He's a LB from Texas:

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USC and UCLA are apparently joining the Big 10! Stay tuned for more news...this will reach EVERY conference.

I posted this on the front page as well as free content and tweeted it to see if I could attract subscriptions. I added the Jha'Quan Jackson quotes here.

Shoulder pads were on for the first time on day three of Tulane’s preseason camp, and the intensity increased as a result. In fact, the intensity ratcheted up too much, with normally mild-mannered safety Larry Brooks going ballistic on the sideline after watching a dropped pass in a 7-on-7 drill. Actually, I’m not totally sure exactly what he was upset about, but he went on an extended verbal tirade that prompted Willie Fritz to give him a stern, face-to-face lecture. Fritz is no fan of players getting out of control.

A little later, Tyjae Spears reacted angrily when he was thrown to the ground on a run in 11-on-11 (they were in shoulder pads and shorts with no tackling allowed). He got up and threw the ball at the facemask of the player who shoved him (I’m not sure who it was because he was wearing the numberless jerseys defensive coordinator Chris Hampton gives to the first-team guys and the play was on the other side of the field), precipitating a couple of skirmishes among different players that had to be broken up.

Fritz called everyone to the middle of the field and told them they had to learn how to handle practice, and there were no more incidents. It is not something Fritz tolerates and he wanted to make sure everyone knew it.

“Sometimes our guys watch a lot of TV and they see all that going on,” Fritz said. “They (the officials) call that stuff. You get kicked out of the game in college football. If we had choreographed celebrations and they allowed it, I’d let our guys do it. I’d be fine with it, but they don’t allow us to do it. It’s a penalty and you’re hurting the team. Now you’re being selfish, so we had to waste some time today. Guys have to understand what a competitor is. We’ll get that cleaned up.”

My biggest takeaway from the first three days is the significant improvement of the wide receivers. I’ve seen good things from all nine scholarship receivers—Jha’Quan Jackson, the Watts twins, Dea Dea McDougle, Lawrence Keys, Shae Wyatt, Bryce Bohanon and freshmen Chris Brazzell and Jalen Rogers. Jackson looks close to where he was before he suffered a knee injury in preseason camp a year ago, which was a major factor in his disappointing season.

Duece and Phat Watts are not dropping passes, a huge issue for both of them and particular Phat in the past. McDougle is an all-around playmaker who has made an impression each day. Keys, who looked sluggish in the spring, is making plays, too. Wyatt, the Wave’s most productive receiver in 2021, is his same reliable self and clearly has the confidence of Michael Pratt, who loves to throw to him. Bohanon is building on a pretty good spring. Brazzell is a big target who can grab the ball in traffic. Rogers, though still raw, is the fastest player on the team and has gotten open deep several times.

These guys have to prove it in games, but a year after being one of the worst collective receiving groups in the FBS, they look good under new receivers coach John McMenamin, who was the offensive coordinator at Central Missouri for new Tulane OC Jim Svoboda before becoming a D2 head coach at Wayne State the past two years. They definitely are catching more deep balls than any Tulane crew since Fritz’s arrival.

In 1 on 1 drills today, Bohanon made a sweet move to get open downfield and dove to catch a pass. That single play was as good as anything I saw from anyone in the 12 games last year, and he is not even guaranteed a spot in the rotation. Duece Watts then beat cornerback T.J. Huggins for a long touchdown, Jackson had a nice catch and Keys caught one over the middle.

In 7 on 7 drills, Wyatt caught a bullet from Michael Pratt in traffic, juggling it briefly before corralling it. McDougle caught a deep ball from Kai Horton and another one over the middle from Horton. Phat Watts made a nice adjustment on a slightly underthrown deep ball from Justin Ibieta, turning around and facing Ibieta as he brought it in. The only drops in either 1 on 1 or 7 on 7—these came in bushels last year and this spring—were by Brazzell and tight end Reggie Brown. Horton underthrew Keys on a deep ball, and Pratt underthrew Wyatt on another deep throw when he had him open.

For the most part, though, the quarterbacks were on the money, which will be huge if Tulane is to have a breakthrough season. In Fritz’s six years, his primary quarterback never has completed 60 percent of his passes, with Justin McMillan’s 58.3 percent in 2019 the high water mark. Last year, 78 of the 110 qualifying FBS quarterbacks completed at least 60 percent and 90 of them beat McMillan’s rate from 2019.

Fritz knows those numbers need to change.

“For us to throw the ball better, we have to do a better job of catching the ball consistently and we have to be accurate throwing. We’re not keeping track of completions. We’re keeping track of something else. We call it a 1, where you kept the guy in movement where he’s wanting to go. That’s the most accurate. 2 is a zero if he catches a ball but it was off target slightly. And 3 is a minus-1 which means it’s just a horrible throw and there was no way the guy could have caught it. We’re looking at that more. Michael’s doing a better job and Justin’s doing a better job of keeping the guy a runner. If he’s going that way, he hits him and he keeps going that way. But the other part of it is pass protection. I was really proud of Cam Carroll when he stepped up and got right in the middle of a blitzing linebacker today. It’s the offensive line, it’s the running backs, it’s the tight ends and every once in a while a receiver blocks a pass pro, not very often. If we do that, we are going to be a lot better throwing team.”

In the 11 on 11 work, Ashaad Clayton and freshman Makhi Hughes had nice runs. Freshman tight end Blake Gunter, who has been impressive as a receiver early, caught a pass from Pratt for a sizable gain, and Jackson scored on a misdirection play.

Sincere Haynesworth did not practice today but appears not to be hurt. He watched the workout with no shirt on and was constantly motivating his teammates. I interviewed him after practice yesterday, and he was fine. Caleb Thomas missed his third consecutive day, but Fritz said yesterday he expects him back next week after getting banged up near the end of summer workouts.

Levi Williams, who struggled to get on the field at cornerback in his first three years, has moved to running back. With the departure of Ygenio Booker in the offseason, Williams gives the Wave a sixth scholarship player at the position behind Spears, Carroll, Clayton, Iverson Celestine and Hughes.

The auxiliary, outdoor press box that was supposed to be used for the Oklahoma game last year finally was being taken down during practice today. Since that game was moved to Norman because of Ida, it never got used.

I was there for all but the first 30 minutes of practice today and will provide a full update later. Here are the quotes first:

FRITZ

On practice:

"I think it went well, but (I won't know) until I look at the film. Sometimes you watch practice and two or three plays were poor and you're upset and you watch the video and it was a real good practice. Other times you think, man our guys are doing well and you're in a good mood and you think it was a hell of a practice, and it stunk. We'll watch and see, but I thought we did better understanding how to practice. Most teams make their biggest improvement between game 1 and 2. It's the same thing with practices. We went over the things we were doing incorrectly in terms of just structure of practice, how we compete on plays and stuff like that and the guys did a much better job of it."

On receivers, who combined for six consecutive touchdowns in a seven-on-seven red zone drill:

"I feel real good. We haven't played a game yet, but we have some good depth, the guys are catching the ball well. That's been really good. We've got some additions that have contributed big time for us. I think we're doing a nice job. In seven-on-seven we should complete them. The pass rushers on the other end of the field, so they ought to be pretty good. We've got incredible protection during seven on seven." He's

On Dea Dea McDougle:

"Good. He's done a nice job. He did a nice job during summer football school. Lawrence Keys had a great day today. The big thing with all of them is consistency day after day after day. They probably don't use it when I use this guy as an example, but (Darnell) Mooney never had a bad day. Attitude wise, performance wise, if he made a bad play he moved on to the next one and if he made a great play he moved on to the next one. We want to see guys stockpile great practices day after day after day."

On freshman Jalen Rogers speed:

"His nickname is speedy, number one, so he's fast. He came to our camp two summers ago and he ran a legit 4.3. I don't time very many guys at 4.3. He's got tremendous speed. There are some things he can do. The big deal for him is just the complexity of college ball compared to high school, but he's learning."

On Caleb Thomas not practicing:

"He got a little banged up toward the end of football school, so we're just kind of making sure he's ready to go. We're only allowed to have 110 guys that dress. We feel like he'll be practicing next week."

EMAN NAGHAVI

On depth of offensive line:

"Oh, it's big time. When you can roll out there and have three serviceable groups anywhere. Doesn't matter where you are. The depth is probably one of the most attractive things right now because we can roll guys and we have a lot of guys that are trying to find their spots. We have a few guys that are bonafide starters, but we are trying to build depth and find as many guys we can that we feel good about playing in the games."

On Kanan Ray:

"He's doing really well. He was a go-getter from the get go. He learned the offense before he got here. His work ethic is above a lot of people's. I wouldn't worry about who's starting and who's not because right now I tell them basically there is no first, second, third group. We're just trying to get reps. We're trying to see who can be the most consistent, who can stack the best days and then when we get pads on, that will separate the big boys from the little boys."

On what he likes best about Sincere Haynesworth:

"His leadership. He's probably one of the best leaders I've ever been around. Along with him and Joey Claybrook, they manage the room. His strength is his leadership role, and then he's a heck of a player on top of that and even a better human. He's the total package when it comes to being a Tulane man."

On Joey Claybrook:

"I've seen a lot of film from last year, and he looks like a totally different player. He has spent a lot of time in the offseason changing his body with nutrition, flexibility and it shows. You put on the film and he's like a whole different player. He's so dedicated, he is going to make sure he has a better year than he did last year. From what we've been going so far, knock on wood, he's been doing it."

On Prince Pines weighing 350-plus pounds:

"Prince is a big human. Obviously for him it's more so getting in shape. We didn't give him a number per say, but the more and more he gets reps, the better he feels and the longer he can go. We're trying to build up as much stamina as we can, but when he is in there, he is a big body and he can move people."

On competition across the board:

"The competition's great everywhere. There is no 1s and 2s and 3s. Even the older guys have to be on notice, and it's good for the older guys because we want them to play their best ball their senior year. When you get talented young guys in there and talented guys from the outside, it really starts pushing them a little bit and does really good things. It's going to make us far better competitively and as an O-line."

SINCERE HAYNESWORTH

On his confidence about the O-line:

"I feel really good, especially after today's practice. Each and every day we show up and all 17 guys, we show we're rally prepared mentally to attack every day and know we have to beat yesterday. We have to beat ourselves from yesterday. It's always going to be us versus us. If we practice like we have to beat ourselves and that's it, there's no one that can beat us."

On his leadership:

"I try to lead by example, but also with my voice. I like the mindset of if anything goes wrong, just point it to me because it puts things in my control. If we don't look good on the field, we can blame it on leadership, and that lets me know I need to pick it up. That means I'm not doing my best to assure everybody along to set myself in front of everybody and be a leader for everybody to follow behind. It's very important to have multiple leaders and not just one, so each position group we've got a leader, so that's something really great that we've done this past offseason."

On key to season up front:

"Mentality. It's just mentality. Last year we were the worst red zone team in the nation. There were a lot of things last year that just wasn't us. Now more than ever, we've got that mentality of knowing. There's not a single person you can put in front of us that we won't handle. That's the biggest part of this new culture that we've built, especially as an offensive line. There's no one you can put in front of us that we can't block."

On what he likes about Kanan Ray:

"Effort and passion. He's great and gives so much effort all the time. He came in here willing to work and knowing that he was joining a close group, he didn't let it scare him off and he's taking care of business."

JOEY CLAYBROOK

On body changing:

"I focused on getting bigger, faster and stronger like we always do every offseason. Really coach Hester came in and instilled a culture and a mindset in us. We took it personally each of us to make sure that last year never happens again. Changing our body was easy."

On how good O-line can be:

"As good as we want to be. This is the closest group I've ever been around, and that means a lot in the O-line room. Five guys have to be on the same page every single play. We hang out together outside of the room. We are holding each other accountable every day. That's the first step. We've got talent. Everybody knows we've got talent, so it's really up to us to be as good as we want to be."

On what they can accomplish:

"We are going to win the conference and be the best O-line in the American Conference."

On depth:

"People talk about depth giving guys breathers and this and that and making it easier for other guys, but really for this time of year it's competition. People don't talk about that enough. You've got to play your best every single down or somebody's going to take your spot. That means a lot. That makes you better."

On Kanan Ray:

"He works his tail off. Like Sincere said, he knew he was coming into a tight group of guys and he fit in perfectly. He's a great dude and he works hard every single day. Just that gives you a shot to play. He really bought in this summer and as you can see it's really paid off for him."

On Rashad Green being better after starting at right tackle for a year:

"So much better. Getting any playing time under your belt, that's something you can't coach or watch film on. It's a mind thing, so it's helped him out a lot and he's going to do great this year."

I made a rookie mistake in my 12th year of running this site and did not read the practice time for today, assuming it would start at the usual 8:20 and finish around 10:30. Instead, it was moved up to 7:25, and by the time I arrived at 9 a.m, it was it its last half hour. Tomorrow I will be there when I am supposed to be and walk the dog when I get back.

First, by my count Tulane has 84 players on scholarship. The only notable departure is Ygenio Booker, a running back who showed promise over the years but never could stay healthy. He is gone. He always was intriguing to me because he barely touched the ball in high school, but he did enough in his senior year to warrant a scholarship considering his athletic ability and skills as a receiver out of the backfield. He just was not durable enough. Hayden Shook, a JC transfer who made zero impact last year, predictably is no longer around, too. A quick check of my spring numbers chart reveals he was gone before the end of spring, but I don't recall reporting it. I did report that CB Kevaris Hall, another promising player, entered the transfer portal after spring drills.

The breakdown by position:

QB (4)

Pratt
Ibieta
Horton
Haggard

RB (5)

Spears
Carroll
Clayton
Celestine
Hughes

TE (5)

James
Wallace
Brown
Bauman
Gunter

WR (9)

Duece Watts
Phat Watts
Jackson
Wyatt
Keys
McDougle
Bohanon
Brazzell
Rogers

OL (15)

Haynesworth
Claybrook
Remetich
Green
Ray
Pines
Thomas
Tuggle
Lombardi
Solomon
Fort
Burns
Lillibridge
Hurst'
McNally

DT (9)

Jenkins
Friloux
Hicks
Taliancich
Thomas
Champaigne
Hogan
Hamilton
Baudoin

DE/J (11)

Hodges
A. Anderson
Hatcher
Cooper
Deal
Peterson
Lunz
Dixon
Boyd
Phillips
Henderson

LB (6)

N. Anderson
D. Williams
Machado
Eugene
Pratt
Love

CB (10)

Canady
L. Robinson
Monroe
Harrison
Douglas
Presley
Huggins
L. Williams
Pleasant
C. Robinson

S (6)

Clark
Brooks
Young'
Laister
Despanie
Webb

ST (4)

Hudak
Glover
Ambrosio
Esnard

The lightest guy on the roster is freshman wideout Jalen Rogers, who is listed at 5-9, 148 pounds. He was mistakenly omitted from the online roster that went up on the Tulane website last week but is wearing No. 85. The heaviest guy is Prince Pines, who may need to shed a few pounds from his listed 6-5, 352.

Tulane will go with a four days on, one day off schedule for most of preseason camp, meaning Wednesday through Saturday this week with Sunday off, Monday through Thursday next week with Friday off and then Saturday through Tuesday with Wednesday off. It changes slightly from there, with three straight practices from the Thursday, Aug. 18 to Saturday, Aug. 20 before they take Sunday off. They have scrimmages planned for Aug. 13 and Aug. 20 and workouts at the Saints facility scheduled Aug. 14, Aug. 16 and Aug. 19. Those three will be closed to reporters.

Some observations from today's brief glimpse of practice:

Justin Ibieta is back to full strength for the first time since he tore his labrum against Morgan State last September. He threw a beautiful pass to Jha'Quan Jackson in the corner of the end zone, leading him perfectly, but followed up by overthrowing open walk-on Luke Besh in the back of the end zone as the ball sailed about five yards past the backline.

Walk-on Rishi Rattan, who never has been a serious threat for playing time but makes more practice interceptions than anyone, almost had another when Pratt and Jackson miscommunicated on an inside route. Jackson stopped and Pratt threw to where he thought he was going to keep running, and the ball glanced off Rattan's hands.

Tyjae Spears scored from 15 yards out in a red zone drill, planting hard, cutting to the outside and outracing everyone to the pylon. He is a joy to watch when he is a full flight.

Kanan Ray, the Colorado transfer, lined up at first-team right guard. although Willie Fritz said the depth chart would not be significant until after the 10th practice. The other starters were Joey Claybrook at left tackle, Josh Remetich at left guard, Sincere Haynesworth at center and Rashad Green at right tackle. The second-team line appeared to be Trey Tuggle at left tackle, Jackson Fort at left guard, Shadre Hurst at center, Pines at right guard and Sully Burns at right tackle. Caleb Thomas was in uniform but did not get any reps while I was there.

Wide receiver Chris Brazzell and a defenisve players whose number I could not see got involved in a fight and had to be pulled apart and held by teammates to keep from going at each other longer. Fritz responded by having everyone go on to the field and do push-ups. "We aren't going to waste our time doing all that crap," he yelled through the microphone he uses to communicate loud and clear throughout practice.

Walk-on quarterback Garrett Mmahat, the son of former Tulane pitcher and Major Leaguer Kevin Mmahat, had the old Aaron Brooks fumble with the ball slipping out of his hand as he tried to throw one pass.

The starting defense when I was there had Kiland Harrison and Jadon Canady at cornerback, Larry Brook and Macon Clark at safety, three linebackers with Jesus Machado joining Nick Anderson and Dorian Williams while Anderson played in space and covered, Darius Hodges and Angelo Anderson on the outside of the line and Adonis Friloux and Patrick Jenkins inside. I should get a much better look tomorrow. The backup safeties were Bailey Despanie and DJ Douglas. I did not catch the rest of that group.

It was unseasonably cool, or rather, not stiflingly hot. Last year numerous players succumbed to cramps in the first practice. This year I saw only one instance of cramps when freshman defensive line Gerrod Henderson went down at the very end as he ran off the field. New strength and conditioning coordinator Kurt Hester is earning rave reviews for his work, but I think the weather may have been the biggest factor in the lack of cramps. We will see when the temperature inevitably warms up later in camp.

I will have full quotes up shortly.

Ron Hunter talked to me this morning about his team's trip to Costa Rica from Aug. 5-12, giving updates on a variety of topics. With a few injuries hitting this summer, he played down the importance of the two and possibly three games the Green Wave may play, but the 10 practices the NCAA grants before trips like that and the cultural experience will be beneficial.

RON HUNTER

On how much this trip will help the team in a year with big expectations:

"Everyone is coming back, but we've hit a serious injury bug, so that's kind of slowed us down a little bit. I'd rather get that out of the way now than during the season. But it's good. We're bringing in three new guys that could easily be in our rotation, so this gives us that extra time to be able to do that. The practices mean a lot more to me than really the games do. We've had a great season. No question it's the best summer we've had since I've been here, but a lot of that has to do because we bring so many guys back."

On who is hurt

T.Y. (Tylan Pope) broke his foot, so he had foot surgery. Jadan Coleman has turf toe. We sat out Kevin Cross for most of the summer (because of) the knee last year and the wear and tear on his body, so he's just more keeping his reps down. Those three guys there are the main ones. We haven't had many practices where we've had everyone, but we've had the key guys coming in."

On prognosis for Pope:

"We hope T..Y,, right now the goal is to have him back October 1 as we start getting ready for practice. His deal is how he plays and landing on that foot, but we have to have him back by October 1."

On how he got hurt:

"He did it playing summer pick-up basketball on the weekend. When that happened, I got real cautious about a lot of things. That's the one thing that can derail what we do, is injuries, so we're trying to avoid that right now."

On Costa Rica schedule:

"We could play three. Two for sure and I'm waiting on the third one. That will be based on how I feel about it injury wise. For me, I do my Samaritan's Feet deal over there (a foundation that works to provide hope and love to impoverished children around the world by washing their feet and giving them a new pair of shoes), and so that's what I'm really excited about. I do not coach the teams. Every time I've gone overseas I've never coached the guys. I let the assistants coach, and it's great because I don't even sit on the bench. I get a different feel and I look at some different things. When you coach all the time in that regards, I don't want them not listening to me right now. You avoid that voice getting old at times. Those 10 days of practice are more important to me than the games. I know the kids are excited about playing this weekend and have different people to go against (Tulane will play this Sunday and next Tuesday for sure)."

On (Georgetown transfer) Collin Holloway (a 6-6 forward who played in 10 games as a freshman for the Hoyas):

"He's really good. Right now if we started a group Sunday, he's in that starting lineup. He's very versatile. A local kid (from Baton Rouge), a tough kid. All the things we've felt we needed, he brings that to us. He can play three or four different positions. He's what I call the perfect Ron Hunter complement. I love his personality on the floor. I don't know if I could have designed a perfect guy for that fifth spot. We rotated guys in that fifth spot, and so we're confident we got a guy who can step in and play a role for us."

On Tre' Williams (who played significant minutes in two years at Minnesota and one year at Oregon State but shot terribly):

"You know what he is. He's athletic. We're trying to get him more consistent, but he gives us great depth coming off the bench. When we went to our bench at times when (Jalen) Cook got hurt, we kind of dropped off. He gives us the depth of a guy that's played major college basketball. He's had some really good days, but he's definitely going to be a rotational guy. There's no question about that, but he has to learn our system. Just like Collin. What's great about those guys is they're older, but they have to know our system. That's what's great actually about these games, that when it's going up and down, can they really stay up with the older guys who know our system really well."

On freshman Percy Daniels, a touted prospect from Baton Rouge (Hunter is notoriously hard on freshmen):

"I've never coached the guy. He's probably the most physical guy I've ever coached. He brings a whole different dynamic to what we do. We are going to give all three of those guys a ton of minutes just so they can see how to play in the matchup and our offensive system and those things. The newcomers are going to play a lot. Cook and (Jaylen) Forbes and Cross are not going to play much. They'll start games, but I told them you guys can already get mad right now because you're not going to play a lot of minutes. But it's interesting. With Percy, how much will he pick up with our system. He is the only kid in our program that can do what he does with physicality. He gives us Power 5 (strength). Something we've never had is a big-time rebounder. We're going to try to find a place for him, but he's got to learn the system and for most freshman it's just hard to do that. So this really helps him. It's a great advantage for him. He can go make a mistake without me getting on him. He better enjoy it right now."

Will Wallace is still listed on the transfer portal, but Tulane's most recent roster includes him. Moreover, Coach Fritz, in this week's press conference, mentioned that we had two experienced tight ends. Anyone know Wallace's actual status. Thanks in advance.
Roll Wave!!!

Owens is the first OL commitment in the class. He does not have any stars from Rivals or 247 Sports but is in the database of both.

His high school, Fossil Ridge, went 4-6 last year because of a terrible defense but averaged 31.3 points per game. They played in Class 6A Division I.

Tulane appears to be his first offer.

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Tulane's 30-minute session at AAC virtual Media Day yesterday began with studio analyst Rene Ingoglia saying "I would expect Tulane to be the biggest turnaround of all the American teams this year. I think there's going to be a huge difference in their play." He pointed out Nick Anderson played with a high ankle sprain last year and that Tyjae Spears was dynamic and fully healthy. Just like last year, Willie Fritz, Michael Pratt and Nick Anderson represented the Green Wave, taking questions from the studio duo and media members, including me.

FRITZ

Where have you focused over the offseason?

"We've got a lot of guys coming back. I think we've got 15 guys who started at least one game on the offensive side of the ball their college career and the same number on the defensive side. We had a tough season. It was kind of an unusual year. Everybody had COVID two years ago and then we had Ida and we were in Birmingham, Alabama for a month and came back and some guys never did get into their houses that whole semester. We just worked on turning the page. I'm excited about the offseason program we had and our strength coach, Kurt Hester, has done a phenomenal job. Our team has gotten faster and stronger and quicker and we stayed away from injuries during the spring. Sometimes you worry about that as well. I don't think there's a team that's more fired up about getting the season started than the Green Wave."

You have 10 players from the transfer portal--six who participated in the spring and four who committed since then--and Jeffery Johnson is the first significant guy you've ever lost (Oklahoma) and he played four years for you before leaving. How much has the portal helped you and how much will it help you this year?

"I think it's going to help us a lot. That's typical of our culture. We've lost very few guys to the portal and brought a lot of kids in. Most of the kids have been New Orleans guys. Sometimes people think the grass is a little greener some place else and they go there and they find out it's only green and want to come back home, so we're excited about the additions that we've gotten through the transfer portal. A couple of big offensive linemen in Kanan Raye from Colorado and Prince Pines from Sam Houston State. He started originally at Baylor and was an All-American FCS player at Sam Houston. Ashaad Clayton from here in New Orleans, a running back who played quite a bit for Colorado. We picked up a couple of receivers--Lawrence Keys from Notre Dame from New Orleans and also Dea Dea McDougle from Maryland who coincidentally was a high school teammate of Michael Pratt. Michael might have done all the recruiting on that deal, but we picked up some really good guys in the portal. That's the way you want to try to do it--don't lose your guys and then also gain some guys who maybe have a tie to your university or to your city."

How do you view conference realignment an the three schools leaving the American and the six that will be coming in from a coaching perspective?

"We've got a really top-notch league. We talk about being part of the Power 6, but I really believe that's true. The teams we're adding to the conference can bring big-time value to the conference as well. A lot of them are strong academic institutions like Tulane. Also a lot of them are within our footprint, not too far away where fans will be able to travel and their fans will be able to travel. I think we've done a really good job with the additions to our conference."

Should the NCAA allow teams that do not go to a bowl game an extra seven days of practice either in the spring or in the fall to make it fair because the bowl teams get those extra practices (this is the top 10 of dumbest questions I've ever heard)?

"I hadn't put a lot of thought into that, but with what the NCAA added this summer with being able to use a football for two hours a week, that was a nice step forward. We were able to do a lot of things. We had 10 what we call football school workouts, practices. For an hour of each one of those practices you are able to throw the football around. I feel like we were able to get maybe 80 or 90 percent of our offense in and 80 or 90 percent of our defense in and then also a little bit of our special teams. The only limitation they had is we weren't able to go against each other in a competitive type environment. You could also argue that during that time we weren't able to practice, we were able to get on the road recruiting and cover a little bit more ground than we normally do. We feel like we maybe had our best season of recruiting this last year, too, which is difficult to do coming off the season we had."

What type of development would you see from Michael Pratt?

"Michael had a tough season last year with some injuries and he fought through it. He is a highly competitive guy. We talk to him all the time about first down, touchdown, get down, and we are going to work on that a little bit more. He's just a great leader and a great runner. You don't want to take that away from your offense. It's a big difference between the college game and the pro game is the ability of the quarterbacks to run the football. I think he's excited about the addition of the new offensive coaches that we've brought in. We have excellent depth on offense. We are excited about or O-line. We have seven, eight, nine guys who are going to compete for those five spots. We've got two really experienced tight ends that can play for a lot of people across the country, four or five really good running backs and the wid receiver position is really solid as well and that's an area we needed to get better at. The people around him need to do a great job, and that will allow Michael to have a fantastic season as well."

Where is Tulane in your opinion as far as the plan you implemented years ago, knowing that you've been to a bowl game in three of the last four years?

"We want to get back to that level at the bare minimum. We really feel like we can compete for conference championships. That's our goal. That's what the guys are working towards day in and day out. As I said before, we've got a great culture. We lost very few guys. I really like the environment these guys have created with the coaches and the team. We like our schedule. We got in a little of a tailspin and had a hard time coming out of it last year. The one thing I was proud of is the way our guys competed from the beginning of the season until the end of the season. I really had next to zero problems. Sometimes when the wheels fall off, they go in all different directions and we start having problems and we didn't have that. Our guys kept the high character standards that we want to have here at all times. But certainly we were disappointed in our record. We want to compete for the conference championship and really believe that we can do that."

You brought in Valentino Ambrosio, the kicker from Rutgers, in the offseason. How important an addition can he be?

"Very important. We need to have consistent field goal kicking. That was a weakness of ours this past season, and we need to have a guy that can hit those gimme field goals that are within range and also be able if you get into a fourth-and-7 or 8 situation and it's a 51-yarder, you have a great chance of making that as well. It's going to be a lot of competition to see who our field goal kicker is during preseason camp."

How is Tyjae Spears doing, and will be there be any wrinkles in the offense under coach (Jim) Svoboda?

"Tyjae's doing great. His last game against Memphis he had 264 yards rushing. He's had a great offseason and a great summer. We are going to be able to change up our tempos, which is something that I like and coach Svoboda has brought in. Not many teams can go fast and slow. We want to be able to do both. We want to be able to run a four-minute offense where we're taking time off the block running the ball when everybody in the stadium knows you're running it and you're still able to get first downs, but we also want to go fast and change those tempos. As an old defensive coordinator, that's really putting a lot of pressure on the defense. Jim has done a great job of coming in here and implementing his offense, and the other assistant coaches that have come in with him have brought some solid ideas as well."

Where has Michael Pratt improved most?

"Well really this is going to be the third different system that Michael's been under. He had coach (Will) Hall, now the coach at Southern MIss, and our offense was different last year (with Chip Long), and now with coach Svoboda. But with the benefit of spring football and then also all the things that you are allowed to do in the summer, it feels like we've had two spring balls. We've gotten a lot of good work on. He (Pratt) is a gym rat. He's up here all the time just trying to eke out every bit of knowledge that he can from coach Svoboda, and then also getting the other players together. In this day of age you are limited how many hours you can do workouts. Eight hours a week is what you are allowed, but these guys come up here a whole lot more than that to study video on their own and go out on the field and do routes on air. We go with the defense and do 7 on 7. Michael has been a leader of all that, so he's going to have a huge season for us. We're excited to see his development from year 2 to year 3."

Actually I did have the opportunity to vote, but I forgot while on vacation and missed the submission deadline.

Here is how I would have voted:

1) Cincinnati
2) Houston
3) ECU
4) UCF
5) SMU
6) Tulane
7) Memphis
8) Navy
9) Tulsa
10) USF
11) Temple

Here is how the actual vote came out:

1) Houston (7) 243
2) Cincinnati (10) 242
3) UCF (7) 225
4) SMU 187
5) Memphis 162
6) ECU 157
7) Tulane 115
8) Tulsa 93
9) USF 71
10) Nay 61
11) Temple 28

I asked him this question at the AAC men's hoops tournament when he talked to reporters, but I never transcribed it because there really is no answer to how the AAC can survive the loss of Houston, Cincinnati and UCF without taking a huge hit.

But since he is talking tomorrow morning to start the AAC football virtual media day, I went back to see what he said. Here's his long, rambling answer.

""I hearken back to 10 years ago when everybody sort of gave us up for dead. They really did. There were some people who clearly thought we had an opportunity there, a chance, but there weren’t as many, and look what we did. We’ll do it again.

"I don’t sugarcoat it. Losing those three schools is definitely an initial blow. They are really terrific schools. We hate to see them go. They did a lot for our conference, but our conference did a lot for them, an enormous amount for them. If it weren’t four our conference, would they potentially be going to the Big 12. I don’t know that they would be because our conference gave them an incredible opportunity for exposure with ESPN and the way we scheduled. We targeted schools, and we decided to go a little bigger, because these are schools—some had already done a lot, you look at UAB with what they’ve done in football and what they represent and UTSA and the pedigree in basketball with North Texas right now and UAB historically as well as Charlotte. FAU has done a great job. They’ve hired good coaches. They had Lane Kiffin there building that program. In our league you have to look at potential. You have to look at what you think schools can do because we relentlessly promote the conference. When we do something good, we make sure people know about it. The question for us becomes how quickly can we rebuild and can we get to the point where we’re fighting hard again for that so-called P6 spot if that whole P5 nonsense continues. When you look at these schools, Rice is willing to invest and they’ve got the old Southwest Conference pedigree. You wake up the echoes there if they can get back to where they were. Several years ago they were going to bowl games pretty regularly. If you look at UAB, you look at UTSA, you look at the commitment they are making. We didn’t take anyone who didn’t make it clear they were going to make that commitment. Financially they are going to have to come up to our level, and they will. We took a Charlotte. Mike Hill is a tremendous AD. We also looked at the people who were running them. Having worked for Jeremy Foley, Mike Hill knows what has to be done. They have inspired leadership, and it’s really important that we continue. Brian White at FAU has had a real vision for his team. We’re trying to make sure that the schools that come in can contribute really quickly. There’s a dynamic in this league. There’s a certain DNA in this league where we’re challengers. We want to compete at the highest level.

"I’m not arguing that we’re not an unusual league. We are in the sense that we didn’t have a geographic base, but if you look at us now we’re kind of horizontally geographically very cohesive. We’ve got some eastern members, but horizontally across from Texas over to the East coast. Temple’s probably our outlier, but we’ve got more cohesion than we’ve had. But ultimately, don’t sell us short. They sold us short 10 years ago and realistically we’ve outperformed what people’s expectations were, and I think we’ll do the same thing."

The Tulane men are doing an exhibition tour of Costa Rica next week. How had I not heard about this until yesterday? Or how had I forgotten about it if I had read of it earlier.

This is the perfect year for a trip like that because Tulane can contend at the top of the AAC and challenge for an NCAA bid if everything comes together. Yes, I know it's a big leap considering the overall record last season, but with almost every player returning and a few additions (particularly the Georgetown transfer), this team has a lot of potential. The extra practice time a team gets before these trips and the game experience it gets can be really beneficial.

I hope to talk to Ron Hunter tomorrow.

This may not be the complete list because it is easy to miss guys, but I have compiled a list of Tulane's incoming transfers (JC guys and portal guys) starting with 2018, the year the portal was created. Here's an analysis of their effect:

2018

QB Justin McMillan (grad transfer, LSU)
OT Noah Fisher (grad transfer, South Alabama)
RB Corey Dauphine (transfer, Texas Tech)

Analysis: Tulane would not have gone to its first bowl game in five years without the addition of McMillan and Dauphine. McMillan took over for the erratic Jonathan Banks as the starter for the last five games of the regular season and guided Tulane to a 4-1 record before an impressive bowl win against ULL, which was one of the two or three best all-around performances of the Willie Fritz era. Dauphine was a home run threat every time he touched the ball, rushing for 802 yards and seven touchdowns. Fisher was so-so, losing his starting job at left tackle at midseason for three games but regaining it. He had been a full-time starter for multiple years at South Alabama.

2019

WR Jalen McCleskey (grad transfer, Oklahoma State)
OL Christian Montano (grad transfer, Brown)
OL Ben Knutson (grad transfer, Virginia)
DE Malik Lawal (grad transfer, Arizona State)
DE Mike Hinton (grad transfer, Columbia)
LB Nick Anderson (JC transfer)
QB Keon Howard (transfer, USM)

Analysis: Again, Tulane probably would have not reached a bowl game without this group, but their impact was varied. McCleskey was solid and had the huge game against Houston with the dramatic tie-breaking touchdown in the final seconds, but it felt like he should have been even better. McMillan's passing issues, which were exposed in 2019 more than in 2018, were a factor. McCleskey finished with 37 catches for 581 yards and four touchdowns. Anderson (26 tackles), a backup, was not consistent yet, but he saved his best for the bowl game and gave an indication of what he would become. Knutson started six games at guard but appeared slow. He had a better season in 2020. Montano was a great guy who started all 13 games at center, but he was not a difference-maker. Lawal had 37 tackles and a sack while starting three times and playing in all 13 games, but he was not the pass rusher he was supposed to be. Hinton was largely a non-factor (11) tackles as a reserve. Howard, eligible to play after sitting out his transfer year in 2018, entered four games as a reserve but did not get any meaningful downs. He was terrible as a starter in 2020 before getting replaced by Michael Pratt in the third game.

2020

LB Kevin Henry (grad transfer, Oklahoma State)
OL Jaylen Miller (grad transfer, Duke)
WR Mykel Jones (grad transfer, Oklahoma)
WR Duece Watts (JC transfer)
WR Phat Watts (JC transfer)

Analysis: Their impact was significantly lighter than in the previous two years, although Henry (31 tackles) started at linebacker and was a solid member of a talented group that went four deep before he sustained a season-ending injury on a questionable low block from a Navy lineman. Duece Watts led the team with 31 catches for 512 yards and six TDs but was raw. Phat Watts had 17 catches for 217 yards and was even rawer. Jones (11 catches, one TD) could not stay healthy and was not much of a factor before he got hurt. Miller was a disappointment, playing in eight games but not effectively after coming in expecting to be a full-time starter.

2021:

WR Shae Wyatt (grad transfer, Central Missouri)
S Derrion Rakestraw (grad transfer, Colorado)
DE JoJo Dorceus (grad transfer, Memphis)
CB Lance Robinson (transfer, Kansas State)
WR Cyron Sutton (transfer, Southeastern)
CB DJ Douglas (transfer from Alabama, where he was a walk-on)
OL Hayden Shook (JC transfer)

Analysis: A mixed bag. Wyatt, the guy fans were probably the least excited about because he had played for a Division II program, had the best year of the bunch. He was no game-breaker, but he ran solid routes and had good hands, putting him ahead of the other receivers in a discombobulated year. He led the team with 33 catches (for 376 yards). Dorceus (37 tackles, 3.5 sacks) started a bit slowly but really came on in the second half of the year, making a difference on the outside. Rakestraw, quite frankly, was less impressive than I thought he would be after he put up good numbers in a COVID-shortened season for Colorado in 2020. He was serviceable with 32 tackles and one interception but nothing more than serviceable. Sutton had no impact whatsoever before getting hurt. I requested him for an interview near the end of preseason drills and later found out Chip Long had asked the SID who informed him of the interview request why I wanted to talk to a fourth-string receiver. Douglas showed why he was a walk-on rather than a scholarship player at Alabama, playing sparingly and finishing with five tackles, but he looked better this spring. Shook was a miss, working with the third-team offensive line. The coaches recruit JC guys to be impact players right away, and he was invisible.

2022

RB Ashaad Clayton (transfer, Colorado)
DT Patrick Jenkins (transfer, TCU)
S Lummie Young (grad transfer, Duke)
CB Jarius Monroe (transfer, Nicholls)
WR Dea Dea McDougle (transfer, Maryland)
WR Lawrence Keys (transfer, Notre Dame)
OL Kanan Ray (transfer, Colorado)
OL Prince Pines (transfer, Sam Houston and Baylor)
DL Tylo Phillips (transfer, Lamar)
K Valentino Ambrosio (transfer, Rutgers

Analysis: These 10 transfers should be the biggest impact group of the Fritz era. These guys are going to determine whether or not Tulane can rebound from its 2-10 season and contend for the AAC title. Jenkins appeared to be the real deal in the middle during the spring and will be counted on tremendously with the departure of Jeffery Johnson to Oklahoma. Ashaad Clayton is in the mix for No. 2 back to Tyjae Spears and showed good potential in the spring. Jarius Monroe might turn out to be the top guy in the group and is a potential starter at cornerback, a spot Tulane has really struggled at in the past two years. He plays with tremendous confidence and enthusiasm. Young is in the mix to start at safety. McDougle and Keys were disappointments in the spring at a position that needs an influx of talent. McDougle had a good spring game but drew the coaches' ire for most of the practices that preceded it. Keys wasn't healthy, so he needs to make an impact in preseason drills. Ray was a former 4-star recruit who had significant playing time for Colorado, although he lost his starting job last year. Pines has good credentials as a former starter (briefly) at Baylor and full-time starter at Sam Houston State for an offensive line that needs to play better. I don't know anything about Phillips, who transferred after spring drills along with Pines, but depth on the defensive line is always important and he can play inside or outside. Ambrosio absolutely, positively needs to be good. Merek Glover struggled mightily last year, and now that he's gone, his replacements in the spring were significantly worse than he was. There will be no breakthrough no matter what else happens if Tulane cannot reliably make kicks from 40 yards and in.

Insiders did not expect him to return to Tulane even if he were not drafted, but this is still a big blow. After blowing up with a .404 year that was every bit as impressive in person as it is on paper, Groff tweeted this afternoon he was transferring to Ole Miss.

Tulane will miss his bat and his range.

Tulane arranged an interview with Tyler Hoffman, who was drafted in the 17th round by the Colorado Rockies based on stuff and potential rather than actual performance. He began the season as Tulane's opening-day starter and worked his way out of the rotation before the end of March, finishing with an ERA of 6.10. After spending a month in the wilderness, he pitched pretty well out of the bullpen in May but not often in high-leverage situations.

He has a similar resume to Aaron Loup (although Loup is a lefty and Hoffman is a righty), currently the most successful Tulane player in the Majors. Loup had an ERAs well above 5.00 in his sophomore and junior years before getting taken in the 9th round of the 2009 draft. He was stellar in the playoffs for Tampa Bay in 2020 and had a sub 1.00 ERA as a middle reliever for the Mets last season. He is not faring as well with the Angels this season, but Hoffman would kill for a career like that. I stupidly tweeted he had a decision to make, but he already had told Tulane's baseball staff he would leave if he were drafted. The draft used to be 40 rounds, so he would have gone in the top half in the old days. I forgot about that.

In other news, I reported here Adam Core was leaving for a smaller school a couple weeks ago, and it turns out to be Linderwood, a new D1 program in St. Charles Missouri that will compete in the Missouri Valley Conference. Core, who spend two years with the Wave and was very well liked, would have remained the volunteer coach (low pay) at Tulane. He will be the recruiting coordinator and hitting coach at Linderwood.

Here is what Hoffman said:

On his reaction when Rockies drafted him:

'It was a rollercoaster of emotions. I didn't know what was going to happen. I was expecting going into Day 2 there was a chance, and then going into day 3 and obviously as the day went on, I'm hearing nothing, I'm hearing nothing. All of a sudden I'm looking at the TV and looking at my phone and then, boom, I get taken. The emotions that went through my head, that I got to express to my father, it was something that I'll just never be able to forget."

On what the Rockies told him:

"They just told me, hey, congratulations, we selected you with our 17th overall pick. Just be ready to head down to Scottsdale, Arizona on Sunday. That's when I'll be flying out there. They said. look, you've got the stuff to do it, so just make the best of it."

On confident he would be drafted:

"I was pretty confident that I would hear my name. I'd heard from several different clubs leading towards it. I just didn't know where I would fall. At the end of the day I think I fell in the spot I deserved to be in."

On tweeting about his fastball topping out at 96 miles per hour (96.5):

"That is accurate. Me being a starter at the beginning of the season, my velo was kind of down a little bit, 91, 93, 94, and then all of a sudden they put me into the bullpen and I just saw a big increase in my velocity I was sitting 94, 96, and towards the end of the season I was topping out at 97."

On what went wrong for him during the season and what he needs to fix:

"I don't know about what went wrong. I just don't think that things were happening on my watch. I think other things were in store for me, as in being a starter and then maybe it was hey, you're going to be a reliever going into pro ball, so this is what you need to do, so things just switched over for me. Just the command towards the beginning of the season (was shaky), and then when I switched to being a bullpen arm, my command, my velo, everything changed. The only thing that I see myself working on getting into pro ball is more command, better than what I am now, and just developing that third pitch."

On signing:

"I officially sign Sunday on the 24th when they fly me out to Scottsdale. That's when I will sign the paperwork. They got me a slot for the 17th round (money-wise) and that's pretty much what I was lookjng for as well for me to take it and go. (there is no guaranteed money for picks after the 10th round, but each team has a total amount it can pay all of its drafted players, and the Rockies must be saving some money on their earlier round picks so they can pay their later round picks enough to get them to sign)"

On excitement:

"This is what I dreamed about ever since I was a little kid. Just being able to receive that phone call, and the day happened. I didn't even know what to say when it happened. They called me and said congratulations, and I couldn't even speak to them. I said we'll have to talk later. It's an awesome experience and awesome opportunity that I have been given to me that a select few can say that they are doing. For me to be able to do this is greatly appreciated."

On what it looks like when he's pitching well:

"When I'm pitching well, just knowing myself and not trying to overcompete or overthrow. It's just being who I am is what makes me better at the end of the day."

On nerve-wracking draft process:

"I was nervous. My advisor was telling me you've got a chance to go 3 through 10 (second day) and it didn't happen. I ended up getting a call around the eighth round, ninth round that it just didn't work out. And heading into day 3, he called me and said you are going to go today. And through five rounds I heard nothing, and I'm like geez, what''s about to happen. I was sweating through all my clothes, like I don't know what's about to happen here. We were getting down to the nitty gritty, and all of a sudden there it goes and I get picked and they called me and said congratulations."

On contact with Rockies before draft:

"I did. The area scout that drafted me, I talked to him back when I was a sophomore in junior college, but it's been a while. The last time I talked to him was probably a week before the draft started. He called and said, hey, look, I put in a good word and I think we have a good shot at taking you. But even at the end of the day when it happened, I just didn't think they were going to pick me according to what other people were telling me. I was expecting a different team, but the Rockies picked me and I couldn't be more excited."

On Coors Field being a tough place to pitch because of the altitude (with the caveat that prospects often get traded long before they make the Big Leagues):

"In the moment I did not think about it at all. I had nothing to think about. The only thing I could think about was I got picked. Thinking about other things wasn't on my radar, but even it is a ballpark where (players) hit bombs, that's fine. I'll just keep the ball low."

Tulane has a commitment from punter Ethan Greenberg, who attended Palmetto Prep Academy this year. That is a post-graduate Christian school in Columbia, S.C., designed to get players offers while helping them academically.

Greenberg is from Atlanta. I will check tomorrow to see if he will be on scholarship.

Greenberg

Hey, Waves fans! My son and I are planning a trip to watch the GWaves vs Knights and do a campus tour (son has Tulane on his college list). We do a lot of RV trips, but it doesn't look like there's an official athletics accommodation for visitor RV parking. Any un-official locations or helpful tips? Thanks in advance.

Pretty good honor to be one of 85 players on an award that is for the best guy at any position.

The only other AAC players on the list are East Carolina’s Keaton Mitchell, Houston’s Clayton Tune and Nathaniel Dell and SMU’s Tanner Mordecai. LSU has one player--Kayshon Boutte. No one else from a Louisiana school made the cut.

Geimere Latiimer, a Tennessee product who committed in May, decommitted on twitter tonight.

He was a two-star prospect whom Rivals listed as a DB but whom Tulane recruited as a WR/ATH.

He's a DE from St. Aug:

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What you got Guerry?

I have no idea if Jaxon Smolik will keep his commitment to Tulane after excelling at the Elite 11 QB competition in California a week after choosing the Green Wave, but the fact he returned my text and talked to me on the phone is a good sign. If he had avoided me, it would have been a sign he already was waffling. He refused to say his recruitment was over when I asked him directly, but he also clearly likes Tulane and did not use the code words I've become familiar with when a guy no longer is interested after committing. My entire interview with him is posted on the front page.

Smolik Q&A

I have no doubt Kendall Rogers had good sourcing for his tweet that Tulane's hitting coach (the full-time position currently open) was expected to be Justin Bridgman, a volunteer assistant at Cal Poly, but I have not been able to confirm it as a done deal. I have learned Adam Core is gone, jumping from volunteer assistant at Tulane to a full-time assistant at a smaller D1 school.

Anthony Izzio is the pitching coach. The other two spots are not certain, although history says Rogers will be right about Bridgman, a graduate of Nevada just like Jay Uhlman. That's the obvious connection between the two. Bridgman does not have a big body of work, spending two years at Cal Poly after being a graduate manager at Arizona in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, a minor league announcer in 2019 and playing two years of minor league ball upon leaving Nevada in 2017.

It if turns out to be Bridgman, Uhlman still has to find a third assistant to complete his staff.

In other news, as I have posted earlier, do not look for Ethan Groff to be back next year. He hopes to be taken in the 20-round MLB draft that starts Sunday, and Tulane has left him off the roster of 22 players currently up on the official website. I would not say there is a zero-percent chance of him returning, but the odds are low. If he is not drafted, he could transfer.

Best I can tell we've got about ten football commitments for 2023. Guerry, have you had a chance to talk to any of them? Most are well "under the radar' with few offers and little aknowledgement on the rating sites. Some of their hudl highights look very good but those are sometimes hard to judge. Anyway, looking forward to some interviews when you have the time.

Roll Wave!!!

He is a RB from East Acension. 247 Sports lists him as 6-2, 200. He had 198 yards against Walker last year and is fast. His team lost 24-21 in the first round of the state playoffs to undefeated, eventual champion Zachary.

Doubt I will get to talk to him because all of the stories about him mention how quiet he is and how he prefers not to talk.

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