It turns out Ron Hunter had coronavirus and pretty much all of the symptoms. I talked to him today for the first time since right after the Wave's loss to Houston on Jan. 9, when was just beginning to feel under the weather.

Here is what he had to say:

Did you have coronavirus?

"Yes, I did have it. I tested positive for it. I had extreme symptoms. I'm probably only about 60 percent right now. Shortness of breath. Even if we had played last Saturday, there is no way I could have coached that game. It's no joke. It's absolutely no joke."

What have the last two weeks been like?

"It's been a living hell, I'll be honest with you, from watching my team have to perform, then all of a sudden half of my team being quarantined to me just trying to get out of bed. All I've done is get out of bed. I tried to come to practice Sunday. We had six guys. Yesterday I had seven guys. Today I had eight, so I think Thursday will be the first time that I've been around my team since January 9 with a full program together, but not everyone will play Thursday because of some guys just getting out of quarantine."

Do you know who will be available?

"I don't want to say that. I don't want to give the other team (Houston) any edge. We need all the help we can get."

You knew this season was going to be unlike any other, and I guess it has been.

"I'll be honest with you, until you have this, and I had this, I think completely differently now. I think there's no way we should be playing right now. Going through what I've been through and what I'm still going through right now, and then even to see my kids, part of what I've got to do right now is get my kids mentally (back). The wins and losses don't even matter right now. It's the mental aspect of what COVID has done to people. I just felt we're in the middle of this pandemic and we're canceling games. I understand the end game. I understand about the NCAA tournament and the money, and that's important. Hell, it pays my salary, so I understand that, but from a humane standpoint about what we're doing right now, it just doesn't make a lot of sense. If you look around the country at head coaches that are my age right now that have tested positive for COVID, it's one thing when you don't have it and you think you are at risk for it and you are around all these young people, and then you get it or you lose somebody to COVID. It makes you think completely differently about what you're doing. I do respect what Tulane has done. I'm at the best place in the country in regards to testing, and even my health, they've done a great job helping me get through this, but my job is these 18-, 19- and 20-year olds, and I'm worried about mentally what this is going to do long term, not just today and tomorrow, but what is this going to do long term for everyone."

What caused the last two postponements?

"Right after I was tested, two or three guys had it, so you just never know the timing of it. The most that we've had together, we had five guys that could have played Saturday and like I said, there were six Sunday and today we were at seven or eight. And again, knock on wood, we tested again this morning, so I could wake up tomorrow and the few guys who hadn't tested positive could turn around and test positive here. You just don't know. You really just don't know."

You have a ton of games coming up. How do you handle it?

"I've thought about that and what's mostly important right now, especially after being with the team today, is that I've got to get these guys mentally enjoying life again. The wins and losses, we'll get this thing going, but right now where everybody's at, I can just sense the guys are tired mentally. Part of my job as a leader is to get these guys excited about being in college and playing basketball and just take the pressure of winning and losing completely away right now and just staying healthy. For the guys who haven't caught it, they are worried about getting it. The guys that are out of quarantine, they are going in a completely different way. The last few weeks of the season really for me is to make sure these kids are mentally healthy enough that we can finish the year."

When you were watching the Temple game from home, how tough was that for you?

"I was in bed because I couldn't get out of bed. I locked myself in my bedroom and I fell out of bed twice. I was so angry, not at my players, I was angry at COVID because I felt helpless. I couldn't do anything. I'm yelling at the assistants to make substitutions. Of course they can't hear anything I'm saying. It was so funny. my neighbor called and checked on me to make sure I was OK because they thought they heard something break. It's something I never want to do again."

When did you first start feeling symptoms?

"The evening of the 9th. On our way back from Houston, I just didn't feel well."

You get to coach against Houston twice in a row. Your thoughts?

"They are really good. In a way I kind of feel bad for them in the sense they are having an unbelievable year in a COVID year, when all fans can't be there to watch. But hey, it's part of what we're living in, but my concern isn't so much about Houston. It's important that my guys put on those uniforms again, represent Tulane and come out and have fun. The process of building a program is going to continue to happen, but right now that's on the backburner. What's important is I get these kids enjoying college again, enjoying college basketball and get them back to having some more fun."

Sion James played well against Temple. What do you like most about him?

"I just think he's a winner. There are certain guys that are talented. There are certain guys that have what I call the it factor. You can't recruit it. You can't really coach it. He just has that. He's going to be the guy we build this program around. When you look at him and (Jaylen) Forbes and we've got these guys the next three or four years, the foundation is built. When you are trying to start a program like we're doing, it's important that you get a foundation, and we have that foundation. He's also one of those young guys I"m concerned about. I want to make sure we get him healthy and get his mind healthy, not physically, just his mind."

He seems incredibly mature for his age (turned 18 during the season).

"I really am but I want him to enjoy college. What I'm concerned about is we're taking everything so seriously, and we should be because we're in the middle of a pandemic. I want them walking around smiling and enjoying things. We haven't had much to smile about in the last three or four weeks. It's been miserable for all of us, so hopefully getting back, this is our therapy, our medicine, getting back on the court together as a group for the first time on Thursday, I think that will help all of us."

Grad transfer DB from University of Colorado tweets he is coming to Tulane. Started at safety in 2019 and 2020.

Talking to Jewett in 45 minutes. The main focus will be the schedule, which still has not been released, and I will find out what happened to Luke Jannetta, who no longer is on the roster.

Any other specific questions you want me to ask?

I caught up with Sutton the day after the spring semester started at Tulane. He put up huge numbers at McNeese and could have gone down as the most accomplished receiver in school history if he had stayed for the spring season this year, but he wanted to test himself at a higher level and transferred to Tulane, where he definitely should be one of the best four wideouts along with Jha'Quan Jackson, Duece Watts and Phat Watts. Where he fits remains to be seen, but he was a playmaker with plenty of speed for McNeese.

On key factors in decision to transfer to Tulane:

"Truthfully it was really just me wanting to explore more. I was in Lake Charles for four-plus years (he redshirted in 2016 and played the next three). I graduated and did everything I could for McNeese. I figured I can play up, so why not?"

On if Southland Conference postponing season to spring was a factor:

"I think if they wouldn't have postponed the season, I would have played my last season just because I wanted to finish with the guys that I started with. I wanted to leave McNeese as considerably the best receiver to ever come there, but I think I still truthfully had that idea in my head that I wanted to play up. It was tough to leave just off the simple fact that the guys I'd bonded with were still there. It was nothing personal. The decision was based on me wanting to explore other options."

On how he became a great player:

"As soon as I got there in 2016, a great coaching staff (Lance Guidry was his head coach from 2016 to 2018 before getting fired) and even after that. We went through three coaches in four years (Sterlin Gilbert replaced Guidry in 2019 but left to become Syracuse offensive coordinator at the end of the season, prompting McNeese to hire Frank Wilson), so I guess learning from different people helped me out a lot. Different offenses, different terminologies, different schemes, etcetera."

On his best attribute:

"Truthfully I think it's my I.Q. Learning the defenses, knowing what beats what because everybody has speed, but I think it's more mentally than physically."

On Tulane receivers:

"I'm coming in with a bunch of great guys just trying to contribute what I can do and have fun doing it back home in New Orleans."

On what Tulane coaches told him:

"Basically they sold me on being home, needing receivers and just the atmosphere and coaching staff."

On Chip Long:

"We spoke briefly about his plans and ideas. Personally I'm ready to go to see what's going and what's going to happen. I think we're going to be very successful."

On schools he considered besides Tulane:

"I had a few tough decisions. Colorado State made a good offer. Texas State made a good offer. Truly my daughter played the biggest part of it. She is with her mom in Houston, but I think my best seeing her and being with her was in New Orleans with my mom's help. If I would have gone to Colorado, I wouldn't have been able to see her too much."

On not being recruited much out of Lake Area Tech (now John F. Kennedy High):

"Personally I was very disappointed, but it was a new school so I guess I expected that. I guess God blessed me with a chance to play at McNeese and everything happens for a reason, so I'm grateful."

On recruiting out of high school:

"I had an offer from Louisiana College. I had interest from Louisiana Tech, Grambling and I believe that's really it."

With the spring semester starting yesterday, I confirmed that all of the early enrollers who were supposed to come are indeed on campus.

It is the three transfers--Devin Brumfield, Lance Robinson and Cyron Sutton--plus Shook, Lillibridge, Lunz and Canady as early-arriving freshmen.

Is Brumfield coming this spring? Semester starts 1/19/21.

When I wrote for The Advocate that Ray McCallum was expected to be Tulane's acting head coach for temporarily absent Ron Hunter (COVID concerns) yesterday, I should have written the word "I" for attribution because I had no sourcing for that info. Turns out I was wrong, and Claude Pardue got the assignment. Pardue has been with Hunter a long time and is the only one of his three assistants who had not been a head coach previously.

I just talked to Pardue on the phone about his assignment and Tulane's quick shift to preparing for Temple tomorrow at noon at home rather than traveling to play Cincinnati on the road.

On the situation:

"There's a little bit of a different approach because you are in a different seat, but having guys on the staff like Ray McCallum and Kevin Johnson is a huge asset for us. I've been with coach Hunter the longest. This is our 10th season together. Coach Johnson has the Temple scout, so not to overwhelm him so much but it's one of those things where it will be a collaborative effort. Me and coach Ray have been working together for five years now and we'll figure some things out. It's not much of a different approach. It's going to be a little bit because it's my voice instead of coach Hunter's, but it's one of those things we've been working together for so long, it's one and the same."

On cohesion:

"The planning of practice this week is somewhat easy. Coach gave me the responsibility to do that because I'm here with the guys and have a better feel. I've been doing it for 10 and Ray's been doing it for five, so we know two days before a game what it's supposed to look like, the day before a game what coach Hunter would want it to look like. It's somewhat of a well-oiled machine. But coach Hunter's leadership and the way he's build the program and him being the missing piece, us being able to carry on and continue and work for that same goal is a reflection on him more than anything."

On when found out Hunter would not coach game:

"The day before (the tweet Thursday). We found out a couple days before. I've been on the phone with him four or five times a day. We Zoom a couple of times a day. We are in constant contact, but we've been together so long it's kind of knowing what to do and knowing how a week should look with the bye week and going into a game on a weekend. The crazy thing for us we had thought we were going to play Cincinnati up until yesterday morning. Then all of a sudden the script flipped and we're playing Temple at home. That's kind of what this season is going to be like. You just take those changes as they come and on to the next."

On toughest aspect of that change:

"It's hard but it's nothing. We've been talking to the players and getting them focused when everything that's going on, this basketball season is unlike any that's ever taken place, and it's hard to understand at times because when we all played, you knew your schedule well before the season, but we had a game canceled last week, a game canceled the week before and now we have a cancel and a reschedule. I think one of the hardest things is just looking out for your players and making sure they are on the same page and they know what our goal is and our mission, so reinforcing that and being in constant communication with them."

On fourth game in 28 days:

"We need the games. We want the games. We've tried to make practice not as routine. Usually we get in our routine that we play Wednesday/Saturday, so every Monday is the same, every Tuesday, every Thursday, every Friday, those days between games, but this year it's funny because no day is the same. This Monday wasn't the same as last Monday and it won't be the same as next Monday. We're trying to let them play more in practice and set up scrimmages in practice to keep the guys' interest. They love to play basketball. It's hard. If you're playing four games in 28 days, it means you have 21, 22 days of practice. You never want to bore them. We're here to have fun playing basketball, so we want to keep it light and keep them playing as much as possible."

On Tulane being No. 1 in turnover margin in the AAC and Temple being last with two freshmen in the backcourt:

"They are young, we're young. They are susceptible to turnovers and we lead the league in turnover margin. Our teams have always been that way, so we're not asking our guys to do anything out of the ordinary in our game plan. Our plan is going to be similar to how we played East Carolina the second time. We're going to go into it and be confident and limit them to certain shots that we feel like we can be successful defending, and if we stay tight and stay on the same page and our players communicate, we'll be fine. The last two days of practice, you asked what the hardest thing was earlier, and it's getting those guys to shift focus as fast as they have to shift these days. But man, the testament to our leadership the last two days has been phenomenal. They know what's at stake here. They are going to be ready tomorrow. I can promise you that."

On Brendan Barry, a phenomenal 3-point shooter (the Dartmouth grad transfer, a distant relative of Rick Barry, is 16 of 29 on 3s and hit eight treys two different times when he was at Dartmouth):

"He's shooting I think it's 56 percent from the 3-point line. His whole career he's had the green light and he's taken advantage of it. It's a testament to our leadership and to our guys and how they've stayed together and handled everything. It's just another thing. When we prepared the last couple of days, coach Johnson did a phenomenal job of prepping these guys. A lot of times what happens when you have a 48-hour turnaround, personnel becomes as important as their actions and what they tried to get done. Strategy is going to be big, but man, if we can just lock in and know their personnel, it's going to be a strength of ours. We know. We're locked in on Barry and we're going to know where he is at all times."

On who had scout assignment for Cincinnati:

"I had the scout for Cincinnati, so we practiced early this week and were practicing for it and then we had to flip on Thursday and scramble a little bit."

If what the players told Willie Fritz before departing for Christmas break proves accurate, here's what Tulane's scbolarship roster will look like next fall if there is no more attrition (which there will be) and no more additions (which there will be). I count 87 at the moment, two over the previous limit, although the NCAA figures to give schools some relief there after granting everyone an extra year of eligibility due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

QUARTERBACK (3)

Starter: Michael Pratt
Backups: Justin Ibieta, Kai Horton

Comment: Barring injury, this is deep enough for the short term. Pratt is entrenched as the starter, and Ibieta will be better than Keon Howard if he develops at all.

RUNNING BACK (5 or 6)

Starter: not clear.
Players: Stephon Huderson, Cameron Carroll, Tyjae Spears, Ygenio Booker, Iverson Celestine
Possible: Corey Dauphine

Comment: If Spears is healthy, he is the top guy here, but it usually takes more than 12 months for players to recover their full ability from an ACL injury. Dauphine would be the first seventh-year senior I've ever heard of.

WIDE RECEIVER (12)

Starters: Duece Watts,. Jha'Quan Jackson, Phat Watts
Backups: Cyron Sutton Jaetavian Toles, Tyrek Presley, Dane Ledford, Sorrell Brown, Ryan Thompson, TJ Huggins, Jeff Nwankwo, Bryce Bohanon

Comment: McNeese State transfer Sutton is an important addition. Other than Toles and Thompson, I would not count on any of the 2019 backups returning. Presley and Ledford are potential transfer portal guys and Brown might give up football because of his knees. This is a position that needs a serious upgrade in quality depth.

TIGHT END (6)

Starter: Tyrick James
Backups: Will Wallace, Christian Daniels, Keitha Jones, Reggie Brown, Tyler Lamm

Comment: James ended the year like he was supposed to begin it. Wallace came on, too. Daniels has potential. Jones was used a lot as a blocker. Lamm, from ULM and Holy Cross High, tweeted his transfer today. He had 12 catches in 2020.

OFFENSIVE LINE (16)

Starters: Joey Claybrook at LT, Corey Dublin at LG, Sincere Haynesworth at C, Josh Remetich at RG, Trey Tuggle at RT
Backups: Caleb Thomas, Timothy Shafter, Rashad Green, Cameron Jackel, Michael Remondet, Joseph Solomon, Matt Lombardi, Stephen Lewerenz, Jackson Fort, Hayden Shook, Hutson Lillibridge

Comment; This is the same starting lineup Tulane opened with in 2020. Green, Thomas, Solomon, Lombardi, Jackel , Shafter and Remondet likely will be vie for top backups.

DEFENSIVE TACKLE (8)

Starters: Jeffery Johnson, Adonis Friloux
Backups: Eric Hicks, Noah Seiden, Davon Wright, Alfred Thomas, Nik Hogan, Colby Orgeron

Comment: The starters should be very good, but this is a thin position, particularly since Wright and Thomas underperformed in 2020 and may not be happy. There were no DTs in the early signing class.

DEFENSIVE END (10)

Starters: Angelo Anderson, Darius Hodges
Backups: Carlos Hatcher, Noah Taliancich, Armoni Dixon, Torri Singletary, Elijah Champaigne, Michael Lunz, Parker Peterson, Devean Deal

Comment: Hatcher will compete with Hodges for a starting spot. Anderson is a rising star at Joker. The rest are unproven.

LINEBACKER (8)

Starters: Dorian Williams, Nick Anderson
Backups: Marvin Moody, Kevin Henry, Jesus Machado, Matthew Hightower, Mandel Eugene, Corey Platt

Comment: If Moody and Henry return as they indicated at this loaded position, it likely will be to backup roles after Williams' outstanding year and Anderson's very solid one. Machado will be a factor, too.

CORNERBACK (9)

Starters; Jaylon Monroe, Kevaris Hall
Backups: Willie Langham, Kiland Harrison, Reggie Neely, Levi Williams, Jadon Canady, Bailey Despanie, Kolby Phillips

Comment: Canady had a sensational senior year in high school and could make an immediate impact at a spot that needs a playmaker.

SAFETY (5)

Starters: Larry Brooks, Cornelius Dyson
Backups: Lance Robinson, Shi'Keem Laister, Kanyon Walker

Comment: The starters are fine, but there is zero depth if Robinson, who played primarily at cornerback for Kansas State after being rated a 3-star safety coming out of De La Salle, winds up at cornerback, which also is a need despite the superior depth there. Walker has not been able to practice for two years due to a lingering injury. This is a spot that must be addressed in the late signing period or through transfers.

NICKELBACK (2)

Starter: Macon Clark
Backups: Langham, KJ Vault

Comment: Clark has promise. KJ Vault has been no factor.

KICKER (2)

Starter: Merek Glover
Backup: Kriston Esnard

Comment: Glover has improved his leg strength but never has become truly reliable.

PUNTER (1)

Starter: Ryan Wright

Comment: it is interesting that Phil Steele left Wright off his first, second- and third-team All-American Athletic Conference

LONG SNAPPER (2)

Starter: Ethan Hudak
Backup: Matt Smith

It's Keith Cooper, a 3-star prospect from Dickinson High in Texas who had a lot of high-quality pursuers in the fall who apparently dropped away as signing day approached. I'm not sure what happened, and he did not explain it to me when I asked him tonight, but he ended up choosing Tulane over UTSA. His original final six in October were Arizona State, Inidiana, Kansas State, Ole Miss, Penn State and UCLA, all of which had offered him. His first love was basketball and he did not think he would play football in college until his junior year. His high school coach has been quoted that he has tremendous upside and will grow into a 270-pound player. Cooper says he is 6 4-1/2 and 235 pounds right now,

I will have a full story later this evening.

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Monster run during the playoffs including an 82 yard pick six in state championship. Jaylen Forbes and JerKaila Jordan, also nominated.

I talked to Tylan Pope and Ron Hunter as Tulane prepares for Saturday's game against No. 11 Houston, which has been moved to 3 p.m. and will be televised by ESPNU. The Wave has not beaten a ranked team since No. 25 North Carolina State on Dec. 22, 1999 and has not beaten a team ranked this high since knocking off No. 11 Indiana on Nov. 23, 1994, the last season Tulane made the NCAA tournament.

Pope is not a good interview yet, but he also has not learned how to B.S., so some of his answers are refreshing.

TYLAN POPE

You add a ton of energy when you come on the court. is that your natural game?

"It's just the way I play. I feel like coming off the bench, you gotta have a lot of energy, especially if we are losing or things are going bad, I have to be able to bring that energy on to the court and be a change in momentum."

You signed with Stephen F. Austin but did not end up there last year. What happened?

"it's kind of I didn't take the ACT or the SAT because I didn't really know anything about it, but when it came time for eligibility, they kept pushing me to get the score and a lot of stuff was going on with my final transcript, too. The whole process was messed up. Tulane had recruited me when Dunleavy was here., so I ended up taking the test and getting the score I needed to get."

How hard was it to sit out last year?

"It's pretty tough mentally and physically. You've got to be able to keep your skills sharp and mentally you have to stay in it, too, and keep your basketball I.Q. and stuff like that. During that time there was a whole bunch of stuff going on away from basketball, so I had to stay strong from all areas."

What was the most difficult thing for you last year?

"It was just tough sitting out games. The whole year I couldn't play basketball, and I'm not used to it."

How do you feel like you've performed this year?

"I'm not where I want to be, but I feel like I'm getting there. It's a process. It's totally different playing games than just practicing."

What are your best skills?

"Just really rebounding and my defense, just hustling. That's pretty much it."

How much does your rebounding ability help this team?

"It can help us out a lot. We're not the biggest team. We're not the most athletic team. Just coming in and being able to do what I do will help the team out a lot down the road."

How close are you to playing defense the way you need to?

"This is my first time actually trying to learn the system, so it's kind of difficult for me. I never had to really learn the system. It's always been just go get a bucket. I'm getting there slowly but surely."

What is the hardest thing to learn about the matchup defense?

"Just the whole defense. Just being in the right spot at the right time always."

How much does your energy help the team?

"It helps out a lot. Just seeing that energy, coming out and hustling, I feel like that will give the other players on the team that energy so they can get back in the game and get back in the flow."

What do you need to work on the most?

"My offensive game. I feel like I'm playing out of position. I'm used to playing a little bit of guard here and there. I'm down with it. I just have to really learn."

What did you play in high school?

"I played everything. I played point guard all the way down to the post."

How good can this team be?

"We are going to be pretty good. We feel like we can be top six in the conference and hopefully as the years go by we'll be a Sweet 16 team."

How hard has the stop-and-start nature of a season in the midst of coronavirus been?

"It's an adjustment, but I feel like the team is responding great to it. We just move on to the next game and focus on the next team and do what we have to do to get the win."

How much are you looking forward to playing Houston?

"It's a challenge, but there's no pressure. I feel like all our guys are ready and prepared as much as we can be. Hopefully we'll get this win."

HUNTER

You've had extra time to prepare for this game with Wednesday's game with Temple postponed. What has it been like?

"I'll be honest. It's not easy because where my program is now, we need to play and you've got to learn how to get into a rhythm. We've been practicing since June, but this is the life we're living right now so we've got to adapt to it like everyone else, but it's not something we prefer. I've actually been on the phone trying to find schools to play, and we just can't find people to play right now. It's tough, but we're looking forward to Saturday. I'm actually kind of glad we're going on the road just to kind of get the kids away and get them thinking about playing."

What challenges does Houston present?

"In my opinion they are by far the best team in the league, so one of the things I look at, and I've known Kelvin for a while, I knew when he took over Houston how bad that program was, so I really look and see the steps that he took in year two, year three. That's my measuring stick, so I'm really looking forward to seeing how our kids go down there and play in our second road game together, just to see how our kids handle playing a team of that caliber."

What are the keys to slowing Quentin Grimes (who is averaging 18.1 points and 7.2 rebounds) down?

"He's a good player, but it's not only just him. We have to make sure we limit second-chance opportunities. They average 15 a game and that's not been a strength since we've been here. That's the first stat I'm going to look at at halftime and the first stat I'm going to look at after the game just to see how we do on the glass."

Pope had some really good rebounds against East Carolina. How important will he be against Houston?

"Oh yeah, this is a big game for you. He'll see a lot of minutes. Whether we played Houston or not, he's earned some minutes. Like I told you before, we've got to get him between 15 and 20 minutes a game. He's by far our best rebounder. He's getting better at learning the system. Again, when he gets to the point where he understands the defense, those minutes will go up."

Your free throw percentage is better than any full season for Tulane since the 1960s. What do you like about your guys at the line?

"We don't talk about that. I don't know what to say. Free throws are such a mental thing. We missed 10 free throws the first time against East Carolina and them made (almost) every one (in the rematch). I don't bring it up. I don't say anything about it. It's working, so I'm not going to touch it."

How encouraging was the performance against East Carolina?

"You look at stages. You look at growth. It was a hurdle that I was really happy with because that's like, hey, we're getting better, and you can only see that in games. And not having played a game since then and getting another week off, you just lose some of your timing, especially for young teams, but we've done everything we can. We had a simulated game on Wednesday and today was a walkthrough mental day in preparation for Houston. We're trying about as much as we can, and again, I bet we made 200 calls today trying to find somebody."

Is there any way you'll be able to make up the UCF and Temple games that were postponed?

"The conference hasn't said a whole lot. There may be some times you get a team to play back-to-back, but no one really wants to play back-to-back. I just think it's going to be a no contest. I think that's what's going to happen, not only for us but for a lot of teams in the league."

Just talked to Willie Fritz about an upcoming honor for Patrick Johnson that has a national embargo until 6:30 p.m. because the award organization has not released it yet. I asked him if Joey Claybrook would need surgery for his leg injury in the Potato Bowl, and he said he did not think so. They will know for sure when players return from Christmas break, but the outlook when Claybrook left was he would recover without surgery.

In other news, and keep this under your hat, it looks like Corey Dublin, Stephon Huderson,, Jaylon Monroe, Merek Glover, Kevin Henry and Marvin Moody will return for their COVID-granted extra year. This is not a certainty, but they were leaning that way when they left for Christmas break. Fritz said he gave all of the seniors who might come back time to consider what they wanted to do before making a firm decision. I don't think anyone else will come back, but we will see

Pro Day would be a big deal for Tulane with Patrick Johnson and Cam Sample applying for the draft, but Fritz said it was up in the air due to COVID restrictions. It is up to the NFL to determine whether they want those local events conducted.

I saw the criticism of Luke Fickell on Twitter right after the loss to Georgia yesterday while I was attending a small New Year's Day family gathering. I had watched the first half and DVRd the second half and did not watch it until this morning, but oh my God! It's hard to find more inept clock management. After Georgia idiotically punted on fourth-and-3 from its own 42 with 3:07 left and only two timeouts, Cincinnati got a first down, forcing the Bulldogs to use their remaining two timeouts on first and second down. But earlier, on the two plays it took to get the first down (both of which went out of bounds, but I'm OK with that because getting the first down was paramount and the clock stops only briefly before starting again when there are more than two minutes left), Cincinnati snapped the ball with 12 and 9 seconds left on the play clock, which is inexcusable. Then, facing a third-and-2 with 1:41 left, Cincinnati absolutely, positively needed to run the ball. This is not a debate. It's a fact. Even if they were stopped at their own 38, the clock would have run down to 55 seconds before they punted. Assume a 35-yard net gain on the punt, and Georgia would have taken over at its own 27 with about 45 seconds left and zero timeouts. Certainly, it would have been possible for the Bulldogs to get the 38 yards they would have needed to try a field goal, but it would have been difficult.

Instead, Cincinnati went with a roll-out pass with short and long options. When the long guy broke free for a second, Desmond Ridder launched the ball downfield, and a Georgia defender made a nice decision coming off his man to get back to knock it down. If Ridder had thrown it earlier or thrown a little longer it probably would have been a game-winning completion, but the risk/reward quotient was heavily against Cincinnati. Let Ridder, a nifty runner, keep the ball and try to pick up two yards. I'd say the odds were 50-50 he would have gotten the first down, but either way, the clock had to keep moving.

Afterward, Fickell got chippy when asked about his decision, saying his team played to win. That's a moronic, arrogant comment that reflects incredibly poorly on him. He was just plain wrong, and hopefully when he gets past the immediate moment, he will be man enough to admit the mistake that likely cost the AAC in particular and group of five conferences in general a lot of positive publicity. Plus, he was not even asked about snapping the ball with 12 and 9 seconds left on the clock early, which was beyond idiotic.

Fickell has done an incredible job with Cincinnati, but if I'm a big-time Power Five school looking for a coach, I would be hesitant to hire him. Cincinnati finished second to last in the nation in penalties this year--a typical spot for the Bearcats under Fickell--and many of the penalties are of the dumb variety (false starts, the late hit by the offensive lineman that got him ejected for targeting and probably ended up costing Cincinnati the game). The offense is pedestrian, relying on Ridder to make plays but with no real sophistication in the scheme. The defense is very well coached, but it is hard to win championships these days without an explosive offense.

The Peach Bowl matched two coaches with similar issues. Kirby Smart has done a heck of a job at Georgia, but he, too, is limited by his approach and some awful decision-making at times. I cannot believe Georgia punted on fourth-and-3 near midfield with two timeouts left and only 3:07 remaining. Smart was incredibly lucky to get away it, and now he probably is convinced it was the right decision and will lose a game in the future with a similarly conservative approach. There are times to be conservative--you run the ball when an opponent has no timeouts left and you need only two yards for the first down--and times you need to take a risk. I don't get into those ESPN percentage-chance-of-winning stats that are pervasive during games now, but I guarantee you the chance of Georgia winning by going for fourth-and-3 was better than by punting.

He is a former McNeese State wide receiver who caught 67 passes for 950 yards and nine touchdowns in 2019, the last time McNeese played with the Southland delaying the 2020 season to the spring of 2021.

Sutton is a 5-10, 182-pound graduate of Lake Area New Tech in New Orleans, a school I would not be familiar with if my wife and i had not put an offer on a house about two blocks from its campus three years ago. (We did not get it). He will be a redshirt senior in 2021. He had 41 catches for 609 yards as a redshirt sophomore.

Lake Area New Tech apparently has not fielded a team since 2017, when it won one game. Sutton did not show up in any recruiting profiles coming out of high school, but players from schools like that can slip through the cracks. He was an honor student at McNeese State.

I sent my annual position-by-position grades to the Advocate today, although it has not gone live because it may not run in the paper for several days. One time when I posted a story on the Advocate web site and they ran it five days later, critics accused them of recycling old material, so I'll wait at least a couple of days to make it live.

I start by giving Tulane an A+ for its handling of coronavirus, but here are my position grades.

QB: B (first two games rough)

RB: B+ (productive all year, even without the best player for last nine games)

WR: D (dropped passes, couldn't get open, only two viable options in the promising Duece Watts and Jha'Quan Jackson)

OL: B (biggest holes RBs have seen in a long time, biggest issues came vs. Houston and Nevada due to injury)

DL: A- (De'Andre Williams was not as productive as last season, otherwise very good)

LB: A (excellent group)

DB: F (everything that could go wrong, did)

Special Teams: B- (I might change this one to B, but Glover missed too many field goals, Houston had the key TD return on kickoff and Wright was not always consistent despite high average)

Coaching: C (6-6 against watered-down non-conference schedule and 3-5 in conference was not what was expected with Cam Sample, Patrick Johnson in senior years).

---Feel free to agree, quibble or outright disagree. I'd love to read your takes on the positions and the season.

In an interview, he said he no longer was interested in Tulane because Will Hall left and "he was my guy."

247 Sports Freshman All American

Picking the most outstanding offensive and defensive players for Tulane this year is not easy.

First, note the wording. I hate "MVP" awards because then you're basically giving the honor based on the quality of someone's backup, which always has been a strange way to give awards in my opinion. Anyway, it is difficult to pick a most outstanding player for different reasons on both sides of the ball.

On offense, despite The Green Wave averaging the second-most points in school history, there are no truly standout candidates. Michael Pratt established himself as Tulane's long-time quarterback of the future by playing pretty darn well in the present as a freshman, but he did not play in the first two games and did not play well in his first and last starts against Houston and Nevada, although the offensive line crumbling around him was a huge factor in both rough games. He led all freshman QBs with 20 touchdown passes but his 55-percent completion rate was modest. Cameron Carroll rushed for 12 touchdowns, an incredible total, but otherwise he was the third-best back on the team behind Tyjae Spears, who would have been the MOP if he had not gotten hurt, and Stephon Huderson. I give a lukewarm vote for Huderson, who did little before Spears got hurt but averaged 6.1 yards per carry in the last nine games, gaining about 82 yards per game in that span. He fumbled in four straighg games, though, so it's not an easy call by any means. You could make a strong case for Sincere Haynesworth, who did not allow a sack according to Football Focus, but I did not watch him closely enough to get a true measure of his performance.

On defense, there are four legitimately worthy candidates--Patrick Johnson, Cam Sample, Nick Anderson and Dorian Williams. I could make a case for all of them and maybe even convince myself. Johnson had double-digit sacks on his way to setting the school career record. Sample was effective down in and down out with the notable exception of Tulsa's Hail Mary, when his losing containment allowed the receivers enough time to get set in the back of the end zone before the ball arrived (though the real fault clearly lay with the secondary). Anderson, who was second on the team with 88 stops, including 10.5 for loss, is a tackling machine when he is on the field and an outstanding leader as well.

But my pick is the versatile Williams, who had a team-high 98 tackles with a whopping 16.5 behind the line of scrimmage despite starting only once in the first eight games. He also was decent in coverage. He did not receive all of the honors he deserved, but he will get them next year if he matches his performance as an unknown sophomore. He had 10 or more tackles in five games and set a career high with 14 against Nevada, when he played a big part in the goal line stand at the beginning of the game. He did it all for a defense that was very good in the front six but struggled mightily in the secondary.

Both of my selections are very much up for debate. Who are your picks?

There is some discussion on another site about the possibility of Boise State joining the AAC as a football only member. Whether that happens is yet to be determined but I generally like the idea of adding a solid football-only member who would compete for the AAC championship and gain more respect for the conference. I also like a 12-team alignment in which a school can play five games in division and 3 from the other division annually with 4 OOC games to manage the schedule. These 14 and 16 team conferences may be the future but they seem unwieldy to me. Of course, if Tulane were to join any sized P5 conference, my concerns about conference size would vanish.

Distance is not a major issue for a football-only addition. Most football games involve a team flying from their home city to the opponents. I’m not that concerned if the flight takes one hour or four. From a geographic standpoint, a Boise (or any other Western team) would make more sense in the western division but Missouri in the East of the SEC or Navy in the West of the AAC don’t make sense geographically either. So who cares. Boise would, however, have to find a conference home for its other sports—not necessarily an easy fix.

Personally, if we were to add a football only team, I’d want BYU. They have a longer track record, have already got a conference affiliation for their other sports, and may have a better football future than Boise who seems to be on a slight downswing.

Roll Wave!!!

I read that Cam Sample and Patrick Johnson opted out. Is this true?

I'm not a huge fan of PFF because their highly technical grades per play, like coaches' grades, do not necessarily reflect the true impact a player has on a game. More than one coach in my 30 years as a sportswriter have told me they don't pay attention that much to the grades their players get from their own film breakdown. Some of the Tulane players on this list are curious choices, but I completely agree with Nick Anderson making the first team after being left off the All-AAC coaches list entirely.

Interestingly, Ryan Wright is nowhere to be found, even as honorable mention, reflecting how inconsistent he was despite his prodigious average.

PFF All-AAC picks

Next year we have a potential 30 TD quarterback, a healthy Tyjae Spears along with Carroll/Celestine/Booker/and maybe Hudderson if he returns. Our entire O-line could potentially return depending on decisions by Dublin and Knutson. Great unit that is only getting stronger. Receivers need improvement but a great QB helps. I love Jackson and Deuce was great when he caught the ball. Defense is losing some studs but I’m hopeful we can revert to our historically solid defensive stereotype.

I’m happier about next season than I have been about any upcoming season since Bowden’s second year.

Hope we make good use of our final 8 scholies

I thought the bowl staff had done my transcribing for me when they emailed the quotes, but they were severely edited unlike at the major bowls when every word is on there, so I did it myself except for the intro, when a glitch on my computer rendered Fritz silent until I accessed the call on my phone.

"Nevada is a good team. I want to give them credit. I don’t want to act like everything is because of us. We had some mismatches and they exploited it early in the ballgame on the perimeter throwing the ball to their taller guys. They did a nice job of setting that up with good throws and catches.”

“I’m proud of our guys. We fought back in the second half. We did an excellent job of getting back in the ballgame. We had a chance to go down and take the lead and we couldn’t get that done. When you’re playing a team like Nevada you can’t be minus in the turnovers and takeaways.”

(Here is where I picked it up)

On the series with three sacks in three plays (Tulane had taken over at the Nevada 27 while trailing 32-20):

"Yeah, it was real critical. We were trying to get help from the back chipping where we knew we had a mismatch, and I was disappointed one time we kind of chipped him and had it protected on the edge and they got pressure inside and got a sack as well. Hindsight's 20-20. I've got a coordinator who was working his first game and we had a bunch of receivers out. Tyrick James is out. Jha'Quan Jackson is out. Duece didn't make the trip. We had guys playing different spots. I know we had 19 guys that did not play in this game. Shoot, we were probably at 25, 26 at the end of the game and they all kind of play the same position."

On how tough the wind was (Nevada coach Jay Norvell said they ran the ball repeatedly on their opening drive because it was hard to throw in that direction):

"It was difficult to throw. We had a big drop early with the interception (that deflected off of Phat Watts). That hurt us. That catch to move the sticks that leads to their first score was tough. The wind kind of died down in the second half a little bit, but it certainly was a factor early in the game."

On Remetich and Tuggle not playing:

"They were unavailable I'll say. The times we live in right now."

On challenge of even playing 12 games:

'It was real challenging. You were kind of holding your breath from week to week. I thought everyone did as good a job as we could. There was a position we were thin at and we got thinner during the game today. There were a lot of challenges. It was a long season. We've been going since June 15 with very few days off, and the kids did an excellent job, but we also are looking back at some woulda, coulda, shouldas that could have been able to happen but didn't."

On defensive performance:

"I thought we had a few stops later in the game that were pretty good, but that was a big stop there early."

On status of program going into year 6:

"There are some good things that we've done. Three bowl games in a row. We play in a great conference. Our margin for error is very slim. We gotta do the little things every game to come out with wins. It's not roll the ball out and just beat people. That's just not going to happen. We have to do things right all the time, and we didn't do that the whole game. We didn't execute as cleanly as we needed to. There are a lot of good things we accomplished this year, but there's also some things we left out there on the field. But there are a lot of things to build off of."

On going for it on fourth down instead of attempting short field goal while trailing 26-7 late in first half:

"We got a (analytics) book and go by the book, and sometimes it puts you in bad situations unfortunately."

On long wildcat touchdown for Nevada on fourth down that made score 26-7:

"It was a real big play. We get a stop there and we're in pretty good shape right there. There were a lot of turning points in this game. You look back it and there were probably 10 to 15 plays that were big both ways that would have given us momentum. When we had it 26-20 and got the football, that would have been big if we could have gotten a score there, but we weren't able to."

NICK ANDERSON

On keys to loss:

"I feel like it all goes back to execution, and that's been a problem all year in the games we've come short. It's execution and have a heart to say my man is not going to make the play and I'm going to do my one-eleventh, and including me, the whole defense didn't do that today. We didn't execute. We had 10 practices and the concept, the defensive scheme, has been the same those 10 practices. We did a poor job of execution. It's on me. It's on the defense. It's not on the coaches. We've got to execute what they call."

On absence of Patrick Johnson and Cam Sample:

"Pat and Cam are both NFL guys. In a couple of months they'll be on somebody's team. They are excellent pass rushers and they do their job very well, but I'm also proud of Darius (Hodges) and Angelo (Anderson). This was their first career start and they went out and handled it well. They exceeded my expectations. They went out there and did their job, so we can't blame them because they are young. They handled their business today and I'm very proud of them."

On weather conditions:

"It was cold, but New Orleans cold is different because of the humidity. It was a dry cold, so it wasn't anything that really bothered us. I can't blame anything on the weather. You can't blame anything on the coaches. It comes down to us executing. We knew it was going to be cold. It was something we prepared for."

On season amid COVID:

"This season was definitely tough. Not being able to go home and at the beginning of the season not being able to see your family and friends. We made a lot of sacrifices, and I think that's the biggest thing that hurts right now is after all we sacrificed this season, to come up short and not get that goal of going back to back to back and win this bowl game. That's what hurts the most, considering everything we've been through this season and not even knowing we were going to have this many games and not even knowing we were going to have a bowl game. This was a missed opportunity. It hurts, but it's time to look forward to 2021 and next season and look forward to the spring with two new coordinators to really become better players on the mental side of things. It's not the physical side. It's more mental, and that's the reality of college football these days. it's changed from physicality to more your mentality, and that's something we have to grow as a program. We have to get mentally stronger, mentally tougher and handle execution because at the end of the day we can't blame the coaches because we are not executing what the coaches call. Execution is the biggest thing we've got to focus on going into this next season."

On intensity:

"Most definitely. We were short-handed, but I feel like we did a great job of getting the backups prepared in those 10 practices."

I will have a much fuller report later, but Fritz said running back Stephon Huderson expected to play in Tuesday's game as well as Cameron Carroll. Huderson remained away from practice while grieving the loss of his dad, and Carroll has an unspecified injury that is keeping him away from contact drills. He wore a no-contact jersey today and participated when the offense went against the scout team. Christian Daniels took the first-team reps at running back in team drills, and a walk-on worked with the second team.

The status of Patrick Johnson is a little more uncertain, but Fritz said he thought Johnson would play. His father's funeral is tomorrow as Tulane players tragically had the loss of two fathers within a few days of each other.

Chris Hampton spoke today after practice after being formally announced as the defensive coordinator in the morning. He said he had gotten to town on Sunday night and began working Monday in a whirlwind sequence after coaching Duke against FSU on Saturday. He will work with the outside linebackers before the bowl game and Mike Mutz will call the defense, receiving a promotion of his own to run game coordinator for the defense. Fritz said Hampton was the only person he called when he fired Jack Curtis.

Jeffery Johnson was not at practice today. Not sure why. He was there Tuesday. Cam Sample was in a no-contaxt jersey and did not participate in any drills I saw.

Just like Tuesday, Ajani Kerr was a first-team cornerback opposition Jaylon Monroe. Willie Langham worked with the second team.

Again, I will have a full report either late tonight or early tomorrow.