Guerry: What’s the word on Minder’s return?

I skipped Tuesday's practice since it was also Pro Day, but I was back at Yulman Stadium this morning to watch the last practice before the spring game and probably the last spring practice period other than Saturday. From what Willie Fritz said Tuesday, it sounds like he is going to pull a CJ and not have the final practice of the spring, only for very different reasons. In bagging I believe the final two practices one spring, CJ declared Tulane totally ready one spring when the Wave was not close to ready. Fritz is stiLl dealing with a lot of injuries at a couple of positions, and there would not be much benefit to coming back Monday or Tuesday after the spring game, but we'll see. For my purposes, it's not that significant either way because I've been told an extra practice after the spring game would not be open and would not have a Zoom call. till n

The big news today was the return of Duece Watts from a hamstring injury that had sidelined him since the first week of the spring, and man, does he make a difference. Fritz said he was back on a limited basis Tuesday but was able to do a lot more today, and he was the star of a two-minute drill at the end of the workout. Playing with the second-team offense, he was outstanding, giving Justin Ibieata quite the weapon.

The setup for the first two-minute possession was 1:47 left on the clock, team down by 3 and the ball at the offense's 27-yard line. After hooking up with tight end Tyrick James for a big gain, Ibieta found Watts on the sideline for 17 yards and again on the sideline to the 2-yard line on back-to-back play. Watts is simply better than the receivers who have practiced in the spring, running smooth routes, presenting a target and finishing the play. His two catches set up a touchdown run that would have won the game in the final 20 seconds.

The set-up for the No. 2 offense's next possession was tie game, 1:41 left on the clock and the ball at the 27 again. This time, after being "sacked" by Darius Hodges (this was not a tackling day for anyone), Ibieta connected with Watts again on the sideline to set up a 40-yard Merek Glover field goal that would have won it again.

Michael Pratt did not get to work with Duece Watts on his two possessions in the two-minute drills, and the difference showed along with having to face the first-team defense. He managed to lead a 10-play drive to set up a 43-yard, tying field goal by Glover on the first series. After back-to-back incomplete passes to start the possession, he scrambled for 12 yards (Willie Fritz gave him a generous spot for the first down), took a coverage sack, completed a short dump to a Keitha Jones, who fell down inbounds for 6-yard gain, and then completed a a 29-yard pass to roommate Tyrek Presley on a seam route. It was a nice throw and catch. Jones caught another pass, this time for only 4 yards, befs,ore going out of bounds, and after a Pratt keeper went nowhere, he spiked the ball to stop the clock with nine seconds left, allowing Glover to come on for his field goal. The kicks were not live, with just Ethan Hudak, Ryan Wright and Glover on the field.

The second two-minute drill did not go as well for the first-team offense. Pratt tried a back shoulder throw to Presley but did not connect. He then scrambled for 7 yards and threw behind Presley on third-and-3. The offense went for the fourth down, but Pratt could not find anyone open, scrambled to his right, still could not find anyone open and finally took a sack. Wide receivers coach Jeff Conway chewed out Presley for running long on the play and never coming back, apparently forgetting it was a fourth-down situation. That's Presley in a nutshell--capable of making plays but still needing to become more reliable. It will be interesting to see if all the reps he has received this spring will pay off in productivity next fall.

The first-team offense line was Matt Lombardi, Corey Dublin, Sincere Haynesworth, Caleb Thomas and Tim Shafter. The first-team defense had Carlos Hatcher, Eric Hicks, Jeffery Johnson and Angelo Anderson up front, Kevin Henry and Jesus Machado at linebacker, Ajani Kerr at nickelback, Kiland Harrison and Jaylon Monroe at cornerback and Derrion Rakestraw and Macon Clark at safety. Johnson was back from a stinger issue that sidelined him for last Saturday's scrimmage.

The second-team offensive line had Joseph Solomon, Jackson Fort, Michael Remondet, Rashad Green and Trey Tuggle. The second-team defense had Darius Hodges, Adonis Friloux, Noah Seiden and Michael Lunz up front, Dorian Williams and Nick Anderson at linebacker (just like last fall), somebody whose number i did not get at nickelback, Rishi Rattan and Gabe Liu at cornerback and Cornelius Dyson and Shi'Keem Laister at safety. The cornerback depth is shy right now with Kevaris Hall, Reggie Neely and Lance Robinson out. Robinson's injury is new, I did not see him at all on the practice field. I do not know where Levi Williams was.

Before the two-minute drill, the offense ran plays against mostly air with four offensive linemen serving as the defensive front: Hutson Lillibridge, Ethan Marcus, Solomon and Hayden Shook. Cameron Jackel is out with an injury.

Walk-on running Josh Coltrin, a converted quarterback who got reps as a ball-carrier in Saturday's scrimmage, wore a brace on his left leg and did not practice today. More notably, Cyron Sutton was unavailable to practice, finishing a disappointing spring when he could not stay healthy enough to show the coaches what he could do. Fritz said a couple of times he was looking forward to seeing Sutton healthy, but it never happened in the last two weeks or so.

WILLIE FRITZ

"We did a lot of situational work, 10 minutes of individual unit with extra point and field goal. We worked on some punt situations, pooch and coming out in some different formations. We did our kickoff/kickoff return drill, a real competitive drill where there's a winner and a loser on each rep. Then at the end we did a couple of two-minute situations. It's hard to replicate it because we didn't have officials. We'll do it again on Saturday when we do have a full complement of officials. We got some good work in today."

On Duece Watts being back:

"He did some stuff on Tuesday and then today he was healthier. We had him do a little bit of stuff. I think he'll be good to go in two days. I sure hope so. He's got a great frame on him. When he came here he was about 175, 176 pounds. Now he's close to 200 pounds. He's done a superb job in the weight room. He has great speed, length. He's about 6-2 in the shade. It's just like a high school guy, it's the same thing with a JC guy. There's not a guy who's more of a proponent how great junior college football is than me. I was in it for a long time, but there's a big difference between a guy in his second year when he comes to a four-year school and his first year after he was at a JC. He'll make some significant progress. His brother, Phat, has had a tremendous spring (I'll vouch that he has been Tulane's best healthy receiver). He got beat up last spring and got beat up during the fall. He's always been kind of battling injuries, but those two guys have an opportunity to be excellent players for us this year."

On Noah Seiden:

"Noah came here originally as a walk-on from St. Paul's on the North Shore. He just kept working and working and working. He's got a knack of getting off blocks. He plays with great leverage. He can pass rush. We drop him into space a little bit as well. He's got a wide array as far as his skill set is concerned. Today Tom Symonds came out and presented him with the Burlsworth plaque that goes to the top walk-on in the country. He was nominated. I wish he would have won the whole award. I'm not quite sure who did (center Jimmy Morrissey of Pittsburgh). He was our nominee (67 schools had a nominee, but Seiden, who finished with 13 tackles and a sack while starting three games, was not one of 10 semifinalists). He's also an excellent student who's earned a scholarship and has parlayed that into more and more playing time every single year. He's a very valuable player for us."

On plans for spring game:

"It's going to be a little different than what we did last week. We'll do some kicking game. It's hard to do kicking game if you don't take a break before you do it because you've got guys on both sides of the ball and you're trying to put pullovers on and all that stuff, so we'll do a little bit throughout the scrimmage and some live extra point/field goal. We are going to probably do about 50 plays live right now and it's going to be a little bit more younger guys and what some of those guys can do. We're still in evaluation phase. There's about 11 guys I want to see get at least 25 live plays, so we are going to make sure they play a little bit more than some of the others guys do."

Can Tulane Salvage the baseball season?

Frankly, I don’t think so. In my opinion, we simply don’t have the players. Sadly, I don’t see any likely improvement next season no matter who is the coach.

The cancellation of the LSU game makes it impossible to gain the necessary respect within the state. We’re 3-6 against ULL, SELA, Southern, UNO, and LaTech. No way to suggest we’re any better than #4 in the state off of this year’s record.

Still, can we get to .500? Sure. We play enough weak teams and with a little luck we can get there. But a successful season at Tulane in baseball cannot be winning 50% of the games. An off year should be barely making the NCAA tournament. Other than the two years that Pierce was here playing with someone else’s players, we haven’t been to the regionals in forever.

Our current batting order is very weak. Outside of the two big hitting games against ULL and Troy, we’re batting .231. Burns is hitting better than anyone expected, and thus far Nieman looks more like the 2019 version of himself than in last year’s shortened season when he hit .250. Lee has made a good start but hasn’t had enough at bats to make a judgement. And, Hart, while he’s still hitting over .290, simply can’t layoff or hit pitches to the outside of the plate. As scouting reports are circulated, he won’t get as many pitches in his “wheelhouse,” the middle in. No one else, including Aviles and the now-injured Minder, has shown any consistency. I, for one, expected the latter two to lead the team.

I’m less concerned about our pitching, though it certainly has been erratic. Olthoff hasn’t been as dominant so far as last year but has pitched very well in all but one game. The same really goes for Aldrich. Hoffman has looked good but against far weaker competition than he’ll face going forward. Ten walks in 17 innings are far too many. The big disappointment, of course in Benoit. He wasn’t great last year (4.18 ERA with 15 walks in 19 innings), but this season his mechanics seem far off to me. His balance throughout his pitching motion needs correcting. On the other hand, I think Johnson may yet come around. His 4 innings against LaTech looked promising. In the bullpen, Devito, Price, Bates, Slagel, and Campbell have all pitched pretty well in the majority of their appearances. As a group they have a 2.70 ERA and have struck out 48 batters in 36.2 innings while walking only 11, though hitting another 6. They’ve also only allowed 25 hits. Beyond them, we’ve had some very bad pitching though Gilles still may contribute. When he gets the ball over the plate, he’s been virtually unhittable (.083 batting average against.) But he’s walked 10 guys in 7 innings which is truly horrible. His ERA (2.57) is a bit deceiving since he’s left a mess of guys on base that other pitchers stranded. Still… there’s hope.

Not much good can be said of our base running. We’re 24 of 32 attempting to steal but getting picked off and running the team out of potential big innings is indefensible. Coaching has to take some of the blame.

Defensively, outside of the human highlight reel provided by Burns, we’re at best ordinary. Outfield play has been weak and the catching position between passed balls, failure to capture wild pitches, and an abysmal record at throwing out base runners, has been awful. Though, in the catchers’ defense, our pitching staff had done a poor job of holding runners on. Burchfield looks good at first but Aviles hasn’t shown the ability to play the position. Both Englehardt and Baumgardt have played pretty well in the field but Minder prior to his injury was a disappointment.

All in all, things look pretty bleak. Choosing a lineup or deciding who to bring in to pitch has to be a challenge for Coach Jewett and his staff, but they are the ones who recruited this squad. As I mentioned at the top of this statement, I don’t see much likelihood of improvement next year. Barring a major comeback that I’d like to see, but don’t expect, I anticipate we’ll see someone else coaching Wave baseball in 2022.

Roll Wave!!!

Lo and behold, I was there for the very start of a scrimmage and got to watch every play, something that has not happened in a couple of years due to COVID restrictions and needing someone to be there to let me in the locked stadium. Here is the full report of a day that had 73 plays from scrimmage plus plenty of kicking. I will transcribe the quotes from Willie Fritz's and Dorian Williams' Zoom calls tonight or tomorrow.

The morning started around 9:30 with field goal attempts against the field-goal block team, with Ethan Hudak as the snapper and Ryan Wright as the holder. Merek Glover missed the first one from 29 yards out on the left hash, punching it wide right. He then hit kicks from 36, 29, 40, 29, 34 and 31 yards. They actually have first-and second-team field goal block units, but no one came close to blocking a kick. Reggie Neely was one of the guys lining up on the edge and trying to get there.

Next, Glover kicked off with no one on the field but returner Jha'Quan Jackson, who excelled as a punt returner last season and will take over as the primary kickoff returner now that Amare Jones has transferred to Georgia Southern. The ball reached the end zone.

Before I get into the play-by-play, let me state the first-team defense dominated the day, allowing zero touchdowns to the first-team offense. Michael Pratt was harassed from start to finish and had a really rough time, reminiscent of some of his practices last spring before the pandemic canceled the rest. He did not have quality receivers to work with and had no time to throw, but he was off target even when he did have a window. I've watched significant portions of every practice but the two at the Saints facility this spring, and this was the first one in which he struggled. A lot of the credit goes to a defense that is flying around the field. Conventional wisdom will be that the defense will take a step back without Cameron Sample and Patrick Johnson, but conventional wisdom is not watching this group play or remembering how bad Tulane was in critical situations last year. For sure, the bookend defensive ends' replacements will not be as productive as they were, but the defense looks better overall than a year ago, and if today is an accurate barometer, significantly better. With only one or two exceptions, the tackling from the first unit was excellent and guys were flying to the ball. The linebackers, coming off an outstanding year, will be the Wave's best in a long time.

The 1s went versus 1s and the 2s went versus 2s all the way, alternating series for the most part, although Justin Ibieata and the No. 2 offense got two series in a row at one point and finished with three in a row to end the day, but I am going to write about all of the series with the first teams first and then the second teams.

The first units went out to start the regular portion of the scrimmage, and on the initial play, Pratt hit Cam Carroll on the sideline for 17 yards. The series started at the offense's 27, and that proved to be the longest gain of the day for the No. 1 offense. Pratt threw incomplete in the flat with Ajani Kerr and Macon Clark closer to the ball than his intended receiver on the next play before getting a short completion of 3 yards and a pass to Tyrek Presley for 8 yards and a first down on the sideline, moving the ball to the defense's 45. Pratt scrambled for 7 yards and then hit Carroll in the flat, but Nick Anderson made an outstanding open-field tackle to keep him a yard short of the first down. Jaetavian Toles was open for what have been a big gain on the next snap, but Pratt simply missed him, throwing well behind him. On fourth-and-1, Devin Brumfield got stuffed by a host of tacklers shy of the first down. The first-team defense was the usual suspects, except Derrion Rakestraw was in instead of Cornelius Dyson, Macon Clark subbed for the injured Larry Brooks, Adonis Friloux played nose guard instead of Jeffery Johnson, who was out with a stinger he sustained in Thursday's practice, and Noah Seiden was the starting end. The linebackers were Anderson and Kevin Henry, with Dorian Willams of course rotating in.

Things really started going sideways for the No. 1 offense on the second series, which started at its own 35. Pratt threw low to Toles on a quick out, resulting in an incompletion, was "sacked" by Rakestraw on a well-timed blitz and was sacked again by Angelo Anderson. The offensive line, which had Matt Lombardi, Corey Dublin, Sincere Haynesworth, Caleb Thomas and Timothy Shafter from left to right, was overwhelmed, and the the referee crew allowed plenty of hands-on contact outside against the receivers, making Pratt's job even tougher.

On the third series, which also started at the 35, Brumfield got popped on a 2-yard gain and ran up the middle for 3 yards before Pratt threw an ill-advised pass on the sideline to Brumfield that got him killed by Clark and was not complete. A couple of times last spring, Pratt led Ygenio Booker into a world of hurt with similar throws. Booker was actually injured on one of them, but this time Brumfield was fine. They punted on fourth downs that were not manageable today--with no one of the field but the punter, the snapper and the returner, and Wright punted 40 yards to Jackson.

On series No 4, which started at midfield, Pratt ran a read option for 7 yards that would have been a big loss if he had handed it off. He then completed a pass to Booker, who was slammed for a 2-yards loss by Dorian Williams, although a 14-yard penalty on the defense moved the ball to the 29. Pratt tried to hit Phat Watts with a short sideline throw, but cornerback Jaylon Monroe was all over it. He completed a 5-yard pass to Toles, who slipped a tackle from Rakestraw at the the line of scrimmage, before throwing behind Toles (and low) on a crossing pattern. Toles got his hands on the ball but not hold on. Backup kicker Graham Dable, a sophomore, missed a 41-yard field goal that hit the right upright.

On series No 5, Pratt was sacked again for a 2-yard loss but he threw a long pass to Toles after the whistle blew, and Toles made a spectacular diving catch that did not count. Pratt then threw a screen that looked dangerous when he lofted it, but an excellent block by Corey Dublin freed Carroll for a 15-yard gain to the defense's 37. Pratt was sacked for a 6-yard loss, scrambled for 3 yards and handed off to Brumfield for 5 yards off tackle, setting up a fourth-and-8 that they tried to convert. No dice. Carlos Hatcher beat Shafter for yet another sack.

On series No. 6, which started at the defense's 20, Booker ran for no gain, Pratt kept for 1 yards and Pratt threw under intense pressure and almost had it intercepted by Seiden, who was about 20 yards downfield and got a hand on the ball. Dable then converted a 36-yard field goal.

On series No. 7, which started at the 20 again, Rashad Green was in for Thomas at right guard. Pratt almost had a pretty touchdown pass to Will Wallace on the first play, but the ball went slightly behind him int the end zone and he could not hold on. They spent some time talking about the play on the sideline after the series. Pratt then threw to Toles for 4 yards and Toles made a sliding grab of a low throw for 1 yards, creating fourth-and-5 at the 15. Dable was wide right on a 32-yard field goal.

On series No. 8, which started at midfield and was the last one of the 1s, Brumfield carried for no gain, Pratt kept for 5 yards, Kerr broke up a pass for Watts and Pratt had to scramble for his life. he threw the ball just as he went out of bounds and it was not close.

In all, eight series produced one field goal.

One of the big themes of the spring has been how hard new offensive coordinator Chip Long coaches his guys, and today provided another example. During an 11-on-11 red zone drill in the latter stage of practice, Michael Pratt rolled out to his right and had his choice of two uncovered receivers on a bust by the defense. He chose the uncovered short guy in the end zone rather than the uncovered guy in the back of the end zone, but he led running back Devin Brumfield too far and Brumfield could only get one hand on the ball. When that series ended, Long lit into Pratt as he came to the sideline.

'I wanted to go 100 percent down there," Long said afterward in a Zoom call. "You always have to accelerate your arm, just like in golf when you short-arm a two-foot putt, you're probably going to miss it. You always have to accelerate through. It's a good lesson to learn right there in that situation rather than a Saturday during the season. It's little things like that. Just one second of lapse can change a difference on the goal line,. We just can't have that, and it's a great lesson. He'll learn from it and he'll be better for it."

This was the first day I got to see since Saturday's scrimmage, but there were not many depth chart changes. The starting offensive line was Matt Lombardi at LT, Corey Dublin at LG, Sincere Haynesworth at C, Caleb Thomas at RG and Tim Shafter at LT. The second team was Cameron Jackel at LT, Jackson Fort at LG, Michael Remondet at C, Rashad Green at RG and Trey Tuggle at LT. As promised, I looked for Hayden Shook, and although he practiced during individual drills, I did not see him get a single rep in 11 on 11. He and fellow freshman Hutson Lillibridge watched from the sideline.

The starting defensive line was Darius Hodges, Eric Hicks, Jefferey Johnson and Angelo Anderson, with Carlos Hatcher getting some reps in place of Hodges. The second-team line was Michael Lunz, Noah Taliancich, Adonis Friloux and Noah Seiden.

The starting linebackers were Kevin Henry and Nick Anderson, with Dorian Williams sitting out despite practicing everything else.

The starting cornerbcks were Jaylon Monroe and Lance Robinson as always. The starting nickel was Ajani Kerr. The starting safeties were Macon Clark and Cornelius Dyson, with Larry Brooks unavailable due to an ankle sprain.

Missing practice were wide receivers Jha'Quan Jackson, Duece Watts, Mykel Jones and Cyron Sutton, tight ends Reggie Brown and Tyler Lamm (walk-on), running back Tyjae Spears, offensive linemen Joey Claybrook and Josh Remetich, Brooks, cornerback Kevaris Hall and defensive lineman Alfred Thomas, who has been out the past two weeks with an unspecified injury. Without elaborating, Fritz said he hoped to have Thomas back for the final week.

Former walk-on quarterback Josh Coltrin is getting reps with the running backs since there are only three scholarship guys available for the spring in Brumfield, Cam Carroll and Ygenio Booker. Booker had another good day today, showing his speed on a reverse near the goal line, but he already has proven to me he can do it in practice. The next step for him is doing something in games, which we won't know unilt the fall.

It was not Pratt's best day. In addition to the missed opportunity in the end zone, he threw an interception directly to Macon Clark when he was trying to hit Jaetavian Toles. I'm not sure what happened and if there was a miscommunication, but Pratt seldom throws errant passes like that one.

The depleted receiver corps continued to struggle. Tyrek Presley dropped a touchdown pass from Pratt in the end zone, although the ball was a little behind him. Toles let a pass from Justin Ibieta go through his hands. Tight end Keitha Jones caught a pass from Ibieta and promptly slipped to the turf. Earlier, though, Toles latched on to a bullet pass from Pratt in a very tight window in the end zone, holding on to the ball as a defender (I did not catch the number) tried to rip it away from him.

When they went regular situational work, with a play starting from the offense's 30, Ibieta connected with Phatt Watts on a slant, beating safety Shi'Keem Laister, who got a stern reprimand from a defensive coach: "you can't get beat inside." On the next play, walk-on wide receiver Lucas Desjardins caught a pass on the sideline uncovered due to a big bust and ran to the end zone. Pratt completed a third-and-5 pass (Fritz hollered out the down and distance before each snap) to Presley for a first down, but when he tried to hook up with on his trademark back shoulder throw seconds later, the timing was off.

The day ended with Ibieta throwing an interception to Monroe and completing a pass to Toles on a crossing route.

Clark had an active day at safety. He flew over to the sideline to tackle Christian Daniels during the goal-line work (it was not supposed to be a tackling day) and also hit Carroll at the end of a play. Clark used to get out of control in practice, losing his temper at times, but today it looked like he was just playing aggressively.

I talked to Fritz, Carroll ands Long after practice, but I did not have my tape recorder for the first two and will have to wait until the SID office sends out the file. I will post Long's full quotes shortly.

So basically its this...


The NCAA is allowing schools to go over the limit by however many fourth-year seniors or redshirt seniors were on the 2020 roster.


If I read that right, last year we had 12 4th-year seniors and redshirt seniors on the roster...So that would mean we could go 12 over the 85 scholarship limit for the 2021 season (97). BUT there is no rule for the 2022 season. Currently we signed 17 high school seniors and took 3 scholarship transfers, two of which are 1 year guys...next season we will have 34 "true" freshmen! It'll be interesting to see how this plays out...

Willie Fritz and Michael Pratt spoke after Tulane returned from the Saints practice facility this morning.

FRITZ

We went out the Saints because we were expecting rain. We didn't quite get it, but we had a good workout out there. Saturday we actually did some scrimmaging. I think we ran 84 plays and did 17 plays with the kicking game, so we got some good work in and then we transitioned into a regular practice today. We did some team. We do a two-slot drill, we' do a half-line versus the offense and defense, one-on-one and we worked on some punt block and also extra point and field goal versus block as well, so it was a good workout. There's nine in the books, so there are six left. You get going through and all of a sudden it's over with. Some guys are really earning more playing time. That's something we try to do every day is evaluate, get guys jockeying up and down on the depth chart. We do it based on performance."

On players that have helped themselves this spring:

"The good thing is you know a little bit about everybody except for the newcomers. I've been very impressed with some of the new guys that we brought in. Lance Robinson is playing some corner and can also play nickel for us. Derrion Rakestraw, I've been very impressed with him. He's been practicing full since last Saturday. He's going to play a bunch for us. Michael Lunz was an early graduate at defensive end. I'm impressed with him. Devin Brumfield has great practice habits and a great work ethic. There are a few guys that are banged up. We're trying to get them healthy so they can go. We'd really like to see something out of Cyron Sutton. Unfortunately he got hurt and has been very limited in what he can and can't do. Duece Watts came out of the box like a ball of fire. Unfortunately he got hurt, too, and we're hoping we get those guys back, if not this week then the last week so we can help in their progress toward being great players. It's always tough when you want to throw the ball around and you have some of your best wideouts over there by me."

On anything that stood out after reviewing the video of the scrimmage:

"Oh, I just think the game experience. It's not a real game. The quarterbacks are not live. We're not game planning who's in and who's out. We did go 1s versus 1s and 2s versus 2s, but it's just the game experience and getting out there understanding down and distance and playing that down and distance. Some guys can process the game and other guys just have to focus on what the call is so they can get lined up and don't goof up the rep, but there's a big difference between third-and-1 and third-and-7, and that's what we're trying to accomplish every time we practice, especially when we are in a scrimmage-type situation. It's not a real game but it's as close as we can get to simulating one."

On Michael Pratt handling new role as leader:

"Michael's a perfectionist. He's up here all the time in the office. I like seeing his progress. You always feel like you make the most progress during a season from game 1 to game 2 and you also feel the same way about year 1 to year 2. The different part is it is a different offense. There are a lot of similarities to what we were doing last year, but there's also a whole lot of differences, so everybody has got to be on their toes. We had a couple plays today where the defense just didn't get adjusted and lined up properly and it was kind of an easy play for the offense, so if they can execute and all 11 are on the same page, it's dynamite, but I love seeing the progress that Mike's made from year 1 to year 2."

PRATT

On how first nine practices have gone:

"It's going really. Everybody is starting to buy into and understand what we're trying to accomplish. We're trying to pick up our tempo, which is going to be huge for us. It's really just week by week and day by day just mastering it and learning it. We're going to keep striving to get better every day."

On biggest difference in Long's office compared to Will Hall:

"Tempo is one thing that is going to be huge for us, just getting lined up quick and not giving the defense time to make calls and have the perfect defensive play for what we're going to run. Just opening up the playbook a lot. It's going to be really good for us just having a wide variety of plays we're capable of running, so no matter what team we're playing and what defense we're seeing, we have an answer for it."

On being more difficult to command the offense for everyone:

"To an extent I think so, but we're raising the expectations on the standard here, so that's why we just have to put in more work coming up here and getting in the film room, studying our plays, learning what we're doing wrong, seeing what we're doing right and just going from there."

On his performance in scrimmage:

"I think I did decent, pretty well. There's a lot of things I need to touch up, some footwork, moving my eyes around faster and really just getting the offense on the same page with more of a tempo and establishing that. We did pretty well, but we can always keep pushing forward and getting better."

On Jaetavian Toles, Tyrek Presley, Phat Watts and Ryan Thompson getting a ton of reps as only healthy scholarship wideouts:

"It's going to be huge for them. It's also going to be good for us just getting to see difference receivers and having to adjust. That's going to make the quarterbacks better, and also having all these receivers that maybe wouldn't have gotten as many reps if we had Mykel Jones and Duece and Cyron and whoever else, that just gives us more depth and gives us better preparation. If people do go down, that's part of football. It's going to happen, so all around it's good for the spring right now."

On Presley:

"He's working really hard right now and doing a good job. He's actually my roommate, so we're just trying to get him on the same page and get him to take it slower but speed up at the same time. It's more mental reps. That's something he's trying to really fix right now, just getting everything right because we are putting a lot on him. It's an intense offense. There's a lot of plays that we're putting in fast, so once he just gets up to speed, he's going to be a great target for me. He's a big body, he's wide, he's lanky, he's got some good speed. I'm excited about him for sure."

On players adjusting to Long's coaching style:

"I think they're taking to it pretty well. One thing that's big is they're definitely buying into what he's trying to accomplish here. That's huge for us, knowing what our goal is and continuing to push for it and trying to get there."

On what need to accomplish in last two weeks of spring:

"At this point our install is going to start to slow down a little. We're really just going to try to execute what we've already put in, so going from there we just have to know the plays that we have right now and get them right and really execute those and go forward."

On Devin Brumfield:

"I love him. He comes to practice every day and is the same guy every single day. He goes 110 percent every single rep. You know what you're going to get out of him. He's a great attitude guy. He takes coaching really well. He's learning the same offense as us. All this stuff is new to him just like it is to us, so he's learning it really well. He's a guy that's going to be very reliable for us. Day in and day out we know what we're going to get from him."

On offensive line:

"I'm really confident with them, especially having a new offensive line coach, I think he's doing a really good job getting them right. One thing that's going to be big for us is because so many guys have started in a prior game last year, just that depth. That was something we lacked a little bit last year, and now that these guys all have somewhat of an experience and have been getting a lot of reps in the spring, that's going to be really good for us just having them compete every day. We don't know who's going to be our start five next year, so these guys have an opportunity to prove themselves every day. I'm excited about that and they are just going to continue to get better."

Tulane had a spirited scrimmage on the first day of spring (the initial seven practices took place during winter technically) Saturday morning. I don't put much stock in enthusiasm as a barometer for a team's performance, but the energy and competition between the offense and defense is a little higher with the new coordinators on both sides of the ball. I did not chart the beginning of the scrimmage because I had to be let in the locked gates of the stadium, but when I got there, Merek Glover was attempting field goals. He hit back-to-back attempts from 42 yards from the right hash, although the second one was not kicked cleanly, and missed wide right from 29 yards. They then had a live kickoff, and he drilled it five yards int the end zone.

Sitting out the day were the usual suspects who have been out for the entire spring plus a group including Josh Remetich (right leg injury), Cyron Sutton, (not sure), Kevin Henry, Larry Brooks (sprained ankle) and Derrion Rakestraw, who is not ready for live drills as he recovers from offseason shoulder surgery. Dorian Williams was back, joining Nick Anderson in what almost certainly will be Tulane's starting linebacker duo even though last year's starters, Kevin Henry and Marvin Moody (out for the spring) are back.

The first-team offensive line had one change from recent practices, with Caleb Thomas replacing Rashad Green at right guard. I did not see Trey Tuggle, with Tim Shafter getting the first-team reps at right tackle. Michael Lombardi was the first-team left tackle, with stalwarts Corey Dublin and Sincere Haynesworth the other two first-team guys. The wide receivers on the first unit were Jaetavian Toles and Tyrek Presley, with Christian Daniels splitting out wide on some snaps. The wideouts on the second unit were Phat Watts and Ryan Thompson, and as has been the case for more than a week, that was it among scholarship guys, although running back Ygenio Booker is getting some reps at receiver, too. I would not read much into Watts being behind Presley at this point, but it bears watching because it has been that way for at least two weeks.

Cam Carroll was the first-team running back and Tyrick James was the first-team tight, as always.

On defense, it was the usual suspects across the board except for Brooks' absence. Shi'Keem Laister was with the first unit in his place when I got there, with Macon Clark at nickel and Cornelius Dyson at safety. The cornerbacks were Jaylon Monroe and Lance Robinson. The defensive linemen were Angelo Anderson, Eric Hicks, Jeffery Johnson and Noah Seiden, with Carlos Hatcher getting some time, too.

The second-team D had Darius Hodges/Armoni Dixon, Nik Hogan, Adonis Friloux and Noah Taliancich, Michael Lunz getting some time at end. Ajani Kerr was the backup nickel, with Kiland Harrison and Kevaris Hal and Reggie Neely sharing cornerback reps. The backup safeties were walk-ons due to injury issues. The backup linebackers were Jesus Machado and Aidan McCahill.

It was a situation scrimmage, as are almost all of Fritz's, with the down-and-distance varying significantly at the start of each series. The units stayed in for six plays at a time, up from four in previous practices, but it still made for a choppy scrimmage, with series not finishing before a new group came on to the field. Going against the first-team defense, Michael Pratt made fewer big plays than Justin Ibieta, but he avoided the negative plays that hurt Ibieta, too. Pratt's best completions early (in the part I saw) were to Presley, with the second one on a nice crossing route, but Presley dropped an easy one a little later. His catch on the crossing route almost led to a touchdown on the next play, but when Daniel got open on a stop-and-go move, Pratt overthrew him.

Ibieta threw a nice pass to Devin Brumfield on the outside, but on the next snap, Dyson read his eyes and intercepted a pass thrown right to him.

Pratt went back in and handed off to Carroll, who tried to bounce outside but was brought down on a nice form tackle by Monroe. Toles gained a few yards on an end around before Pratt hooked up with Presley again on a back shoulder throw he is really good at executing. That put the offense near the red zone, and after Monroe batted down a pass on a blitz, Brumfield carried twice, making a nice cut to pick up positive yardage inside and going outside for a first down. Ibieta and the second unit came in for the next play, and Watts scored on a bubble screen from six yards out. He fumbled right after he crossed the goal line, though.

Ibieta stayed in and threw a pass in the flat to Booker, who slipped a tackle and converted it into the longest gain of the day, about 40 yards. Thompson then made a nice catch, putting the offense in scoring range, but Dyson picked off Ibieta again when he rolled right and threw right to him.

On the next series, Watts got wide open on the sideline against a busted coverage for a big gain before Ibieta led a receiver too far and out the side of the end zone.

They stopped there for a punting drill. Ryan Wright's first one, from the 17, went out of bounds at the 50. His second one was high and much better.

Pratt went back out and completed a pass to Presley he threw a little low over the middle and another one to Booker, who beat Kerr on an out route. The offense drew a penalty when Will Wallace and Keitha Jones went in motion at the same time, and Pratt then scrambled to his right and threw too hard to a nearby Carroll as a pressure release. Carroll dropped it.

On Ibieta's next series, he completed a short pass to Watts before getting "sacked" by Dixon. He scrambled on the next play for a short gain and then hit Brumfield on an underneath route, and Brumfield got crushed by Darius Hodges. Watts then dropped a deep ball with Neely in coverage.

They stopped for a kickoff, and Glover sent it into the end zone again.

Ibieta went back in and had a pass for Thompson broken up by Neely. He then scrambled away from pressure by Friloux for a short gain and hit Thompson for a touchdown on a fade, beating Harrison.

They sent in Casey Glover to punt and his first one was a shank off the side of his foot and well out of bounds. His next one was better, but it will be important that Wright stay healthy in the fall.

They ended the scrimmage with possessions that started at the defense's 15-yard line. Pratt handed off to Carroll four straight times, and Tulane's touchdown specialist picked up 2, 7 and 3 yards before running untouched to the end zone from 3 yards out. Before that play, while calling signals, Pratt hollered "run it right over them." He stayed in for the first two plays of the next series, completing a 4-yard pass to Presley, who was sandwiched by Carlos Hatcher and Harrison. Carroll gained 5 yards on second effort, setting up a third-and-1 at the 6, but Ibieta went in and they started another series at the 15. He was "sacked" by walk-on linebacker Andrew Wilks (the ball was moved back to the line of scrimmage), threw a pass that Thompson dropped with walk-on safety Rishi Rattan all over him and hit Watts for a TD on an inside route when he beat reserve cornerback Levi Williams.

Ibieta stayed in for the final three plays, completing a 6-yard pass to Brumfield, throwing behind Thompson and scrambling before hitting Thompson for what was ruled a touchdown in the back of the end zone. I had just as good a view as the ref because I was watching from the game-day media spot in that end zone, and it looked like Thompson did not get a foot down inbounds.

I liked what I saw from Brumfield again. His body type is not what I envision for a running back, but he makes it work. He's stocky and powerful but not slow.

Watts looks like the best of a limited, depleted group at wide receiver.

The defense tackled well considering it was the first live drill of the spring. Other than the play that Booker turned into a big gain, there were no major tackling mistakes.

Scott Spencer from LaSalle. Posted on twitter he is coming. Started career at Clemson then went to LaSalle.

Apparently he is 3 point shooter. Numbers and minutes down this past season. I have no idea the reason. This will be his 6th year of college because he used a RS and then the free Covid year.

No surprise. Once it starts raining, it is supposed to stay wet all the way through tomorrow night with flash flood warnings for all of southeast Louisiana.

There is no date to reschedule it, so it will not be played, meaning this will be the third straight season the two teams do not face each other. It's a bummer for Tulane because it would have given the Wave a chance to get something positive going as it heads to its AAC schedule, one it will have to dominate to secure a regional after starting 9-10. Tulane has gone 13-11, 9-14 and 12-11 under Jewett in AAC play, and obviously none of those records would get the Wave anywhere close to a regional. The Wave probably either has to win the league in the regular season or win the tournament since East Carolina is the only regional worthy team in the league at this point.

Tulane conducted a feisty practice this morning at Yulman Stadium, and Willie Fritz thought it was too feisty at times. After a scuffle that resulted in players wrestling on the ground during 11-on-11-work (my view was blocked as to the instigators), he yelled at the team to cut the crap, and when players continued talking through him, he got angrier and told them to shut up. I'd say in general the practices have been a little more testy this spring, with new coordinators on both sides of the ball possibly contributing to and that vibe. A little later, Fritz brought everyone on the field after a player made a mental mistake and made the the entire team do up-downs, saying if they want to win a lot of games, they cannot afford to make those types of mistakes.

Also, when Chip Long saw a player who was being rested standing by himself away from his helmet and away from the action, he yelled at him to put his helmet on and get back with his teammates on the sideline. Long does not mess around during practice. He wants everyone involved mentally and physically and detests loafing. HIs coaching style and Will Hall's boisterous positivism during practice are completely different.

Redshirt freshman Matt Lombardi continued to work with the first unit at left tackle today--the spot that Joey Claybrook will have when he returns for preseason drills. Rashad Green is working at first-team right guard in Josh Remetich's absence. Remetich is sitting out practices while wearing a big brace on lower right leg. Fritz already talked about how much he liked Green a couple weeks ago, and today I asked him about Lombardi.

"He's got great length," Fritz said. "He's probably the tallest player on our team. He's 6-foot-7 pro measure and he was 286 pounds the other day. The thing that's going to help Matt out more than anything is football's important to him. He enjoys competing. He enjoys learning football. He's a gym rat and is always up at the office bugging the coaches and trying to get better. He has a high ceiling and I think it's going to happen sooner rather than later for him."

The second-team offensive line today was Cameron Jackel at LT, Joseph Solomon at LG, Michael Remondet at C, Caleb Thomas at RG and Tim Shafter at RT. The first-team D-line was Noah Seiden, Jeffery Johnson, Eric Hicks and Carlos Hatcher, with Armoni Dixon getting some first-team reps at Joker, too. The second-team line had Michael Lunz, Nik Hogan, Adnois Friloux and Noah Taliancich. I did not see Darius Hodges, who started the Potato Bowl, so I will have to find out his injury status soon.

Cornerback Reggie Neely returned to practice with a big cast on his right arm. He worked with the second unit while Jaylon Monroe and Lance Robinson continued to be with first team. Cornelius Dyson and Derrion Rakestraw were the first-team safeties (Larry Brooks is out with an injury), and Macon Clark and Ajani Kerr got reps with the first team at nickelback.

Justin Ibieata had a good day in 11-on-11. He hooked up with Phat Watts on a deep sideline route that Watts made more difficult than it needed to be, bobbling the ball as he jumped for it and securing it as he crashed to the ground. He ran a slant for a nice gain on the next play, and Ibieta also completed a short sideline pass to Ryan Thompson on that set of four downs. Ibieta's best thrown came on a pass to Thompson on a seam route he threw on a line.

Michael Pratt completed two in a row to tight end Will Wallace, who was unnecessarily knocked to the ground after the first one, but his last pass on that set of four downs was batted down by Hicks. HIcks played surprisingly well last year, outplaying De'Andre Williams and eventually taking his starting job, and he continues to make plays this spring.

Devin Brumfield continues to impress. I hesitate to make any judgment about a running back in on-contact drills, but he hits the hole quickly, accelerates well and has the body to absorb contact. He ran through a hole hole on a handoff from Ibieta. Later, he scored a "touchdown" after a handoff from Pratt.

Although Tyrek Presley has been mostly terrible since he arrived, I've never discounted him because he looks the part at wide receiver. Today, he made a nice adjustment to catch a back-shoulder deep ball down the sideline from Pratt, catching it in tight coverage from Lance Robinson. Pratt's throws were not always exactly in the right spot, but they were close enough to allow his receivers to make the plays. On his last throw, he threw slightly behind Jaetavian Toles on the left side, but Toles held on.

Cyron Sutton was dressed, but I did not see him get any reps, joining Jha'Quan Jackson, Duece Watts and Mykel Jones on the sideline for 11-on-11 work.

Tulane will have a scrimmage Saturday, with some tackling to the ground and everyone live other than the quarterback. Hopefully I will get in to see all of it. With coronavirus restrictions forcing Yulman Stadium to be locked up, I need a staffer to let me in and have not been able to get into the Tuesday and Thursday open workouts until after 9. Saturday's practice is later in the morning, so hopefully I can get in for the beginning.

"We did kickoff versus kickoff return where we went all the way down the field and covered today, and we'll do a little bit more on Saturday," Fritz said. "We cut back a little bit on reps just so the guys are as fresh as we can get them on Saturday, We'll also do some kicking game and some punt versus punt block and the same thing with kickoff and kickoff return and live field goal versus field goal block team as well. There's a bunch of guys that need the experience and there's a bunch of guys that we need to get a good, solid evaluation on. You can get good evaluations in practice, but you can get great evaluations when you're actually scrimmaging somewhat for real. It's not a real game in any way, shape or form. The quarterback's not live."

The rest of Fritz:

On receivers returning:

"It helps us a bunch. Unfortunately the positions we're a little bit thin at are running back and receiver. I wish we had a few more at each spot, but we've just got to keep them healthy. One of the guys was a little bit banged up today (Ygenio Booker) so I kept him out of it. Hopefully he'll be able to go on Saturday, but it's good to have a few of those guys back so we can have a functioning practice."

On Chris Watts:

"I told him the other day he's got the toughest job of everybody. He came in when we'd had three practices. That's difficult. I've never had to do that before, but he's doing a super, super job. There's a lot of similarities to what he was doing at Notre Dame to what we're doing here, so that was good, but he's also having to learn all sorts of new terminology and techniques fundamentally. He's also under a new head coach and (learning) how I do things. Something that's neat for our players is it wasn't that long ago that Chris was a college football player and a darn good college football player, and also the NFL, he was the 89th pick in the draft by the Chargers. We have a lot of players on our team that aspire to do that, and we certainly have a bunch of offensive linemen who would like to do that, and he can given them wise counsel on how to do that. Chris, and then J.J. McCleskey played eight years in the NFL, It's good for those guys to be able to answer questions about how to handle that path."

I talked to Chris Watts and Derrion Rakestraw and will post those interviews later.

Tulane had a 3-1 week with one ugly loss to Troy around a tighter-than-expected win with Braden Olthoff on the mound and a blowout victory on Sunday that was much needed. I wrote last week the Green Wave needed to go at least 3-1 to avoid hitting the panic button, and that's what happened, although the Saturday debacle left many people giving up on the season anyway.

Despite the negativity, this team is still in OK position at 8-7 heading into a four-game week with Texas Southern at home (should be an easy win) and a weekend series at home with Louisiana Tech, which just came close to winning a home series against No.1-ranked, previously undefeated Arkansas. The Razorbacks rallied for three runs in the eighth inning of the opener to tie and won it in extra innings before taking the next one easily. Louisiana Tech won the finale 2-0, handing Arkansas its first loss of the year, with Jarret Whorff throwing a 2-hitter. After winning back-to-back series 2-1 against mediocre competition, Tulane will have to play well this weekend to win, and we will know a heck of a lot more about the direction of the season by Sunday evening.

The Wave was shaky on Friday and Saturday against Troy. Olthoff pitched well, giving up his only two runs in an inning where there were three errors, but he was not dominant. With the score tied at 2, a Troy player turned on a pitch and jacked it over the wall about two feet foul down the left field line. It it had stayed fair, Tulane would have been in trouble. The inning ended with a line drive that Trevor Minder caught and turned into a double play, but I did not see it, so I don't know if it was relatively routine or spectacular. Either way, the unflappable Olthoff pitched very well from that point on.

On Saturday, after taking an early 3-0 lead that could have been bigger if Matthew Bihm had not been thrown out trying to stretch a triple into an inside-the-park home run, Tulane did a bunch of bad Tulane things and lost 12-3. Two runners were called out for over-sliding second base on successful steals. That can't happen. Travis Jewett made the questionable decision to start Trent Johnson, who allowed six runs without recording an out in the ninth inning at Mississippi State, instead of the admittedly shaky Donovan Benoit. Didn't work because Johnson appears incapable of getting out of trouble. Then, when Benoit got in a jam in a 3-3 game, Jewett went to Jake McDonald, who had not given up a run in five appearances but also got cut by UL after the fall of 2019 and is still trying to work his way back from a serious arm injury three years ago. Didn't work, and after he plunked a batter in the butt with the bases loaded and no outs, he was allowed to stay in as Troy batters teed off on him and blew the game open. Meanwhile, after getting five hits in the first two innings, Tulane managed only three more the rest of the way. It was a really bad performance all the way around, but that happens in baseball, and Tulane bounced back to hammer Troy 14-2 while pounding out 18 hits on Sunday.

So where is this team now? I still think it has a lot of potential. The batting average, which was a poor .249 entering the weekend, rose 20 points to .269, which is a more accurate representation. Tulane has proven it can get clutch hits up and down the lineup this year, so it was inevitable the numbers would rise. And the Wave had gotten next to nothing from its best hitter, TMinder, until he had three hits yesterday. His batting average is .176, and I'll be surprised if he does not raise it by at least 100 points in the next 30 games. This weekend, all nine spots in the lineup reached base at least once in all three games, and yesterday the top seven guys in the order all had at least two hits. I believe this will be a good hitting team with balance up and down the order even if the numbers had not shown it until Sunday.

The concern on the mound is finding a fourth starter. Olthoff is money and Jack Aldrich has been solid on Sundays. It looks like Tyler Hoffman has the mindset and the stuff to be an effective weekend starter, too, although he still will have to prove it once conference play begins at the end of the month. But the other spot is a mystery. Benoit has been ineffective in three starts and one relief appearance, giving up 14 hits and walking 13 through 13 innings with only eight strikeouts. He's missing the plate and not missing bats when he throws strikes. Johnson is good for a couple of really good innings per appearance, but too often it all goes haywire for him and he can't find a solution. I'm sure Benoit will be given another chance this weekend, but the coaches really need to find someone else who can be competent in case he continues to struggle.

Zach DeVito appears to be Tulane's closer going forward. He finished off blowouts against Southern and Troy, allowing no runs while recording seven outs. Clifton Slagel struggled yesterday but is reliable overall, as is Justin Campbell. The rest of the bullpen is unproven, and they have to figure out which of the gaggle of arms they have can be effective.

I only caught bits and pieces of the three games against Troy, but defensively Tulane's outfield has slipped noticeably from opening weekend, when I thought it would be a team strength. Jared Hart, who was aggressive going after the ball at the beginning of the year, jogged hesitantly on a shallow fly ball (the outfielder play extremely deep) and was bailed out by Simon Baumgardt in right field. I saw Troy make a lot more defensive gems than Tulane, but again, I missed more innings than I watched. Keagan Gillies warmed up but did not pitch at all last week.

Tulane needs to go 3-1 again this week and get to 11-9. Louisiana Tech, which is 22nd in the RPI, could have a depleted bullpen after playing Tuesday and Wednesday against Ole Miss. The Wave has an RPI of 58 and could climb into the top 50 with a good weekend heading into its final non-conference games against LSU the following Tuesday and Grand Canyon, which is 5-9 and has an RPI of 120, the following weekend. The Wave is in decent position, but it has to prove it can beat good competition.

One other note. The other Justin Campbell, a two-way player and the top-rated recruit of the Jewett era whom admissions red flagged after he already had enrolled last year, has been untouchable as a midweek starter for Oklahoma State. He has thrown 17 innings and given up one run with 32 strikeouts. He is hitting .267 in 15 at-bats on the days he does not pitch. Think Tulane could use him a little bit?

I did not get the info in time for my Advocate story, but Trent Johnson will start Saturday again. Obviously Olthoff is going tomorrow and Aldrich will go Sunday.

I am writing a story on all the third-and-long and fourth-down plays Tulane allowed last year and what they are doing in the spring to fix those issues. Incredibly, opponents converted 23 times on third-and-7 or fourth-and-7 or longer, leading to 14 touchdowns. It is a huge reason why Tulane has a new defensive coordinator, although these issues were present to a lesser but still very significant degree in the past when Chris Hampton was a DB coach for the Wave. I already talked to Hampton about it, and today I talked to Fritz and cornerback Jaylon Monroe. Here is the transcript of their Zoom calls after the Wave returned to campus from a workout at the Saints indoor facility for the first time since the fall of 2019.

FRITZ

"We had an excellent workout. I really appreciate them allowing us to come out there. Jay Romig is the guy who gets us set up. We go through Jay and he's kind of Mr Do-Everything out there for the Saints. I appreciate him, Mrs. Benson and coach Payton and everybody for allowing us to out there. We had a super workout. Of course we went out there and it was probably the nicest morning in the history of New Orleans, but last night it looked like there was a good chance of rain and we wanted to make sure there was a good chance of getting it in. On the drive out there it was pretty overcast and looked like it might rain, but it didn't, but it's good for us to out there. We did 36 plays of team at the very end. We had 24 plays of 7 on 7 against each other, some good 1-on-1 work with the O-line and the D-line, some good individual time, worked on kickoff return and also had some punt versus PBR good on good, so it was good, competitive work we got in today."

On how negotiations worked with Saints:

"They are closed out there right now. In the collective bargaining agreement they are not allowed to have anybody in the facility for the next month or two. That's how we were able to get out there since nobody was using it. We went in and we went out. We were the only ones in there. The other great thing is we do all this testing here. Our guys are still testing a couple times a week."

On third-and-long defense:

"Number one, we've confronted it. Coach Hampton leads off every meeting with the defense with finish up on the screen. There's a lot of things we did well last year, but that one was the one that got us. We didn't finish games in third down and fourth down. We have to move up in that area. You've got to have a package that you feel good about on third and long, fourth and long, third and short, fourth and short so you get off the field. Fourth down when you stop them, that's just as good as the takeaway. A lot of it's the call. A lot of it's the execution of the call. We're really doing a nice job of having two groups go at the beginning of practice during our focus period. We do some unit work later where we have a couple of groups do. We do that on our in-between days on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so these guys are getting a ton of reps. It's just a lot of attention to detail. You're going to talk to Jaylon Monroe. We're locked in playing man down there at the goal line today and his guy motions across, and you hear him yelling motion from one side of the field to the other. Guys are having confidence in what they're doing and communicating. We always talk about over-killing communication, so there's no doubt we've got to get better in those type of situations."

On Monroe coming back:

"Oh, it's great. He knows how close we are and he wants to be a part of that. He's been a part of the turnaround and he can be a part of getting us over that hill. It's great to have him back. He understands the system. He understands what coach Ham is looking for. We expect him to be a leader for us."

On depth at safety:

"Derrion (Rakestraw) practiced full speed today, so we're excited about that. He's going to be able to go the rest of the spring. All those guys have got a chance to be elite players. We just got done talking about Jaylon. It's the same thing with Larry and Macon (Clark) and Cornelius Dyson. We've seen flashes out of Ajani Kerr. Lance Robinson, we're very excited about getting him in here. Everybody needs to get a little bit better. If we all get a little bit better and have great attention to detail, we can have an outstanding secondary."

On not practicing Saturday:

"We're beat up at secondary and wide receiver. There are a bunch of guys that just kind of had nagging injuries, and today we got most of those guys back. Cyron Sutton was back. Ryan Thompson was back. Derrion Rakestraw was able to go. Kiland Harrison hadn't practiced for three or four days and he was able to practice at corner. We should be adding Levi Williams back in the mix on Thursday. We're not ready to start going 10 reps in a row. We want to have two units we can roll, we're trying to go four plays at a time we can rotate, and we were down to about 1 1/2, so these guys got healthy. That's the reason we did it."

on Jha'Quan Jackson and Duece Watts:

"Jha'Quan is going to stay out for the whole spring. He had labrum surgery right after the bowl game and he's going to probably be full speed by May 1. Duece I'm hoping is going to be able to go that last week. He strained his hamstring, the first time he's ever done it. It's one of those deals we don't want to be a problem and continue on for a long period of time."

MONROE

On returning:

I was here for the change, but I want to be there to actually win a conference championship. Coach Hampton also played a big role in me coming back. He recruited me. He was the reason why I committed to Tulane."

On reuniting with Hampton:

"I was excited. He's more like a father figure. It's big."

On third-and-long and fourth-and-long D:

"I just feel like it was a lack of detail. We weren't detailed enough, but coach Hampton is into our head now telling us to finish. That's the big part of our past season. We just didn't finish as a whole offensively and defensively. We're just working on finishing."

On talent in secondary:

"The addition of all the grads that came is going to help us a lot. We're going in the right direction and we have a little depth now. All across the board at nickel, corner and safety, we should be good."

On winning championship:

Most definitely. We haven't lost confidence. We are just going to keep going and are working every day to get to that point where we want to be."

I was told practice was canceled this morning, and no reason was given.

Just checked the football twitter account, though, and they had a photo of Rod Teamer watching practice as if were today's. They probably decided they did not want to do media.

EDIT: I have gotten it confirmed they did not practice today.

Tulane is practicing at the Saints facility for the first time since the fall of 2019 due to the pandemic. It will be closed to reporters.

Fritz and players will be available on Zoom after the workout.

As an at-large team.

I just got my first COVID vaccination courtesy of being diagnosed with hypertension last year (I don't really think I have it, but now I'm glad they think I do). Otherwise, I'm pretty sure the job title freelance sportswriter who works primarily from home would have been low on the priority list.

Anyway, on to Thursday's practice. If you saw my three stories in the Advocate today, you know why I did not have time to post a report yesterday.

Linebackers Dorian Williams and Nick Anderson were back at practice on a limited basis, participating in individual drills but sitting out the 11-on-11 work at the end. I did not see Kevin Henry, who has a non-COVID related illness. The only new injury as far as I could tell is to offensive lineman Josh Remetich, who watched practice with a brace on his right leg. The other guys out have been out since the beginning of spring drills, including receivers Jha'Quan Jackson, Duece Watts and Mykel Jones. As I suspected but had not confirmed until yesterday, Sorrell Brown has given up football even though he still is listed on the roster, so the Wave is low on numbers at receiver in the spring.

"We had to medical D.Q. him," Willie Fritz said. "He has done a great job of trying to do everything possible to be healthy and he was having a tough time with it. He would have a couple of good days and then his knee would swell up and he couldn't go for four or five days. He's a really intelligent young man. He's going to have an opportunity to devote some time to other things. I'm disappointed for him and for us because he's a darn good player."

Brown had a terrific start in his first year in preseason camp before tearing his ACL. He never looked the same to me after that, and then he tore his other ACL in preseason camp the following year. When he returned last season, he was damaged goods. Although Will Hall said he was his most productive receiver at one point in camp, I did not see those moments, and he started having to miss a lot of practices once the season started. His career ends with four receptions for 57 yards, all in the first half of 2020.

"That's one of the few things about football I don't like, guys getting injured," Fritz said. "Unfortunately there's a lot of wear and tear, and we also have to look out for him 15, 20, 30, 40 years down the line, too. But he did everything he possibly could have to (get back). Unfortunately it just didn't happen."

Tulane's healthy scholarship receivers are Jaetavian Toles, Tyrek Presley and Phat Watts. Ygenio Booker splits out wide some, and Christian Daniels is a wideout-like tight end, but the Wave is awfully thin at the position this spring.

"There's a couple of walk-on guys over there, and I said you know something, you've been training to get all these reps the whole time you've been here and now you're getting them, so take advantage of them," Fritz said. "That's a position where you run, run, run, run, run, run. Those guys run miles during practice, so they have to be in incredible shape. One of the things I'm looking forward to is when we get into fall camp, we'll add some bodies so those guys won't be taxed quite as much. But right now they have to have special grit and fight through it."

The lack of quality wideouts is affecting practice. During a break at the midpoint of the 11-on-11 work, offensive coordinator Chip Long gathered his guys together and gave them a stern lecture, telling them not to keep feeling sorry for themselves and get better. The first play was telling--a pass from Michael Pratt glanced off the hands of Jaetavian Toles near the sideline, and Toles is the most accomplished wideout practicing at the moment.

As has been the case all spring, Pratt and backup Justin Ibieta got four snaps at a time during 11 on 11 with no other quarterback getting any reps, so I will go over every play by both QBs separately.

After the Toles drop, Pratt completed a dumpoff to Ygenio Booker but threw it a little low, completed a short pass to Phat Watts and threw the ball away under pressure. In his second stint, he overthrow Toles on a post pattern when he was open by a step, handed off to Cameron Carroll for what would have been a sizable gain in a live drill, threw incomplete deep to Presley when Presley had alligator arms, which is inexcusable in a non-tackling drill and scrambled. In this third series, he handed off to Devin Brumfield, completed a pass to Brumfield that was slightly behind him, handed off to Brumfield again and completed a quick out to Toles after Presley lined up wrong and had to be re-directed.

In his fourth series, Pratt ran a keeper and handed off to Carroll on a play where Jeffery Johnson leaped on his back and let him carry him a few yards. Johnson looks like he is good shape this spring, which was a good thing for Carroll's back. Pratt then completed a long TD pass to Presley, but he would have been sacked by Johnson if tackling were allowed. A reverse to Toles then got snuffed out by Armoni Dixon, who turned him inside back into traffic.

Pratt's last series had completion to Toles when Pratt did a sprintout to the right, a deep incompletion to Toles that was hight and resulted in a hit from safety Cornelius Dyson, an incomplete pass when walk-on Stephen Payne stopped on a slant (a definite no-no) and a touchdown pass to Booker, who beat Lance Robinson. It was the only legitimate TD of the day, and the offense celebrated loudly. Booker has been the most impressive receiver on the team in spring practice. He has done very little to this point in his career, but he is ready for a big jump.

"He's got a huge opportunity," Fritz said. "Him and Juice Toles are getting a lot of reps. They've both got elite speed. They are two of our faster guys. If you get the ball in space to those guys, they can do a lot of great stuff with it, so they are really making a mark on this program."

Ibieta began with a handoff to Brumfield a completion to Booker, who was crossing over the middle, and two more runs. His next series began with a pass that went far out of bounds becuase the walk-on receiver ran out of bounds on his route, drawing Long's ire. Brumfield then had a huge hole on a run, and Ibieta connected with Daniels on the sideline. Those two are developing a good rapport. Carroll dropped his next pass.

Ibieta's third series started with a completion to Carroll on a wheel route that fouled Ajani Kerr, a broken play when the running back went one way and Ibieata the other, a completion to Daniels over the middle and a reverse pitch to Booker that worked to perfection.

Ibieata's final series began with a keeper, a second play I missed, an errant toss to Daniels that went off Kerr's hands and finally a completion to Presley over the middle.

The first-team offensive line had Michael Lombardi, Corey Dublin, Sincere Haynesworth, Rashad Green and Trey Tuggle from left to right. The second-team line had Cameron Jackel, Jackson Fort, Michael Remondet, Caleb Thomas and a number I did not catch but likely was Tim Shafter.

The first-team cornerbacks were Jaylon Monroe and Lance Robinson. Macon Clark was the nickel back, with Dyson and Larry Brooks (wearing red but practicing throughout) at safety. The linebackers were Jesus Machado and Aidan McCahill. The defensive line was Angelo Anderson at joker, Johnson and Eric Hicks inside and Carlos Hatcher at end.

I paid scant attention in the past to Willie Fritz being a candidate for other coaching jobs (Missouri, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Utah State) because the rumors did not pass the smell test, either from Fritz's side or the other school's side. Kansas is different. Fritz grew up in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, which is about a half-hour drive from Lawrence. Kansas will be looking for a coach with impeccable personal credentials after the Les Miles debacle. And Kansas, though a doormat for the last 11 years (best record: 3-9) and the worst Power Five program in that span, has no structural issue that makes it nearly impossible to win like Vanderbilt. The Jayhawks have simply hired abysmally, with Charlie Weis and Miles qualifying as the worst hires of the the century. A good coach would have a chance to make that team respectable in short order.

Fritz checks all those boxes. The one mark against him is his age (60) because programs usually go in the opposite direction after being embarrassed and Miles is 67, but this situation bears watching. If Fritz were to leave, it would not be like his offensive line coach bailing on him a little more than two months into the job. Fritz has given Tulane five good years and has turned around a program that was a laughingstock nationally and made it a place where players expect to win rather than going to a school because they have no better offers or because they want free education at a school that will give them a valuable degree. I get it that 6-6 is not a high bar, and Fritz has said the same thing himself many times about being amused when coaches come up to him at conventions congratulating him like he's playing for the national championship, but Tulane is in by far the best shape it has been since the moment RichRod got passed over to replace Tommy Bowden in 1998.

I asked Fritz about the Kansas situation at the end of the Zoom call today, and he looked irritated as I would have expected. His fou-word answer about being a candidate: "Oh, it's social media." I could have asked a follow-up, but he was not going to give me anything substantive. I don't know how interested he is in Kansas or how interested Kansas is in him, but for the first time, those hot lists having him near the top of prospective candidates may not be off base. We will know shortly because Kansas needs to move quickly.

On to the practice. When Fritz said the team had been hit hard by the injury bug at certain positions, he was not kidding. When they began 11-on-11 work today, one of the starting linebackers was freshman walk-on Aidan McCahill. Who? McHahill, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, joined the team last fall after starting for two years in high school and leading his team in tackles in 2019.

The other starter was Jesus Machado, who has looked good this spring, but the top four guys all were out. Marvin Moody is done for the spring after having labrum surgery,-but Fritz said he would be back to full health by mid-May. Dorian Williams and Nick Anderson are banged up and wearing red no contact jerseys while watching from the sideline. Kevin Henry, whose birthday is today, sat out practice with a non-coronavirus illness that came on yesterday.

"Those are three really good linebackers, and Kevin Henry was sick today, so we've got our top four guys out right now," Fritz said. "But Jesus Machado is having an excellent camp so far. He played a little bit for us in the kicking game and played a little bit for us defensively in a few games. We think he's got a bright future. The one thing that is positive is some of the young guys that don't get as many reps are getting reps now. They are getting an opportunity to get in there and play and show us what they can do. Matthew Hightower (who is on scholarship), McHaill, Jack Collins, Hayden Beal (all walk-ons) are getting more reps now. And I like to put different guys in with different groups. Sometimes you always have the 1s go versus the 1s. Sometimes it's good to go 1s for the 2s just to see them rise to that level."

Moody has had both shoulders operated on since the season ended.

"We did his other shoulder a few months ago, and his other one was having some issues and problems, so we decided, hey, let's get it done," Fritz said. "He's going to be full speed probably by the middle of May, but right now he's not able to do the football part of it."

The other position that is down a bit is wide receiver, with Mykel Jones recovering from knee surgery, Sorrell Brown nowhere in evidence as he takes care of two knees, Ryan Thompson out with an injury, Cyron Sutton not practicing today with an unspecified injury (I forgot to ask) and Jha'Quan Jackson and Duece Watts watching today's workout in no-contact jerseys. The only available scholarship guys were Jaetavian Toles, Phat Watts and Tyrek Presley. That would be a disaster if it occurred during the season rather than in the spring. On one of the first plays of 11-on-11 work, Jaetavian Toles got open on deep curl and Michael Pratt hit him in stride. He dropped the sure touchdown, cursing on his way to the sideline. During the first break, offensive coordinator Chip Long lectured the offense about not wasting opportunities and how plays like that could cost Tulane a game in the fall. Later, Presley fell down chasing a deep ball from Pratt. Presley looks good on the sideline but still has shown very little on the field through two years and four spring practices.

The receivers who had the best days were running back Cameron Carroll and tight end Christian Daniels. Fritz said Saturday Carroll was a natural at receiver. Daniels will have to prove he is reliable in games, but he could be a weapon if he become reliable. Justin Ibieta hit him in a tight window on an inside route for what would have been a big gain in a live drill. Later, Ibieta found him again over the middle in traffic. Carroll caught a swing pass Michael Pratt threw a little too hard with no problem and also had a nice reception over the middle.

Running back Devin Brumfield had a good day, showing some explosiveness as he bounced through some holes. Fritz loves his practice habits, and he appears to have the ability to go along with it despite not putting up impressive numbers in three years at Utah.

Rashad Green could be a surprise starter on the offensive line in the fall. He played a little bit as a true freshman but lined up with the first unit at right guard today, ahead of Josh Remetich.

"He really does (have a chance to start)," Fritz said. "He's an excellent athlete with great movement.He's a big guy. A lot of times you get guys that heavy, they have a hard time moving around. He's got very quick feet. He just needs to keep progressing. He could be an outstanding player for us, really good."

Matt Lombardi got some reps with the first unit at left tackle, but he is placeholder for the injured Joey Claybrook.

Nick Brooks was back at first-team safety today after missing practice on Saturday.

I was at practice today and charted the 36-play 11-on-11 action that concluded it. I talked to Willie Fritz and Chris Hampton afterward. Fritz said Sorrell Brown is taking a medical DQ because of his chronic bad knees. It's a sad story because Brown arrived with a lot of ability before ACL tears to both knees in consecutive preseasons knocked him out for two years. When he tried to come back last fall, he was unable to practice hard for more than a couple of days before the knees would start bothering him.

Because of my schedule, I cannot do a report today, but I will have a full report tomorrow morning with quotes from Fritz and Hampton. Hampton is coaching the safeties, with J.J. McCleskey handling the corners, Mike Mutz the linebacker, Byron Dawson the defensive line (no changes there) and Joshua Christian-Young bouncing between the defensive line and the linebackers. That's a new responsibility for him after he worked with the safeties last year.

When I arrived late at Saturday's practice, the first one in full pads, Tulane had its third offensive line coach of the week even though the school is refusing to acknowledge his hiring. Chris Watt was on hand directing the offensive line, and one of the first things I heard him say was "We are seekers of contact. We deliver the blow."

The practice ended 10 minutes early, but it featured an Oklahoma drill at the end. Maybe I write this every year and simply forget, but the energy and enthusiasm seemed higher than in the past. I moved to the opposite end of the stands to get a closer view because Fritz conducts it near the end zone, but players blocked my view of all the one-one-battles that did not involve offensive linemen going against defensive linemen. I know Cameron Carroll won one where the goal was to get into the end zone, beating freshman Michael Lunz as he told me later, because he jumped up and down in celebration and spiked the ball in the end zone while everyone on offense hollered.

The other area where they were doing one-on-ones was visible. The goal was to push the other guy backward and knock him to the ground, with the winner getting mobbed by his offensive or defensive teammates each time and a few fights breaking out between the combatants. Eric Hicks beat Josh Remetich on the first one I watched. Corey Dublin and Noah Taliancich then fought to a standstill before going at each other, requiring several players on each side to separate them. Matt Lombardi and Elijah Champaigne had a standoff with no one winning clearly. Trey Tuggle pushed Angelo Anderson several yards backwards before falling himself. Noah Seiden dominated Jackson Fort, causing the wildest celebration of them all. Seiden clearly is popular with his line mates. Rashad Green knocked former O-lineman Nik Hogan to the ground, and it ended soon after that. I wish I could have seen all the battles going on the other area.

The first-team offensive lien in 11-on-11 work was Matt Lombardi at LT in place of the injured Joey Claybrook and the usual suspects at the other four spots. If Lombardi is still getting first-team reps tomorrow, I will ask about him.

The second-team line had Cameron Jackel, Jackson Fort, Michael Remondet, Rashad Green and Tim Shafter from left to right.

On defense. Jaylon Monroe and Lance Robinson got first-team reps at cornerback along with safeties Macon Clark and Cornelius Dyson (Larry Brooks I believe is injured) and nickelback Ajani Kerr, but they were mixing and matching a bit. Linebackers Jesus Machado and Kevin Henry were on that unit along with Anderson, Seiden, Adonis Friloux and Alfred Thomas from left to right on the front four.

Justin Ibieta was 4 of 5 at the end of the 11-on-11 segment, completing a pass to Christian Daniels on an underneath route and connecting with walk-on Lucas Desjardins for a touchdown before cornerback Reggie Neely knocked down a pass. Ibieta then hit walk-on quarterback-turned receiver Josh Coltrin and found Ygenio Booker on a crossing route. Booker has done next to nothing in games, but I like his ability and still expect him to break out at some point. He's a well-rounded player.

Michael Pratt went in for a few snaps at the end and intentionally threw a pass away under pressure before connecting with Desjardins for a TD over the middle. Desjardins is not in line for playing time, but on the opening day of spring, I heard a coach ripping him for a mistake and saying if he didn't want to be there, he should not be on the team. Apparently he got the message.

After that play, they moved on to the Oklahoma drills, which I already addressed.

I posted Fritz's quotes in the spring practice quotes thread earlier, but it makes more sense to have them here.

FRITZ (Saturday)

"We had a good workout, great practice, good weather. We're trying to be careful because you go too fast in the very beginning of spring football, you start losing some depth with guys getting hurt and banged up. We've had a couple of positions that's happened with. We had a really good month-and-a-half offseason program. Unfortunately you train real hard and guys are susceptible to getting some pulls and some discomfort at different places on their body. We've got that with a few guys right now, so I backed off a little bit today. We didn't go quite as long as what we normally do. We took a few reps off in seven-on-seven. We took a few reps off in 1-on-1, but I thought it was pretty good."

(I asked four questions about Chris Watt, who was at practice coaching, and Fritz answered in depth but for now that information is embargoed. I will give the quote when I get clearance. There is no hang-up as far as I know, but I was asked to wait on the quote).

On Oklahoma drill at end of practice:

"Oh, first day in pads, it's like I told the guys afterwards, there's a little bit of carry-over in football with hand placement, pad level and drive and tackle, but really the whole thing is to get your butt out there in front of everybody and compete and fighting through the butterflies. That's the main purpose of the drill in my opinion. I've had some guys that did terrible in that drill but have been great players. I've had some guys who have been great in that drill and didn't play a whole lot. It's just really to get out there and compete in front of everybody."

On Cam Carroll:

'He's gotten so much better. He really made a vault from two years ago to last year, and we want that same type of improvement this year. He's got everything. He's got all the tools. He's smart, he's tough, he's got great movement, great size, he's a legit 6-foot, 225. He's got excellent hands. I remember that great catch he had against Southern Miss when he was running up the seam, a 40-yard touchdown catch. You don't see a lot of running backs do that. Most of the time they're catching the ball out of the backfield.

On where the improvement would come:

It's like all running backs. Most backs have got a lot of experience carrying the ball and catching the ball. It's doing the other things. Always lining up correctly, playing with outstanding effort, blocking both in the run game and the pass game. I think I've told the story a couple of times, but Matt Forte talked to all these guys last summer about if you want to play all three downs, you've got to be able to block. Otherwise you're what they call a situational guy. Those guys don't last very long. We want our guys to be all-around players, and that's what Cam's working towards. He has an outstanding work ethic. He's taken a step forward in his leadership role, so I'm excited to watch him this season."

On Devin Brumfield:

"Very excited about him. I just grabbed him a couple of minutes ago and said have you always practiced like this? He said yes I have. I did it in junior high and high school. He's got excellent practice habits. He said when he first started playing football in Little League, he was taught to do it this way. He's got a motor on and he's a lot like Cam. He's a thick guy, but he's got super movement, great speed and is a really good all-around back."

On Ygenio Booker being ready for breakout year:

"I really do. He's got great speed. He ran a legit 10.7 in high school. He's got good size. He's got super hands. We just have to get him going. He's an excellent player and ha really got the want-to right now. He's in the office all day, every day. A couple of times I've told him turn the lights off when you leave. He's still up there when I'm leaving. He still has an edge to him. He wants to be great."

I did not have time to transcribe a lot of the quotes from last week. Here there are:

MICHAEL PRATT

On Oklahoma as opener:

"Most definitely it's going to hold a great motivation for us having that on the clock every day that time's ticking down until we step out on this field face to face with them. I know it is for me and I know it is for a lot of our guys. Our offensive line is doing great preparation just getting ready for that and moving forward."

On Chip Long compared to Will Hall:

"It's been really great. It's something that I've been really liked is learning a new perspective, obviously having coach Hall last year and then coach Long coming in this year and teaching me some new things and tying them both together and figuring out what works best for the offense. Just the tempo that we've been installing and putting in is going to be huge for us, just getting plays off and spreading the ball out more and mixing up the run and pass game. I'm really enjoying it."

On if he sees similarities between Long and Hall:

"To an extent. A lot of it's the same, a lot of it's different, but football wise I feel like a lot of the schemes and concepts are pretty similar."

On how different their personalities are:

"Both their coaching styles are really great. Coach Hall was a little bit more enthusiastic in some ways, but coach Long is a little tougher, and that's one way that I learn better is learning what I did wrong, not getting praise for what I did right. That's something that will benefit a lot of our guys and something they are buying into, and it's really motivating for us."

On goals for this season:

"Really just be the best that I can be. I'm trying to push at least 35 touchdowns and really just push our team and get our offensive line right and get our receivers in a place that they can just make plays next year."

On comfort factor now compared to last year:

"It's a lot better. In football terms the game just slows down a lot. I've already been here for a season. I've done this. Obviously last year was a little different because we didn't get a full spring, but I've been through a spring, I've been through a summer, I've been through a fall, so at this point we have to repeat. I know the ins and outs of what we can improve. I feel at this point I've earned some level of respect from my teammates to a point where I can become more of a vocal leader, and that's going to be something that's really huge for us just pushing forward and getting more guys to buy into our program and hold each other accountable internally."

On grading his performance last year:

"I did a lot of things well, but there's a lot of things watching film that I see I have to work on, little things--my footwork and my timing and flipping my eyes faster. There's a lot of things I really need to improve and stuff I've been working really hard on this offseason and this summer to get my footwork back right and my speed up. I think last season I did all right, but I have a lot to work on for it and I'm really excited for next year."

On respect off of freshman year:

"The way that I kind of look at it is if that to a lot of people is pretty good, what I can prove and I set my standard really high and I just want to continue to get better every single day. From that performance I can only go up, and that's what I'm really excited about. There's a lot of stuff I want to prove last year."

On bowl performance leaving bad taste in mouth:

"Moving forward we kind of had to let that sink in and hurt for a little while. That's what happened. Knowing the opportunity we had and the opportunity I had my freshman year to make history with three bowl wins in a row, just moving forward it leaves a lot of motivation for what we can accomplish and the little things that happened in that game. We had some guys go down. We had a couple linemen out before the game. We had a couple receivers out. That's the game of football sometimes. We need to do a better job of holding our NO. 2s accountable and pushing everybody else around us and making each other better because it's going to come down to that point where other people are going to have to play and stuff can happen. We just have to be prepared for that."

On seniors coming back for extra year, particularly Corey Dublin:

"That's going to be huge, just the spot that we don't have to fill now. His leadership has been really good this year and the past year and moving forward he's really stepped up. The chemistry of the offensive line is going to be really good this year. With Sincere (Haynesworth) and Joey (Claybrook) and Corey, it's going to be a really dominant left side. That's something that's really exciting for us and should be exciting for our running backs, too. We just have to keep pushing them, and he's done a great job of pushing the guys around him and keeping them accountable. It's a big bonus for us having him back."

SINCERE HAYNESWORTH

On new offensive line coach (funny to hear this now):

"There are going to be changes. We're getting a little bit more back to basics and making sure our fundamentals are there and keeping us all a good base to fall back on when we're tired and late in the game. We struggled a lot late in the game sticking to the fundamentals. That will be a big change and will be really good for us."

On experience up front:

"I feel like we can be awesome. There's a lot of leadership helping the younger guys feel more comfortable and just really showing them the culture around here and competing. It will make us really good."

On bowl game leaving bad taste in mouth:

"It's huge. For a while it was all we could talk about. I know me personally I found a couple of screen grabs of people talking about the team as a whole, and I look at it every day and think about it and refresh everybody that this is what we have to improve. We can't be that team. We are a good team now."

On Dublin returning:

"It's huge. It's always good to have someone who knows the ropes and can lead. He's a great leader. He keeps us all in line, and if we start to drift away, he's always there to say I've been here for the good and the bad, I know what good teams do, I know what bad teams do and I know what to do to avoid it. He's really harping on keeping us in the right direction. It's important."

On what have to do to take next step as team:

"Just getting ready to finish. Coach was just talking about in order to go from good to great, we've got to be able to finish. That's one thing we didn't do a lot of last season, so we're improving on that."

On frustration of close losses last year:

"It is a little bit frustrating, but it's really motivating to know we're right there, we can compete with anybody in this conference and in this country. We just have to be able to finish. It gives me a lot of confidence knowing we're right there. We just have to take it now."

On what learned about Pratt last year:

"He did amazing. I've never seen someone come in and get accustomed to things so quickly. He's really good with everyone culture wise and fits right in. He's a good leader. He's started young."

On opening with Oklahoma:

"That's huge. They are up there with the best of them. They have a lot of buzz around them right now. It will be good for us to know exactly who we're playing. I don't think we should shy away from it at all. I know we won't shy away from it at all. We are going to take the challenge head on and full steam ahead."

On what those screen grabs were:

"I saw a lot of people talking about how we didn't seem prepared or didn't seem like we even wanted to be there. A lot of people were saying we didn't deserve to be there after how they think we played. I disagree. We should have been there. There are a lot of things we could have done better, but it's motivation for the whole team to see that and hear that and know we've got something to prove. It just gives us something more to prove and something more to play for."

Now I'm concerned. Good teams bounce back from heartbreaking defeats, while bad teams let them linger. There certainly was nothing good about Tulane's performance in Hammond last night, when the bats, my big question mark entering the year, disappeared in an abysmal four-hit, 16-strikeout performance. I talked to Travis Jewett this morning about the state of his team, which is 3-5 entering a now pivotal series against Western Kentucky it needs to sweep.

JEWETT

On his concerns being realized about letting back-to-back heartbreaking losses to Mississippi State linger:

"Well, I guess the way we played would say yes if you're really trying to be honest. We played lackluster. We were unengaged in a lot of ways both at the plate (all game) and on the mound in really only one inning (talking about the pitchers). Other than that, we had some guys insert themselves on the mound. Jake McDonald threw a really good inning. Cam Szinsky came in driving the ball good. Now he ended up walking the leadoff guy in the sixth that led to a sac fly. (Bryan) Valigoski came in for his first college appearance and got a left-hander out. (David) Bates punched out a couple. Clifton Slagel pitched well. At one point they had five runs and two hits, but we had zero runs and two hits. We were atrocious offensively. That's the frustrating part. Hitting is kind of like a bull riding event. The better the guy, the longer you have to stay on him and try to get a score. The gate opened and we got left off and couldn't even register a score. Their guy was a bull and we fell off. It was just really uninspiring and worrisome."

On not being motivated by recent history of domination by Southeastern:

"You would think that would be in their minds. I will tell you this. I didn't get them ready. I have to evaluate that. I thought we took a really good B.P, but that's lob ball and different than the game. Offensively we should have been able to overcome one bad inning of pitching to make it somewhat of a game. We scored when they made an error. So many times we talk about how many times do we get a runner on third with less than two outs. It was not applicable. We barely reached second. With that being said, you have to give your opponent credit. They were much more inspired and just did the things they had to do. There were four hits on both sides. I don't think there was an extra-base hit. There was one where a runner got to second because we threw the ball to third when we didn't have a play and they were both safe."

On Trevor Minder's struggles (he is hitting .154):

"He's struggling. I think he's searching for his swing right now, so he's going to have to stay convicted and stay strong because he's not coming out. He's our guy there and he does some other things so well (his fielding has been terrific), but he has to get through it. Right now his swing's not clicking, that's for sure. It's not just him. It's quite a few other hitters."

On Western Kentucky series:

"This is a must win. We have to find some ways to do it. Olthoff, Benoit and Aldrich can't pitch all the games. I say it all the time, it's like always, always, the game says what we need to do. Right now whether it's not getting some bunts down or not having a good approach. Last night we were swinging at the arm and not seeing the ball early and seeing it long. We were just kind of swinging at the arm and it was evident. Call it what it is. It's early but at the same time, I told the kids after Mississippi State a Big League season is a slow jog, a 162 games. This is 56, so we have to get ready. We're walking right now. We have to start running,"

About Western Kentucky, which is 3-3, losing a series to North Dakota State (yikes) and winning a series against Cincinnati (two 5-4 wins followed by an 11-3 loss):

"They are a good team. Coach (John) Pawlowski has been around in Charleston (where he was a three-time Southern Conference coach of the year and won a regional in 2006) and Auburn (where he won the SEC West in 2010 and hosted a regional), so obviously he knows what the heck he is doing. They took two out of three from Cincinnati last weekend, so we have a team that we're going to compete against that's already taken a series from a team in our league. If that doesn't have your attention, I don't know what does. But that's the biggest thing. We just have to compete. We have to honor the game and play the game in front of us. I was telling the staff today we have to make our own music so to speak. Mississippi State is just natural. You've got the venue, the crowd, the energy, all that kind of stuff, and all of a sudden it's not and we didn't create our own music. It was tough to watch."

On Tyler Hoffman striking out five in a row then losing his control:

"He just couldn't throw the ball where he wanted to all of a sudden. It was a pretty fast flip. It was hot knife in butter for a while going through them, and then all of a sudden one ball led to another and he lost it quick. It's unfortunate. I would think pitchers at this level would be able to drive the ball over the plate where they want to throw it on a consistent basis, and that obviously got away from us last night."

On Olthoff pitching Friday:

"You can't say that he's going to win, but what you know is he's going to give you a competitive outing, and hopefully he can keep us in the game. Other than that one inning yesterday, our pitchers did that. It all just happened in one inning. At one point they had five runs on two hits. That's freebies and giving. I was telling my wife this morning we might still be playing at zero-zero if it hadn't been for that inning, but those guys did a better job of it and were more consistent for a longer time than we did. That was the difference in the game."

Tulane practiced without full pads again Thursday morning, and there was a lot of action in the 11-on-11 drill that ended the workout.

Michael Pratt and Justin Ibieata alternated, each taking four snaps at a time with their units as players were shuffling in and out with the ball moving steadilly down the field in a pre-planned down-and-distance system. On the very first play, Pratt connected with running back Ygenio Booker on a beautiful deep throw on an out route that would have gained at least 50 yards if the drill had been live. Booker beat nickelback Macon Clark by a step as he ran toward the sideline. Clark tried to undercut the route but the ball went past him and right into Booker's hands in stride as he turned up field. Pratt scrambled on the next play before Clark exacted his revenge, jumping a short out route by Cyron Sutton and getting an interception return for a touchdown. Pratt then threw slightly short of Devin Brumfield as he scrambled to his right.

Ibieta went in and had an miscommunication with wide receiver Tyrek Presley, who has yet to make an impact, throwing to the sideline while Presley kept running downfield. Ibieta hit Booker on an short out route, was pressured into a low throw to Phat Watts that fell incomplete and had a pass for Booker broken up by a number I could not identify.

Pratt's second series started with a scramble. He then threw to Duece Watts on a slant, hit Jaetavian Toles on another beautiful bullet pass that eluded Ajani Kerr even though there was almost no space. Arm strength is not an issue for Pratt. His next play was a throwaway under pressure.

Ibieata returned and threw incomplete off Presley's hands. Presley then caught a pass on a bubble screen, but he seemed a little under the weather and was laboring when he went to the sideline. He started heaving and may have thrown up. Ibieata then almost connected with Phat Watts deep for what would have been a touchdown, with the ball going off his fingertips, before hitting Stephen Payne on an underneath route.

I stopped paying attention to every play at that point and being taking down depth chart information, but I noted some more highlights. Lance Robinson had perfect form when he broke up a pass in the end zone, emphatically knocking it down with one hand. Pratt found Toles outside for a nice gain. The defense completely snuffed out a reverse to Booker that would have lost a lot of yards if the drill had been live. Christian Daniels, who is good at getting open but not as good at finishing the play, dropped a low pass from Pratt that was not an easy catch but could have been made about 25 yards down the field. Ibieata threw an interception that Joker Armoni Dixon snagged with good hands and brought back for a touchdown, prompting Dorian Williams to run from the sideline and meet Dixon in the end zone to celebrate with him. On the next play, Ibieta completed a pretty deep TD pass to Phat Watts, who beat Reggie Neely and walk-on Rishi Rattan. The last play of the day was a touchdown pass from Pratt to tight end Tyrick James.

I should have known something was up with the offensive linemen because they practiced next to the wall in one of the end zones, which is unusual. Last year they practiced right in front of where reporters sit in the stands. Everyone was practicing except for Joey Claybrook, who stood right next to them and watched as he recuperates from offseason knee surgery, and and Sincere Haynesworth, whom I did not see at all (despite my erroneous report yesterday). Haynesworth spoke after Wednesday's practice, so I do not believe he is hurt unless he got injured early yesterday. The first-team line in the 11-on-11 was Timothy Shafter at LT, Rashad Green at LG, Corey Dublin at C, Josh Remetich at RG and Trey Tuggle at RT. I don't think I caught the second team right away, but when I wrote it down, it was Michael Lombardi at LT, Jackson Fort at LG, Michael Remondet at C, Hayden Shook at RG and Joseph Solomon at RT. Cameron Jackel and Caleb Thomas, who were practicing in individual drills, were not out there at that point.

The first-unit receivers were Jaetavian Toles, Duece Watts and Phat Watts. Jha'Quan Jackson was in red and did not participate in 11 on 11.

The first-team defense had Carlos Hatcher, Eric Hicks, Jeffery Johnson and Angelo Anderson up front. They were mixing and matching the linebackers, with Kevin Henry and Jesus Machado operating as one unit. Earlier, Henry got some reps in individuals at Joker. Lance Robinson and Ajani Kerr were playing cornerback together, and Clark and Cornelius Dyson were together at safety. I would not read much into any of this because I expect Adonis Friloux and certainly Larry Brooks to be starters.

Earlier in practice, five players fielded balls from a Juggs machine in the end zone--Duece Watts, Toles, Cyron Sutton, Jackson and Phat Watts.

Players not practicing at all were Claybrook, Tyjae Spears, Reggie Brown, Mykel Jones, Ryan Thompson and walk-ons Tyler Lamm and Matthew Redmond.

Tulane reportedly hired a new offensive line coach yesterday. I have not gotten it confirmed through sources, but Football Scoop is almost never wrong, so it almost certainly will be Chris Watt, a former Notre Dame offensive lineman and current grad assistant for the Irish. He is in 20s just like Cody Kennedy was when he arrived with Will Hall. Hopefully Fritz will be able to talk about him tomorrow.