Jalen Rogers, one of many speedy receivers on Tulane's roster who are looking to make an impact in the fall, certainly made an impact Thursday. Just as I arrived at practice, he made a terrific catch of a Kai Horton deep pass in the end zone. I did not catch the number of the defensive back covering him, but he was right on him when Rogers leaped to catch the beautifully thrown ball for the touchdown. Those are the type of plays that can move him up a notch in the receiver rotation. Rogers was ticketed for a significant role last season before injuries set him back and rendered him a non-factor in his true freshman year. He is not a first-teamer in the spring--that honor goes to Jha'Quan Jackson, Lawrence Keys and Chris Brazzell--but he is definitely in the rotation. 7-on-7 drill A little later on Thursday, he caught a short pass from Michael Pratt in a drill where the situation was the offense had one play to set up a closer field goal and then ran up to spike the ball to stop the clock. He ran a short route, turned around, caught the pass and went to the ground, setting up a 37-yard field goal by Valentino Ambrosio that splith the uprights.

If Rogers can reproduce his practice performance in games, Tulane will have a new weapon.

Horton had a good day. He also hit Keys for a touchdown on Kiland Harrison in 7-on-7 work and was accurate with most of his throws, prompting Willie Fritz to offer tempered praise afterward (see his quote at the bottom).

It had actually been a couple of weeks, but practice interception king Rishi Rattan struck again Thursday with a nice grab of a deep pass (I did not see which quarterback threw it). For a guy who never has played a significant down and likely never well, I guarantee you Rattan has more practice interceptions that anyone on the roster.

Sully Burns was back practicing, giving Tulane its full complement of offensive linemen in the spring.He was at his usual spot of second-team left tackle, with Trey Tuggle at left guard, Caleb Thomas at center, Shadre Hurst at right guard and Matt Lombardi at right tackle. They were going up against the second-team defensive line of Angelo Anderson, Elijah Champaigne, Gerrod Henderson and Michael Lunz. The first-team defense was the usual cast of characters, with Kentrell Webb continuing to hold on to the top nickel spot. Andre Sam was the backup nickel.

Mahki Hughes has looked better in the last two practices than earlier in the spring. Coming off an injury that sidelined him for all of last year, he needs to make an impression with Shaadie Clayton-Johnson, Iverson Celestine and Duda Barnes having good springs and highly rated Trey Cornist arriving in the summer. Hughes is running with more explosiveness than he was a couple weeks ago.

Right before the 11 on 11 started, Fritz yelled out it was the highlight of practice, something he has said every time this spring. Not much notable happened this time, though. Pratt and Horton were solid but without any spectacular plays. Carson Haggard missed the opportunity for an 80-yard touchdown pass, overshooting Rogers after he got behind the secondary. Haggard rebounded with a nice throw on the run to Brazzell. Accuracy on the run is Haggard's best strength, but he clearly is not at the level of the guys ahead of him yet in overall effectiveness.

Dorian Williams and Ed Orgeron watched practice.

Fritz is a grandfather for the first time. Son Wes, who is the director of player personnel, and his wife had a baby boy on Wednesday.

FRITZ

On if he was a grandfather:

"Yes I am, I'm fired up. My daughter-in-law is tough. She went to the hospital at 8 o'clock on Monday and had the boy at 3:30 yesterday. She was going now."

On Jarius Monroe and the cornerback group:

"We've got really good competition there. I grabbed one of the guys today. You. know, you go through spring ball and it's hard to move up the totem poll so to speak. You've got to play games in order to really figure out who should be playing and how much, but we've got good competition. We've got some really good corners. We've got some guys that are hurt and are going to come back that I think are going to be good players, but that's a deep group, moreso at corner probably than safety, but hopefully some of those guys can also play a little bit of safety. If a corner can really tackle well, it's called a safety, so hopefully those guys can do that."

On difference in mentality from this time last year:

"I pride myself in our guys practicing hard. I hope practice in spring ball looks the same as it did five years ago and you can't tell the difference between the two. The thing that a lot of them are excited about is we're kind of melding the two styles on defense--what we did last year and then also a bunch of things that coach Wood did at Troy, so it's a combination and it's a lot of thinking. It really is because some things are similar and some things are totally different, so that's exciting for them. Every day is just about winning the day. We're not playing South Alabama Saturday. We're playing us, and how do you get better? The guys are doing a good job of focusing on the task at hand."

On play through the whistle mantra and whether the players are living up to it:

"Pretty good. Pretty good. We grade every day, every practice, for both offense and defense and special teams. Everybody thinks playing with effort is a given. It's not. Most of the teams in American don't play real hard. They think they do, but they really don't. They make plays that are in their vicinity. If it's not in their vicinity, that's when the big plays occur is when these guys aren't hustling on the backside and they throw it to the other side of the field. I always tell them, everybody plays hard on plays to them. Do you play hard on plays away (from you), so that's what I coach during practice. If the coaches will emphasize it, too, we've got it."

On Monroe asking a lot of questions:

"It helps him a bunch. He loves playing football. Sometimes we have to temper his enthusiasm and make sure he understands that last play can't carry over to the next play, and he's doing a better job of that. I thought he made substantial progress last year from the beginning of the season until the end of the season, and that's what we want to see now until we report in August."

On being big and having all the tools you want in a cornerback but being overlooked coming out of high school:

"Well obviously we made a mistake. We should have recruited him out of high school. We didn't. We had him over here and we almost did but we didn't. We got him on the second go-around. It's just going out and doing what the call is every single time and being consistent with that. Football's a very complicated sport. It really is. Schematically it is and technique fundamentally it is, too. You think it's simple for a corner to play the ball when it's up there, but they don't. For some reason they always look at the guy's eyes instead of looking at the ball. I always tell them you've got a better chance of getting the ball out if you're looking at it instead of looking at the guy's face. He had one of those today, but he is a sponge. He picks it up. He loves practicing. He loves playing football. Highly enthusiastic. We just want to make sure that he gets out there and doesn't get too high and doesn't get too low and he executes."

On Horton:

"When he comes out and he's locked in and playing football the whole practice, he's outstanding. He can be an excellent player at this level. But sometimes he drifts a little bit, and I'm on him about it. I talked to him at the end of practice today because he is very talented. Everybody calls it arm talent. It means you can throw the ball at cans and knock them down. I guess that's what arm talent is, but he can make all the throws and he's got great confidence in himself. That throw against Houston to Tyjae (Spears, for the game-winner in OT), you have to have confidence to throw that ball. Some guys wouldn't have made that throw. We think he can be a great player, we really do. He just has to keep working at it every single day and have that mindset the whole practice rather than kind of worrying about other things."

On him starting hot and ending hot against Houston but not doing much in the middle:

'When he needed to come through, he came through and made some throws. He did enough for us to win. That's all that matters."

They worked out in shorts and shoulder pads Tuesday morning on another pretty chilly day, at least early. Tulane has a pretty long list of players not participating this spring, and Andre Sam and Sully Burns joined them with minor injuries. The guys who have missed all of spring include Phat Watts, Darius Hodges, Adonis Friloux, Jadan Canady, Justin Ibieta, Noah Taliancich and Kam Hamilton.

If Willie Fritz has one mantra above all others at practice, it is his preaching to guys not to fall down needlessly. Those events cause more injuries than almost anything else when a guy falls on someone else's leg, and the subject of Fritz's ire Tuesday was tight end Alex Bauman when he went to the ground during an 11-on-11 drill. STAY ON YOUR FEET is Fritz's constant refrain during practice.

I have not seen many depth chart changes during the spring. The starting 11 on defense for the 11 on 11 Tuesday were the same as in the scrimmage. The second-team defense had Michael Lunz and Angelo Anderson outside and Elijah Champaigne and Gerrod Henderson inside, with Tyler Grubbs and Mandel Eugene at linebacker, Shi'keem Laister at nickelback, A.J. Hampton and KIland Harrison at cornerback and Darius Swanson and walk-on Gabe Liu at safety. There were no other scholarship safeties available with Laister playing nickel. Fritz referred to the nickel position as one of three safety spots yesterday, but if you don't count it as a safety, DJ Douglas, Bailey Despanie and Swanson are the only three scholarship guys playing safety this spring. There are seven cornerbacks--Lance Robinson, Jarius Monroe, Hampton, Harrison, T.J. Huggins, Cadien Robinson and Rayshawn Pleasant. But if you count Sam, Laister and Webb (whom I consider a corner) as safeties, like Fritz does, the balance is closer.

With Burns out, redshirt freshman Keanon McNally, the tallest player on the team, got some run with the second unit at left offensive tackle. Trey Tuggle was at left guard, with Caleb Thomas at center, Shadre Hurst at right guard and Matt Lombardi at right tackle. Tulane had only 10 scholarship linemen practicing. Burns is the 11th, and the only other linemen is walk-on Ethan Marcus.

Chris Brazzell, who has had a good spring, got open deep for what would have been a long touchdown in 11 on 11, but Michael Pratt overthrew him. Pratt bounced back to complete a few passes in a row, including one to Jha'Quan Jackson on a quick out. The timing in the passing game still could get better. The potential is there, and it will need to happen with Tyjae Spears no longer in the picture. Kai Horton threw a pretty touchdown pass to Bryce Bohanon.

Without question, Tulane spends more time on special teams under Fritz than it did under his two predecessors or Florida did under the three coaches I covered there (Steve Spurrier, Ron Zook, Urban Meyer). On Tuesday, they worked on all aspects of the punt game, with Jackson, Lawerence Keyes, Yulkeith Brown, Bohanon and Jalen Rogers all fielding punts. There also was a pretty extensive punt block drill, with players being taught the proper path to take when trying to block a punt.

Kanan Ray, who gave up football after tearing his ACL last year, is still around as a graduate assistant coach helping out with the offensive line. He is walking with a significant limp.

Fritz gave out more details on Saturday's spring game, which will have an announced starting time of 10 but really will get going around 10:30 a.m. They will play four quarters instead of one half as originally planned, but each quarter will be 7:30, making it the equivalent of playing a half. The team will be presented with its AAC championship rings after the game, and there will be a Dodd Trophy presentation to Fritz at halftime.

FRITZ

On having four seven-and-a-half minute quarters for spring game:

"Yeah, it's the same thing we did last year. I believe we're doing that."

On offensive line shortage for game:

"There are going to be six on each team, and a couple of guys are going to play on both sides. Seven guys are going to play on one team in the first half and roll and on the other team in the second half and roll.. But 90 percent of them will be one team."

On what stood out in Saturday's scrimmage when he reviewed the video:

"You know, we tackled better than I anticipated. We made a lot of good open-field tackles. That was really the kind of evaluation piece. The tackling and blocking and being assignment sound. We didn't finish drives. Teams (first and second units) were leaving. Saturday everybody will stay out there. And we stayed relatively healthy. We only had a few guys get banged up a little bit."

On why the tackling was good:

"We do a ton of drills, and if you can carry over the drills to the real live situation, it can help you out. That's why you have to devise drills that are as realistic as you can get them, whether it's kicking game, offense, defense. You just can't go out there and bang these guys every day. They are too big, fast, strong. The majority of injuries occur body to ground contact, not body to body contact, so we're trying to take that out of it."

On Despanie and Douglas progression:

"Good. We've got some competition back there at safety, and you've got Andre Sam in there, too, who's a little dinged up right now. There's still a lot of competition amongst the three safety spots. Kentrell Webb has shown some good things. Shi'Keem Laister made some nice plays the other day. He got off a block and made a nice tackle at the line of scrimmage. It was a good, athletic play. We've got some guys that are competing."

Considering how empty Turchin Stadium has become with the baseball team's dreadful start (exacerbated by the cold weather this weekend), it may be a good thing that 20 of its last 35 games are on the road, starting with this week's third trip out West to Washington (Wednesday) and Hawaii (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). The Wave flew to Seattle last night and will miss a week of classes while trying to build on its first winning streak of the year (two). The weekend rotation appears workable now, although Dylan Carmouche needs to be better than he has been on Fridays. Yes, he has been the victim of bad luck and even worse hitting while Tulane has lost his last 11 starts, but he also has not pitched like an ace, with an ERA of 5.59 in that span. Chandler Welch looked pretty good on Saturday, and Ricky Castro has been reliable all year on Sunday.

The Wave also has found a good relief pitcher in freshman Michael Lombardi, but I have no idea what they will do tomorrow night as they search for someone who can be effective on the mound in a midweek game. Cristian Sanchez, who auditioned for the closer role on Sunday after failing miserably as a Saturday starter, might turn out to be effective in his new spot, but that remains to be seen.

As for the lineup, Brady Hebert is having an unexpected great year. He reached base all five times Sunday, raising his on-base percentage to .516. Two-hole hitter Jake LaPrairie also reached base all five times (each getting two hits with three walks). But the Wave still needs a lot more from Jackson Linn (.22) and Teo Banks (.208) both of whom struggle mightily with off speed pitches (Banks struggles with pretty much everything to this point with the exception of one huge game). If those guys come around to complement Brady Marget, whose .282 average would be higher if he had not hit the ball hard right at people, the hitting will be good enough, but it is clearly not a given at this point that either one of them will get hot.

Here is what Jay Uhlman and a few players had to say after Sunday's series-deciding win against Columbia, which was playing its fifth game of the week and started a guy with an ERA above 12.00.

UHLMAN

"We had good plate discipline. It's easy to be frustrated with the strikeouts when we're chasing balls that are not strikes, but you still look at 11 free passes and two hit by pitches, one in the head to get us a run. I'd like to have more hits (Tulane had five), but we got six on the bottom number (runs) and they got three on the top."

On Castro pitching out of trouble, getting out of second and third with one-out jam after giving up three runs in 5th and then having Jake LaPrairie drop a routine fly ball (he got a strikeout and foul-out to keep deficit at 3-1):

"His ability to be mature and compartmentalize and focus on the present is impressive. It's why I feel good when he's out and we feel good as a team when he's out there because are the kinds of things that he gives us. It's unfortunate that we get to that--it runs his pitch count up and we can't leave him out there longer--but then we passed the baton to Brian (Valigosky) and (Michael) Fowler and Cristian. It wasn't always perfect, but they did a good job--Brian in particular did a really tremendous job."

On importance of winning two in a row:

"I want to acknowledge our bench. Our bench for two games made a commitment to being on every single pitch for two full games from start to finish. When you get that kind of energy, not only are they invested and feel a part of what's going on, but our players feel that, and then when things go poorly, we still have that positive energy coming out and it's not deflating the balloon. Guys are able to go like all right, we're still in this. It's not riding the rollercoaster. Our bench energy was spectacular this weekend."

On if he sees hitting approach turning around:

"I do, but at times I'm still a little frustrated that at times I feel like we swing out of the hand at the breaking ball. We see it out there early and start swinging instead of just letting it travel and trying to just take what's given to us. We still need to continue to invest in hitting breaking balls and being able to just take what's given to us."

On getting more resilient:

"Those are growing parts for us that are going to be beneficial moving forward."

On playing Washington and Hawaii:

It's going to be cold (in Seattle) like it was this weekend. I'm kind of grateful it was cold. We get a little bit of a taste of that. Washington is going to be well coached. They are a good club. A good friend of mine (Jason Kelly, who was the pitching coach at LSU last season) is the head coach there. And then Hawaii's going to be tough. I've competed in Hawaii a lot of years, and it doesn't matter if they're good or bad or in between. It's a difficult place to play. The fans are good. It's loud. It's paradise, so we're going to have to continue to have maturity in what we're doing in this seven-day road trip."

On what guys learned from first two trips out West:

"We are going to find out. This certainly helps us momentum-wise moving into that, but again, momentum's only as good as the first pitch the next game, but it's certainly better than the alternative. Hopefully we've learned how to travel and hopefully we can turn that into a more competitive environment, and if we come out on top of that, then so beat it."

On Sanchez getting save:

"Really cool. When you have a role that's removed from you, it's hard as a human being to be able to take that, accept what happened and move forward. For him to be able to get out there and get a save was really cool. He attacked the zone. It was really good."

BRADY HEBERT

On go-ahead line-drive single off first baseman's glove:

"It was a fastball. I just saw it well. I'm seeing the ball well right now. I think our team's seeing it well right now. We're hitting our stride offensively. We still have things to improve on, but we're getting better every day. If we keep making the good out of it, it's going to be a good season."

On on-base percentage:

"I start early, I see it long and when I do that, I can hit any ball that's in the zone. I'm seeing it well. If it's a ball, it's a ball, and if it's a strike, it's a strike."

On if he has been to Hawaii:

"I have not. I'm looking forward to it. Another road trip. We look forward to another challenge and carrying this momentum over to another series."

SANCHEZ

On getting save:

"It felt real good to close the door and get a win for this team. They told me to stay prepared and stay ready to go, and that's what I did the whole game. I just tried to be prepared."

On winning series:

"It's huge. It's time to get rolling, put things together and keep it going."

On going to Hawaii:

"I have never been to Hawaii, but I'm very excited. It's been cold the past three days, so I'm excited to see some 80-degree weather."

On momentum:

"It's huge for us. You saw the dugout today, and it was just high energy. We're going to try to keep that for the rest of the season."

On focusing after losing spot in rotation:

"This is a team game. Just because I wasn't doing well doesn't mean anything, so I just have to keep working at my craft and keep trying to help this team get better in every way possible."

On if he can see himself as a closer:

"Absolutely, yeah."

RICKY CASTRO

On getting out of trouble in 5th to keep it a 3-1 deficit:

"Just kept attacking them. They were pretty much just hitting my mistakes leaving the ball up, so I just had to focus extra hard. The fifth inning I got a little tired, too, so I had to focus a little extra hard to get the ball down."

On reacting to ball being dropped in the outfield:

"Errors are going to happen. It's part of the game, and it's important to move on to the next pitch and pick up a teammate. I'm glad it didn't hurt us at all, and we just came together and won."

On what was working:

"The changeup was working pretty good. The sinker was just drawing ground balls. Guys were making plays behind me, so it was going pretty well."

On winning series:

"It's big time, especially with a trip out West. It's not going to be easy to play those guys on their turf, so this was the momentum we needed."

On if he had been to Hawaii:

'I have not. I'm super excited. Super excited. I can't wait. It's going to be a beautiful place, a great spot. There's nowhere like it, but it's important to stay focused and do our business as well. We'll get after it."

Tulane went 60 plays at Yulman Stadium on a cool Saturday morning in what Willie Fritz labeled an "evaluation scrimmage." As they started doing last year, the units rotated in five-play increments to keep them fresh, regardless of where the drive was at the time of the change. The first-team starters on both sides of the ball were the same as in practices earlier in the week, with the exception of Kentrell Webb regaining his spot at nickelback over Andre Sam after having a good Thursday practice. The starting wideouts were Lawrence Keys, Jha'Quan Jackson and Chris Brazzell, since I don't believe I have mentioned that before. Each possession started at the offense's 35.

Here is a summary of the plays:

1-10-35: Completion to Keys for 3 yards on a quick out.
2-7-38: Sweet cutback run by Shaadie Clayton-Johnson for 32 yards. He says he is a one cut and go guy, and this was the perfect example.
1-10-30: Iverson Celestine for 3 yards.
2-7-27: Completion to Keys for 1 yard. He served as a safety valve on the play, with Pratt looking for downfield options first before tossing it to him near the sideline.
3-6-26: Celestine up the middle for 4 yards.

(they switched to the second units on both sides of the ball)

4-2-22: Mahki Hughes for 9 yards up the middle.
1-10-13: Hughes up the middle for 3 yards
2-7-10: Complete to Duda Barnes for 8 yards on quick pass after he went in motion
1-G-2: Barnes slips making his cut for 2-yard loss
2-G-4: Incomplete pass for Yulkeith Brown with AJ Hampton covering him tightly

(switched to 1 versus 1)

3-G-4: Incomplete pass to Reggie Brown, who dropped a slightly low throw from Pratt after a low snap forced him to lose his rhythm for a second.

1-10-35: Complete to Keys on an out route for 10 yards.
1-10-45: Keeper by Pratt for 4 yards (as judged by Fritz since QBs cannot be touched)
2-6-49: Option play to Clayton-Johnson for 1 yard
3-5-50: Complete to Jackson on comeback route for 10 yards.

(switch to 2 versus 2)

1-10-40: Complete to Brown inside for 25 yards with Douglas defending
1-10-15: Celestine run for 1 yard
2-9:14: Barnes bounces outside, breaks tackle and scores on 14-yard run

1-10-35: Incomplete pass
2-10-35: Hughes 7-yard run

(They stopped here to do a kickoff drill, and it was windy enough that they had to hold the ball on the tee to keep it from blowing off. Casey Glover's kick went to Keys 2 yards deep in the end zone. Lucas Dunker's kick went 8 yards deep in the end zone over Jackson's head. Kriston Esnard's kick went 1-yard deep in the end zone to Dontae Fleming. Keys and Fleming returned the kicks, but there was no live tackling or hitting until the whistle blew).

(The 1s went back out to continue the scrimmage)

1-10-35: Screen to Brown for zero yards.
2-10-35: Run by Barnes for zero yards (he did not hit the right hole)
3-10-35: Incomplete pass downfield to a well-covered Alex Bauman, who was not even looking for the ball (the wind made downfield throws a challenge)

1-10-35: Clayton-Johnson 5-yard run
2-5-40: Clayton-Johnson bounce outside for 10 yards (he is going to have a big year in my opinion)

(2s go back out)

1-10-50: Hughes 1-yard run
2-9-49: INTERCEPTION, with A.J. Hampton outfighting Fleming for a jump ball down the sideline. It was a really nice play by Hampton, who gives Tulane a fourth starter-quality corner for the fall.

1-10-35: Barisas 3-yard run
2-7-38: Complete to Barnes for 9 yards
1-10-47: Horton keeper for no gain

(the 1 offense and a mixture of 2s and 3s for the defense went out)

2-10-47: Incomplete pass that was a dropped interception by Chadwick Bailey (walk-on safety) on poor throw for Keys by Pratt. Celestine went in motion and ended up in the wrong spot, causing confusion.
3-10-47: Sack by Gerrod Henderson (there's your Henderson update. I missed who he blew by, but he was in there in a hurry, causing the whistle to blow)

1-10-35: Clayton-Johnson 4-yard gain
2-6-39: Clayton-Johnson 5-yard gain
3-1-44: Celestine 5-yard gain

(the 2 offense went back out)

1-10-49: complete to Fleming on comeback route for 16 yards. He made a nice catch of a high throw.
1-10-35: complete to Brown for 3 yards
2-7-31: complete to Barnes in flat, and he was stuffed by Shi'Keem Laister for 1-yard gain
3-6-30: a run for 6 yards (did not catch the runner)
1-10-24: Incomplete pass to Fleming, who dropped it after getting open on the sideline

(they broke for punting work, but instead of having the punters kick, they used a ball machine to send it flying down the field while the first. second- and third-team units covered)

(the 2s went out for a second consecutive series)

1-10-35: Hughes stuffed for 1-yard loss (he had some good plays, but he still looks a little sluggish as if he is not totally confident after his injury last August)
2-11-34: Complete to Hughes for 4 yards
3-7-38: Penalty for offsides on Taylor Love that Fritz waved off after admonishing him about Wave don't beat the Wave, followed by 6-yard reception by Barnes
4-1-44: Barnes cutback run for 6 yards
1-10-50: Incomplete pass on low throw

(the 3s went in for the first time)

2-10-50: Tate Jernigan 4-yard run
3-6-46: Complete to Jernigan for 4 yards
4-2-42: Complete to a wide open Trevor Evans for 26 yards
1-10-16: Nice cut by Barisas for 9 yards
2-1-7: Barisas gain of 3 up the middle

(Horton went back in with the 2s)

1-G-4: Complete to Brown for 1 yard
2-G-3: Horton keep for 2 yards (he thought he scored, but Fritz ruled him caught at the 1).
3-G-1: Hughes 1-yard TD run

(Garrett Mmahat went in at QB)

1-10-35: Scramble for 5 yards
2-5-40: Georga Arata clobbered by Webb after 4-yard gain
3-1-44: Arata stuffed by Maxie Baudoin
4-1-44: Incomplete pass thrown behind Andrew Wilks

1-10-35: Jerniigan 2-yard run (hold on Caleb Thomas called but not enforced)
2-8-37: Complete to Jalen Rogers for 2 yards.
3-6-39: Charles Schibler 4-yard run.

The scrimmage ended there, and they actually conducted a 20-play, 7-on-7 drill to close practice, but I did not watch as I made the transition from the seats in the upper deck down to the field. They also had eight field goals/extra points before I arrived. I got there about 10 seconds before the first snap in the scrimmage, which was fortuitous timing. I was not even sure they were having a scrimmage. It's the time they always have one, but no one had mentioned it.

--They don't have much depth at end this spring. The third-string guys outside on the line were walk-ons Austin Sybrandt and James Laprocido.

--I was wrong when I said Jack Risner was not out there this spring. He was in uniform but did not play in the scrimmage.

--Tyjae Spears attended the scrimmage.

--I really do wonder what they are going to do with their excess riches at cornerback in the fall. Jarius Monroe is having an outstanding spring, so he will definitely start. Hampton had a good scrimmage and looks starter quality to me, although Lance Robinson remains in front of him on the depth chart. Then there is Jadon Canady, who will start somewhere and presumably at cornerback after playing there a year ago before getting hurt and playing nickelback as a true freshman. I don't know how they are going to handle having four corners who can start, but it's a good problem to have.

--I don't really have many takeaways from the scrimmage since they were playing so many guys and it was windy and cold. I like Clayton-Johnson and Barnes a lot at running back. Celestine is good, too.

I will put up quotes from Fritz and Hampton a little later.

Wake Forest is now ranked #2 nationally. Their coach, Tom Walter, aggressively pursued the Tulane job twice. Even if Dannen couldn’t afford his buyout this time around, he still picked Jewett over Tom Walter went Walt had a year left on his contract. It’s outrageous.

Campbell is ranked 18th. Did Dannen look at their coach? How many candidates did we pass over before choosing Uhlman?

Baseball was the only sport at Tulane that was strong and healthy when he arrived. Now it’s the weakest and worst

Tulane will have Pro Day Thursday afternoon, which conflicts with my Holy Day of the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament, but unlike the last time this happened (four years ago), I cannon skip Pro Day because it is too significant. Unlike in the past, when it was held at the Saints facility, this one will be at Yulman Stadium.

Tulane also is practicing four times this week--today, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I will miss either Friday or Saturday but was there today and will be at the others.

When I arrived today, it was about 50 degrees in a dramatic weather change and they were doing a defensive drill where a player lined up at the goal line with a defender facing him and had to shed him to touch a cushion at the 20-yard line. Willie Fritz was heavily involved in the drill, telling players what they did right or wrong. Bailey Despanie easily got past walk-on Chadwick Bailey, as he should. Michael Lunz got past JC Joseph. Most of them were closer to standoffs, and each player had to be the defender and the eluder twice. It was a physical drill, beginning with hand-to-hand combat, and one I had not noticed before.

I think I misunderstood Fritz on the first day of practice when I asked him about Phat Watts and he said he missed practice because of a wisdom tooth surgery. I thought he meant he had not practiced, but he must have meant he was not at practice at all because Watts continues to watch the workouts without being in uniform. Fritz did not talk after practice today, but I will get it clarified Thursday.

When they go to 11-on-11 work this spring, Fritz hollers "highlight of practice" every time. On the first play today, running back Iverson Celestine found a crease outside and ran to the end zone for a touchdown. As always, though, you can take that with a grain of salt when they are not tackling. There's no telling what would have happened if the play had been live. I remember Sherman Badie scoring multiple touchdowns in practice in the same situation under CJ, and yes, he has the 200-yard explosion against Tulsa in the Wave's first AAC game, but for the most part he was ineffective during his career in my view. I need to watch a scrimmage before really forming a view on a running back's quality.

Michael Pratt had two big completions back to back, hitting Lawrence Keys on a flag route and throwing a deep floater over the middle to Blake Gunter. If Keys is not Tulane's leading receiver in the fall, I will be surprised, and the tight ends should be heavily involved with former tight ends coach Slade Nagle calling the plays.

Kai Horton threw a deep ball to Jalen Rogers when Rogers toasted KIland Harrison with a double move. It would have been an easy touchdown if Horton had not underthown the ball, forcing Rogers to make a sliding catch at the 1-yard line. He probably could have stayed on his feet and scored, but with Harrison making up ground after being beaten, he wanted to make 100-percent sure he caught the ball.

Linebackers Jesus Machado and Corey Platt, who missed the two previous practices I watched, were back with the first unit today. The other starters were Devean Deal, Keith Cooper, Patrick Jenkins and Eric Hicks on the line, Andre Sam at nickelback, Jarius Monroe and Lance Robinson at cornerback and DJ Douglas and Despanie at safety. Sam replaced Kentrell Webb from earlier workouts with the first unit. The others have been out there when healthy,

The second-team defense had Harrison and AJ Hanpton at cornerback, Darius Swanson and Shi'Keem Laister at safety, Mandel Eugene and Tyler Grubbs at linebacker and Lunz, Gerrod Henderson, Elijah Champaigne and Angelo Anderson on the defensive line.

The Green Wave practiced in the morning, reaching the midpoint of spring drills with its eighth workout, and had Pro Day at Yulman Stadium in the afternoon. I was there for both, although my interest in watching Pro Day was almost nil. This is where my age shows. it is unbelievable to me that the NFL combine is shown live now and many people love to watch it. When I was growing up, the idea of televising men running around in drills would have been laughable. It's very important to what happens in the draft, but it's entertainment value, to me, is zero.

First. the practice. The only change on the depth chart for the first-team offense or defense is Andre Sam running with the first team at nickelback. I have heard many good things about his talent level, and he can make a difference in the fall after transferring from Marshall. He has a significant stuttering problem, so I have not interviewed him yet, but he can play.

Wide receiver Jalen Rogers is having a good camp. Nicknamed "Speedy" by Willie Fritz, he caught a nice sideline pass from Kai Horton today and has made plays in each practice I've attended. The key for him is doing it with contact because he's the lightest scholarship guy on the team (5-10, 155), but he has the potential.

Shaadie Clayton-Johnson was sharp today, running for a touchdown (again, not really, since they are not tackling) and getting a good gain on a swing pass. I have not seen much from Makhi Hughes yet, but the other three scholarship back have been impressive, with Iverson Celestine and Arnold Barnes joining Clayton-Johnson. Celestine had a strong run up the middle near the goal line, but the ball, soas punched out late and he was forced to do several up-downs on the sideline as penance. It wasn't really a fumble. He just let a guy slap the ball out of his hands when he thought the play was over, but it was a still a no-no.

Tight end Blake Gunter has had a couple of good practices recently He caught a touchdown pass today, and so did Cotton Bowl hero Alex Bauman.

Dontae Fleming beat cornerback Lance Robinson for a good gain. I do not think Robinson will start at cornerback when Jadon Canady returns because Jarius Monroe is having an excellent camp and has rare size for a cornerback with his ability. Clearly he was a late developer because there is no way he would have ended up at Nicholls with his meausurables if he had played in high school like he is playing now. Fleming, meanwhile, is going to be the second receiver Tulane uses on end arounds along with Lawrence Keys now that Dea Dea McDougle is long gone.

Walk-on Lucas Desjardins made the catch of the day, getting a pass on the rebound for a touchdown while showing excellent concentration after it deflected off his chest.

The second-team defense today had Michael Lunz, Gerrod Henderson, Maxie Baudoin and Angelo Anderson up front, Tyler Grubbs and Mandel Eugene at linebacker, Kiland Harrison and a number I did not catch at cornerback, Kentrell Webb at nickelback and Darius Swanson and Shi'Keem Laister at safety. Webb still is in the mix to start after beginning spring as the top nickelback. Laister also got a look at nickelback. with Taylor Love and Jean Claude Joseph rotating in at backup linebacker.

Here is what Travian Robertson had to say after practice:

ROBERTSON

On Henderson:

"Last year he came in as a freshman and things were a little slow for him, so now with a new scheme he fits in pretty well. He's playing fast and having a very productive spring so far, so we're very excited to see that. He's a young guy that can probably help us a lot this year."

On biggest difference in scheme:

"Now we can play faster up front. We kind of don't worry about the scheme. We always say coaching over our scheme, so the coaching that coach Fritz built here years ago is still sticking with us, so even though we have a new scheme in place right now, we're working on building our technique and continuing to build our culture real strong."

On Devean Deal:

"He's just a student to the game. He's up here beating my door down every day trying to learn. He wants to get better. He understood last year was a good season for him, but he wants to be better. He's a smart student and now he's working on being a great pass rusher for us."

On Parker Peterson and Michael Lunz:

"They are doing good. They are using the spring as a learning session. Parker Peterson is working his butt off. Michael Lunz understands that is the year for him to show us that he can play for us not just on special teams but have a role on defense, and he's been showing good progress so far this spring."

On Taliancich not practicing:

"He's out right now. He's got a little lingering injury, nothing major, but in the spring the young guys can step up and a guy like Gerrod is getting more reps now and Parker is getting more reps now. Taliancich is going to get that injury handled and come back, but it's a great opportunity for Gerrod and Parker."

On Kam Hamilton not practicing:

"Yes, he's working back from an injury. He's gotten a little bit involved with some stuff that we're doing. He's out with a shoulder injury right now, but he should be back soon."

On Baudoin:

"Big Maxie has showed some great strides. He's a big nose guard that if he can keep going in the spring, he can help us this year. He's about 6-4, pushing 300 pounds right now, so Maxie has shown some strides. We have to keep pushing him to play faster every time."

On Champaigne:

"He's been doing really good this spring. He's moving well now and he's put on a little weight and is stronger. The scheme that we're running now fits him well for what we're doing, and he's getting the hang of the playbook for us."

On having short turnaround from bowl game to beginning of spring practice:

"There are some pros and cons to that. As we played on Jan. 2, the guys had like five days off and then we went rolling again, but the good thing is we didn't give them too much time off, so our guys were still in shape coming in for spring. We gave them five days off and then we were back rolling lifting and running. But then you've got some guys you want to rest a little bit because they've had a lot of reps, but for these young guys still coming in in football shape, it was great for us to get these guys in shape. We didn't really have to work guys in shape. They came in already in shape."

If there is any good news about Tulane baseball (and there really isn't with a 3-14 record), it is the that the Wave's non-conference opponents are almost uniformly better than its AAC opponents will be, with the exception of East Carolina (very good) and UCF (maybe pretty good). Tulane's issues go across the board, as WaveON described in his post on the other thread, but there is still time to turn it around in conference play (although I don't see a potential solution to the pitching woes).

I talked to Brady Hebert and Jay Uhlman today.

HEBERT

On mindset of team:

"We still have about 75 percent of the season left, so there is a lot of baseball left to be played. Yesterday we had a good practice and we have two more practices before this weekend, so this week of practice is big for us to come out with the right mindset and that will carry over to this weekend."

On facing tough non-conference schedule:

"I personally love playing the best there is. It's not fun when you're just winning when you're playing the scrubs. When you're playing the best that there is in the field, then you see where you are and it gives you real feedback to where you need to be, so it's just a learning experience for all of us, so we're moving forward and this week of practice is big for that, too."

On Columbia:

"It's just another opponent coming in the other dugout wearing a different jersey, so we're ready to compete and get after it against whoever it is."

On his start at the plate:

"Just staying consistent. My swing is is in a good spot, not a lot of variables. Credit to coach Jay and JB (Justin Bridgman) for getting me in the right position, and I look forward to continuing that success."

On liking leading off:

"I do. I like getting the team going."

On what he learned last year:

"Experience from last season's failures is always key. I think last year my swing just wasn't in a good spot, and it is this year. I'm seeing the ball well and taking what I learned last year and applying it to this year, and not just for myself but also like trying to help these new guys also speed up their failures to become successes."

On ninth inning Sunday:

"It's happened several times where we're in a big game and it becomes a big blowout and then we're right back in in the last inning. The takeaway from that is to never give up. We were one swing away from winning that game right there."

JAY UHLMAN

On mindset of team:

"Everything we want is still in front of us. That's the good news. We had a great day of practice yesterday. It was long. It was our max allowable hours, and it was good from start to finish, and then today needs to be a good day on top of a good day. That's been a challenge for us. We addressed some things yesterday and I still continue to believe they are in a great place (mentally) just from what they're showing me."

On takeaway from ninth inning comeback that fell short:

"I think what the guys that were in the game at the start (Uhlman made wholesale substitutions before the six-run ninth) can probably take from that is just a relaxed attitude in terms of not trying to create too much out of certain moments and just kind of getting in there doing their job and doing it relaxed and having fun. There's nothing to lose at that point, so that's what hopefully they take away from that is just the ability to try to relax, know that it's still a game and anything can happen."

On what has to happen for team to start winning:

"Well, it showed up yesterday in practice. The attention span wanes at times and so there was something that happened in practice yesterday that I brought everybody out and made a comment that this type of situation that happened in practice is the type of thing that's getting us beat when we get in the games, so there focus in between the action and then their refocus and then their focus in the action is going to continue to be critical. The times that we have failed have been either moments that we're trying to do too much or moments that were mentally vacant. The game demands our presence and there have been times when we've been punished very deeply. To me the focus and the refocus needs to improve and we need something good to happen and we need to win. At some point you gotta win. You can take away the moral victories and the we're still plugging aways and it's a long season, but at some point we need to get a win and not only do we need to get a win, but we also need to come back the next day and get another win. Those are just things that for whatever reason this team is still trying to learn. That's where we are."

On Columbia:

"They came from behind yesterday to beat Troy. They won the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. It's an old lineup, talented starting lineup. I think if you call it a weakness, their pitching depth probably isn't where they want it to be, but they can rely on their old guys. They take old at-bats. They make you pay if you make mistakes, and so far they play pretty good defense, and they've won. They've been to the postseason, so they have confidence in winning. Those are the challenges that will be presented to us. It's another good opportunity to beat a good team and play against a good team."

On weekend rotation:

"We are going to move Cristian (Sanchez) back to the bullpen. We need to iron some things out. We're going to keep Ricky (Castro) on Sunday because he has a good routine and feels comfortable with that routine, so we're not going to disrupt that. It can keep us in the driver's seat to have that Sunday presence from him, so right now we're TBA on Saturday. We're going to try to win Friday first and then figure out Saturday when we get there."

On Hebert leading off:

"Walking. He hadn't walked a whole lot and then over the course of the last week-and-a-half he's started to pick up that piece of his game. He's always been a good baserunner. He's very intelligent on the bases. He actually has picked up playing the outfield pretty easily, so that's been good, but his ability to walk and make a pitcher get into the strike zone's been good instead of him chasing. It's nice to have him go out there and see the holes. He's from a winning program in LSU-Eunice and so he's a winning mentality kind of guy."

On him being one of few veterans on team:

"He is not a vocal leader. He's a lead-by-example. The guys look up to him, and he's a mature kid. He knows what a good practice is. He knows what a good effort is. It's not sugar-coated for him. He's able to take the good and the bad and understand the reality of those things. If I was a teammate, I'd love to have him as a teammate."

Guerry, saw where LSU picked up four star Destrehan LB Kolaj Cobbins yesterday. That was their 9th commitment for 2024.

I am surprised with the season we had that we have no commitments for the 2024 class as of today. Have all the coaching changes effected our efforts to date? Do we have any commitments that have not been announced? Are we seeing more higher rated kids that we are involved with? Please see if you can find out if we are close to landing anyone. Thanks!

I am in Fort Worth today and missed Tulane's sixth practice of spring drills, but I was there Wednesday for practice No. 5. They moved it up from Thursday because Willie Fritz flew to Pennsylvania later Wednesday to be honored Thursday with the national coach-of-the-year honor he got in association with the Maxwell Award. Here's the report.

I hesitate from making judgements on running backs when there is no contact--Sherman Badie was a beast in those situations, and yes, I know he had the 200-yard outburst against Tulsa in Tulane's first ever AAC game, but he turned out to be pretty mediocre the rest of his career--but Duda Barnes really looks the part. He has the size, the speed, the instincts and the acceleration to be special down the road. We'll see how he looks in scrimmages and how well he picks up the intricacies of the offense, but color me impressed.

Tulane's walk-on receivers have pretty good hands, but I was amused when Trevor Evans got one hand on a deep ball in the end zone from Kai Horton running a fly pattern, could not make the spectacular catch and then was legitimately angry at himself, smacking a cover on the stands in the back of the end zone as if he should have made the play. As you may recall, he made an incredible catch in garbage time of a game last fall, so I guess he thinks he should make one like that every time.

Bailey Despanie and DJ Douglas continue to be the first-team safeties. Those two spots and nickelback appeared to be the most wide open on the roster entering spring drills. A.J. Sam got some run with the first team at nickelback Wednesday after Kentrell Webb occupied that spot to start spring drills. The linebackers were Tyler Grubbs and freshman Jean Claude Joseph again, but I did not get a chance to ask Fritz about why Jesus Machado and Corey Platt were not practicing for the second straight day because Fritz left immediately after practice to get ready for his flight to Pennsylvania. Still, it is interesting that Joseph is working ahead of Taylor Love and Mandel Eugene at the moment. When I asked Fritz about Joseph earlier this week, he said he had a lot to learn like any should-be high school senior. Defensive coordinator Shiel Wood is coaching the linebackers with Michael Mutz gone.

The first-team defensive linemen continued to be Keith Cooper and Devean Deal on the outside and Eric Hicks and Patrick Jenkins inside.

I was surprised when Jarius Monroe got first-team All-AAC honors from the coaches last year after being a backup for most of the season until Jadon Canady got hurt at the end oft he Memphis game, but it looks like the coaches knew what they were doing. Monroe had the big interception in the Cotton Bowl and made a terrific play in 11-on-11, jumping a route and surprising Michael Pratt with a pick six on the outside. That almost never happens to Pratt in practice, but Monroe showed great anticipation and easily outran Pratt to the end zone as he chased him in frustration. In general, though, the 11-on-11 featured a lot of short completions underneath, although Makhi Hughes caught one for a sizable gain in the open field. Evans ran another fly pattern to the end zone, but Pratt overthrew him. Maybe one of the other receivers would have caught up to it, but not Evans.

I never transcribed the quotes from Shield Wood after the first practice. Here they are along with an interview we did with Shaadie Clayton-Johnson:

WOOD

On day 1:

"Exciting. Just good to get out there on the field and get a feel for how coach Fritz runs practice and see the energy and the enthusiasm the guys have. It was outstanding how they ran to the football. Certainly we have a long way to go with a lot of work to get done before we're ready to play that opener in September, but it was an exciting first day and I'm excited to be here with these guys."

On how this all came together:

"Coach Fritz ended up kind of reaching out, and one thing led to another. We had a chance to get on an interview virtually, and that was a lot of fun just to have the chance. It was kind of a group of people on there, and once we did that we just kind of worked through the process and fortunately I ended up getting the opportunity to come here. I could not be more excited. My family, my wife, my two daughters, we are really excited to be a part of this Tulane University family and a part of this football program. Looking forward to move to the Big Easy here sometime soon."

On one of first things he wants to implement:

"I would say that I want us to understand how to play hard. You hear playing hard and you think effort, well, yes, that's part of it, but that's kind of the baseline. There's other things you have to do well defensively to be able to play hard, and it's a process you have to go through, but at the end of the day if we come out of this spring and we say we play as hard as anybody in the country, then we'll have done something, and that will be a great start."

On his style:

"I want us to attack absolutely. The nature of what we do up front is an attacking style. If we're attacking, we're putting stress on the offensive lines, we're putting stress on the quarterback, we're putting stress maybe on the offensive coordinator as far as how he sees things. If we're attacking up front, that's a great way to limit those plays. If you look at our defense this past season, we were really high nationally in terms of limiting explosive plays, and at the same time we are set up to where we can be very aggressive up front on first, second and third down, so that will be a challenge for us. Like my predecessor said, I'm on board with that. The big plays, we'd like to keep those as low as we can."

On if the best way to limit big plays is putting the quarterback on his back:

"Well, no, I think this. The type of defense that we run, if those guys up front are beating blocks and making plays, that's the style of defense that we want to play, and then we want to be sound. We want to match numbers. We don't want to have busts. We don't want to give up big chunks. There's a lot of different ways you can go about doing that from scheme to scheme, system to system. Certainly I think we're an aggressive style, but at the same time we want to be really good in terms of limiting their big plays and if they are going to score, making teams have to drive the ball and do that gives us ample opportunities to get a stop at some point."

On linebackers replacing Nick Anderson and Dorian Williams:

"I'm impressed. One of the things you do when you take a new job like this is you go through and you try to evaluate the personnel. That's a process that takes a little bit of time, and there's two ways to do it. You can watch tape from practice. You can watch game film. And then you can go back and look at their high school film, and between those three different ways, you try to see what skill sets guys have that allow them to play at a really high level, and you take those evaluations and then you look at what we're going to do. Maybe it's a little different than some of the things they've done in the past here, and you try to show the guys maybe the best positions they can play to be the most successful based on their talents and skill set. But in terms of linebackers, I've been very impressed. We had several guys that played in reserve roles and played a good many snaps, so they've got some film from last year. We've got a group that is hungry to learn. In general we have a group that's probably outstanding from a leadership standpoint, and their ability to dissect what's going on up front and process things really well, and then I like the physical skill set that I've seen so far. It's day 1, and I'll learn more about them as we go, but I'm encouraged right now for sure."

I made it to both of Tulane's most recent practices but did not see a ton Saturday after having to go to Devlin Fieldhouse during that workout and retrieve a tape recorder I'd left there after Friday night's basketball game. But one thing is crystal clear: the Wave has more speed at wideout than in any other year of the Willie Fritz era, and they can make plays. Lawrence Keys looks likes the borderline 4-star prospect he was coming out of McDonogh 35 in 2018. After sitting out nearly a year-and-a-half at Notre Dame, he had to wipe the rust off at Tulane a year ago and got better as the season went along. He already is ahead of where he was at the end of the year. Today, he caught a long touchdown pass on a post from Michael Pratt in 7-on-7 drills that was a preayty throw and catch. The two connected again on a deep corner route in 11-on-11 drills. Fluid is the word I would use to describe Keys, who is destined for a huge year if he can stay healthy in the fall.

Dontae Fleming, the transfer from UL-Lafayette, looks good, too. He is fast and showed excellent concentration to haul in a pass that was deflected durign 11-on-11 work today. A little earlier, he beat Andre Sam for a big gain on a fade route, adjusting to catch a slightly underthrown ball from Pratt. Chris Brazzell can run, too, and has made a lot of catches in every practice. Yulkeith Brown is really fast, and though not as polished as Fleming to my eyes, he beat two defensive backs to the sideline in the red zone for nice grab from Pratt in 11-on-11 today and also scored a touchdown on a corner route in 7 on 7. And I haven't even mentioned Jha'Quan Jackson, who had an 87-yard touchdown against USC, or Phat Watts, who still is not practicing, or Jalen Rogers, who is the fastest receiver on the team. From 1 through 6, this is a solid-looking group. The only blatant drop today came from Bryce Bohanon on a quick out from Kai Horton, but Bohanon rebounded to make a good grab on an inside route from Kai Horton during 11 on 11 work.

Louisiana Tech transfer Tyler Grubbs got plenty of run with the first-team defense today, but they were mixing and matching a lot. For one segment, true freshman Jean Claude Joseph, one of two early enrollees along with Duda Barnes, was on the first team alongside Grubbs, and he definitely is not ready to be a starter yet. With Michael Mutz having left to become defensive coordinator at Stephen F. Austin over the weekend, Shiel Wood is coaching the linebackers, and Fritz will wait until after spring drills to fill that position along with the two other openings on the staff.

It's not a spring practice without a Rishi Rattan interception, and he made his daily pick on pass from walk-on Garrett Mmahat during 7-on-7 work. I've always wondered if Rattan will ever earn real playing time in a game, but he just is not quite fast enough to warrant it despite his good instincts.

Barnes continued to be impressive. Even if he not ripping off a big gain (which is hard to judge anyway when they are not hitting), he just looks the part of a good Division I running back. Makhi Hughes had some touches today, too, so they finally are getting to evaluate him after he got hurt in preseason camp last year as a freshman.

Angelo Anderson spent some time with the first-team defense at end today in Keith Cooper's normal spot. Anderson (43 career tackles) has not lived up to his high recruiting status in three years with the Wave, but he still has time.

The starting safeties continue to be Bailey Despanie and DJ Douglas.

Backup safety Shi'Keem Laister had an interception of a late Carson Haggard throw over the middle in 11 on 11. Haggard is good when he throws off his first read quickly, but he struggles when he holds on to the ball.

Tulane has one fewer cornerback, with Tyrek Presley being dismissed from the team last weekend because of a weapons charge. As I've written several times, he always looked the part as a receiver but never had the discipline or toughness to make plays. He disappeared into the deep background after he moved to cornerback and probably would have been no factor even if he had not gotten in trouble.

Tyjae Spears attended practice today after Nick Anderson was there Saturday. There also were some college coaching staffs in attendance today, with New Mexico State, an Alabama school I did not catch the name of and a couple of high school staffs from Texas.

The first-team offensive line has not changed in four spring practices. The No. 2 offensive line today was Matt Lombardi, Trey Tuggle, Caleb Thomas, Shadre Hurst and Sully Burns from left to right.

I talked to Sincere Haynesworth Saturday and Keys today in addition to Fritz today.

FRITZ

On coaching staffs watching practice today:

"I don't know. We had a couple of high schools from Texas and then a university from Alabama and New Mexico State. The offensive coordinator over there is a buddy of mine (Tim Beck, who was at Pittsburgh State in Kansas for 32 years).

On wideouts:

"I'm really excited about the two additions we got with Dontae Fleming and Yulkeith Brown. They really fit in. Lawrence really came on at the end of the year. He was a very good contributor last year, but I think he's got a chance to be an All-Conference first-team guy. Quan Jackson came on at the end of the year. We've got a good, deep group over there. The guy we thought was going to play a lot for us as a true freshman last year got hurt, but Chris Brazzell has really shown up the first four practices."

On the speed of the wideouts:

"Good speed. Dontae and Yulkeith both have legit speed. We have a bunch of guys who are 4.5 and under, so we've got good speed out there on the perimeter."

On replacing Mike Mutz:

"I'm going to probably wait until the end of spring ball to do something with that. Mike did a very good job for us and we're really happy for him with this opportunity at Stephen F. Austin to be a coordinator. Shiel will coach those guys. He's coached linebackers and secondaries. One of the reasons why I hired him was he did a really good job in his interview talking about defensive line play, linebacker play and secondary play. I was going back and forth. I'd ask him a question on D-line technique, fundamentals, something schematically, and I'd go back to the secondary and come to the linebackers. He just knows all of it, so he's going to coach the linebackers and coach C-Y (Josh Christian-Young) and coach (J.J.) McCleskey will coach the DBs."

On Jean Claude Joseph:

"Good. It's a huge learning curve for them. A lot of high schools don't have as big a staff as what we have where they are getting specific coaching on every single play, so that's the advantage we have. Arnold Barnes has gotten a lot better from practice 1 to practice 4. Jean Claude has done the same thing, so it's a steep learning curve for a brand new freshman who should be getting ready to go to prom."

R.J. McGee has been a role player all four years at Tulane, sometimes fading into the woodwork and at other times being a factor, but he saved his best moments for the end of the last two games. Without his two made shots and a loose-ball retrieval that led to his pass to Sion James for a dunk against ECU, Tulane likely would have lost its fourth in a row last Friday. Without his two free throws and blocked shot in the final second against Temple (Jaylen Forbes took credit for it but an Advocate photograph clearly shows McGee with his hand on the ball), Tulane would have lost and dropped to the No. 4 seed in the AAC tourney.

McGee, who has averaged exactly 4.0 points in each of the last three years, has been dealing with tragedy all year. He talked about it in a one-on-one interview yesterday before Tulane left for Fort Worth and the AAC tourney.

On if he blocked shot, not Forbes:

"Um, I'm going to give him credit for it. He needs it."

On his reaction to that play:

"My reaction to it was I was happy that that play was that easy to guard. During those times, teams will run the most elaborate play to get a shot up, and it's typically a shot we don't expect, and sometimes that shot goes in. We've always been on the opposite end of shots like that, so it was good to get a stop there."

On the feeling of being integral in two straight wins:

"It's a great feeling to help my team out any way they need. I've been here for a long time. I've lost a lot of games, so to win games that matter is a great feeling for me. It's progress."

On his two free throws:

"My thought process was to calm my nerves and to stay calm and do my free throw routine and make sure I don't mess up the timing because that's all free throw routines are nowadays. It's just timing. I did not mess up on either of those. The first one I thought was going to be all net. I did not think it was going to hit the front of the rim (it did before bouncing through)."

On what he has gone through this year:

"My father, my uncle and my aunt (died). It's just a thing of life and something everybody has to go through. You can't prepare for it and you can't do anything about it. They all passed away this year. My dad passed away in October. My uncle passed away in January. It's just been a downhill spiral. I'm optimistic about the future of my family and I'm optimistic about the future for me. One of the bright spots for my family is watching me out there playing, and so as much as I want to be emotional about it, I just want to give them something to look forward to when I play."

On dad dying in Chicago:

"He had a heart attack in his office, and it was just completely out of left field. There's really no explanation of it. He had a congestive heart failure. It was right before the season started, so I went home for two or three weeks to take care of that situation and came back to start in the scrimmage against Georgia Tech with little or no practice, and after that the season just ramped up and I haven't looked back ever since."

On his uncle dying in Dallas:

"My father's brother (starts to choke up). I missed a few days of practice for that one. I leaned on my teammates a lot and my coaches. My teammates and my coaches have been there for me every step of the way. They attended both events to make sure I was OK. I'm working it out."

On what has gotten him through this:

"My faith in God and my family and my friends and coach Hunter and the support that everybody has been showing me throughout this time. That's all I needed to go out there and perform. The love they showed me was insurmountable. They helped me out with things outside of basketball. They really became my family over the past three years, so I really appreciate them for that."

On if he will be back for fifth year:

"Yeah I am. I'm going to get my degree here."

On his role:

"I feel like my accomplishments here have been visible. I feel like everybody has seen what I'm capable of and what I can do and what I've done for this program. It's a mutual thing. You give me the opportunity, and I've been successful with some of the opportunities I've had so far. I just hope to continue with that."

On describing his game:

"I would say it's very versatile. It's very scrappy. It does't really rely on skill. More or less it relies on playing with effort. I get around a lot of my problems simply because I play harder than my opponent. I just rely on that."

On AAC tourney key:

"I would say the key is to stay grounded. This is my third time being here, and the one thing I'm sure will happen is teams are going to make runs and that it's a war out there. For us, our big thing is persistence and staying calm in times of trouble, looking to each other for advice and helping each other make plays so we do it by committee."

On creating own energy at tourney with few fans in stands:

"As you've seen recent history for Tulane, our crowds are going but we've dealt with that a lot. It will be nothing new to us. It will be new to the teams that we play because everybody else has humongous fan bases and they have thousands of people watching. For us it's just another game that we can take advantage of the small crowd."

On choosing Tulane in first place:

"Coming out of high school, I had no offers. I didn't any Juco offers, none of that, and then in prep school (he went to a Florida prep school for a year after graduating from high school in Chicago) and then even in prep school I still didn't have any offers until the last week of the season and I had two really good games and out of that I got about three to four offers from Louisiana Monroe. I also had Chicago State, St. Bonaventure and Florida A&M. They all offered first and then Tulane came afterward. I was like, all right, I'm good."

On if it was Hunter or Dunleavy who offered him:

"I had connections with the previous staff. They reached out and came to a couple of my open gyms early in the season, but the people who offered me was Hunter."

On being happy with decision:

"I do feel good about the decision. I'm about to get a degree, and this is one of the top schools in the country. I think it worked out for me."

RON HUNTER

On McGee:

"I've got the utmost respect for R.J. To be honest I don't know if I could have gone through what he's done this year and to be able to compete at this level. The great part is he's had his basketball family with him, but man, what he's gone through has been really, really tough, and I'm so proud of him."

On sending people to Chicago and Dallas:

"We wanted to make sure we were just represented and there for him. He's a great person. He's one of the better kids I've ever recruited in regards to being a teammate. Everyone on the team loves him."

On last two games:

"Whenever we need him, he's there. Really his whole career has been that way. This year it's been tough because his mind has gone so many different places. Anything great that happens for him, he deserves it. It's just been one of those years for him."

On momentum:

"This is probably the best position that we've been in since I've been here going into the tournament. Our league is such a tough league. Outside of getting a bye, seeding didn't really mean a whole lot because the teams are just so good top to bottom. Of course Houston sits on as island by themselves, but this is the best I've felt going into the tournament since I've been here."

On Forbes left off first team: (Jalen Cook made All-AACfirst team, Forbes was on second team and Kevin Cross was on third team)

"Control what you can control. That's what I told him. Some things are just unexplainable. We're definitely going to use that."

Guerry,

Do any of your sources have any info on what's going on? From what I've read on Twitter it looks like the PAC12 is looking to potentially add 4 teams and they are looking at Tulane as a travel partner for SMU. Also, it appears the PAC12 presidents like Tulane's academic ranking, research dollars and endowment.

What are your thoughts on conference expansion and Tulane in the PAC12? I'd personally rather see us in the Big12 but that is a long shot at best and most likely will never happen. Maybe one day we can be in the ACC if FSU and Clemson leave for the SEC - but who knows.

Roll Wave!

The only three schools playing in the FBS that are AAU members that are not in a P5 conference are Tulane, Rice and Buffalo.

The breakdown of AAU members in the P5 are:
SEC 5
Big10. 15
PAC10. 7
BIG12. 1
ACC. 5

Looking at these numbers the best fits academically for Tulane are the SEC, BIG10, PAC10 and the ACC. The SEC and the BIG10 are not happening. This leaves us with the ACC and the PAC10.

Travel costs would go up in both the ACC and the PAC10 but would be manageable. The only 3+ hour flights would be to the Pacific Northwest or the Northeast. We used to fly regularly to UConn, Temple, Boston, SF and UTEP. If we go to the PAC10 we would be in the Eastern Division with SMU, Colorado, Utah and the AZ schools. In the ACC we would be in the Southern Division with Miami, FSU, GT, and some of the Carolina schools.

Our biggest calling card besides our location is the AAU.

I missed the first 75 minutes today while taking my car to the West Bank for a repair, so I will have a more full report Thursday, but I saw plenty while I was there.

First, I guessed right on my preseason preview for The Advocate on three of the four players I had as being out for spring drills. Willie Fritz said Justin Ibieta and Jadon Canady were probably a couple months away but hoped to be full speed for the beginning of summer work in June. Adonis Friloux is closer, with an expected return in May or late April, so that rules all three out for spring drills. But Phat Watts is good to go. He would have practiced today, but he had wisdom teeth removed and was unavailable for that reason.

The first thing I noticed when I walked into Yulman Stadium was Cam Wire practicing with the first unit at left tackle. That comes as no surprise--Tulane had an opening with the graduation of Joey Claybrook and Wire appeared to be the best candidate. He said he loved his visit to Tulane after entering the transfer portal and could not have been happier with his decision, with Fritz adding Wire really wanted to stay close to home, making Tulane's recruiting job easier considering the number of offers he had. Wire joins the four holdovers up front in left guard Prince Pines, whom he grew up with and knows well, center Sincere Haynesworth, right guard Josh Remetich and right tackle Rashad Green. Kanan Ray, who elected to give up football after tearing his ACL midway through last year, has stuck around to serve as a volunteer assistant.

Arnold Barnes had a long run in 11-on-11 and another nice gain on a swing pass. Fritz made a point of saying the running backs all had to get better to replace a guy like Tyjae Spears, but it will not be a position of weakness with Shaadie Clayton-Johnson, Iverson Celestine and Barnes in the picture. I did not notice Makhi Hughes and will make sure to see his status at Thursday's practice. The coaches were high on him before he got hurt early last year.

Michael Pratt threw a pretty pass to Lawrence Keys on a deep out route, Keys has the potential to really break out in the fall after starting slowly a year ago but getting better as the season went along in his first season as a transfer from Notre Dame. Jha'Quan Jackson is back, too, of course, but the Wave needs to find third, fourth and fifth receivers. Watts is an obvious possibility when he returns. Fritz liked what he saw from transfers Yulkeith Brown and Dontae Fleming on day 1. while Chris Brazzell, Bryce Bohanon and Jalen Rogers all need to show marked improvement from their true freshman seasons.

Kai Horton and Carson Haggard were the second- and third-string quarterbacks. Haggard exhibited the quick release and decision making I noticed in the first week of spring drills a year ago, but his accuracy, which dipped the second they had their first scrimmage, is not what it was in that first week. He threw a simple swing pass at Rogers' knees and he could not hold on.

Darius Hodges was in uniform but did not have a helmet and did not practice. In his absence, Devean Deal was the edge rusher, which Fritz said would no longer be called Joker but Dog instead. Keith Cooper was the first-team end on the opposite side, with Patrick Jenkins and Eric Hicks inside. The second-team line was Angelo Anderson, Elijah Champaigne, Gerrod Henderson and MIchael Lunz in the limited reps I watched. I did not see Noah Taliancich or Kam Hamilton but probably just missed them.

Tyler Grubbs was one of the first-team linebackers. I assume the other was Jesus Machado but did not catch the number. New defensive coordinator Shiel Wood says he has gone with a 3-4 look at most of his stops, so it will be interesting to see if the defense changes or he adapts to the 3-3-5/4-2-5 look Fritz has used with multiple coordinators the past five years. It looked like the same alignment to me today.

The first-team safeties, as I predicted correctly, were Bailey Despanie and DJ Douglas. Kentrell Webb was getting reps at nickelback with the first unit. The corners were Lance Robinson and Jarius Monroe..

The second-team defense had Mandel Eugene and Taylor Love at linebacker, Andre Sam and Darius Swanson at safety and Kiland Harrison and Rishi Rattan at cornerback.

Fritz got angry when a defensive player popped Horton as he scrambled downfield. Horton was fine, but Fritz yelled there was a reason the quarterbacks were in a different colored jersey and warned his players to be more alert. I did not catch the number of the offender.

I will have more later with quotes from Fritz, Pratt. Wood, Slade Nagle and Wire.

We are averaging over 12k's a game. We have significantly more K's than hits this year. 32% of our plate appearances end with a K.
Not surprisingly we are batting .233 as a team. We have hit 6 HR's in 8 games. Just awful offensive baseball.

I finally made it to a scrimmage Sunday so I could get some familiarity with the team, although I'm not going to make any ironclad judgments off of one practice.

Jay Uhlman coached from the visitors' dugout while all of the players were in the home dugout. Interestingly, they started each inning with situational work, laying down squeeze bunts or sacrifice bunts or trying to steal home before starting over. I had not seen that before from any Tulane coach.

The starters on the green team were Reed Kellum at catcher, Brady Marget at first base, Chase Engelhard at second base, Gavin Schulz at shortstop, Simon Baumgardt at third base, Jackson Linn in left field, Jared Hart in center field and Teo Banks in right field. Brady Hebert was the DH.

The starters on the blue team were Brennan Lambert at catcher, Seth Beckstead at first base, Michael Lombardi at second base, James Agabedis at shorstop, Brayden Morrow at third base, Jake LaPrairie in left field, Adam Ebling in center field and Tracy Mitchem in right field.

The starting pitcher for the green team was Ricky Castro, who will start this Sunday at UC Irvine as well. He looked OK, allowing two hits and two runs in 3.1 innings before reaching his 70-pitch limit. I certainly did not see anything special in his stuff. Morrow ripped an RBI double down the left field line off him and Agabedis followed with an RBI single.

LaPrairie, who needs to bounce back from a dreadful second year and probably will start in left field when they determine Linn is not ready to make throws, struck out in his first at-bat against freshman Will Prigge, but he later doubled down the right field line (his shot bounced on the line) off of Brian Valigosky. The green team struggled to hit for much of the day before breaking through late on Lombardi, who pitches in addition to playing the infield. Lombardi walked Engelhard with the bases loaded, gave up an RBI single to right field by Baumgardt, a sacrifice fly by Hebert and two-run single by Kellum in the 6th inning.

Ebling made a terrific diving catch of a sinking liner early, getting a good jump on the ball and doing his best Hart impression. Linn had an infield single late but got thrown out on the base paths trying to advance to third on a grounder, getting chased back to second base and tagged out as he started to dive. He is fast but needs to be improve his instincts on the bases.

Chandler Welch pitched third for the green team and looked pretty good, striking out Ebling with a nice pitch.

After Prigge, Blake Mahmoud, LSU transfer Michael Fowler, Lombardi and Dyerburgh State transfer Gavin Smith pitched for the blue team. Although they got good results with the exception of Lombardi, I was not particularly impressed by any of them.

There were no home runs but several hard-hit balls, including a fly to deep center field from Morrow that Hart tracked down and a ripped liner from Beckstead that went right to Linn.

The key for this team will be Linn, Teo Banks and Brady Marget having huge years with the bat, Dylan Carmouche pitching like the ace he really wasn't a year ago, the other weekend starters being functional and finding a reliable closer. There appears to more depth on the mound--a huge problem last season--but it has to be quality depth, something that is unclear at this point. I do not think this team will hit many home runs, and it has to prove it can get on base enough to apply the running pressure on defenses Uhlman is looking for.

Tulane practiced on another unseasonable warm winter morning at Yulman Stadium, finishing more than an hour before rain finally arrived in New Orleans, going through a typical workout of one-one-one drills, 7-on-7 action, positional work, a special teams segment and an 11-on-11 at the end. I liked what I saw from the receivers in one-on-one drills better than at any time in the Willie Fritz era, although that stuff does not always translate into games. Lawrence Keys is fit and precise. Yulkeith Brown made a a tough catch in tight coverage that resulted in a congratulatory hand slap from receivers coach John McMenamin, Jalen Rogers got open deep. flashing the impressive speed he exhibited in preseason drills a year ago before games proving he was not ready in games as a true freshman. Chris Brazzell made a diving, deep catch. Even South Florida transfer tight end Chris Carter, who is carrying a bit of a spare tire in his belly and was a non-factor in the Bulls' passing game, made a nice move to get open over the middle. There were occasional drops, including one by Jha'Quan Jackson in 1-on-1 work and one by Brazzell on a Michael Pratt throw during the 11-on-11, but these guys look like they will get open more than groups in the past and can do some damage after the catch as well.

Fritz said Darius Hodges had labrum surgery after the season and will miss spring drills. Hodges has been at practice in uniform without a helmet.

Of the three newcomers at defensive back, A.J. Hampton is practicing at cornerback and Andre Sam and Darius Swanson are practicing at safety. The rest of the corners are Lance Robinson, Jarius Monroe, Cadien Robinson, T.J. Huggins and Kiland Harrison along with walk-ons Rodrik Williams and Brandon Kim. I am hearing they are considering moving Monroe to nickelback when Jadon Canady returns from injury in the summer, but that's wait and see.

In 11-on-11 work, the starting defense was Devean Deal, Patrick Jenkins, Eric Hicks and Keith Cooper on the line from left to right, with Corey Platt and Jesus Machado at linebacker, Kentrell Webb at nickelback, Robinson and Monroe at cornerback and Sam and DJ Douglas at safety. The second-team defense was Angelo Anderson, Elijah Champaigne, ,Gerrod Henderson and Michael Lunz, who later got work with the first unit in place of Deal, Taylor Love and Mandel Eugene at linebacker (I don't know where Tyler Grubbs was today), Shi'Keem Laister at nickelback, Hampton and Harrison at cornerback and Bailey Despanie and Swanson at safety.

In seven-on-seven work,Cadien Robinson intercepted a deep duck from Michael Pratt on a rare errant toss. Harrison had good coverage on a Pratt deep ball for Brazzell in the end zone during 11-on-11, running stride for stride with before the ball fell harmlessly to the turf. The quartebacks settled for mostly underneath routes to their backs, with Arnold Barnes and Shaadie-Clayton Johnson getting multiple catches. Bryce Bohanon made a nice grab of a sideline pass from Pratt. Near the end of the practice, Josh Remetich and Jenkins came to blows about something before being separated. Remetich is very nice off the field but can be a a rough customer on the field. I'd say he gets into more fights than anyone else on the team.

The offensive line was unchanged from Tuesday, with Cameron Wire joining the four holdovers as the first-team left tackle, but new OL coach Dan Roushar is not handing the job to Wire just yet, as you'll see in his interview. Barnes continued to run hard, and he is faster than you would think looking at his stocky build. Makhi Hughes dresssed, but I did not notice him getting many reps. Clayton-Johnson, Iverson Celestine and Barnes got the bulk of the work.

I really like what I've seen from Yulkeith Brown. I was a little skeptical considering his light numbers at Texas A&M, but it easy to see why he was a top recruit. He still is trying to pick up the offense, but he looks smooth.

Talked to Ron Hunter and Jaylen Forbes today.

HUNTER

On not letting beatdown by Houston linger:

"Mentally when we play Houston we just get out of character. You want to win the game so bad. It's not so much that they beat us, but we haven't played well. Part of that is Houston and they are No. 1 in the country, but I think we get out of character when we play them. We never turn it over 19 times. Every thing that we don't do, when we play them we end up doing. That's what we talked about yesterday and just kind of getting back. We've got a tough week. I've been coaching a long time and never had a week like this (four games in eight days). I'm not thrilled about it, either, but it's something out of our control. We just get ready and we play."

On Jaylen Forbes having six turnovers when season high had been three:

"Again, he and Cook's turnovers and all those things. I thought we were ready to play, but we get too amped up. We talked about it yesterday. We gotta start treating it like another game instead of the hype that goes with it because we just haven't played well with that. Bug again, I want to give them credit. I told the players we didn't lose to the best team just in our league. We lost to the best team in the country. They are doing a great job and we are still building and trying to get to that."

On difficulties Wichita State presents:

"They have a young coach and they finally have an identity now. They have his identity and they are playing good basketball, but right now it's about the mental factor. In the last week we have to play all these games. It's not necessarily who you are playing because we've seen them before. It's about mentally being ready to play and having an opportunity to get that 2 seed. We're really fighting for that 2 seed, something that hasn't happened since I've been here in this league. When we get it, we will have earned it."

On immediate goal:

"Let's just win Sunday. That's what I keep saying. Let's win Sunday. There won't be any practice or anything like that. We'll just turn around and play games. It's going to be AAU week. These kids are used to AAU basketball and we're going to turn it into AAU week. We're just playing games."

On if he will go to his bench more in final week:

"Game situation. Again, we'll see if we need to do that. I'm fine if we have to do that. One of the things I talk to you guys about is don't play tired. The media timeouts are a little bit longer on TV games. We'll see in that regard, but these guys are warriors. They've been resilient. They've bounced back every single time I've asked them to do that, so I don't think this will be any different."

FORBES

On flushing what happened at Houston:

"It's over with. On to the next thing. We've got to worry about the game's that coming up. We can't afford to just give games away we're supposed to win."

On if they were too amped up for Houston game:

"Maybe, but then again that's a good team on the other end. With Houston, they are always going to take away the first action. You've got to make multiple efforts to beat them, and we just didn't make enough of those multiple effort plays."

On six turnovers:

"They are pretty tough defensively, but I have to take care of the basketball. I've just got to stick to the things that I work on and just keep stuff simple. I feel like that's why the game got out of hand. I started turning the ball over and they started getting fast break points, which is tough to stop. I've just got to take better care of the ball."

On if will be easy to bounce back:

"I'm not going to say that. We've just got to be mentally tough. We just have to show our mental strength and just come out and defend."

On first Wichita State game:

"They know what happened last time, so they are going to come out fighting even harder. We just have to be that much more on top of our game. We just have to be ready from the jump. We can't be down that big at home. I'm pretty sure the crowd will have us hyped up, so I feel like we'll begin good."

On incentive of finishing second:

"It means a lot, but at the end of the day finishing second, that's not what we want to do. We always want to finish first. I feel like we'll still get a chance to see Houston in the conference tournament. Just get that second seed, get on the opposite side of Houston and meet them in the championship game. The third time's the charm."

Welp. While others saw the Houston debacle coming, I definitely did not. In the first game against Houston, the Cougars hit shots they don't always make, going 12 of 24 from 3-point range, while Tulane missed shots it normally makes, contributing to a 20-point defeat that could have been closer. This time, Houston did not shoot well at all from outside, going 10 for 32, but completely shut down Tulane's offense in the first half and rattled the Wave. After hitting two early shots, Kevin Cross was invisible, grabbing only two rebounds, and he receded even more after having a dunk attempt rejected. Jaylen Forbes had six turnovers, twice as many as his most in any other game this year. Sion James was a non-factor. Jalen Cook, unstoppable in a recent stretch, had four shots blocked in the first half while missing nine in a row. When he found his form in the second half, it was too late. Collin Holloway was overmatched. Tylan Pope competed very well but was a liability on offense, missing two 3s badly when the game was still close early and throwing up a floater that had no chance to go in because he was concerned about getting it blocked.

I have watched Houston quite a bit in the past month, and although this version is more talented than last year's, it also tends to drift for stretches of each game unlike a year ago, when it played hard every second. But the Cougars did not drift at all last night aside from a brief stretch at the end of the first half when they tried to make fantastic plays offensively and botched them. Houston broke Tulane's will on offense and passed well enough at the other end to get some easy baskets, compensating for its struggles outside.

Tulane still should be able to latch on to the No. 2 seed in the AAC tournament, where it can get a third shot at the Cougars, but this will test the team's self-belief. The Wave, which will be favored in each of the last four games, cannot let its confidence sag after that beatdown, which was every bit as bad and maybe worse than the 30-point margin indicated. Many of the same plays that became sloppy turnovers against Houston will result in easy baskets against Wichita State, East Carolina and Temple if the Wave maintains its confidence.

Sunday is the critical game because Wichita State has some physical advantages on Tulane and exploited them while racing to an 18-point lead in the first half in Wichita before Tulane rallied to win in OT. Get that win, and I think Tulane will run the table. It will not be good enough to get in at-large range but will bring momentum into the AAC tourney. Even going 3-1, and maybe even 2-2, will allow the Wave to hold on to the No. 2 seed. Memphis still has to play Houston again and is likely to lose to Wichita State tonight if Kendric Davis can't play.

The new start date will be Wednesday, March 1. The spring game remains March 25, and there will be two practices afterward, with all 15 taking place in March.

The full schedule:

Practice 1: Wednesday, March 1
Practice 2: Friday, March 3
Practice 3: Saturday, March 4
Practice 4: Monday, March 6
Practice 5: Wednesday, March 8
Practice 6: Saturday, March 11
Practice 7: Monday, March 13
Practice 8: Wednesday, March 15
Practice 9: Friday, March 17
Practice 10: Saturday. March 18
Practice 11: Tuesday, March 21
Practice 12: Thursday, March 23
Practice 13: Saturday, March 25 (SPRING GAME)
Practice 14: Tuesday, March 28
Practice 15: Thursday, March 30

If this schedule holds, I will miss only the March 11 practice to cover the AAC basketball tournament unless the Wave makes the NCAA tournament.

I

The Texas 6A all state football team was announced last week. Makei Williams made first team and LaJuan Owens made third team.