went to heaven, all the stuff we have here. We're just thankful for everything we've got. We all remember all we're doing is coaching football. We're not changing the world, but we're trying to change these 100 guys and we're trying to make Tulane proud."

The fact that all of your assistants have the same background as you, is there significance to that?

"You just have to do more. You have to see more. You can't get too specific in your scope, your vision. Good coaches can see everything. I had years when I coached the back seven and somebody coached the front four, and I had to see what all seven of those guys were doing and give them immediate feedback and then coach them all in a meeting. You probably have more personal relationships with the players because you don't have a director of player development. You don't have all that stuff, so it's you. I want my coaches to be really involved with our guys, not just as a player but as a student, as a person. Shoot, there's not a day goes by that I don't talk to one of my former players. As a matter of fact, yesterday one of my old coaches had quadruple bypass surgery, and I called him up and talked to him for a long time. Bruce Boley, my DB coach at Pittsburgh State. He's like a second dad to me. So that's how I was raised, and that's how all these guys were raised, too. They've all got great relationships with their college coaches and high school coaches."

Donnie Lewis looked like he tweaked a leg at the end of practice yesterday. Was he unavailable today?

"Yes, he was out to day. It was a precautionary measure. Hopefully we can get Parry (Nickerson) back tomorrow on a limited basis, and he'll be ready to go Thursday and Friday. We'll just have to play with that with Donnie, and hopefully this will be just a couple day deal."

Darnell Mooney arrived one day before the start of preseason drills. Was he the only one who missed the summer?

"A few walk-ons, but he was the only scholarship guy that came in late like that. We have to make sure we have all the Ts crossed and the Is dotted, and when the second summer session began, we hadn't gotten everything evaluated on his transcript. It happened about a week later, and we couldn't get him in then, so we had to wait to wait until school began per NCAA rules."

He doesn't look like a guy who just showed up?

"He's got great hands. He really does a good job adjusting to the ball. There've been four or five times when balls have not been thrown when they needed to, and he adjusted to catch it."

After some technical issues with the parent company, we're back on line, so here's my report on day No. 4 and the second workout in shoulder pads.

For the first time in four practices, I was late by a little more than an hour today, and a spy says I missed the best stretch from Glen Cuiellette since he arrived on campus. He completed a series of passes in individual and seven-on-seven drills, and they weren't just garden variety throws. Again, I was not there, but Willie Fritz talked about a number of long passes that were completed after practice (he doesn't like to single out his quarterbacks at this point), so that's some verification.

Through four practices, here's my take on the strengths and weaknesses of the three QB candidates.

For Cuiellette to win the job, he'll have to prove he is the best passer. The other two guys are faster than he is (though he's not slow) and appear to have better instincts for when to run and how go get up field quickly. Fritz keeps emphasizing how important the passing game will be to the offense this year, so there's an opening for Cuiellette. He did not throw well at all last fall or in the spring, but his experience on campus will help him.

Bradwell appears the most comfortable in the option and the most willing to run when he drops back to pass, taking off when no receiver is open. The key for him is becoming more consistent throwing. He has good arm strength, but he sails balls too much and still misses basic throws too often. That's expected of a true freshman.

Brantley is flat-out fast, with outstanding acceleration. But he clearly is behind the other two in decision-making and accuracy at this point. His deep passes look like punts, and although he completed one for a long touchdown today, a good safety would have broken it up for sure. The key for him is maturing quickly and forcing the coaches to use that speed. He's not as aggressive seeking the run as Bradwell, but he's close.

Fritz said he will need at least 10 more practices to get a handle on the QB race.

The freshman receivers can play. D.J. Owens made an excellent grab on a down and out from Cuiellette in 7 on 7 work. It's hard to figure out which one of the four is ahead because they've taken turns making plays, even Darnell Mooney, who did not show up until a day before the start of preseason camp. I'll be watching them closely this week to figure out a potential pecking order because I have no handle on the real depth chart at receiver. Devon Breaux, Larry Dace and Trey Scott are lining up with the first team, but that's definitely not set in stone. Devin Glenn and Terren Encalade are in the mix, too, along with the four freshman. The only guy I have not noticed at all is Tristan Cooper, who is out there but has not made plays while I was watching.

Breaux made a quintessential Breaux play for a TD in 7 on 7 drills, outjumping a pair of DBs to latch on to a deflected ball in the end zone. One problem: WR coach Jeff Conway said Breaux ran the wrong route, causing the congestion before atoning for his mistake by making the play anyway.

Donnie Lewis picked up where he left off over the weekend on the first pass of the 11-on-11 work, running right with Breaux and leaping to knock the pass from Cuiellette down with ease. Near the end of the practice, though, Lewis pulled up after being beaten by Breaux and went to the sidelines slowly. He appeared to be cramping, but I'll check on him Wednesday at the next open practice.

Freshman corner Tre Jackson ran right with Trey Scott on a deep pass from Bradwell. Scott has been effective on shorter routes, but I have not seen him make a lot of plays downfield yet. As you'll see in the Q&A part, Conway was very disappointed with Scott in the spring but believes he has picked up big time in the preseason. I haven't seen the evidence yet.

Brantley completed a nice pass to Jacob Robertson on the sideline.

Sherman Badie had a good day with some long gains. With no tackling allowed, that can be misleading, but he looked strong.

Linebacker Eric Thomas used to get in trouble with CJ for tackling people in non-tackling drills. He did it again today, upending a walk-on receiver for no reason, but I think this staff likes that type of aggressiveness as long as it's not dirty.

Leeward Brown got some reps with the first-team offensive line in place of Kenneth Santa Marina at one point. A little later, Devon Johnson got some reps with the first unit.

Dace caught a deep pass from Cuiellette on walk-on DB John Helow but lacked the acceleration to close on a deep ball from Bradwell in the end zone. It looked like that was as much his fault as Bradwell overthrowing it.

On the last play of the practice, Robert Kennedy showed good closing speed to touch Brantley for a sack as he scrambled to his left. Kennedy is lining up with the second team D-line along with the two Washingtons inside and Daren Williams at the other end, but the competition at end is far from over.
Quinlan Carroll, who had a good spring, got totally fooled by Bradwell on an option. If I were listing positions of concern, DE would be up there with the more obvious QB, WR, OL and safety. Ade Aruna is still raw, and the other three guys are unproven. There's talent there, but how they'll play in games is a concern, particularly against the run.

Parry Nickerson did not practice again today.

Fritz nearly blew a gasket after a Miles Strickland fumble near the end of the 11-on-11 work but his anger was not directed at Strickland. A bunch of defensive players dove to recover the ball in the middle of the field, but there were offensive linemen right there who were not aware of the fumble and easily could have been hurt in the mad scramble. Fritz is all about aggressiveness, but not dangerous aggressiveness.

Huderson, a running back from Petal High in Mississippi, rushed for 2,104 yards as a junior, had an offer from Southern Miss and led his team to the Class 6A state championship game after a mediocre 3-4 start. He scored four touchdowns in the quarterfinals and had a 67-yard run to ice the semifinals before having a tough night against Starkville in the championship game, being held to a season-low 73 yards and fumbling a kickoff.

Huderson is in the Rivals database but does not have any stars. His offer from USM is significant, though, and better than the offers most of Tulane's commitments have gotten to this point.

His average per carry was 7.4 entering the championship game.

His rivals profile: https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/49510

I will have a full update tonight, but here a few impressions.

1) Donnie Lewis Jr. looks terrific.

The significant qualifier is Fritz said Lewis' biggest weakness is tackling, which he does not have to do in no-contact drills, but he has outstanding in coverage the first few days.

Today, he was a beast in 1-on-1 drills, stepping in front of a Darius Bradwell pass for Trey Scott as Scott fell down and making an interception (Scott limped off the field with an apparent leg injury after the play but returned to practice shortly and appeared fine). A little later, Lewis almost had a second interception, but he could not hold on to a pass from Johnathan Brantley for Terren Encalade. The anticipation, the hips, the acceleration and the instincts--Lewis is showing the whole package. We'll see if that continues when the full pads go on and into the season when he really has to tackle.

2) The passing game is still a work in progress

I'm just not sold on it yet. The receivers have an incredibly hard time getting separation in one-on-one drills, and they don't adjust to the ball that well when it is in the air. The quarterbacks are definitely better than they were in the spring, but they need to get more accurate. Almost all of their completions are to open receivers.

I started charting the 1-on-1 routes in individual drills, and I counted two completions in the last 13 passes. Tight end Kendall Ardoin took too long on his break on a corner route as the ball sailed over his head. Lewis had his interception. Glen Cuiellette completed a pass to Devin Glenn over the middle. Brantley threw behind Frank Thomas. Cuiellette threw low for a number I didn't catch and completed it. Bradwell could not connect with D.J. Owens, who was not open against Thakarius Keyes. Brantley threw behind Charles Jones. Sergio Medina dropped a pass from Cuiellette. Lewis dropped his second INT opportunity. Brantley overthrow Larry Dace, who was open deep on Roderic Teamer. Cuiellette threw low for Devon Breaux on Stephon Lofton. Lewis broke up a pass from Brantley to Darnell Mooney, then Brantley overthrew a deep pass.

Brantley got the first reps in each rotation today, with Cuiellette next and Bradwell third. That doesn't mean anything in terms of the depth chart. It just shows the coaches are rotating everyone to give them an equal shot.

The results were better for the offense in 7 on 7. I'l get to that later today and have quotes from Fritz, defensive coordinator Jack Curtis, cornerback Parry Nickerson and Lewis. Nickerson did not practice again today but is itching to get on the field and should be there at some time next week.

Practice was closed today, but I was allowed in for the final 10 minutes before interviews. No other print or television reporter was there.

Ade Aruna was writhing on the field when I walked in, but he got up a minute later and was standing on the sideline with no trainer around him at the end of practice. He's done this before. His lack of football experience also extends to his over-reaction to when he takes a shot on the leg, but it rarely costs him practice time.

The players sang happy birthday to tight end Charles Jones in the center of the field before dismissal. He turned 20 today.

Since Fritz talked for seven minutes yesterday, my interview with him was brief, but he liked the second practice more than the first one. I should have asked him about Parry Nickerson, but I forgot. Nickerson was standing on the sideline for the few reps I saw, so I'm not sure he met Fritz' goal of practicing today. Practice will be open tomorrow, so I will be there.

How did you feel about practice today?

"Much better. We took almost a week off after our last organized, mandatory deal that we did. Sometimes it takes a little while to get in the swing of things. April, to be out here with the guys, was a long time ago. We'll get better and better. It's just the basics of football. I still believe in looking sharp, crisp, hustle on and off, finish plays. You have to coach hustle. I thought we looked much better today than we did yesterday."

So was the pace better today?

"The pace was better. It's always interesting. I wasn't happy about it yesterday, but when I went in and watched the tape, it looked a little better than I thought. Heck, I may go in right now and it may not look quite as good as I thought. It's easy to analyze when you sit in air conditioning and wind it back and forth."

The quarterbacks did not look good in the spring, but you had so few receivers to run routes then. How much of a difference does it make that you have 12 wideouts running routes in practice now when you had as few as six at times during the spring?

"It's making a big difference, plus I think these young receivers are going to be pushing these guys. We have some talented young receivers. That's good. There is going to be a lot of competition. An area where we didn't think we had much depth, we are going to have some depth."

Is Ade going to be OK?

"He's fine. I just got done asking him what he was trying to do. He was trying to scare me or something."

I also talked to offensive coordinator Doug Ruse. Here's what he had to say.

DOUG RUSE

Two days into practice, how do you feel about the three quarterbacks?

"I was hoping we'd come into fall camp and pick up where we left in the spring with the two guys (Glen Cuiellette and Darius Bradwell). We've got two guys that are newcomers (Johnathan Brantley and walk-on PJ Hurst), but I was hoping there'd be some retention over the summer and there has been. Always the first day because of nerves or whatever there's a few hiccups, but as far as knowing scheme, knowing what to do, I thought we did. We picked up just like it was an extension of spring ball, so that put us ahead of the game. That was good to see."

What are you looking for in a starting quarterback? What do these guys have to do to win the job?

"You could ask any one of the four, and the first thing they'd say is they've got to be able to take care of the ball. Ball security, we coach it every day and every play at all positions, not just quarterback, but that's the first thing you've got to do. After that, there's a lot of responsibility on that guy. He's got to manage the game and get us in the right call and be smart, but at the same time he has to have the ability to make plays and spread the ball around and get the ball to his teammates. So there's a lot of things that go into factor there when we're forming a depth chart, and that's all we're doing right now. These guys are pretty much all getting even reps. It's an equal rotation. We're giving everybody an equal chance to impress."

Coach Fritz said Brantley was a gym rat, which should help him pick up the scheme, but it has to be hard to come in cold and learn it and catch up to the guys who were here in the spring. How hard is that?

"It is tough, but nowadays compared to 10 years ago, we are allowed time with these guys over the summer on the board to talk scheme, which you didn't used to have the opportunity to do. So a guy starting practice 1 now as a newcomer, he's going to be much further ahead than he would have been six, seven, eight years ago before they changed that rule."

How many hours do they give you in the summer?

"You get two hours a week, but don't quote me on that because I may be wrong. You don't get much time, but you do get to, over the course of the summer, install just base scheme. But it's one thing to be able to know the scheme and respond correctly on the board and a whole different story when you take your first snap as a college player and there's live bullets flying all around you. That's the whole deal. You've got to be able to take that from the classroom setting, where it's nice and calm and peaceful, and you come out here and it's chaos and you have to be able to decipher everything the same way."

In the spring you had maybe six healthy wideouts for a lot of the practices. How different is it now?

"It definitely helps. We are able to run the tempo we want to run and run drills like we want to run them, but we always, because Tulane's a special situation and it takes a special student to go to school here, we're always going to be short on bodies."

But how much can the numbers you have at receiver now help the quarterbacks look better?

"It's a night and day difference. I'm glad to have some healthy bodies with some fresh legs. In the spring, we couldn't even conduct drills the way we were used to doing it. We just didn't have the bodies. That' s been refreshing to finally get some bodies back out here."

With 27 days until the opener at Wake Forest, Tulane began preseason practice with a 7:45 a.m. start today at Yulman Stadium, avoiding the intense heat of a New Orleans summer as much as possible. The workout ended at 10:05 (we're into exactness, here), when coach Willie Fritz forced the players to hydrate for about five minutes before calling them to the center of the field for the normal dismissal.

Cornerback Parry Nickerson, who missed the first three weeks of spring drills with soreness in his left knee, sat out Friday, but Fritz said he expected him to practice Saturday in what will be a closed workout at Yulman Stadium. That situation bears watching, but it makes sense to rest Nickerson's chronic knee problem a little bit to make sure he is ready for the start of the season.

Early in the practice, strength and conditioning coordinator Kyle Speer said he was very pleased with the effort level of the players during the summer. The two guys who impressed him the most with the jump they made were right offensive tackle John Leglue and defensive end Robert Kennedy. These coaches have liked Leglue from the start, and Speer believes he can be a real difference maker on the offensive line this fall with the improvements he made in the summer. Kennedy struggled for most of spring drills before having an excellent spring game, and he continued to improve in the summer. Tulane has a wide open position at the end spot opposite Ade Aruna (I wish I had focused on that for the Advocate preview instead of Leonard Davis/Roderick Teamer), and Kennedy should be right in the mix along with Daren Williams and Quinlan Carroll.

Other players Speer mentioned were Nico Marley (no surprise), Devin Glenn, Rae Juan Marbley and Darius Bradwell. Bradwell arrived in the spring with a slight gut, which is typical for a player who otherwise would have been in his final semester of high school, but he lost six pounds and put on muscle to get in excellent shape.

Speer said Jason Stewart lost 25 pounds and can be functional now, with the biggest difference his eating habits. The coaches were on him hard to cut out the fatty foods that killed his chance to be an effective player in the past. He still has a ways to go, but at least he finally has started the process.

Of the healthy receivers, Terren Encalade made the biggest jump in conditioning in the summer, but Speer was even more impressed by Andrew Hicks, who will not play this year due to the torn ACL he sustained in the spring. Four months later, Hicks has become a weight room monster on leg lifts and the bench press despite having to rehabilitate the knee. That bodes well for a full recovery by next spring and is a indicator of Hicks' work ethic.

Speer, by the way, tore a pectoral muscle while doing bench press work in May, had surgery and still is wearing a sling on his left side. It doesn't appear to have affected his enthusiasm or drive.

The practice itself was pretty standard for a preseason opener--ragged, with Willie Fritz getting irritated at the slow tempo a couple of times and yelling at everyone to pick up the pace.

The star of the day was Donnie Lewis Jr, who made four interception if you combine one-on-one drills, seven-on-seven and 11-on-11. He has excellent ball skills. He picked off a deep pass to freshman Frank Thomas by Glen Cuiellette, got Cuiellette again on a shorter throw and had two others where I did not catch the thrower. He also broke on a corner route to deflect a pass intended for Trey Scott, getting there at just the right time to prevent what looked like a sure completion.

Devin Glenn beat him on a similar route a little later, and Fritz said Lewis remained a work in progress, albeit one with big potential.

"He's becoming a more mature football player," Fritz said. "He's got a lot of ability, but when we talk about paying attention to detail, he's gotta play every single where he's on point. Corners have to have a short memory and they also have to be ready to go. They can get embarrassed every play if they're not ready to go, and that's what we have to get out of Donnie. Those corners will play 75 snaps, and if 73 of them are good and they get beat on the other two, everybody thinks they had an awful game. You have to play 75 at a very high level."

I talked to all three scholarship quarterbacks after practice and will have their quotes later, but none had a particularly good day. Cuiellette misfired on a few too many throws. Bradwell lets the ball sail on him too often. Newcomer Johnathan Brantley made some nice throws but tended to put too much air under them, throwing long passes like they were punts and having a few others wobble.

Cuillette took the first set of reps in each drill, with Bradwell next and Brantley third. If I had to pick a winner off the first day, I guess I'd go with Bradwell, but there wasn't much separation among them.

The freshman receivers made an impact. Thomas had the catch of the day, leaping to come up with a high throw in traffic in the middle of the field and backing that up with a couple more grabs. One problem, though: he is thin as a rail. If it had been a contact drill, it looked like he was broken ribs waiting to happen. Chris Johnson had a nice gain on a seam route from Bradwell. Jacob Robertson got behind the coverage easily and caught a deep ball despite it being under thrown by Brantley. D.J. Owens showed good burst to catch up to a ball during 1-on-1 work.

There weren't many drops. Trey Scott bobbled an easy one on a deep pass in 1-on-1 drills, and Devon Breaux dropped a late throw by Brantley that would have been an easy completion if Brantley had seen him earlier.

The 11-on-11 drill lasted almost half an hour, and Scott was the primary target for the quarterbacks. He is good at shielding the ball from defenders on short out routes. There were no long completions by any of the quarterbacks in that segment, with Glenn's catch against Lewis, a 15-yarder, the longest. The day ended with another short completion to Scott from Bradwell.

The depth chart was about what you would expect. I was watching the quarterbacks closely, so I didn't take down everything, but the starting corners were Lewis, Shenall (in place of Nickerson) and nickel Richard Allen. The backups were P.J. Hall, Will Harper and Tre Jackson.

Junior Diaz sat out part of the practice, with Leglue shutting to center to do some of the snapping along with Keyshawn McLeod, the only other center on the roster. But for 11-on-11 work, Diaz returned, with Leglue going back to right tackle. The other starters were Todd Jacquet at left tackle and Kenneth Santa Marina and Chris Taylor at guard, so no changes there.

Former walk-on wideout Chaz Augustini, who caught a touchdown in the spring game because the team was so low in numbers at his position, no longer is on the team. One of the two new walk-on wideouts, No. 13, made a nice catch in double coverage. I'll figure out which one he is on Sunday.

Speer said everyone was relatively healthy other than Hicks, although defensive end Peter Woullard is fighting a toe injury.

Fritz singled out Glenn for praise during the practice. On a running play in 11-on-11, Glenn kept going after the rest of the defense stopped, streaking down the sideline, and Fritz ran up to him and said, "That's a way to finish. Great job, Jet." On the next play, Glenn caught a pass for a good gain.

Other quick impressions:

--He did not get many opportunities on a pass-heavy day in shorts, but Dontrell Hilliard looked quick and sharp when he touched the ball. I've always liked the way he runs.

--Freshman guard Phabion Woodard got a lot of snaps.

--The practice went from individual drills to 7-on-7 to 11-on-11 in standard fashion, but they did take time for a ball security drill like the ones they did in the spring, with players running around a trainer and then diving over a hurdle onto a cushion and making sure they held on to the ball.

--The coaches constantly were on the players for moving faster and not lolly-gagging.

I don’t put a lot of faith in “roster weights” since many are exaggerated up or down for one reason or another, but looking at the changes from the 2015 roster to the one recently released, some numbers stick out.

First, a lot of the freshmen are listed as heavier than shown on the previous roster before they arrived at school. Beyond the obvious issue of the potential errors in the roster weights, are these guys arriving out of shape or have they packed on weight due to intensive training and good eating? Lots of possible reasons. But, for example, Phabion Woodard, the offensive lineman is now listed at 320# vice the previous 293#. Tyler Johnson is +10# to 280#. The two QB’s, Bradley and Brantwell are +10# and +17# respectively.

On the defensive side, Jonathan Wilson (+25#), Deion Rainey (+25#), and DeAndre Williams (+30#) are listed at 265#, 270#, and 270# respectively. That’s heavier than most defensive ends we’ve had over the years, even when they were seniors. And even a couple of the defensive backs, P.J. Hall (+15#) and Will Harper (+25#) are presumably much bigger at 190# and 205# respectively. If those numbers are accurate and reflect muscle, not fat, these kids are growing into men at a rapid rate.

Of the returning veterans, several of our “fat” guys seem to have made some progress, though previous weights and current ones probably deserve the most scrutiny. Jason Stewart (-29#) and Devon Johnson (-9#) are now listed at 360# and 315# respectively. At the same time, Diaz is up 8 to 300# and Jacquet is up 23 to 315#. More surprisingly, redshirt freshman Keyshayn McLeod is listed at 290#, up 40 from last year’s roster. Disappointingly, Leeward Brown is up an addition 6# to 350#.

There’s a lot of weight gain listed on the defensive line with Aruna up 24 to 265#; Kennedy up 29 to 265#; Carroll up 24 to 235#, Eldrick Washington up 17 to 280#, and Sean Wilson up 24 to 295#. Only John Washington has lost weight, down 17 to 290#. I don’t know if that is good or bad; I don’t remember ever really seeing him.

Several of the defensive backs have put on 10-12 pounds, including Lewis, Shenall, Francis, and Lofton, who each now are listed in the 180#-190# range. I think that’s good since they appeared to be boys against men last year. And Teamer, who looked pretty healthy last year, is up another 14# to 205#. Nickerson and Allen are both down a few pounds and neither was overweight by any stretch , so I’m not sure that’s a good thing. And, back to the offense, Glenn is now listed at 155#, down 9# from last year when he was the smallest guy on the field.

Anyway, it will be good to hear people’s impressions when we get to camp because, like I said at the beginning, I don’t put much faith in roster heights or weights; they don’t seem to hold up. And since I vary a few pounds from before and after eating, I’m not worried about minor weight fluctuation; they mean nothing.

Roll Wave!!

By my count, Tulane has 89 players overall and 77 players on scholarship for the start of preseason practice on Friday, eight under the NCAA maximum. We'll see if they are all there.

If you're curious, the listings within a position go in order of jersey number because I'm taking it off a chart I made to refer to when I watch practice.

Quarterbacks (3)

Brantley
Bradwell
Cuiellette

Comment: They need a fourth arm to avoid over-extending the three starting candidates, and it apparently will be a walk-on freshman. The only question is whether that freshman will be able to practice Friday or have to wait for classes to begin, which would be a problem.

Running back (6)

Badie
Rounds
HIlliard
Strickland
Thompson
Bertrand (WO)

Comment: Nothing to see here. The strongest position on the team is in good shape.

Fullback/Tight end (5)

Wadleigh
Medina
Jones II
Ardoin
Camissa (WO)

Comment: I will be interested to see how they use Wadleigh, who earned a scholarship at the end of the spring.

Wide receiver (13)

Encalade
Glenn
Breaux
C. Johnson
Robertson Jr.
Cooper
Hicks
Owens
Scott
Dace
Mooney
Green (WO)
Thomas (WO)

Comment: This is the most wide open position on the team. A host of candidates could emerge.

Offensive line (12)

T. Johnson
Diaz (C)
McLeod (C)
Webb (G)
Woodard
Stewart (G)
Leglue (T)
Brown
D. Johnson (T)
Taylor (G)
Jacquet (T)
Santa Marina (G)

Comment: Still work to do here. It will be interesting to see where the freshmen line up.

Defensive tackle (9)

Rainey
Edwards
Smart
E. Washington
J. Washington
S. Wilson
J. Wilson
Bell
Staudinger (WO)

Comment: The key will be developing a fourth tackle to allow the starters some rest. Eldrick Washington is the third.

Defensive end (7)

L. Jackson
De. Williams
Carroll
Woullard
Aruna
Kennedy
Da. Williams

Comment: This position scares me. A lot.

Linebacker (9)

Marley
Townsend
Graham
Bryant
Harris
Thomas
Bowie
Marbley
Spinelli (WO)

Comment: Marley and Thomas are the clear starters. Harris, Marbley and Bowie need to step up.

Nickelback (2)

Shenall
Allen

Comment: Neither one of them is proven starter quality

Cornerback (8)

Hall
Nickerson
Lewis Jr.
E. Lewis
Lofton
Francis
Keyes
Helow (WO)

Comment: Depth is shaky here, and so might be the second starter.

Safety (7)

W. Harper
Franklin
T. Jackson
S. Harper
Napoleon
Teamer
Davis (WO)

Comment: (Franklin and Teamer as the starting safeties could work really well or backfire.

Special teams (8)

DiRocco (K)
Neenan (P)
Block (P
Eatherly (LS)
Carrasquero (WO)
Harvey (WO)
Logan (WO)
Golub (WO)

Comment: The kicker battle will be interesting, and so will Neenan's leg strength.

After committing in June, Mallory tweeted last week that he had de-committed. But he has changed his mind again and is back in the fold according to his twitter account.

I decided this deserved its own thread after initially posting it at the bottom of another one.

Here are the new walk-ons.

1) PJ Hurst, 6-2, 180-pound freshman from Palisades High in Pacific Palisades, California.

--Hurst threw for 2,065 yards and 21 TDs last year while running for 707 yards and nine scores, according to MaxPreps.com. Here are his season-by-season stats according to that site.

http://www.maxpreps.com/athlete/pjhurst/VdeX4_TmEeKZ5AAmVebBJg/gendersport/football-stats.htm

Here is his Hudl page: http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2171747/pj-hurst

2) Andrew Zuckerman, a 5-9, 180-pound running back from Churchill High in Potomac, Maryland.

Here's his Hudl page: http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3030873/andrew-zuckerman

And here's a good feature written on him by the Washington Post in November. He never fumbled until his senior year, when he had one.

--https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...man-piles-up-yardage-and-stays-turnover-free/

3) Rocky Ferony, a 6-2, 170-pound wide receiver from Cedar Park (Texas) High.

Here's his Hudl page: http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1477908/rocky-ferony

I could not find out much about him, but he was on the school's 400- and 800-meter relay team, and the football team went 15-0 en route to a state championship, never playing a game closer than 13 points while scoring at least 31 in every game until a 22-6 state final victory.

4) Brian Newman, a 5-9, 170-pound wide receiver from St. Pius in Houston who listed himself as running the 40 in 4.4 when he finished in 2013.

--Newman attended Hillsdale College, a Division II school in Michigan, the past two years. He caught 26 passes for 293 yards and three TDs last year and had 11 catches for 83 yards in 2014.

Here is his high school Hudl page: http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1157811/brian-newman