Does anyone know where Kai landed? Doesn’t seem to indicate he found a school?

The first interviews are supposed to be Friday, and the road should be in good enough shape by then for the city to re-open.

I attended one of the fall ball world series games and never posted about it. Will Clement helped his team clinch the series, coming in with the bases loaded and no outs and getting Jackson Linn to hit a bouncer right to him, leading to a force-out at the plate, and then coaxing a 6-4-3 double-ball ball from Boots Landry, a transfer from Texas A&M who redshirted with the Aggies last year. I don't remember many of the details, although I was surprised to find out Adam Ebling, who was a top-rated recruit along with Jackson Linn, Teo Banks and Brady Marget in 2022 but never panned out, no longer was on the team. He played in 22 games last year, mostly as a pinch runner, getting nine at-bats. Ben Romano, whose leaping catch at the right field wall finished off Nicholls in the Corvallis regional, also was gone.

It looked like Nick Diehl was the frontrunner to be the starting first baseman in place of Marget, but he has transferred since the end of fall ball. I guess that makes Landry the favorite to win the job. The second baseman will be Connor Rasmussen, although he played shortstop the day I was there. The shortstop will be USC transfer Kaikea Harrison, who started 21 games over two years with the Trojans. The third baseman will be Gavin Schulz. There were three catchers in the running to replace Colin Tuft--Andrew McKenna (FAU), Hugh Pinckney (Rutgers) and William Good, a redshirt freshman from Jesuit who was hurt in the fall. I'm not sure where James Agabedis fits in, but he was at second base the day I was there.

In the outfield, I assume Linn will start in left field rather than being the DH. Theo Bryant, a grad transfer from Tennessee Tech, is the likely starter in center field after having a strong summer ball season and following it with a good fall. His numbers at Tennessee Tech were mediocre. Matthias Haas ended last year as the starting right fielder, and Brock Slaton, who had the spot in the first half of the season, is back, too. Freshman Julius Ejike-Charles. another outfielder, hit a mammoth homer to dead center off Michael Lombardi the day I was there, but that may have been an anomaly. Lombardi returns as the DH.

Luc Fladda, who was masterful against Nicholls in the Corvallis regional, is a lock for the weekend rotation. Will Clements, who never pitched as well as his stuff indicated he would, is in the picture. I'm not sure what the planned role is for Lombardi, who started five games last year, and Carter Benbrook, who was used almost exclusively out of the bullpen and got better as the year went along, but both will play prominent roles. They will count heavily on Jacob Moore and Henry Shuffler in the back end of the bullpen. They were mostly good last season, but Shuffler wore down and got hit hard at the end of the year. Blaise Wilcenski, who gave up 20 earned runs in 19 innings over his last seven appearances, is back, too. Ejike-Charles is expected to have a role on the mound, too. I got some intel on some of the other new pitchers but frankly don't remember what I heard. Giancarlo Arencibia, a name recruit from Rummel who has since transferred to Delgado, did not pitch that day.

I am not sure what to make of this team. Losing Tuft and Marget hurt. They knew they were going to lose Banks and Chandler Welch in the draft, but not so much the other two.

I talked to Kelly Comarda last week but he wanted me to wait until Tulane officially announced his position before posting. Here is what he said about returning to Tulane less than a year after leaving for Houston, this time for a paid position with the university rather than as the volunteer co-founder of the Fear The Wave collective. Here is the full transcript:

What is your job title and how would you describe your work?

"My official title is director or roster management. I guess my role is to coordinate with coach Sumrall and Cole Heard on all roster decisions, especially with an emphasis on NIL and transfer portal.

What is your role going to be when schools can start managing the NIL stuff directly in July:

"My job is going to be more managing the revenue sharing payments and the revenue sharing pool for what Tulane's going to do."

What is your relationship going to be with the Fear The Wave collective you co-founded?

"I will be coordinating with the collective and working hand in hand kind of like a liason between the football team and the collective."

When did Tulane first contact you about this role?

"When coach Sumrall announced that he was coming back, part of what he needed was somebody to fill a role like this. After he announced he was coming back, he gave me a call and offered me a chance to come in. My first day here was Friday, Dec. 13, so I let coach Fritz know around the 10th or 11th."

How tough a decision was it to leave Houston after being there less than a year?

"It was obviously a tough decision because I appreciated what coach Fritz did for me and the opportunity he gave me, but I'm a Tulane guy, a fifth generation Tulane graduate. I also had a relationship with coach Sumrall and got to know him for a few months in the transition, and family factors and having a job inside of the university was a big deal for me, so while it was tough to leave behind the opportunity that coach Fritz gave me, this was the one that could do it."

How is your role different and similar at Tulane than what you were doing at Houston?

"It's very similar. I was working with the collective in Houston. That's the big difference. Here I'm inside on the actual football staff."

How excited are you about where this program is right now?

"Extremely excited. We're in a position to build a program that can sustain success in a way that only a handful of G5 programs can right now in terms of having the resources and the commitment to compete for a playoff spot every year."

I believe there are 25 players coming in from the transfer portal, and 247 Sports rates it the best group for any 5 program. How much of a sea change has Tulane undergone in trying to be successful compared to about 10 years ago?

"The reason why we're able to do it is because we started the collective early and we built it early and we were able to build off of the success that coach Fritz started and coach Sumrall took over. We've kept the enthusiasm going and I think people value the opportunity to play winning football. It's hard to go out there, even if you're playing a lot, to play on a team that's winning 2 or 3 games a year. Sometimes you'd rather play a smaller role on a team that's winning, or if you're not playing a big enough role at a Power 4, playing on a winning G5 team has a lot of appeal."

What do you like best about Sumrall?

"He brings a lot of energy every day. He invites collaboration and allows his staff top to bottom to give their input. He's a listener, but he's decisive when he makes decisions. When he makes decisions, everybody respects the process and respects what he has to say. He commands the respect of everybody in the building while also giving you an opportunity to voice your opinions and contribute. He's extremely smart."

If you are a fifth-generation Tulane graduate, when did it all start?

"It was my great-great grandmother that graduated from Tulane. I don't know the year, but it had to be possible before the turn of the century or right around the turn of the century."

How much difference does it make doing this for the school you care about the most?

"It makes a big difference. The familiarity with the fan base and the program is huge, but also it's tough to learn new traditions and learn about former players. There's definitely a lead-in to that, where as here I can remember plays and games that 10 people watched on an internet stream."

When you started the Fear the Wave collective, could you have envisioned what this has transformed into nationwide in college sports?

"I don't think anybody knew exactly where it was going, but I had a pretty good idea that this was coming down the pipe about a year ago, actually probably 18 months ago, so that's when I started having conversations with the former administration about making plans in case this did come to fruition that these are some of the changes we're going to have to think about making, and they were receptive to it. I think everybody in the industry just didn't want to make a false step, so once they saw where it was definitely going, they made a decisive step to fall in line and get something in place."

From the top down, how much does it make with the Tulane administration supporting athletics:

"I think the administration, especially David Harris and (chief operating officer and deputy athletic director) Justin Schemmel are very competitive and they want to see us succeed, and they've done a lot of things that people don't see on a day-to-day basis to make sure that we remain competitive and that we put ourselves in the best position to win the conference and make the playoff. They are a lot more competitive than they may seem in a public setting. Behind closed doors they definitely want to win."

Tulane had a long dark period without much success. What does the current success mean to you?

"It means everything to me. I sat through a lot of bad seasons and a lot of bad games and got to know a lot of people just because there weren't too many people in the stands, so knowing that we have a chance to put ourselves on the map as a premier college football program means a lot. It could correct a lot of the mistakes of the past because we're operating right now without probably two to three generations of fans that didn't experience the success, whereas all the kids now that are coming to games and getting excited about Tulane are going to come back with their kids. They don't come back overnight. It's going to take a while, but we're well on our way to doing that."

Hunter talked with reporters today ahead of tomorrow's home game with South Florida at 1 p.m. The goal for every team in the incredibly weak AAC other than Memphis is to get a top-four seed in the league tourney and be three games away from reaching the NCAA tournament by the time the quarterfinals start. North Texas may be proving it is the second-best team, but everything else is wide open.

HUNTER

On Tulane's status right now:

"We're getting better. We're one of the younger teams in the country experience-wise and we're just growing. The only thing we need to do is keep playing games to get that experience, but I love how we're playing. I really do. We're getting better every day. We're starting to figure it out, the game is starting to slow down. Now it's about winning games."

On difference between this year and last year:

"Well, the kids on my team this year weren't even playing college basketball last year, so that's how far we've gone. We're playing four freshmen (actually three) in our top eight or nine, but again, the years are different. The way college basketball is now and really the way college football is, you've got new teams every year, so some teams are going to take a little longer to develop and some can do it fairly quickly. We hope that we're just climbing and we're going to be able to peak at the right time."

On feeling good about progress:

"Even when we were struggling, we weren't down. I thought we were getting better. I've been doing this a long time and I've never coached so many young guys in my 35 years. I'm enjoying it. I don't know if I've been around a team that I enjoy coaching more than this group, and that includes all my NCAA tournament teams. I've really enjoyed this because it's new to me and these young guys, they want to learn. With all the craziness and NIL and all the other things, what's great about this group is they really want to learn. I enjoy being around them."

On offensive drought in second half against UAB:

"We talked about the UAB game. it was 54-54 and we held them four straight times, but we didn't score during that time. If we had scored that time, I think it would have been a different outcome, but that's just part of the growing pains of learning to win on the road. Young teams usually play really well at home, and it's a struggle a little bit on the road. We're starting to figure that out a little bit. We're starting to understand shot selection a little bit better and understand the intensity of playing at home versus the road. Our intensity in this building is incredible because we've got great fans, but we've got to be able to carry this when we go play on the road."

On Kam Williams taking only three shots against UAB:

"That's the thing he's got to figure that out. This is the first time he's played major college basketball, so he's on everybody's scouting report. They took some things away from him, and when they take some things away, you've got to have something else to go to. If he looks at the tape of that game, he will do some things differently in that regard. We're trying to help him through that just like we're trying to help all these young guys through some of those things."

On KJ Greene playing well down the stretch against UAB (three baskets out of the four Tulane made from the 13:30 mark until near the end of the game):

"He's getting better. I laugh because I talked to a high school coach the other day and I was like, man, I had no idea what it was like to coach 18-year olds. I've got teenagers, but they are getting better. We can take Rowan (Brumbaugh) off the ball and he (Greene) is playing with a lot more confidence. All of them have to get stronger as they get older. That's the other part. When you play UAB, they are all 24,25, 26 years old, and when you're 18 it's just different, but they are figuring it out. They really are. I love where we are in regards to the process of growing up. My biggest fear is how are we going to keep all these kids. I know now we have a chance to win every game we play."

On South Florida:

"Offensively they are making shots. They are finding out who they are. They had a tough start to the season losing a wonderful man in their coach (Amir Abdur-Rahim dies in late October). I give them all the kudos just getting through the season to be honest with you. He's got them playing really well right now. He's the interim coach and he's trying to figure this out also, but they are at the point now where they feel really good about where they are."

On scoring in transition:

"We want to score off our defense. We do that fairly well at home. What we haven't been able to do is carry that on the road. When you look at the points we average at home and on the road, it's a big difference. That happens with all young teams."

On Asher Woods:

"Asher's quietly been really good for us of late. If I had to pinpoint one thing that helped us with the turnaround, it's his play defensively. Just having an older guy on the floor. He's the oldest kid in our program and he struggled early in the season just trying to play with the young guys. He's starting to figure it out. He's been great."

On seeing improvement:

"These guys will run through a wall for me, and I love coaching them that way. That's why I'm happy for them. It's been a long time that I looked and said I'm really having fun coaching this group, so I am because everything we've thrown out, these kids have tried. I love coaching these kids."

Tulane has offered Jordan Campbell. Big time recruit.

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Here is a running list. Tulane has nine newcomers by my count.

1) TJ Finley QB Western Kentucky

2) John Bock, G/C FIU

3) Ty Cooper, LB, Miss St.

4) Derrick Shepard, DT, UAB

5) Omari Hayes, WR, FAU

6) Zuberi Mobley, RB, FAU

7) Santana Hopper, DE, Appalachian State

8) Robbie Pizzolato, G, Nicholls

9) Jude McCoskey, OT, Indiana State

10) Isaiah Wadsworth, CB, Wofford

11) Trevon McAlpine, DT, Texas Tech

12) Jimmy Calloway, WR, Louisville (and Tennessee before that)

13) Donovan Leary, QB, Illinois

14) Eliyt Nairne, DT, Liberty

15) Tavare Smith, CB, East Central (TX) University (Division II)

16) Jack Hollifield, C, Appalachian State

17) KC Eziomume, CB, Albany

18) Maurice Turner, RB, Louisville

19) Dallas Winner-Johnson, LB, Missouri State

20) Kadin Semonza, QB, Ball State

21) Jordan Hall, OT, Liberty

22) Leron Husbands, TE, Maryland

23) Justyn Reed, TE, Southern Miss

24) Anthony Brown-Stephens, WR, Kentucky

25) Maurice Westmoreland, DE/Bandit, UTEP

26) Jordan Norman, DL, South Alabama

LOST

1) Darian Mensah, QB, Duke

2) Matthew Fobbs-White, bandit, Baylor

3) Parker Petersen, DT, Wisconsin

4) Alex Bauman, TE, Miami

5) Makhi Hughes, RB, Oregon

6) Ethan Head (walk-on), PK, West Virginia

7) Shaadie Clayton-Johnson, North Texas

8) Trey Cornist, Central Michigan

9) Josh Goines, Prairie View

PORTAL

1) Kai Horton, QB
2) Mandel Eugene, LB
3) Michael Lunz, DE

Was told he is deciding between Tulane and North Texas. North Texas has offered him $300k and he is talking $ with Tulane today.

Check out No. 2

Lot’s of confusing information on our latest transfer commitment, Tavare Smith, but I think I now have it straight. He graduated from high school in 2022 and, to the best I can tell, did not play football anywhere that fall. He could have redshirted somewhere but I don't know. In 2023, he played in all 11 games at East Central University (ECU), making several starts and 34 tackles. He also had one pass break up and one interception, along with a 19 yard average on kickoff returns. This past season, 2024, in what was probably his sophmore year, he started all 11 games, made 45 tackles, had 10 pass breakups, five interceptions, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, and one TD. He also returned kickoffs to a 25-yard average. This was good enough to earn him second team all-conference honors. With stats like that I wonder who was first team?

His 2024 season highlights are pretty impressive: Bing Videos

Anyway, despite the D-2 competition, he looks fast with an eye for the ball and is a good tackler. Unless D-2 doesn’t count for D-1 participation, he likely has two years remaining. Hope he can “step up” to the challenge.

BTW, ECU had the first team all-conference kicker and second team All American in D-2 named Brandon Perez. He was 10 for 10 on field goals with five over 40 yards, including 51- and 54-yard kicks. He was 19 for 19 on extra points and had 18 of 46 kickoffs go as touchbacks. He only played one year at ECU, 2024, but was listed as a sophomore. It might be worth taking a look at him.

Merry Christmas to all and, as always, Roll Wave!!!

I was at at almost every spring practice and every preseason practice, and I promise you Ty Thompson did not look as bad as he did Friday. He never proved he was starter caliber, missing some throws and making some questionable choices, but he was downright awful either, which he was yesterday in a stinker that resembled just about every game and practice in 2016 under Willie Fritz when Tulane had the worst passing game I'd ever seen. The inaccurate throws and poor choices were off the charts against Florida, but the one I will single out occurred near the end of the first half when he had all kinds of room to run to get Tulane in field goal range (if there is such a thing for Tulane at this point) as he scrambled to his right and an underneath receiver he could have hit for positive yardage. Instead, he chose to throw deep into double coverage with a throw that fortunately was so off target, the defenders had no chance to pick it off. Maybe he was trying too hard in his portal audition, but it was a brutal performance. If Kai Horton had not entered the portal, he wold have come off the bench to take over in the second quarter and given the Wave a ghost of a chance to do something, anything, on offense.

The defense played OK, with an outstanding interception by Kevin Adams early that gave the Wave its best scoring opportunity until the final minute, but DJ Lagway had a few too many wide open receivers in an erratic performance in which he made some beautiful throws with a quick release but also some bad mistakes, none worse than the pass he threw right to Dickson Agu in the end zone when the receiver hw was trying to hit behind him was blanketed anyway. It had to be hard for the defense to stay motivated the way the offense was struggling to get first downs, but it played hard all the way, and only a fluke touchdown off an errant snap allowed Florida to extend its lead to 23-0 on a day when the score could have been much worse the way Tulane was dominated statistically.

I was happy for Mario Williams, who went over the 1,000-yard mark with a catch to start the final drive and ended it with a pretty spin move that allowed him to get to the end zone. He was by far Tulane's best player in the last two games, although his misfire on a wide open double pass likely cost Tulane a touchdown earlier in the fourth quarter (he made a similar mistake in a preseason scrimmage). He deserved to join Ryan Grant, the last Wave player who did it, in the 1,000-yard club and will be a big loss. s

Jon Sumrall, Williams and Tyler Grubbs spoke after the game.

SUMRALL

"It was a tough loss, not the way we wanted to finish. You can tell by my (hoarse) voice it didn't go great because I don't have much voice left, but I'm proud of our guys fighting. It was not the outcome we wanted at all, and we didn't help ourselves in a lot of areas. Florida's a really good team. They are extremely talented. I've coached in that league, and they look like they are supposed to look in that league. That team's really talented, but I'll love this group forever. We've got 35 guys that are for sure exhausting eligibility. They are moving on, and such a cool, blended group--some guys that have been here the whole time like Josh Remetich and Rashad Green and some guys that joined in the middle of their careers before I got here--Tyler Grubbs and Pat Jenkins--and some guys that got here right that we recruited right when I took the job--Mario Williams, who showed up in January with me, Caleb Ransaw, and then Micah Robinson and Johnathan Edwards, who got here in June. Such a cool group of seniors, a collection of guys I'm grateful for forever. I love them. This doesn't change how I feel about them. I hate the way we didn't finish the season very well with this game, but Tulane football is here to stay, man. We're going to keep fighting. We're not going to back down. I told all the youngsters in the room that will be on the team next year that they're on the clock. Everybody in that room's on the clock that's coming back and the got to be ready to go. Proud of these guys."

On what changed in second half:

"We wore down a little. At halftime the time of possession was like 20 and some change to 9 and some change. That's not ideal, so we wore down a little. They ran the ball on us. They got leaky yardage and kind of won the physical battle late. Also late in the game I went for it a couple of times, didn't get it, had a turnover and a couple of things backed up that didn't go our way. Our defense played on a short field a lot in the second half because I was choosing to go for it to try to get back in the game, and then the turnovers were not ideal. Look, at some point you have to try to hold serve. We're down 9-0 and we're fighting, and we're down 16-0 and we're still fighting, and just kind of late the wheels came off. We wore down."

On the injuries to Josh Remetich and Jack Tchienchou:

"It was nothing major-major (for Remetich). It looked like maybe a sprained MCL. It wasn't stable enough to return. Fine, but not able to play and finish the game, and then Jack, his back was kind of locked up, a little muscle tightness on his low back. I thought he got the wind knocked out of him initially, but it was like a muscle strain. He'll be fine. Nothing serious."

On Ty Thompson's performance:

"Yeah, there were some balls that weren't quite where they needed to be from a location, targeting standpoint. He's probably like to have the fourth-down run back where we were short. He bounced it and probably should have kept it inside. There were some plays. Look, that's Ty's first career at-length game action where it was like every play. He'd been kind of a rotational piece for us this year, so playing at a high level down in and down out is hard when you haven't done it. There was some good there, but clearly there were some things we'd love to have back."

on flea flicker interception on first offensive play:

"You don't want to throw a pick on the first play. I'll be honest. Coach Craddock and myself, I'd talked with Joe several times like this can go really good or really bad on play 1. They doubled Dontae (Fleming), they climbed to Dontae, and Mario was probably open. We probably could have checked it down to Mario and gotten a positive play out of it. We wanted to call that play to send a message to our team that we were play the game aggressive. Everybody knew we had a new quarterback in the lineup that hadn't been the guy all year, and some of that was like just making sure the message to our team was we're not going to play timid. I don't think we did. We just wore down."

On how much retooling he has to do for next year:

"This day and age in college football you build a new team every year with the transfers and stuff. It's a challenge. It really is. We lose three starting offensive linemen, all three starting receivers.Quarterback is a big hole right now. We lose one of our starting tight ends out of the two guys that played predominantly, and then up front (defensively) we lose Pat Jenkins, Eric Hicks, Tyler Grubbs, both starting corners, Jalen Geiger. We won't have the same bandit next year (Caleb Ransaw), so like two-thirds of our starters are going to be gone. That's why I told the young guys they are on the clock. We've got to be very active. We fly back tonight and we have 10 guys showing up tomorrow morning for transfer visits. Look, I'll say this. We walked into a situation last year where I was here by myself for about a month before I brought my staff with me. At least we got other people working now so I'm sleeping at least a couple hours a night. We've got a lot of work to do. There's a lot of roster rebuilding to be done for us to have any opportunity to be successful."

On DJ Lagway:

"He's a very talented young player. I had the privilege of coaching against Anthony Richardson when I was at Kentucky when he was a freshman at Florida. Different players. This guy's probably more natural right now at that age at playing quarterback at a high level. He's got a huge arm. He runs it good. He doesn't necessarily want to be a run-first player, but he can beat you with his legs, too. On the one (interception by Adams), they ran a lot of mesh with the over-the-ball-route. We kind of had a bead on that coming in that situation and threw a coverage in there we felt like could match it up. We had worked the heck out of that. Our defensive staff had done a great job sort of dialing that in, but he's a really good player. He's got a bright future. He's an uber talented young man and seems like a great kid, too from all accounts and a really hard worker. A lot of respect to him."

Frankly, I was almost out of questions by the time I talked to Sumrall and a couple of players at the team hotel yesterday after getting access five times the previous week in New Orleans. Sumrall said he was not sure he could talk about the newcomers from the transfer portal, so he elected not to say anything about them.

By the way, I had thought about trying to talk to DJ Douglas, but I learned from my Florida beat writer friends that he had a terrible year, getting benched after a particularly awful performance against Texas A&M when he got beaten like a drum. He played a much smaller role the rest of the way, so I'm pretty certain he would not have been willing to talk even in the unlikely event the Florida football SID had agreed to make him available (trust me, it would have been a long shot anyway).

SUMRALL

On how the team has been treated by bowl:

"It's been a great event. The bowl's done a great job entertaining our guys. We got to practice at the Bucs' (facility) on Tuesday, which was a great experience for our team. I was talking our staff like how many teams in college football can say they practiced at three NFL practice facility this year. We practiced at the Saints when there was thunder and lightning, and we practiced at the Giants (upon arrival for the the AAC championship game at Army) and now the Bucs. It's been fun. We did a great team event yesterday trying to do some hurricane relief and recovery stuff, packing some meals for people. That was a fun event for our guys, and today we're getting ready to go the (MacDill) Air Force Base, and Monday we went to Busch Gardens. It's been a great reward for our players and a lot of fun."

On seniors who were part of cultural transformation:

"They've been an agent of change. He's not a senior, but (Michael) Pratt was at our practice yesterday and he talked a lot about that. Probably half of my conversations with Michael Pratt have been about that change to 2-10 to what happened the next year and what's gone on. I'm so proud of that group, the guys that have seen this thing all the way through. Like I always say, the first guy that comes to mind is Josh Remetich. He's kind of like the poster child of seeing it all, doing it all, being around it all, but really a lot of guys in that group that have given so much to this place and have left a legacy. They've got something they can be very proud of that they're leaving behind, the culture they've established."

On key to winning:

"The simplistic things of take care of the ball, don't turn it over. When we win the turnover battle this year, we haven't lost, and when we've lost it, we haven't won (actually, Tulane beat Temple while losing the turnover battle 2-0). That's a big one. We've got to tackle better in the run game in particular. Those backs are good. We can't give up shots. And then on offense we have to be able to function the right way. One nice thing is everybody wants to make a big deal about our quarterback situations, but everybody else is playing. All five linemen, the running backs, the tight ends and the receivers are playing. We don't have an opt-out. Show me many teams that have that. We have some guys that may not play because they are beat up, but not an opt-out. Everybody here is playing."

On Shaadie Clayton-Johnson entering portal:

"He's here. He was at practice today. It's probably similar to Ty (Thompson). It's not that there's no chance he could come back, but he wants to see what all the options are. He and I have had this conversation and we're good with that."

MICAH ROBINSON

On importance of winning:

"Honestly the last couple of games we haven't been playing up to our expectations, and coming in against the last opponent of the year we just want to send the seniors out the right way and just get back on track and win this game going into the offseason on a good note."

On how much he helped himself by playing well as starter coming from Furman:

"Just trusting myself and trusting God to get me to this point. I've known coach (Rob) Greene for the last five years, and he's been a big influence and a big part of how I've been playing as well as coach Gas and coach J.J. (McCleskey)."

On Tulane taking guys from smaller program and giving them an opportunity to excel:

"Usually it's just getting guys with good experience from winning programs to come to Tulane and continue the winning culture."

(I attended Florida interviews, too, since their team hotel was right across the street from Tulane's. I was the only one there for the Tulane interviews, but there were about eight reporters covering the Florida interviews)

I asked Billy Napier, who is much drier than Sumrall but very long-winded, about Sumrall saying he had watched film of Napier's ULL teams when he took the job at Troy to see how a championship team played and had modeled some of his ideas off of what he saw.

NAPIER

On Sumrall's comment:

"Jon's a good coach. They've got a formula that works for them, and look, it worked at Troy and then here they go, they're playing for the conference championship at Tulane. They are physical. They play good defense. They play good situational ball, are good on third down, good in the red zone. Yeah, Jon's a good coach. He's been around the block a little bit and will continue to get better in his second league, a little bit of a similar level but obviously two championships and played for one this year. I remember when I got to Louisiana, App State was on top to the mountain, and we studied their approach and kind of built our teams, the same thing we've done here. Georgia and Alabama were on top of the mountain and we've tried to build very similar teams. That's a good approach."

On special teams:

"We really took a step in the right direction, and I was proud of that. We did have a few hiccups here and there, but we are top three, four or five in about every national ranking, and if we don't have a kickoff return (against them) against Kentucky we might be No. 1 to be quite honest with you. To be No. 1 in any category is a good thing. We have a good group in there (coaching) and good specialists, so hopefully that can become part of our culture and DNA as a team."

(I asked defensive coordinator Ron Roberts about the difficulty preparing for an unknown quantity like Ty Thompson:

RON ROBERTS

On Thompson:

"The challenge is what are we really going to get? I don't know. I know he's big, physical, can run, is very athletic and has a big-time arm. He can make all the throws. Now I don't know if he's going to run or if it's going to be some part of the offense, but how much they do certain things will be totally (unknown) for us. There's going to be a first-quarter adjustment period of us trying to figure out, hey, what are they doing with this guy? We're going to have to play it by ear and make sure we adjust early."

Here we go. The final edition of 2024 pick 'em. Home teams are listed first for the playoff games. The favorite is listed first for the four bowl games.

Florida (-14) Tulane (Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa)
Notre Dame (-7.5) Indiana
Penn State (-8.5) SMU
Texas (-11.5) Clemson
Ohio State (-7.5) Tennessee
Oklahoma (-7.5) Navy (Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth)
Colorado (-3) BYU (Alamo Bowl in San Antonio)
LSU (-1) Baylor (Texas Bowl in Houston)

Former Florida Atlantic running back Zuberi Mobley chose Tulane out of the portal this week, and I caught up with him today to talk about his decision. He averaged 5.3 yards per carry on 92 attempts for the Owls this season, missing two games in November with a knee injury. With Shaadie Clayton-Johnson in the portal now andugMakhes' intentions unclear, Tulane needed some more depth at running back.

On why he chose Tulane:

"Obviously I had the visit I took, and it was an amazing staff and stuff like that. I liked the environment. It's just having a place that I could see as a home. That's what really made me choose Tulane in the first place."

On other schools considered:

"I had Toledo, I was looking at North Carolina, West Virginia, Western Kentucky."

On what Tulane coaches said about him:

"I could tell they did their research because the things they were saying about my running style, I agree with, so everything was pretty much on the same page between me and the coaches. Just me being able to bounce off contact. Of course there's a few things I've got to work on, but the stuff they did see was impressive watching on film."

On why he did not have more carries:

"Honestly I had a pretty decent year, a great year actually. What happened was my knee got swollen, and that's what made me not play some games in the second half. It wasn't a major injury, but it was something that held me back for a second."

On how much Tulane's run-first style is attractive:

"I love it. I was just telling the running backs coach how I love the offense so much because I felt like it just correlates to what I do. From going under center and different blocking schemes to make the run game better, that's something I thrive on, so I actually love that."

On if he will watch Gasparilla Bowl:

"Oh definitely. I'm tuned in for sure."

I talked to Mississippi State graduate transfer Ty Cooper, who had a career-high 29 tackles this season, on Tuesday after he signed with Tulane. He will not officially be in the fold until the start of the spring semester, but he will not change his mind.

On why he chose Tulane:

"Really it's the coaching staff. They are pretty good coaches, and I stopped by and watched one of the practices and liked how they did things. Everything was real organized, and there's a real good relationship between the coach and the players."

On his academic plans:

"I already graduated this past May. I'm looking into public health (as a graduate school concentration)."

On his best asset:

"I feel like I can pretty much do anything the coach needs me to do. I'm very versatile. This year I got more opportunities to get on the field and show that I can play."

On relationship with Sumrall:

"It was pretty good. I like the way he coaches. I like the way he is. He's very blunt. He's very straightforward and he shows a lot of great energy. He seemed like a pretty great guy."

On his role at Tulane:

"Bandit linebacker. I told them what I was looking for when I was in the portal. I told them I was looking to play ball and play freely and make plays. They said they liked my film and everything like that. I twent well."

On Tulane's winning as a factor:

"Tulane has a great coach right now and they've been winning for the last three years, and I see how coach Sumrall has been coaching from when he was at Troy and Tulane. I like that and feel like I can be a part of that tradition."

Every player I wondered about yesterday was either at practice today or, in two cases, are out with injuries. The injured players are offensive lineman Dominic Steward, a true freshman who worked with the first team some in spring drills but has been a backup all season.

Landry Cannon, Jean Claude Joseph, E'Zaiah Shine, Armani Cargo and Chase Green are on the scout team and wearing numbers of Florida players.

Tulane has had zero opt-outs for the bowl, so the only guys not playing are the ones who entered the transfer portal and did not stick around--Darian Mensah, Kai Horton, Trey Cornist, Josh Goines, Parker Petersen and Matthew Fobbs-White.

Rayshawn Pleasant returned to practice after missing a day with an unspecified injury.

Phat Watts and Javion White practiced today after missing yesterday's workout because they were new fathers. White made a nice play to break up a pass from the scout-team offense and was very noticeable today.

Kam Hamilton missed his second straight day with an ankle injury, but Sumrall said yesterday he would be ready for the bowl game.

This was the equivalent of a Tuesday practice, though somewhat shorter. Tomorrow will be like a Wednesday, with Saturday a walkthrough and Sunday a run-through before the team flies to Tampa on Monday.

I talked to Sumrall, Makhi Hughes and Eric HIcks today

SUMRALL

On Dominic Steward and Landry Cannon:

"He (Dominic)'s here. He had a little bit of a procedure done. Landry has been out with an injury for six weeks. Dom had a little wrist procedure. We planned it for after the championship game. He probably won't be available for the game."

On practice today:

"It was good. Solid. We're trying to figure out what can we do with who we have. We are going to have to play the game differently in some ways than we have all year in particular on offense, so we're just trying to figure out what works with who we have versus who we're playing."

On no opt-outs:

"They are all in. That says as much about the culture as anything. Mario Williams, Dontae Fleming, Yulkeith Brown--all playing. The three senior O-lineman--all playing. Tyler Grubbs, Eric Hicks, Pat Jenkins--all playing. All those guys--Johnathan Edwards, Micah Robinson--all playing. It says a lot about, while we may have had a defection or two--this team's close, and this time likes each other, they care about each other and there's a lot of pride in the group of seniors. So many of those guys, if they wanted to walk away, they would have already walked away. Pat Jenkins and Josh Remetich could have left, and they stayed. It says a lot about who they are and what they are about. It's a credit to them."

On seniors having changed legacy of program:

"I really looked to the guys who have been here for the long haul that went through 2-10 2021 and to see what theyve been able to accomplish the last three years is special and unique. It's about them. It's about the players. I say this to them all the time--good teams are coach led, great teams have to be player led. You don't do what's been done here without great player leadership, and these guys are a huge component of that."

On goal in bowl:

"It's a tough draw. We all know that. We're playing Florida in their backyard. They are playing like one of the top three or four SEC teams the last month of the year. Since (DJ) Lagway's been inserted and healthy, they are scary. They are really good, and it's a huge challenge. I just want our guys to prepare the best we can and go play the best game we can play and let the chips fall where they may and don't be outcome focused, be process focused and give ourselves an opportunity to put our best foot forward."

Tulane's two long-time starting seniors talked together last week with me about being huge contributors in a class that that truly was part of an epic turnaround in Tulane football, going 32-9 over the past three years after the program won more than seven games only once in the first 22 years of this century and twice in the 26 years before that.

REMETICH on how special it is to be part of that class:

"It's really special to have an effect on the program and an effect on the city. My freshman year was the COVID year. The following year there was nobody in the stands. We were 2-10, we were struggling, and then that next year was really something special, and then to kind of see the team come together, the team camaraderie, the coaches were believing. Whenever we have a player-led team, it's a great team. This city started coming together and we had a couple of sold-out games that year, which I never thought I'd see at Tulane to be honest with you. Being a part of that is something I hold dearly to my heart."

On if he ever could have envisioned going 32-9 in his last three years:

"No. From the past Tulane teams, that record was flipped. It was really something cool to be a part of."

On turning point:

"The real turning point was the leadership on our team with Nick Anderson and Dorian Williams and Michael Pratt, Tyjae Spears. They spoke about this stuff right after the season, and all the hard work we put into it, the strength staff we got stronger, we got bigger and the leadership really helped us get to where we are today."

On when they truly got the feeling in 2022:

"We had a player-led meeting right before fall camp, and it kind of set the tone for fall camp. In that first week of camp, I've never seen a team fly around the way we flew around. That just set the tone the rest of the year."

GREEN on the same topic:

"I think it was just big on the mentality we had at that time, being 1-0 so it wasn't even looking at the big goal and how the year would shape out. It was just focused on winning that day, so everybody cared week in and week out and the end result came. It was nice to see."

On if he envisioned making three straight title games when he arrived:

"No, but it is special to see where this place has gone. Just from getting here, the culture has changed. Walking on campus, we hear people talking about football. We hear little whispers and stuff. That wasn't always the case. You used to get a little eye roll when you walked past people as a player. It's nice to see people starting to respect the program and respect the hard work that me and these guys put in every day."

On favorite memory:

"Football wise, it was probably that last play when Kai (Horton) threw the touchdown to Tyjae (Spears) against Houston. That was a pivotal point for that whole season."

REMETICH on favorite memory:

"My favorite part was whatever the first conference championship we got into and won. It was just crazy to see everybody storm the field. I had people sending me videos from the stands storming the field, and one moment that really put stuff in perspective for me was there was this guy that came running on to the field and ran up to me, he was about 40-50 years old and just bawling his eyes out. He said I've been waiting 40 years for this, thank you so much. Just having that effect on people is something crazy and something to think about."

GREEN on that game:

"That day was so special, seeing the injury that was brought around. People coming up hugging and grabbing at your helmet, trying to tell you thank you for the season. It was just an amazing feeling, and to follow it up with the Cotton Bowl with confetti falling, it was a picture perfect ending."

On looking back at transforming culture down the road:

"My kids will hear stories about these guys. I feel like you can't forge it. Nothing about my experience, I don't know how to put it, but it's been great overall. Having that connection that we have even off the field is something that you can't fake."

REMETICH on same question:

"Really just the locker room connections and the friends that you made. People may complain about fall camp, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. Just being around the guys all the time and hanging out with them is something pretty special, and the bond you create during fall camp is unmatched."

GREEN on importance of beating Florida:

"Of course you try to go out with a bang always. It's a tough opponent, but I feel like we got it to get after them. If we do our assignments and get after it it will be a lot of fun for the last one."

REMETICH on same topic:

"The last two games have been an emotional roller coaster for us. This opponent that we're going against, the front seven is a great defense, the secondary is a great defense. Just being able to go down there and play against an SEC opponent is really something I don't take for granted. It's a great team, a great opportunity for us to prove a point."

It has not been released officially, but the Tulane baseball schedule was viewable on the Wave's athletic website today before disappearing in the last half-hour or so.

The non-conference schedule is weak. Tulane plays four home weekend non-conference series, one series at Pepperdine and 14 midweek games--three against UNO and Nichols, two against Southeastern and USM and one apiece against Northwestern State, Jackson State, Long Beach State and Lamar (the Long Beach State game is on the road as well as one game against Nicholls and Southeastern and UNO. Both USM games were listed as on the road, but I expect that was a mistake.

Here are the records and/or RPI rankings in 2024 of the non-conference opponents.

Omaha 18-32-1, 2nd Summit, 290

Loyola Marymount, 24-30, T6 West Coast, 219

Pepperdine 15-38, T6 West Coast, 272

North Dakota State 19-30-1, 3rd Summit, 241

Xavier 30-27, 4th Big East, 44

3 UNO 126

3 Nicholls 69

2 SLU 147

2 USM 27

1 Long Beach State 186

1 Northwestern State 189

1 Jackson State 237

1 Lamar 63

Now lets be honest with ourselves...certainly I would love a win. But we are going into a game vs a more talented opponent without our starting QB and minus probably our best edge rusher and a piece of our dline rotation. I'm looking for us to compete, see if we can hold up on the lines and perhaps have a chance to win it in the end. I'm not gonna lie, if I were a betting man (I never bet on Tulane games) I would not bet on us to win. I want to see Ty Thompson play well, we need to tackle REALLY WELL and can we create some space for Makhi.

Tulane had its bowl media yesterday after practice, and Sumall talked for more than 17 minutes. Here's the transcript:

On Florida having 19 sacks in its past three games:

"They are big, they are athletic, they are multiple with what they do. We've got our work cut out for us. They are really freaking good, I mean really good. There are a couple of guys that stick out that look like pro players and there are a couple of other guys that look like all-conference SEC players, and there's a couple more guys that stick out. They are really good. We need to not get behind the chains, maybe take our chance to throw off schedule, first down. If you get in a third-and-extra long, they are freaking good."

On DJ Lagway not having spectacular numbers but playing in OT loss to Tennessee, starting in wins over LSU and Ole Miss, having 10-3 lead vs. Georgia when got hurt:

"He's super talented. He has a huge arm. There's not a throw he can't make. He's a great runner. I've been really impressed with his poise for such a young player. He's made their team different, and the team results they've had with him inserted as a starter speaks for himself. With him at starting quarterback, they've looked like a playoff team. That's what it is. We're getting ready to play a playoff team. If he had been their starter the whole year, we might have been talking about that. This is a very challenging group we're going to be playing. I watched the tape and it was like all right, let's go, let's get ready, buckle up. You are going to play big-boy football here. This group's off the charts, really good."

On Billy Napier emphasis on run and New Orleans native running back Montrell Johnson, a De La Salle product who followed Napier to Florida from ULL:

"He's talented. He's physical. He runs hard. They are committed to running the ball. They've played the game probably really similar to us. When I watched the tape, it looks a lot like us at times. It looks a lot like Louisiana-Lafayette, who we played earlier this year. They are really good with committing to the run and then taking the play-action shots off the run. What makes them unique is they've got a couple of good backs and the quarterback runs good, but they want to run the ball. They want to mash you a little bit, and they've been able to do it. They are really good."

On his relationship with Napier:

"I've never worked with Billy. Know him. Ton of respect for him. When I got to Troy, he had just left Louisiana-Lafayette and he had dominated that league. When I took the job at Troy in December of 2021, I studied what did Louisiana-Lafayette do in this league, and we kind of emulated some of it. I have a ridiculous amount of respect for him. He's a phenomenal coach and clearly a great leader. They were in a high-pressure situation with everybody thinking this, that and a third about the status of their team this year, and what they've done the last month speaks volumes about what type of leader he is and what type of coach he is and what type of man he is. I've got a lot of respect for him. Frankly I've studied, when I became a head coach, what they did at Louisiana-Lafayette. I tried to go, OK, how'd that work? It worked pretty well for them. I'm really happy he's still the head coach there. This day and age everybody wants to pull the plug on something just because it's not going good in year 2 or year 3, whatever. What he's done is really recruited at a high level, just tried to change maybe how they played the game, and he's got a real good plan. He's a program-building guy. I have a lot of respect for Billy. A lot."

On if Patrick Durkin will be the placekicker for bowl:

"I think he is. The missed kicks had zero to do with him. I hate it because everybody just, like I have a family (member) who was what's wrong with the kicker. Did you watch the damn game? The first hold, the ball wasn't down to kick. And the second one was delayed down to kick. You could be Lou Groza and it doesn't matter if the ball's not there to kick. Yeah, he's going to kick. He's earned it in practice. He's earned it in games. The two opportunities he missed last game had zero to do with the kicker. I'm not saying he's going to make the rest of them for the history of his career, but those two, I'm not going to bench a guy because we didn't get the operation right. That would be like the guard missing a block and the quarterback getting sacked because the guard missed the block. Why would you do that? It's the guard's fault, not the quarterback's fault. I hate it because it's a pressure situation and all that and high attention, but it had zero to do with the kick. He'll probably be the first guy out."

On what he wants to see from Ty Thompson:

"Ty's developed mentally a ton. He's really a smart kid already. Even though he didn't win the job in August, he's invested the time and preparation watching film, meeting with coach Craddock like a starter. You walk by the staff room and Ty is in there all the time by himself watching tape on the computer in there. I kid around it's his office. The staff room has become his office. He's very passionate about his craft. He's going to play really hard with energy and emotion. I'm excited about watching him play. I genuinely am excited about watching him play. Hats off to him for the way he's responded to what his role was this year. He's earned my respect just because of how he carries himself as a man. It's got nothing to do with what he's done between the white lines. It's who he is as a person, who he is as a human. I can't wait to watch him get his opportunity."

On how players have responded to Mensah's departure:

"Good. We say that to everything that happens around here. Good. If something bad happens, we say good. If something good happens, we say good. The guys' response has been good. We've got no control over it. I'm not going to worry about it."

On if they have to be careful how they use him with no significant backup:

"We'll play the game. It's the last game of the year. He will run the normal offense. When he's come in the game this year it's been run, run, run, maybe a pass. It's probably going to be a handoff, a handoff, a pass, maybe a run with him, maybe a pass, maybe a handoff. Will he maybe run it more than we have this year at quarterback? Yeah, that's a little bit more of what his game is, but we're not going to switch to triple option. He'll carry the ball a few times. He'll probably hand off more than he carries and he'll throw it probably more than he carries it, but some of that's going to be flow of the game, down and distance. We're going to play the game somewhat conventionally but catered to what he does well. His throws are going to look a little bit different. He's got a huge arm, like you better defend 50 yards down the field because he can throw it further than we've throw it all year. He has got a rocket-launch arm. If we have to put another guy in the game, we'll put another guy in the game. We're not exactly the deepest in the country right now. We may have to get coach Craddock loose."

MORE TO COME

After a dreadful year, I got every game right except for the one that mattered. It's almost as if being home and watching football the weekend of Thanksgiving made a difference the following week after seeing only bits and pieces the rest of the season while covering Tulane.

Winwave continues to be comfortably in front with only the bowl pick 'em left.

7

Guerry

5

charlamange8
LSU Law Greenie
p8kpev
paliii
winwave
WaveON
Wavetime

4

diverdo
tacklethemanwiththefootball

3

chigoyboy
DrBox

2

MNAlum

1

roll wave


OVERALL STANDINGS

72

winwave

67

tacklethemanwiththefootball

66

charlamange8 (missed 1 week)

64

roll wave
Wavetime

62

Guerry

61

MNAlum

60

paliii
chigoyboy


59

GretnaGreen (missed 1 week)
diverdo
DrBox

58

LSU Law Greenie (missed 1 week)

55

WaveON (missed 1 week)

53

p8kpev


GAME-BY-GAME RESULTS

Army over Tulane 0 of 14
Jacksonville State over Western Kentucky 11
Boise State over UNLV 11
Arizona State over Iowa State 12
Georgia over Texas 7
Marshall over ULL 3
Clemson over SMU 5
Oregon over Penn State 10

It's been a whirlwind week for me. Obviously the Tulane stuff, but also we just sold my mother's house and went to closing on it this morning after a couple of delays more than 16 months after her passing. Thank goodness that is over.

Anyway, here are some thoughts about Sumrall, Darian Mensah and other topics.

1) Mensah is gone. He, or more specifically, his agents blindsided Sumrall, who had just praised him in Sunday's bowl press conference when they learned he had entered the portal. There will be no change of heart on either side, and Tulane will get its starting quarterback from the portal. Mensah had an excellent year as a redshirt freshman but still has some growing to do. That process will take place somewhere else.

2) I expect Ty Thompson to stick around for the Gasparilla Bowl and then enter the transfer portal. Playing in the game could be a win-win for him and the team. He still never has started a game in his career, and if he plays well against the surging Gators, he will increase his portal profile immensely. I do not have it confirmed that he plans to enter the portal, but it appears pretty clear that Tulane's coaches do not consider him clear starter material. If he decides to leave before the bowl, Tulane will get clobbered. Kellen Tasby is not ready. His only action came in mop-up duty against Temple, and he was yanked for not executing the couple of plays he ran properly. Obviously he would be better prepared with real reps before the bowl rather than scout-team reps, but no one want to see him going against Florida.

3) Parker Petersen, who has a surprisingly good year, is going to get a good payday at a specific P4 school. He is leaving on good terms with the coaches, but Tulane cannot match what he is going to receive monetarily. I was surprised by his decision to enter the portal until I learned the reason.

4) I think Sumrall strongly considered the North Carolina job, but the Tar Heels clearly have a divide in their search among Belichick believers and anti-Belichick believers, making that whole situations dicey. It reminds me of Georgia Tech two years ago when the AD wanted Fritz but a lot of the other people wanted to keep Brent Key. Sumrall truly likes being at Tulane, and I think he made the right decision to stay. He can make the playoff at Tulane easier than he can at North Carolina in the next two years and will do everything in his power to make it happen. If he had left, he would have been Tulane's first one-year coach since Myron Fuller in 1921. Sumrall is better off in my opinion at Tulane than North Carolina. I also think he learned he needs to keep his players informed of his thinking. He mentioned Monday how he did that at Troy and the team played much better at the end of the year than Tulane did, when it saved its biggest stinker of the season for Army. There were plenty of factors at play, but you can't discount the thought that some players were unfocused because of the coaching uncertainty. The false starts on offense, aside from the one on Vincent Murphy for moving the ball again, were unusual, and the defense did not play with the necessary ferocity against a physical team like Army. Tulane's defense was in a world of hurt all night, but the Wave could have stayed in the game without the mistakes on offense because Army was not doing much stopping itself. The first drive had four successful plays in a row before Yulkeith Brown jumped early. Then there was Murphy's mistake, Mensah's underthow that was picked off and Josh Remetich's personal foul that sidetracked another drive. The other two possessions ended in TDs.

5) Even though Sumrall, Mensah and Sam Howard denied it, the cold weather was a factor. Warm-weather teams have insisted forever that they will not be affected by cold conditions, but they usually are. So was Tulane.

6) Tulane was utterly dominant against vastly inferior competition this year (with the exception of Rice) and played its best game of the year against Navy, which is not as good as the Wave but was not expected to get shut out 35-0 either. But there's no disputing Tulane played very poorly against three of the four best teams it faced. Oklahoma's offense, bereft of healthy wideouts and with a weak offensive line, looked pretty good against Tulane and had a hard time duplicating that performance against anyone else. Memphis did pretty much whatever it wanted offensively, and so did Army. Tulane played well against Kansas State, but the Wildcats were average in Big 12 play and not as good as they were projected to be. Beating UL in the sauna that was Cajun Field after back-to-back losses was good, but neither team played particularly well in my eyes on that day. I agree with Sumrall that there never is a need to apologize for a nine-win season that ends in the conference championship game, but Tulane did not reach its potential against the better teams on the schedule. The coaches need to figure out why.

7) I underestimated Mario Williams. He had a few too many drops, but he was not the prima donna a lot of people might have expected him to be after playing at Oklahoma and USC. He blocked downfield well and worked his butt off all year, becoming one of Sumrall's favorite players. He was a little squirrelly with the media, ducking out of multiple interview requests in the second half of the season, but he was all in for the team and was Tulane's MVP against Army, playing like a champion. Not many of his teammates joined him. He is from Tampa, so it will be interesting to see if he plays in the bowl game.

8) I do not know what Makhi Hughes will decide to do--go pro, transfer or stay. I just don't, so we'll leave it at that for the moment. He loves Tulane, though, and is not someone who likes change. A 1-2 punch of him and Jamauri McClure next year would be really good.

9) I will arrive in Florida for the bowl game on Tuesday night and be there the rest of the week. Assuming Thompson plays, it will be fun covering Tulane versus my alma matter and the program I covered for 17 years, never missing a game from 1991 through 2007. I still have one close friend who covers the Gators, but I pay almost no attention to that team during the year anymore. I burned some bridges covering them for as long as I did and quite frankly had a mixed reaction to the school and Gainesville itself in the four-and-a-half years it took to graduate from 1986-87 until the fall of 1990. I definitely prefer living in New Orleans, so thanks to my wife, a fellow native, for giving me a reason to come back in January of 2008.

Tulane began practicing for the Gasparilla Bowl against Florida with a one-hour session on Wednesday morning at Yulman Stadium, and I was there for the whole thing to see what players were still around. The big news is Mario Williams will play in his hometown of Tampa rather than opting out, giving Tulane a marquee receiving option. I don't know what his draft status will be--hands were an issue at times and he does not make many contested catches--but these days I just assume guys with a possible NFL future will skip bowl games. Williams is coming off the best game of his season against Army and will try to add on to it with Ty Thompson as his quarterback.

Here is what I saw at each position:

Quarterback

Ty Thompson, Kellen Tasby and walk-ons Dagan Bruno and Jaxson Judge are the four quarterbacks. Thompson will get a chance to start for the first time in his four-year college career.

Running back

Makhi Hughes, Shaadie Clayton-Johnson, Arnold Barnes and Jamauri McClure practiced today. That does not mean all of them will stay on the team--Sumrall said he is willing for guys who intent to transfer to play in the bowl game as long as they prove they are focused on the here and now and not their future--but it bodes well. Hughes, of course, also could decide to apply for the draft after the game. Clayton-Johnson is out of eligibility.

Tight end

Alex Bauman, Reggie Brown and Anthony Miller practiced. Josh Goines has entered the portal. I did not see Blake Gunter.

Wide receiver

Dontae Fleming, Williams, Yulkeith Brown, Shazz Preston, Sidney Mbanasor, Zycarl Lewis, Shaun Nicholas and Bryce Bohanon practiced. Phat Watts was not there, but Sumrall said he was excused because he just became a father and he will be available for the bowl.

Offensive line

Shadre Hurst, Vincent Murphy, Rashad Green, Derrick Graham,, Josh Remetich and Caleb Thomas practiced along with Tristan Fortenberry, Gabe Fortson, Elijah Baker, Reese Baker and Jayce Mitchell. I did not see Dominic Steward, Landry Cannon or Darion Reed and will check on them again tomorrow.

Defensive tackle

Patrick Jenkins, Terrell Allen, Elijah Champaigne, Eric Hicks and Adonis Friloux practiced. Parker Petersen entered the portal and is gone.

Defensive end/bandit

Adin Huntington, DeShaun Batiste. Gerrod Henderson, Javon Carter and Shi'Keem Laister practiced. Kam Hamilton is out with a leg injury, but Sumrall said he would be fine for the game. Matthew Fobbs-White is gone. Michael Lunz, Jah'Rie Garner and Geordan Guidry are hurt.

Linebacker

Tyler Grubbs, Sam Howard, Chris Rodgers, Dickson Agu, Mandel Eugene and Makai Williams practiced. I did not see Jean Claude Joseph. Jesus Machado did not practice and I can't imagine any reason for him to try to play in the game.

Nickeback

Caleb Ransaw and Jayden Lewis practiced. I did not see Javion White but was told he also just became a father, thought I did not get it confirmed by Sumrall.

Cornerback

Micah Robinson, Johnathan Edwards, Lu Tillery, Jaheim Johnson and Rishi Rattan practiced. Rayshawn Pleasant is injured and did rehab work in the stands with something that happened in the AAC title game that he did not realize was a problem until later. Sumrall expects him to be ready for the game, too. I did not see Armani Cargo or E'Zaiah Shine.

Safety

Jalen Geiger, Bailey Despanie, Kevin Adams, Jack Tchienchou and Joshua Moore practiced. I did not see Chase Green.

Special teams

Everyone was there, including Ethan Head, who has entered the transfer portal.

Sumrall, Mario Williams and Ty Thompson talked to me after practice. I will get their interviews up later.

SUMRALL

"I'm excited about the bowl opportunity. Look forward to playing a really good Florida team. They've got a three-game win streak, SEC team, and a great location to play in Tampa. It should be exciting for our guys. Really frustrated with maybe the way things ended the last couple of games, but we get an opportunity to go play a good team in a great environment and look forward to it. Great reward for our guys for a good season. A nine-win season, not going to apologize for that. Would we have liked to have gotten more? Yes. For sure. We'd like to win a conference championship and didn't do it, came short, but love the group we have, proud of the group we have, grateful for everything they've done and excited about getting to play a game here in a couple of weeks."

On eager to get bad taste out of their mouth:

"The guys will take two days off. I say off, but they'll lift tomorrow and Tuesday and then we'll kind of get into a few practices middle of the week through the weekend, have a travel day, and you're always ready to go play. If you haven't won, you want to go play as fast as you can. You're ready to play."

On liking early bowl date:

"Yeah I do. If you ask me, it's kind of like we have a bye week and then we play two weeks after our last game. It's like a bye week sort of. We''ll get a touch ahead because at the bowl site we'll practice, but we're not going to go for two hours. I like to make it a reward, not punishment, so we'll practice down there and sort of use this week as a game week so down there we're a little ahead, but I would much prefer the Dec. 20 date. I think it's an outstanding date. I'm really excited about it. Other than my fifth-grade daughter. She was complaining and said I'm going to opt out of the bowl game because I have a function at school that day. I don't know about any players, but she's opting out."

On if players are excited:

"I think the majority are excited about going and playing. We just had our team meeting and had not met until today to talk through the schedule through the week. I can't speak for each guy. This world we live in now of transfer portal, opting out, all that's new. You can be crotchety and old and complain about why times have changed or you can get with the times. I try to see each guy with their terms and where they are. If a guy is chasing greener pastures and they don't want to be here, then I'm not going to make them be here, but I'd love for as many guys that can play to play. It's going to be a hell of a challenge because it's a really good team."

On Florida:

"They've got great players. Billy (Napier)'s done a great job there. The last few weeks you watch them play, you can kind of see the momentum they've created. The quarterback (DJ Lagway) has positively affected their team. He's really talented. I just watched a little bit of tape for like 20 minutes before coming down here. I was sitting in coach (Greg) Gasparato's office and they are really good, so we have our hands full. It's not going to be an easy task."

On chance to make a statement against SEC team:

"It definitely gets your attention really easily. You are playing a brand like Florida, an SEC team, a team that's a traditional power. Having coached in that league, that's one of the teams that you're always like, man, they're usually pretty good, just talent-wise and well coached. I think it helps at least. You better be prepared because they are really good."

On Napier:

"What we played earlier this year against Louisiana-Lafayette is very similar schematically. They are really disciplined, detailed, they run the ball well, they take great shots off of play-action stuff. He does a great job offensively of catering the offense around who the quarterback is. When he was at Louisiana-Lafayette, he had Levi Lewis and did some good things to cater to him. He has a good knack of catering to the quarterback. Defensively they are really well coached. Rod Roberts and Austin Armstrong on that side of the ball I've known for a long time and have a ton of respect for, and they have dudes. You turn the tape on and it's OK, this is an SEC team. This is what it looks like, so they are impressive."

On winning for seniors:

"When you get to this part of the year, the guys that have given themselves to the team, you want them to have positive experiences."

On his coaching status:

"Are you asking this question because I don't have a Tulane logo on. I went to church today. I don't wear team-issued gear to church. I don't like going to church in Tulane here. Am I here? My goodness. Do you want me to leave? I get asked about it every day right now. I know we lost two games and everybody wants to run me out of town, but I’m here. I showed up to work today.”

On if he interviewed with North Carolina:

“I’m not going to comment about hypotheticals. I’m trying to figure out how we can win a game. Look, people call. They call my agent. I don’t talk to them very often. Very little gets to me. Very little. Like almost nothing gets to me. I'm like I'm not talking, I'm not talking, I'm not talking. When it gets to me, it’s usually because I’m like this is something that can be really something I need to consider. Nothing’s getting to me right now. You can say that. Nothing's getting to me. Could that change? I don’t know. If some newspaper tripled your salary, you might go. I’m very happy. Other than we’ve lost the last two games—I’m pissed off about that, and everybody probably wants me to leave because we’ve lost twice. I don't know. My kids are mad at me. I want to win a game for these guys.

"I am happy. I will say this. The administration here and I have had great dialog about things we can do to try to continue to improve where we're going. I love this city. I love this place. I love everything about being here. Are there things I want to do to continue to see how we can get better as a program? Hell, yeah. Because I feel like I’m getting chased and I feel like some people we’re trying to chase and catch up to, and I don’t like being behind. I want to be ahead. There are some things that we have to improve. We’ll work on it. I believe that. Is it all there? Is it all done? I believe we’re working on it, but no, there hasn’t been a whole lot getting to me. I’ve kept everything pretty arms’ length.”

On if he is flattered when name comes up for other jobs:

"Y'all are going to kill me with these questions. I'm going to throw something. I don't get flattered by it. Any attention that the head coach usually gets is because he has a great staff and great players. When things are going good, everybody speculates about where you should go next, and when things are not going good, they try to figure out how can they get you out. I’d much rather them be figuring out, like, man it’s going really good, what should happen next? The last two weeks haven’t gone very well. I’m pissed off about it. I haven't spent a lot of attention on it. I don’t get flattered by any of it. It’s not my focus. My attention is how can I serve and develop our players. I wake up every day and think about how can I serve our players? I'm getting emotional now, it's about how can I develop our players? That’s it. I don’t like all the stuff, and I will say this--If it’s been a distraction for our team, I hate it. I hate it, because it hasn’t been for me. It has distracted me zero because my name gets thrown on Twitter or X or whatever it’s called now, and I don’t look at any of that. I don’t read any of that. I’m sure our players do. I didn’t address any of the stuff. I did address it one year at Troy and I’m like, we finished the season better (at Troy) than we finished it here, and I’m like, maybe I should have addressed it (with Tulane’s players). I didn’t want to make it a deal. It hadn’t been on my mind, so that's that."

Saw where Mensah entered.

Any thoughts? Anyone know of any other players entering?