Aside from some special teams work midway through, Saturday's practice was no different than the other practices in pads this week as Tulane put on a typical display at Junior Day of what a normal Willie Fritz workout looks like.

My apologies for not noticing earlier, but Calvin Thomas decided to skip his final year of football. I realized today he was not even on the numerical roster they handed out on day 1 of spring drills that I have been bringing to each practice, although because of an oversight he still is on the roster at TulaneGreenWave.com. Tackle is still a pretty deep spot on the team, with Tanzel Smart, Sean Wilson and Eldrick Washington all appearing to be starter caliber and Brian Webb, John Washington, Eric Bell and Braynon Edwards backing them up.

For practice today, Tulane had five healthy scholarship cornerbacks--Dedrick Shy, Taris Shenall, Richard Allen, Donnie Lewis Jr and Jeremie Francis--plus walk-on John Helow, a true freshman from Jacksonville who had plenty of reps. I did not see Stephon Lofton. The Wave had five healthy safeties--Jarrod Franklin, Leonard Davis, Roderic Teamer, Will Harper and walk-on Sam David, plus Tristan Cooper, who is a no-contact jersey after having surgery right after the season. The Wave had seven linebackers--Nico Marley, Eric Thomas, Zachery Harris, Eric Bowie, Rae Juan Marbley, William Townsend and a walk-on I did not recognize. The Wave had six ends--Ade Aruna, Daren Williams, Quinlan Carroll, Robert Kennedy, Luke Jackson and walk-on Paul Staudinger.

Fritz has combined the fullback/tight end position into one spot with five players. Charles Jones, Kendall Ardoin, Marshall Wadleigh, Sergio Medina and walk-on Trey Camissa, who was a defensive end last year, are practicing together.

The field goal drill, the first I've seen this spring, was interesting, with three kickers attempting from the left hash and then the right hash. A guy I have never heard of, sophomore walk-on Randy Harvey, started off by connecting from 28 and 30 yards. Harvey, from Destrehan High, joined the team last fall. Andrew DiRocco, who had a pretty good year as a sophomore after looking really bad in the preseason drills, then missed wide left from 29 yards and had a low 31-yard attempt blocked. Finally , Steven Logan, who was in the competition to be the kicker before suffering a leg injury last August, connected from 28 yards (it was close) and 30 yards.

The punting drill was next and was uneventful, although John Leglue's snaps were on the money, as were backup Aaron Golub's. No one else did any snapping. Larry Dace was one of the guys returning punts, which was quite surprising.

The less said about the quarterbacks' passing, the better. Although Willie Fritz insisted the quarterbacks were accurate in one of the six-on-six drills, I did not see it. What I saw were a series of misfires with no big gainers in the brief 11-on-11 work at the end. Even in quarterback-receiving drills, Darius Bradwell threw into the ground for Trey Scott and low for walk-on Reed Green on simple swing passes. Bradwell is tough, though. In the 11-on-11 action, he took a pop as he started to run from a defensive tackle and dished out as much punishment as he received before racing downfield.

I did not see a single significant completion, but Scott showed off his speed by getting behind everyone in the secondary on a deep ball from Bradwell that sailed a few yards over his head. Scott almost turned in a spectacular catch on a deep sideline pass from Devin Powell but could not quite haul it in after reaching up with his right hand and trying to bring it into his body.

The first-team offensive line was Todd Jacquet at left tackle, Chris Taylor at left guard, Junior Diaz at center, Kenneth Santa Marina at right guard and Leglue at right tackle. The second team offensive line was Devon Johnson at left tackle, Leeward Brown at left guard, Keyshawn McLeod at center (he had one bad shotgun snap), Jason Stewart at right guard and Leglue at right tackle.

Really, it was an uneventful practice, with nothing even resembling scrimmage action. There were nine referees brought in for the 11-on-11 work, and when they left, Fritz hollered out "Thank you, guys. Appreciate it."

I talked to Derrick Strozier as I walked on to the field. He's given up pursuing football and has a steady financial job downtown. Devon Walker was at the practice, too. One of the players at junior day who followed me on twitter last night, wide receiver Nate Shelton from Sachse, Texas, introduced himself to me and said he was hoping to be offered a scholarship. He's also looking into Kentucky.

Here's what Fritz had to say: Keep in mind there were a few people asking questions who had not seen Tulane practice at all until today.

Talk about Junior Day

"A big part of running a successful Division I program is you gotta recruit year-round. We're really blessed in a hotbed of high school football here in New Orleans. We've got guys here from all over the state of Louisiana, all over the city of New Orleans. We've got people here from Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia. We've got quite a few kids from Texas here, so a lot of bonafide Division I players came to watch the Wave practice today."

What are you trying to get out of a day like this for those guys?

"I wanted them to see the campus. We talked to them a little bit. We've got a world class education to sell here at Tulane. Not too many schools in the country have that to sell. We have a beautiful campus. Hopefully they got to see a little bit of New Orleans, one of the top cities in the United States to vacation in, and now you can go to school here and be here year-round. Then also seeing some football. We have a great group of coaches, and they get to see us coach and how we operate."

How would you evaluate the team after two weeks of practice?

"There have been some good things. I don't know if I'm ever going to split it up again where I go practicing before spring break and then coming back afterwards. We're staying relatively healthy. There are some spots we've got great depth and some spots we don't have very good depth, so we have to do a good job of managing practice, but we're heading in the right direction. We have a long way to go, but we're heading in the right direction."

How would you evaluate your quarterbacks?

"They are all doing a good job. There's a little bit of inconsistency. One day, one guy has a great practice and the other guy doesn't, and then it changes. Just the consistency of throwing and running the football we need out of those guys every single day, those guys have to be on the right page every play."

The passing has been inconsistent. Is it far too early to be concerned?

"You know, I saw them today when we saw them throwing the ball seven-on-seven, particularly the second group of 12 was pretty darn good. I think we were nine of 12 during that time period, so they were pretty darn accurate and we had a drop in there as well, so it's getting better. It's a combination of a lot of things. It's the quarterback throwing the ball accurately and throwing on time. It's great pass protection by the offensive line. It's the receivers running a route right and catching the ball."

How would you define the role of your H back?

"That guy has got to do everything. That H back, tight end, he's got to do it all. He's got to be able to run routes. He's got to be able to split and play out on the perimeter. He's got to be able to seal block defensive ends. He's got to lead out on linebackers. He's got to wrap around and cruise to the inside backer, to the alley runner, the free safety. He's got to be able to block the force players. He's got to do it all. He's got to be a pass catcher, a run blocker and a pass protector at times as well."

Do you want your running backs tto have specific roles, and how do you divide the carries among so many guys?

"Well it really helps you out if they can do everything. Teams start keying in, when this guy's in there they throw the ball more or when this guy's in there they run this play. Defensive coaches are too smart, so we'd like to have a guy who can do everything well. Believe me, we can divide the carries up. That's not a problem. A perfect game for us is being able to run the ball 40 to 50 times and throwing it 20 to 30 times. That's the mix we'd like to have."

Parry Nickerson has been out for a while. When are you anticipating getting him back?

"I hope he's going to be back on Monday. We'd like to get Parry back. He pulled a muscle or something."

You inherited Jack Curtis as defensive coordinator at Georgia Southern, kept him and have brought him with you to Tulane. What do you like about him?

"Coach Curtis has done a great job with our defense. I kept him at Georgia Southern when I took that job because I had a little background with him (Curits coaches at Central Missouri after Fritz left). We get a lot of kudos for our offense. Last year we were the 21st-ranked defense in the nation. Jack and our defensive coaches do a sensational job."

Have you had a chance to talk to Mike Dunleavy Sr?

"Yeah, I met him one day in practice. Last Monday I had a chance to meet him. I think it's great for the university. Our athletic director is getting after it now. We want Tulane to be a power not just in football but in all sports."

You are conducting the coaches' clinic next weekend. Can you talk about that?

"I'm really looking forward to it. We're going to have I think a couple hundred coaches here next Saturday. We're going to go Friday and Saturday April 8th and 9th. Get on our website and get in contact with us. We'd love to have as many coaches here as possible."

Andrew Lopez, who, BTW, is doing a better job of covering Tulane, particularly recruiting, reports that Coach Fritz has signed a safety for the 2016 class, Thakarius Keyes from Mississippi:

http://www.nola.com/tulane/index.ssf/2016/03/tulane_adds_class_of_2016_sign.html#incart_river_index

Coach Fritz confirms the news on his twitter, so it must be true.

Keyes apparently has only played football the past two years but he has some length and speed that could make him a real “steal” over time. His highlights on hudl: (http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3596939/highlights/321238383)

I was a little surprised by this signing since we have a large number of defensive backs and could really use offensive linemen, but coach must have thought this kid was “too good” to pass up. It does suggest, however, that recruiting for 2016 may not be over.

Roll Wave!!!

Here are some of the prospects who will be attending Junior Day tomorrow

QB Ryan Glover, 3-star from Woodward Academy in Georgia
RB Jalen Greene, 3-star from Sandy Creek in Georgia
CB Jeff Hubbard, 3-star from Woodward Academy
DB Quincy Addison, a safety from Angleton Texas who is not in Rivals database but is in the others
OT Corbin Smith, from Nederland Texas (in Rivals database but not rated)
LB Josh Clarke, 3 star from Riverdale
DT Caleb Sampson from Northlake Christian in Covington (in Rivals database but not rated)
DE J'arius Warren, no stars from Long Beach, Miss.
CB Corey Straughter, 3 star from Neville
S Jacorion Andrews, 3 star from Neville
DB Jeremiah West, 2 stars from St. Aug
DE Dennis Collins, 3 stars from West Monroe
QB Justice McCoy, 3 stars from St. Aug
ATH Devion Warren, 2 stars from Ouachita
WR Jeremy Singleton, 3 stars from Brother Martin
WR Takulve Williams, 2 stars from St. Aug
WR McLane Mannix, no stars from Midland Texas
WR Gavin Holmes, no stars from Justin Texas
RB/DB Troy Young, 2 stars from Mobile Christian
DB Amik Robertson, 2 stars from Thibodaux
DE Chris Turner, 2 stars from Hammond
DT Zi'Yon Hill 2 stars from New Iberia Catholic
OL Jonathan Hawkins, not rated from Livonia
WR Dontaze Costly, 2 stars from St. James
WR Davontavean Martin, 2 stars from Ellender in Houma
ATH Jatarvious Whitlow, no stars from Lafayette Ala.
LB Gajuan Davis, 2 stars from Ozark High in Carroll Ala.
LB Chris Ross, no stars from Enterprise, Ala
WR Eugene Minter, no stars from Parker High in Birmingham, Ala
LB KJ Vault, unrated from Hoover, Ala
DE Troy James, 2 stars from Madison Prep in Baton Rouge
LB Donovan Perkins, 2 stars from Zachary
RB Javin Myers, 2 stars from Woodlawn

Having moved Friday's scheduled practice to Thursday despite a dicey weather forecast for both days, Tulane clearly made the right call, working out in cloudy but dry conditions this morning.

Cornerback Parry Nickerson remained out with a leg injury and spent most of the workout on an exercise bike, and wide receiver Andrew Hicks did not practice. Linebacker Zach Harris returned after missing Tuesday's practice. And, as I expected, defensive ends Robert Kennedy and Daren Williams were fine. I did not notice them in Tuesday's 11-on-11 work but must have missed them.

When Willie Fritz referred to himself as the "tackling coach" after the first practice, he was not kidding. He is hand-on in all of Tulane's tackling drills this spring. Today, the Wave had a drill where players had to tackle a moving hoop that a trainer rolled. and Fritz was right there yelling encouragement and criticism. After the first four or five players did not do it the way he wanted, he praised safety Jarrod Franklin for having the right technique, and he liked what he saw the rest of the way.

"My background is as a defensive coach, and the last time I checked, tackling's pretty important to having a good defense." Fritz said. "We work on it as much as we can. I have a way that I do it. I switched a couple of years ago. Pete Carroll, the Seahawks head coach, came up with what they call Hawk tackling. We call it Wave tackling here. We're using a lot of the principles that the Seahawks use. There are a few thing that we modified as well, but we're trying to practice physical tackling without hitting bodies and getting guys hurt. The majority of injuries occur with body to ground contact, so we're trying to take the ground out of the equation as much as possible."

Fritz elaborated on what he emphasizes.

"We use our arms when we wrap up," he said. "We glorify all tackles, not just the big hits. We've got a little bit different style of doing it. I started doing it two years ago, and I was really hesitant to do it because I had a way of doing it for 25 years. I switched, and we were much more efficient tacklers, and it was amazing. We're staying with it and trying to get better and better at it every day."

Franklin liked the extra work on tackling.

"The tackling drills they are implementing have been very good for us," he said. "We had a problem with tackling last season, and that was a big part of our losses. Staying on it is definitely something that we need. It's going to help us in the future. Coach (Fritz) definitely talks about it doesn't matter what kind of tackle it is as long as you bring them down to the ground and do it the right way."

Franklin, who intercepted a pass from Glen Cuillette in 11-on-11 work, said the entire defense is completely different than what Lionel Washington and company ran under Curtis Johnson because it is a lot more complex.

"I really do like the new defense they are bringing in," he said. "It's a lot different that the one we've had previously. Learning all the new calls, learning all the new plays is awesome. It's just a lot harder and a lot more complex. The playbook has a lot more calls and a lot more checks. The coaches emphasize all the time that we have to learn the playbook, and when we do I know we're going to be (clicking) on all cylinders."

The first thing I saw when I arrived at practice was an ugly incomplete pass by Darius Bradwell. That's par for the course for all of the QBs in the first two weeks, but I don't think this offense will rely much on the passing game in the fall. Bradwell loves to run and appears to get downfield in a hurry when he does, although it is hard to gauge since the defenders are not allowed to touch the quarterbacks. Cuillette threw a nice pass to Devin Glenn in 6-on-6 work, but I didn't see any other pretty completions until the last play of the day, when Devin Powell connected with Larry Dace on a sideline route. Dace barely dragged a foot inbounds.

The first-team offensive line in 11-on-11-work today was Devon Johnson at left tackle, Chris Taylor at left guard, Junior Diaz at center, Todd Jacquet at right guard and Kenneth Santa Marina at right tackle. The second-team line was Jacquet at left tackle, Leeward Brown at left guard, Jason Stewart at right guard and John Leglue at right tackle.

Because of the lack of numbers up front, the pace of the practice was slower than what Fritz normally wants.

"If you notice today, we took some breaks and took a little longer in between sessions and periods that we were running," Fritz said. "We are going to always have to be aware of what we're short at."

interestingly, Fritz said the offensive linemen have some familiarity with what his staff is teaching.

"There are some similarities as far as some of the schemes," he said. "They ran a lot of inside zone last year, and we're running a lot of inside zone with the option. It's just them getting used to coach (Alex) Atkins' vocabulary and how he says things. He's one of the top offensive line coaches in the country and does a phenomenal job."

The first-team defensive line had a new face, which is one I've been anticipating since the start of spring drills--Sean Wilson. He played left tackle, moving ahead of Eldrick Washington. The other first-teamers were Daren Williams at left end, Tanzel Smart at right tackle and Ade Aruna at right end. The No. 2 D-line was Peter Woullard at left end, Washington at left tackle, Braynon Edwards at right tackle and Quinlan Carroll at right end.

The rest of the depth chart did not change from two days ago. Former running back Devin Glenn and former tight end Trey Scott have practiced exclusively at new spots, with Glenn focusing on H back and Scott at wide receiver. Fritz likes some things about Glenn and wants improvement in other areas.

"He's got great speed, and right now he just has to get more consistent with his hands," Fritz said. "Sometimes he'll make a really difficult catch and then the same pass will be thrown to him and he'll drop it. He's got great speed and great change of direction and is a tough guy, too."

Once again, Fritz said one of his biggest adjustments at Tulane was his players' unfamiliarity with the option.

"It's really ball-handling," he said. "I took that for granted. I was at Sam Houston for four years, and those guys had run some option. I went to Georgia Southern and those guys had been running option since they were babies. The mesh point, pitching the ball, these guys had never done it before. That's the big difference. We have to really accent that a lot more than any place I've ever been."

Tulane will have something similar to a scrimmage on Saturday, but not exactly. The practice starts at noon and ends at 2 p.m. at Yulman Stadium and should be open to the public.

"We are going to have what we call a thud tempo," Fritz said. "We're going to tackle but we're going to stay up high and not going to be on the ground. It's going to be a little bit of a physical practice, but we're still learning how to practice the way I want them to practice. We'll do a little bit more kicking game, we'll have officials out here and we're also having junior day, so we'll probably have hopefully 100 or 150 seniors-to-be here. I'm sure there will be some parents here and maybe a few extra fans, high school coaches. Hopefully we'll have our best practice because that's what we're trying to do every single time out here."

Although it did not rain Wednesday morning as predicted, Tulane's decision to move its fifth spring practice up a day paid off in beautiful weather. A day after coach Willie Fritz ripped the team for a sloppy practice coming off spring break, he was much happier with the effort level and attention to detail.

"It was much better than yesterday," he said. "We got back to basics in some of the different things and really worked on tackling a bunch. It was a much better workout. Unfortunately a lot of them took last week off (doing no conditioning work on their own during spring break), so they are pretty fresh right now."

The tackling drill for the defensive backs and linebackers involved one player making a form tackle on another while driven him into a cushioned mat. It's easy to see who loves football in that drill because Nico Marley ate it up, with coaches giving pointers to each player as to where to put his shoulder as he was tackling. The players being tackled had to make sure they didn't get careless because this was a live drill in shorts and pads with bodies falling on top of each other. Without question, Fritz and his staff practice tackling a lot more than CJ's staff did.

One problem is Monday's practice was that two offensive linemen became overheated and had to sit out (Fritz did not ID them), leaving Tulane with seven bodies at the position and limited what they could do for the rest of the workout. All nine players were in action Tuesday, so when they went 11 on 11 only one player had to double up on the first and second units. They do a lot of fast-paced substituting, another chance from the CJ era when the units stayed on the field longer before getting a break.

The first-team defense in 11 on 11 was Luke Jackson and Ade Aruna at end, Tanzel Smart and Eldrick Washington at tackle, Marley, Eric Thomas and Eric Bowie at linebacker, Taris Shenall and Donnie Lewis Jr. at cornerback and Jarrod Franklin and Leonard Davis at safety.

The second-team defense was Quinlan Carroll and Peter Woullard at end, Sean Wilson and Braynon Edwards at tackle, Bowie, Rae Juan Marbley and someone I did not identify at linebacker, Dedrick Shy and Richard Allen at cornerback and Will Harper and Roderic Teamer at safety.

Cornerback Parry Nickerson was at practice but did not have his helmet on, sitting out with an unspecified injury. Linebacker Zach Harris, who has been injury plagued at Tulane, also sat out the live drills, leaving the Wave with four scholarship linebackers at another very thin position.

If you're wondering where Daren Williams and Robert Kennedy were, I'm assuming they rotated in as a unit at DE but I'm not sure. I will check Friday to make sure they are not injured.

The first-team offense line was left tackle Todd Jacquet, left guard Chris Taylor, center Junior Diaz, right guard Devon Johnson and right tackle Kenneth Santa Marina, who practiced ahead of John Leglue. Whether that has any significance or was just an experiment remains to be seen.

The second-team offensive line had Leeward Brown at left tackle, Johnson at left guard, Keyshawn McLeod at center, Jason Stewart at right guard and Leglue at right tackle.

On the first play of the 11-on-11 drill, Darius Bradwell tried to connect deep with Rickey Preston but the pass was broken up in double coverage down the sideline. It was another day of incomplete passes, with Glen Cuillette struggling more than he did Monday. On one play, Cuillette bobbled a shotgun snap, then panicked and launched a wobbly duck about 15 yards out of bounds. He accomplished what he was trying to do, killing the play and living for another down, but it looked ugly.

Josh Rounds dropped a swing pass from Cuillette, but that's been rare for him. As you'll see later, he has impressed Fritz along with all of the running backs--Dontrell Hilliard, Sherman Badie and Lazedrick Thompson.

The best offensive play of the day was a TD pass from Cuillette to Rickey Preston in the corner of the end zone. I did not catch the number of the player Preston beat, but it was a nice throw and there was not a lot of separation.

Larry Dace runs out routes better than anyone on the team. He made a nice catch on the sideline. Although the defensive players insisted he was out of bounds, it was ruled a good catch and appeared to be legit.

It's not a good idea to lose your focus with this staff. On one play in the 11-on-11 session, they screamed at Preston to get on the field when the offense was one player short. He got into position, then took an option pitch from Bradwell and got chewed out again when he ran out of bounds instead of continuing down the field.

Dontrell Hilliard lines up with the first-team offense every day. Fritz probably did not realize how good Tulane's running backs were when he arrived based on the pitiful numbers the ground game produced in a dysfunctional offense last year, but he's learned pretty quickly.

"He (Hilliard) can be a a quality back," Fritz said. "This offense, number one you have to be a complete money back. I talked to them about that. I had a kid the last couple of years who led the nation in yards per carry (Matt Breida, who averaged 7.9 yards on 203 carries in 2015), but he also was a great pass protector, a great receiver and a great blocker on the perimeter. We've got to expand our total game. We're looking for guys who can play like Matt Forte, guys who are complete running backs.

"Dontrell's got some really good ability. Good size, good change of direction, lateral movement, good speed. He's got a lot of want-to.

"I really think our top four backs here are very good players. Josh Rounds has impressed me. Sherman Badie's impressed me. Z (Lazedrick Thompson)'s impressed me. They've all impressed me. All of them have got good size. All of them have got good speed. All of them have good hands. This is a different offense, but I've had some really good backs and these guys can really flourish in this offense."

I asked him if he though Badie could be a complete back.

"Oh yeah. He's the same way. He's got a good body, excellent speed and very good hands. It's tough with how we're practicing to really gauge a guy's toughness at times, but with everything we're doing, I've been impressed with the way they finish runs and their practice habits. We have a good stable of backs. I'm excited about those guys. Those four guys are going to play a bunch for us. How much will be determined by their play. I'm not going to be able to give a final true evaluation until we play a couple of games, but watching what I've seen them do on tape and what I've seen them do in practice, there's no reason they can't be outstanding in this offense."

Fritz was happy to have all nine offensive linemen available.

"We need to have them," he said. "We need to have nine of them with the tempo and the pace I'm trying to practice at."

The practice ended earlier than expected at 9:55. Fritz said he was not sure whether the next workout would be Thursday or Friday, with the call being based on weather, but current forecasts indicate rain on Thursday and better conditions on Friday, so I anticipate they will stick to the original schedule.

any newd

Anyone have a practice report?

I'm not impressed with any of the names that have emerged to this points thanks to Scott Kushner's solid work. But I also don't expect any of those guys to get the job.

Doug Gottlieb I can't imagine getting the job. I like his work on radio and CBS, but he also comes across as self-absorbed and carries some baggage, both from his college days and from inflammatory statements he has made that have gotten him in trouble. Plus, it's hard for someone in his financial position to do the necessary work to succeed. It would be far too risky a hire.

Anthony Grant, whom I covered at Florida as an assistant, is one of the nicest guys I've ever met. He also failed as a coach at Alabama, and if you can't win at Alabama, I don't see why someone would bet on you winning at Tulane. Two of Grant's three predecessors at Alabama--Wimp Sanderson and Mark Gottfried-won a lot more than Grant, and his successor at VCU, Shaka Smart, won at higher level than Grant. He does not appear interested anyway, and that's a good thing in my book.

James Jones, who coached Yale to the tournament this year, appears to be a good coach. But he's been at Yale for 17 years and never had a legitimately good team until 2015. He made the CIT twice, which is no different than Conroy's level of success, before finally having an NCAA-tourney caliber team the past two seasons. And last year Yale blew the automatic bid by losing to a horrible team in its last regular season game. Plus, the recruiting is totally different at Tulane than Yale, so Jones, to me, is a huge question mark.

Tulane has a lot to offer. It's one of 86 teams in leagues that have virtually every game nationally televised--the Power 5 leagues plus the Big East and AAC--and that matters. It's unclear how much Dannen can pay a new coach, but the guys mentioned so far are either retreads or have major question marks.

I've also heard rumblings about how Middle Tennessee coach Kermit Davis should be in the picture. This is a team that did not win CUSA, finishing three games behind UAB, then benefitted from UAB losing on its home court in the CUSA tournament before beating Old Dominion 55-53 in the championship game. Middle Tennessee played out of its mind to beat Michigan State in the first round, an upset I think is the biggest in NCAA tournament history, before falling flat in a 25-point loss to Syracuse. He did not win a division title in his first nine years at Middle Tennessee but has been pretty darn good the past five years. Again, he would hardly be a home run hire even though he has Louisiana experience as an associate coach to John Brady at LSU.

I'm surprised Chris Beard's name has not surfaced. He's won right away everywhere he has been, including Arkansas-Little Rock this year. In general, I much prefer the quick-fix guys over people who needed a really long time to become successful at their schools.

1. Comparing this year's first few spring practices to last spring's, do you see the vision in Coach Fritz's master plan and do you see it progressing?
2. What is the differences in the qb skills and attributes ? who do you feel will win the job and why?
3. The strongest unit on the team and the weakest unit on the team?
4 What player or player are going to benefit the most from this new coaching staff or new scheme.
5. how much or many wash out guys are you expecting from the spring

Over the past five games, all on the road, we went 3-2 against Nichols State, Texas, and USM. Our RPI, still a little early to be truly relevant, moved from #41 to #46. We lost a tough game to Nichols, won two tough ones against Texas, lost big to Texas and won relatively easily against USM. So, what’s it all mean?

Well, if all five games are considered “road games” (the USM contest might be considered “neutral,” we get credit for 1.3 points for each win and only 0.7 points for each loss (according to the RPI formula). So, for the week, we went 3.9-1.4 (.736). Prior to that, we were 8.0-4.4 (.645), so, for that purpose, it was a good week.

So why did our RPI drop? It’s simple. Until last night, our opponents didn’t have a great week. And that counts 50% of our RPI. For the week, our opponents, who had previously been 117 - 87 (.574), went 88 -88 (.500). And their opponents, who had a .553 record, played .505 ball for the five game period.
So, three-quarters of our resulting RPI was negatively affected by our opponents' performance. We can only do what we can do. And that’s win. The schedule is what it is and it’s not going to change. We can root for our opponents but that’s about it.

As for our own play, it was decidedly mixed. We only hit .233 for the five games and lost a lot of our aggressiveness at the plate that marked the earlier part of the season. We still hit .383 prior to two strikes but allowed the count to get to 2 strikes 55% of the time. That we only hit .111 with 2 strikes tells the story of why that’s important.

Rogers and Carthon both hit .400 on the week and Rowland hit .429 (3 for 7) in limited appearances. He’s 6 for 16 on the year and it would be nice to see him get more at bats. Hope got a couple of hits against USM, including a home run, but was only 3 for 20 (.150) for the five games, with ten strikeouts. Hopefully, Willsey is coming out of his slump with two hits last night to go 3 for 10 over the “away” week. Nobody else who batted (Edwards, Montalbano, Kaplan, Witherspoon, DeHart, Braud, Brown, or Pierce) hit better than .214.

On the mound, Corey Merrill and Alex Massey only pitched 4.1 innings between them due to weather in Merrill’s case and ineffectiveness for Alex. Between them, their ERA was 14.59, though poor outfield play contributed to the problem. Ross Massey and Emerson Gibbs had good outings and J.P. France had one good outing and one that was OK against a good hitting USM team on the road. Rankin had good results out of the pen but kept everything interesting while on the mound. Simms and Coletti were less effective but contributed. Montalbano came back to earth and Duester looked a little better, though he still walked three batters in 2.2 innings, while not allowing an earned run. Yandel still looks really bad. One telling statistic regarding our bull pen is that between Montalbano, Steel, Duester, Yandel, Issa, and Bjorngjeld, opponents are hitting at least .324 against all of them (.343 total) on the year. They’ve also walked or hit 29 batters in 27 innings. A couple of these guys need to “step up” soon. BTW, does anyone know when Gross is returning or if he’s returning? He didn’t pitch that well last year, but had a pretty good summer. We need help from somewhere.

Our defense really hurt us. We made six errors, all by Edwards, Braud, or Willsey in the middle-infield. Add in the pop ups that Braud misplayed at shortstop and one realizes how important Alemais is to our defense. Hopefully by this weekend, he’ll be well enough to swing the bat and do more than serve as a late inning defensive replacement. Of course, our outfield, which was not charged with any errors, put on a clown show in Texas battling the wind and misjudging line drives. That I thought they looked pretty good earlier in the year is now proving to be an embarrassment.

The next three games are all at home against an Illinois State team that is 7-13. We really need to take care of business and go into Baton Rouge next Tuesday on a roll.


Roll Wave!!!

Corey Merrill is being rested this weekend to allow him to be 100 percent for the conference opener at UConn. David Pierce said Merrill was a "little tender," adding this would give him "an opportunity to catch his breath."

Freshman Ross Massey, who has been outstanding to this point, will take over for Merrill on Friday, with older brother Alex Massey pitching Saturday and Emerson Gibbs going Sunday in their usual spots.

If Ross Massey pitches well, he will be hard to take out of the rotation.

This makes it pretty clear that J.P. France will start against LSU on Tuesday.

The front page has changed and there is no link to the forum. I can get it on mobile but not on the computer.

We’ve played 16 games to date or roughly 30% of the regular season. We’re 11-5 and while it’s still far too early to put much stock in RPI, we’re ranked #41 according to Warren Nolan. Wayne’s World has us at #38, but he has a fundamental error in computing the Tulane season so far. (On Edit: I contacted Wayne about this error which affected his computation for virtually every team, not just Tulane. He has since corrected it and he and Warren Nolan are now essentially identical.)

We could have a much better record if we hadn’t blown a 2-0 lead in the 8th against Illinois and a 7-1 lead against UNO. The 7-6 loss to San Diego could have also gone either way. At the same time, we had a miracle win against Illinois opening night and “nail biters” against Pepperdine and ULL that could have gone either way also. We’re probably about what our record says it is.

Of course, there are several positives and negatives in our performance so far. Hitting is better than most of us expected and pitching is not as good as we’d anticipated. After the first weekend, our fielding has also suffered badly.

At the plate, we’ve got 5 starters hitting .300 or better and we’re batting .301 as a team. Alemais (.462) is the leader, but Witherspoon (.356), Hope (.346), Kaplan (.333), Carthon (.304), Rogers (.302), Edwards (.300), and Montalbano (.297) are all hitting well. I really like our aggressiveness as a group. We’re hitting .426 before 2 strikes (up from .340 last year). Of course, we’re only hitting .157 with 2 strikes and fanning over half the time (50.79%) once we get to that count. Last year we hit .155 and struck out 49.15% of the time once we got to 2 strikes. Of course, virtually no one hits well with two strikes; it’s just a fact. We’re also hitting with a great deal more power. Guys look bigger and stronger and it shows in the results.

On the mound, we’ve struggled. Frankly, we don’t have any overpowering pitchers. Merrill is probably the closest and even he depends more on location and changing of speeds than “great” stuff. But our primary problem has been the bullpen. Our four starters, Merrill, Gibbs, and the Masseys have pitched 93.2 innings and allowed 29 earned runs, 30 walks, and struck out 91 That’s and ERA of 2.79 (really good) and a rate of walking 2.88 batters per 9 innings. Once past them, it gets ugly. Our other pitchers have thrown 49 innings and allowed 39 earned runs (7.16 ERA) while walking 33 (6.06/9 innings) (that’s bad!)

After a great first weekend in the field, our defense has suffered. Our fielding average has dropped from .991 to .968 and we’ve missed out on double plays that would have ended innings, thrown the ball away in crucial situations, misplayed fly balls and line drives into extra base hits, and made several judgement errors (thrown to the wrong base) that extended innings or allowed runs to score that shouldn’t have. Hopefully Sunday’s performance will become the new norm again.

And with all that, we’re still 11-5.

Two freshmen, Grant Witherspoon and Cade Edwards have stepped in admirably when Hunter Williams and Steph Alemais went down. When Williams and Alemais return, we’ll need to find a place for these kids somewhere.

Before he went out, Alemais was flat killing the ball. And Montalbano has been everything and more than we expected. After a tough beginning, Hunter Hope and Jake Rogers don’t look like the same hitters from last year. Heck, I’ve even seen Hope lay off an outside curveball and hit another one for a base hit to right. You NEVER saw that in the past. And Kaplan and Carthon are hitting well and in clutch situations. Both look much more comfortable against “lefties” than they have previously. That’s important.

On the down side, Hunter Williams wasn’t hitting before he went out. As our second best returning hitter from last year, I expected more. Before it is over, we’ll need him back and hitting well. I’m also disappointed in the performance thus far of Jarrett DeHart and Matt Rowland, both of whom I thought would start and provide some fire-power from both sides of the plate. Rowland, to be fair, is hitting .429 in only 7 at bats but his fielding is keeping him out of the lineup, and Montalbano is keeping him out of the DH role. DeHart was expected to be one of our best hitters and a long ball threat coming out of junior college. While he’s walked a bunch (8 times in 21 plate appearances), he’s only 2 for 13 hitting (.154), with 7 strikeouts. He’s also made a couple of terrible plays in the outfield. He got a nice double this weekend so maybe he’s snapping out of his slump.

Willsey is a puzzle. He was a light hitting, good fielding, second baseman his first two years and then, all of a sudden, he hit four HR’s over a short period of time. Since then, he swings so hard that when he misses he goes to one knee (several times now) and his batting average has plummeted to .244. He needs to back off a little. BTW, is he hurt? He pinch-hit this weekend and, after getting hit by a pitch was promptly replaced with a pinch runner.

But, again, it's hard to find a lot of fault with our hitting so far; it’s miles better than we’ve seen since the bats were changed a few years ago.

On the mound, Ross Massey has been a pleasant addition and seems to have moved into the mid-week starter role. After a bad weekend in San Diego, our weekend starters seem to have “settled down.” Yesterday, Gibbs looked as good if not better than he’s ever looked.

Duester and Yandel are real disappointments so far. Last year Duester threw 70 inning with a 3.21 ERA and, though he walked around 4 (4.11) per 9 innings, control wasn’t a terrible issue most of the time. So far this year he’s walked 13 in 7 innings and opponents are hitting .385 against him. It’s no surprise his ERA is 14.14.

Yandel threw 56 innings last year with a 4.31 ERA, though he was terrible for most of the season after a phenomenal start. But, this past summer he pitched great in almost every outing and I had high hopes for a return to last year’s early season form. It hasn’t happened. In four appearances (4.2 innings), his ERA is 15.43. But, if Duester and Yandel can “round into” shape, our pitching will be much better.

Trevor Simms and Dan Rankin have both pitched respectably, though certainly not “lights out.” Their ERA’s are 1.17 and 2.35 respectively in five appearances each, which is very good. Simms has only allowed 4 hits and a walk in 7.2 innings, but hit 5 guys, which has kept him in “hot water” much of the time on the mound. Rankin has allowed 9 hits and 4 walks in the same 7.2 innings, so he’s been pitching out of the stretch virtually all of the time also. Yet, both have generally been tough when it counted.

Coletti, France, and Steel have all been incredibly inconsistent with each mixing good appearances among several bad ones. And Montalbano is a fascinating case on the mound, but it’s a little too early to issue the “Fireman of the Year” award off of one inning of pitching in a blow-out game. It will be interesting to see if he gets many more opportunities. If Duester, Yandel, and the rest don’t come around, he might.

Defensively, we’re very strong at catcher and, I think, 3rd base. Alemais is flashy at shortstop and covers a lot of ground, but he rushes his throws and makes some silly errors. When he comes back, I don’t know what we’re going to do with Braud and Edwards. My guess is they’ll be thrown into the competition for playing time at second base with Willsey and Pierce.

Hunter Williams is actually a pretty good defensive first baseman while Witherspoon, to this point, is not, though he is getting better. Could they platoon when Williams is healthy? If Witherspoon continues hitting, he’s going to have to play somewhere. In the outfield, we simply don’t have a “top flight” centerfielder. Neither Brown nor Carthon are really the answer, especially if Brown continues to slump at the plate. And though I think his arm is over-rated, I consider Kaplan a solid right fielder. We’ve got good speed in the outfield, but we’ve misplayed a lot of balls that should have either been caught or held batters to singles rather than extra bases.

Overall, if we can continue to hit, shore up our pitching, and tighten our defense, we could have a really good year. There is certainly no reason I see not to make the regionals and I’m holding out hope for much more.


Roll Wave!!!

If you haven't seen it: http://sportsnola.com/video-troy-dannen-on-tulane-basketball-coaching-change/

The guy is really good. He addresses the "leak" right up front. I also liked his answer to the "stepping stone" question: What do you do to avoid coaches using Tulane as a "stepping stone?" He said, "I encourage it." Essentially, it means we're having success we haven't had in a long time. So, apparently he's not interested in hiring a guy (Scelfo, CJ) because they are likely to stay.

He thinks the basketball arena can be a "positive" if it's packed, loud, and intimidating. I agree to a point, but a bigger, nicer arena that is packed, loud, and intimidating would be more "positive."

He also said that Ben Jacobson will NOT be the new head coach and that we will NOT match the $2.5M salaries of four head coaches in the AAC. But that we would have the money for head coach and assistants to get what we need. Probably AD speak, but well delivered and with some credibility behind it based on the football hire.

He hopes to have someone in place by the "final four." Since that's in less than three weeks (Apr 2), that would be quick. We'll see. Good interview regardless.

Roll Wave!!!

Today's practice was very similar to Monday's--no pads with a ton of work on ball security and fundamentals. Tulane will put on full pads Friday for the first time before taking next week off for spring break.

I confirmed from Fritz that Keeyon Smart is not eligible to practice in the spring but is still in school. I'm surprised by that won because Tanzel Smart is so conscientious and told me at the end of the fall that Keeyon was really coming on and would be a huge factor this season.

By my count, 12 Tulane players who were on the roster in 2015 (not counting seniors) are no longer on the team, and two more (Smart and Nigel Anderson) are ineligible to practice in the spring. The full list is Devon Breaux (concentrating on track), Teddy Veal (transferred to La Tech), Tanner Lee (transferred to Nebraska), Malik Eugene (left team), Rene Fleury (left team), Edward Williams (academic washout), Brandon Godfrey (transferred to Nicholls State), Colton Hanson (decided not to play fifth year), Nathan Shienle (decided not to play fifth year), Bob Bradley (decided not to play fifth year), Anthony Taylor (quit football), and Mike Lizanich (left team). That's probably a pretty standard number when a team goes 3-9 and has a coaching change.

Here are some takeaways from today's practice:

1) Darius Bradwell has a strong arm.

It's not an accurate arm, but the coaches have plenty to work with here. He threw a bullet down the sideline that Rickey Preston could not quite catch up to, but if Preston had run full out from the start, it might have been a touchdown pass. Bradwell also threw low to Devin Glenn, which is hard to do, but he also connected on several shorter throws. In the way too early to make a serious prediction category, I would list Bradwell as the frontrunner to start on opening day ahead of Glen Cuillette because Bradwell is a dangerous runner. Cuillette is a good athlete, but Bradwell is faster.

2) Tulane will not throw much this fall

I don't see the quarterback or the receivers for an effective pass offense. I just don't. The most impressive receiver today was Larry Dace, who runs the best routes on the roster and made an outstanding one-hand catch, but he's not someone who will ever get much separation. They are using Sherman Badie in the passing game a lot, too, and coaching him hard, staying on him about going full speed all the way through the rep. But the receivers have a ton of work to do before they are proficient, as of course, do the quarterbacks. Fritz knows how to run an offense that relies little on passing, and my best guess at this point is Tulane will use a lot of plays that have the quarterback (or someone lining up at the quarterback position) running. More and more college teams are letting the quarterback run in excess of 20 times a game, and I expect that to happen here, too.

3) Ball security has been the primary focus of both practices

They had a drill today where the offensive linemen and running backs had to go sideways while jumping over cushions, then pick up a ball a staffer tossed on the ground and run to the end zone. I did not see a linemen bobble the ball or fail to pick it up on the first chance. The defensive players did the same drill as Monday where they had to dive over three cushions stacked on top of each other (it was four on Monday) and hold on to the ball when they landed on a pad. It looks like their favorite drill of practice, and I saw only one miscue, when Jeremie Francis dropped the ball before he was going to jump over the cushions, then ran around them and five for it and had it squirt away again.

4) There is no depth chart at this point, but here is what the defense looked like in 11-on-11 drills, with three groups rotating in and out.

One unit had Leonard Davis and walk-on Sam Davis at safety with Zachary Harris and William Townsend at LB, Jeremie Francis and Richard Allen at CB, Quinlan Carroll and Peter Woullard at DE and Eric Bell and Brian Webb at DT. They were in a nickel, and I did not get the number of the third corner.

Another unit had Jarrod Franklin and Roderic Teamer at safety, Parry Nickerson, Donnie Lewis and Richard Allen at CB, Nico Marley and Eric Thomas at linebacker, Ade Aruna and Daren Williams at end and Tanzel Smart and Eldrick Washington at tackle. Obviously those would be the starters at this point.

A third unit had Will Harper and Leonard Davis at safety, Taris Shenall, freshman walk-on John Helow and Taris Shenall at CB along with I believe Dedrick Shy (the player was in red with no number and I forgot to check after the unit came off the field), Rae Juan Marbley and Townsend at LB, Robertt Kennedy and Luke Jackson at end and Sean Wilson and Braynon Edwards at tackle. Again, they do not have an official depth chart, so I wouldn't read too much into Wilson practicing with that group at this point. It was strange, though.

Davis has been sharp. I've been critical of him in the past, and two days with no pads don't prove anything, but like he knows what he's doing. He made an outstanding interception of a 25-yard pass down the hash that Bradwell intended for Glenn in 11-on-11-work. Most of the plays in the 11-on-11 were check downs or QB runs.

Troy Dannen stopped by to watch a large chunk of the practice. So did Arturo Uzdavinis, a graduating senior.

Here are some comments from Fritz:

On his thoughts about Bradwell:

"I got to know him well at my last place, and when I got this job he contacted me wanting to come in this direction. He's a good student, he's got great work habits. We think he's a winner, and he's going to compete for the opportunity to play right away as a freshman. My first year at Sam Houston I played a true freshman, and he left the all-time passing leader at Sam Houston. He was a good player for us. The advantage he has is he's going to be here in the spring. The reason so many more true freshmen are playing now than 20 years ago is the summer. We'll have all of our freshmen here beginning in late May. Now the NCAA allows you do to do some things with them football-wise in the summer."

On Bradwell having a jump on Johnathan Brantley:

"I hope so. If not, we haven't done a very good job coaching him. But Johnathan will be here in the summer as soon as we can get him here. It's always a learning curve. I talked to both of our (early enrollees) guys. They should be ready to go to the high school prom by now, and they said after the first practice, 'coach, this is really different.' You have to absorb so much information in a short period of time. The big difference between high school and college is the meeting time and not playing both sides of the ball."

On Bradwell's passing:

He's got a good arm. He really does. He needs to be consistent with his throwing mechanics because sometimes he's extremely accurate. It's something we're gong to work on. We just had two practices. He's going to compete for that job just like all the other quarterbacks will."

On any players standing out:

"You don't want to start making too many decisions when you haven't put pads on. We will do that on Friday. There are a lot of guys who played a lot on the defensive side of the ball. Chris Taylor on the offensive line had a good first practice, and then I'll go in and watch all that here in just a moment."

On tone trying to set

"We're just trying to do everything up tempo and have a sense of urgency in everything we're doing. We're getting our guys to play two seconds after the whistle. We can't contact them obviously, but we are getting then in the habit of doing that and playing through the whistle."

I have a feeling he might have transferred whether or not Conroy was fired. It doesn't come from any inside information, but his rebounding dropped precipitously in the last several games and he appeared unhappy when I talked to him before the AAC tournament.

To his everlasting credit, he played hard and well in Orlando. His game has limitations against athletic big men because he can't elevate quickly, but he will be a heck of a player wherever he lands. I thought he was ticketed for All-AAC recognition next year if he had stayed.

Today was the highly anticipated first day of spring practice under Willie Fritz, and there were three TV cameras present (more than any I recall from last season). Only two notable players were absent--running back Nigel Anderson and offensive lineman Keeyon Smart. Fritz said Anderson is still on campus but is not eligible to practice in the spring. I asked Tanzel Smart about his younger brother and did not get a straight answer, so I'm not sure what his situation is.

Fritz already has made one big change--the defense wears green and the offense wears white in practice. Since at least Bob Toledo, the offense has always been in green and the defense has been in white. So there's that.

Here are some other takeaways:

1) Ball security was the number one theme of the day. Fritz had the the student assistants and support personnel in referree uniforms and told the players to hand the ball to them at the end of every rep. If a player flipped the ball to the "ref", he immediately had to do five up and downs as punishment. Only handing off was allowed because they are focusing on valuing the ball.

In other drill, the offensive players had to take the ball, avoid an assistant coach and jump over a stack of four cushions while holding on to the ball. Even the offensive linemen participated, and it was interesting watching Kenneth Santa Marina leap over the cushions.

After practice, Fritz said he had never lost a game when his team was plus-two or better in turnover margin and had won 91 percent of the games when his team was plus-one or better. They have signs in the Wilson Center and the locker room emphasizing ball security. It's his top priority as a coach.

2) Good passes were scarce.

Darius Bradwell, who is a thick 6-0, 220, airmailed one short out pass about 10 yards over his intended receiver's head. Glen Cuillette was inaccurate, too, and was Devin Powell. The percentage of incomplete passes was very high, but this was day 1 under a new coach. We already knew Tulane had a major concern at quarterback entering spring drills, so I'm not going to read too much into one practice.

Cuillette did throw a perfect strike on a deep ball to Terren Encalade for a touchdown in one-on-one drills. Kendall Ardoin took the ball away from Richard Allen as the both leaped to catch another deep pass. Defensive back Stephon Lofton had an interception of a pass that deflected off a receiver's handL when Powell threw behind him. Leonard Davis picked off Cuillette.

In an 11-on 11 drill with each play starting from the offense's 42-yard line, Parry Nickerson intercepted a pass for Andrew Hicks from Cuillette, Bradwell hit Trey Scott for a nice gain on a drag route and Powell overthrew an open Scott deep as the defense won the battle on most plays.

3) A few position changes: Jarrod Franklin is practicing at safety after working at the hybrid safety/linebacker role of nickelback last year. Sergio Medina and Marshall Wadleigh are practicing with the tight ends (Fritz has a slot position that is combination of tight end and running back). Devin Glenn practiced at slot receiver, not running back, leaving the Wave with Dontrell Hilliard, Sherman Badie, Josh Rounds and Lazedrick Thompson at tailback. Jason Stewart is practicing with the offensive linemen and Braynon Edwards is practicing with the defensive linemen, and neither one of them is in shape to contribute. Leeward Brown looks too heavy, too.

4) Tulane did not special teams work, and I heard an assistant telling the team in the huddle at the end of practice that they would not do any special teams drills until after they return from spring break (the team is off next week) with the exception of an extra point and field goal drills on Wednesday because they want to evaluate the team in other areas first.

HERE ARE FRITZ' QUOTES AFTER PRACTICE

What are your impressions of the first day?

"There's a lot of things we have to clean up obviously, but the guys are really doing a good job of taking instruction and being positive about it and being coachable. I have a little tape recorder I bring out here to practice, and I probably have about 12 notes. I'll coach the coaches up during our staff meeting today. I've got a great group of coaches, and I'll tell them we need to get this changed and that changed, and they do a good job of adapting to change as well."

You told Badie to run faster at the end of one rep. How much of that is trying to change the culture?

"Well, you are either creating bad habits or good habits. That's why we're trying to monitor how many plays guys are going. We're not trying to go 20 plays in a row because we're not in shape to do that, so right now we're going three plays in a row. I want great effort after three plays, and we're trying to over-exaggerate effort. We'll get there. I have a two-whistle system I've done for a long time. That first whistle tells them no contact, and we wait for two seconds and blow the second whistle. We are over-exaggerating playing with great effort because if you don't play with great effort, you don't have a chance."

What is your impression of the quarterbacks after the first play?

"I just kind of orchestrate the whole practice, so it's really hard for me to evaluate a specific group. I saw some good things where we had balls completed and thrown accurately, and I saw the ball on the ground too many times. All the positions are going to improve. We are going to monitor them (the QBs) just like we do everybody."

How many games can you win by taking care of the little things?

"I've got what we call the plan to win, and I've done it for 23 years as a head football coach. We've been plus-one in turnover/takeaway, we've won 91 percent of our games. We've never lost a game as a head coach plus-two in turnovers. The first thing we emphasize is taking care of the ball and having great ball awareness defensively, kicking game, coverage units so we can try to promote turnovers. That's the number one thing in the program. I put the numbers up there in front of those guys and showed them if we do a great job in this area, if we're plus one, the Wave is going to win. If we're plus-2, the Wave is going to kick butt. That's what we're really exaggerating as well."

How about telling them to hand the ball to the equipment people in the striped shirts?

"Well, that's being cognizant of ball security the whole time, all the way through the play. We over-exaggerate that, handing the ball to the official as well. We're trying to make those guys realize the most important thing is the ball. We are really going to have great habits with ball security throughout the play."

You also had the defensive linemen trying to scoop and score a lot when the ball hit the ground.

"We tell our guys on an incomplete pass we're going to use that as a scoop and score rep, so the defense is going to scoop and score with the ball and transition from defense to offense."

What was it like to finally have your first practice here?

"It was fun to get out here and go. I know the kids have been really champing at the bit. They've been in the weight room and maxed out last week. I thought they did a really nice job maxing out. Everything's different for them. When we get done with 15 practices, our guys will feel comfortable with us and we're going to feel comfortable with them. I'm just so excited they're being very coachable."

What did you think of the enthusiasm and the energy?

"It was good today, but it could be better. We're going to work on that as well. I like our guys being positive. I like our guys being enthusiastic. I think we accomplish great things when we do those two things."

The up-downs, you did a lot of those and it didn't look like the guys liked them.

"You know, I only did five of them. If I was really trying to wear them out I would have done 30 of them, 40 of them. I just want to know, goshdarnit, I goofed up on that, I didn't hand the ball to the official, I threw the ball to the official, I had bad ball security, whatever it is. Five is just a quick reminder."

The low numbers on the roster for spring, how is that going to affect what you can do? (by my count, Tulane had 24 scholarship players on offense and 33 on defense today)

"Well, we're going to have to be aware of that throughout spring. The longer you go, the more bumps and bruises that you have and the less players you have. One of our goals we want to accomplish at the end of spring football is to have everyone healthy. We are going to do a good job of monitoring these guys and giving them enough rest. We'll go three hard practices here at the beginning, take a week off for spring break, then we'll always have a day in between practice except for the Friday-Saturday practice."

How do you get the offensive line to play better? That was a big issue here.

"Pad level. We have to do a great job of pad level. I think coach (Alex) Atkins did about half an hour in the chutes over-exaggerating that. It was about sinking your hips, not bending at the waste but sinking your hips, using your power angles. He does a super job, and those guys will play great. It's a work in progress, though."

"

I'm not writing anything you already didn't know, but that's what it will take for Ed Conroy in Orlando to save his job. It's obvious.

The last time Tulane won two games in any conference tournament was 1983 in the Metro.

Here's the official release about Conroy:

http://www.tulanegreenwave.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/031416aaa.html

I'm in the extreme minority here, but I actually think Conroy is a decent bench coach and better than fans think at developing talent--Josh Davis and Ricky Tarrant were better at Tulane than anywhere else, and Jay Hook and Dylan Osetkowski improved significantly under Conroy. But all of that is irrelevant because he did not recruit well or retain talent well enough to win in either CUSA or the AAC.

With the dismal record Tulane compiled under Conroy, it's unfathomable that he did not realize he was going to get axed at the end of the year, but it looks like he really thought he would be back. He said Tulane would be next year's Houston, but his record indicated otherwise.

That said, his staff's recruiting has been much better the last two years. If most of the underclassmen stick around and the incoming freshmen stay, too, the next coach will have a chance to do something next year.

Any report on today's practice Guerry? Thanks.

Here's the official release about Conroy:

http://www.tulanegreenwave.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/031416aaa.html

I'm in the extreme minority here, but I actually think Conroy is a decent bench coach and better than fans think at developing talent--Josh Davis were Ricky Tarrant were better at Tulane than anywhere else, and Jay Hook and Dylan Osetkowski improved significantly under Conroy. But all of that is irrelevant because he did not recruit well or retain talent well enough to win in either CUSA or the AAC.

With the dismal record Tulane compiled under Conroy, it's unfathomable that he did not realize he was going to get axed at the end of the year, but it looks like he really thought he would be back. He said Tulane would be next year's Houston, but his record indicated otherwise.

That said, his staff's recruiting has been much better the last two years. If most of the underclassmen stick around and the incoming freshmen stay, too, the next coach will have a chance to do something next year.

This interview gets better and better.

The Speer line I liked best in this one was:

"I’m not into the buy-in thing. There is no buy-in. I’ve always said this. I don’t give you a choice. The choice is do you want to be on the team. If you want to be on the team, this is how we’re doing it, and if you don’t, you won’t be on the team."

I can't even imagine CJ or any of his coaches saying that.

I am getting really excited.

Roll Wave!!!

Guerry - Read your Advocate Article and I think you were very nice about this blown ball game. Pierce blew this game. He left Duester in for 1.1 innings, allowing 4 runs to score. Duester threw nothing but ball after ball into the ground, hit a batter, walked batters, etc. A pitiful performance at best. Why did Pierce leave him in so long?
Why didn't Pierce use Simms to close the last 3 outs. He does not look pretty doing it, but he gets the job done.
After Rankin walked the lead off batter in the 9th, he should have been relieved. Pierce put in a lot of the 2nd team near the end of the game and it showed on defense, as well as at bat. In a close ball game, why not have your best players on the field? Not a well coached game, by any means. P.S. Our bull pen stinks! ULL and UNO have better bull pens than TU does. It may be a long season ahead, filled with excuses and what might have beens.

When I talked to Speer about Braynon Edwards and Jason Stewart (though I didn't name them, he knew who I was asking about), he talked for a minute in the part I put in the third part of Q&A, but then he asked me turn the recorder off.

He will not run anyone out of the program because of a weight issue because he is worried about the rest of their lives. Wllie Fritz will not recruit anyone who weighed as much as those guys did when they signed with Tulane because you cannot be an effective player at that weight. But Speer will work with them to get them in as good condition as they possibly can even if it never results in them getting on the field. As he pointed out, people who weigh nearly 400 pounds (as Stewart does) have a short life expectancy, so he will do everything in his power to help them alter their life choices and nutrition. He is concerned about both of them. Edwards is 4 inches shorter than Stewart and is listed at 365 pound. Speer added that both of them have good athletic ability, but unlike the previous staff, he recognized the seriousness of the weight problem.

I've interviewed about five strength and conditioning coaches in my career, and I like Speer the best of them. He didn't come in ripping (publicly, or even privately to me, although there's no telling what he told them directly) the players and saying they were in the worst shape of any team he has inherited, which is a common practice of S and C guys. He laid down the law and will enforce it, but just like Fritz, he is not into negativity and bad-mouthing his predecessors regardless of what the truth is.

There is one part of the interview left. I don't even remember what he talked about in the last 8 minutes, but we'll find out together tomorrow morning.

I am trying to set up an interview with Kyle Speer in the next few days.

If you have any specific questions you want me to ask, fire away here.