Eddie Smith, Jewett's hitting coach and recruiting coordinator, resigned to take a job at lsu as a volunteer assistant for their baseball program. Was probably making $100k, took a pay cut to go up the road. No official salary at lsu but he'll get about $80k from camp money.

This isn't a good sign for the direction our program is taking, from the outside looking in. I've heard some things lately and I'm pretty sure that this will be Jewett's final season at Tulane because I don't see them being any better than last season. Maybe Smith jumped ship while he had the chance.

I talked to Spiegelman, who did a podcast with Fear the Wave recently, about Tulane's recruiting success this year. He covers Texas and Louisiana specifically for Rivals. Here are excerpts of the interview:

On the difference for Tulane this year in attracting higher rated commitments:

"The biggest thing they’ve done this year, because they’ve had their foot in the ground in New Orleans now for multiple years is their effectively recruiting not only the state but obviously New Orleans. What they are doing is making Tulane an attractive option to go play right away and make noise in their home town. For these kids that have Power Five offers and could go to a Kansas, an Arkansas or an SMU, Tulane is kind of trumping them."

On Angelo Anderson and Josh Remetich:

"Angelo Anderson could go to a Tennessee or a Mississippi State or Arkansas, but he’s going to face some stiff competition and he’s going to be away from home, so Tulane did a good job of selling him on being the star in their 2020 class. And the same high octane guy to look at would be Josh Remetich from Holy Cross, top 30 or 40 on our state rankings. He could go play for Les Miles at Kansas or go to Ole Miss and Tennessee, but he chose to stay in New Orleans.

"The staff that coach Fritz has put together over the last couple of years, especially getting someone like J.J. McCleskey to just be the area recruiter in New Orleans and he's got connections all over. You saw it last year with someone like Greg Brooks (4-star CB from West Jefferson High), who at least had Tulane among his top group. You saw the signs of progress, and in 2020 it began to come together. Now it takes the right kid to turn down an SEC or a Big 12 offer to play for the AAC. So Angelo Anderson loved the idea of being the pioneer of the class and forego his SEC options and stay home.

"You could tell in the early stages of Remetich's recruitment he was kind of a homebody and wanted to stay somewhere close to home, whether that was South Alabama or Ole Miss or Mississippi State. I'm not surprised that he went with Tulane."

How high could Tulane end up:

"If they are able to hold on, when you've got guys that are 5.7, 3 stars, you are going to put yourself at an advantage over the Memphises and SMUs of the world that are competing for the AAC championship for recruiting. Could Remetich add a fourth star? Could Anderson add a fourth star? A lot will kind of hinge on their senior seasons because all eyes are going to be on these Tulane commitments all season long. There's still a long way to go in terms of the rankings, but there's a clear path where they could certainly finish up as No. 1 (in the AAC; the Wave is currently one spot behind Cincinnati nationally)."

On chance of no-star recruits being upgraded (Elijah Champaigne, Ethan Barr and Noah Taliancich are in Spiegelman's rating area):

"A hundred percent there's a chance. I'll be seeing Champaigne and Barr in the next four to six weeks. I'll be at both those schools this fall. At this point there's no rush to rate them with a senior season days away, but it's more likely than not that they are going to walk away with at least two stars and certainly be in the discussion for even the low 3-star rating."

I will get it up at some point tonight. Had car issues that took my time away today. Also interviewed Ron Hunter and he confirmed officially that Bul Ajang is taking a medical hardship. Will have the full transcript of that interview later this week.

a little info on our commitments from Texas:

Brandon Brown(55), Reggie Brown(57) and Elija Champagne (90) made the Houston Chronicle Top 100 Houston area recruit list.

Ethan Barr and Kanaris Hall made the Dallas Morning News top 100 Dallas area list.

Nine days before the opener against FIU, Tulane practiced again at the Superdome this morning and had a spirited 11-on-11 session before breaking into scout teams. In the ongoing battle for starting right guard, Ben Knutson had the upper hand today, working with the first time while Keyshawn McLeod got reps as the second-team right tackle. Cameron Jackel was the second-team right guard and, with Timothy Shafter at left tackle, Stephen Lewerenz at left guard and Sincere Haynesworth at center. The other four starters along with Knutson were the normal guys.

A receiver who has consistently made plays the last two days is Dane Ledford. I don't know how much work he needs to become a polished receiver, but he looks confident and definitely could be a factor as Tulane looks for depth in its wideout corps. Keon Howard hit Ledford in stride on a crossing route for a nice gain.

"He (Ledford) certainly does (have a chance to make an impact)," Willie Fritz said. "He was a 23-foot long jumper in high school. He has good size, good quickness and good hands. He's just got to get in the mix, too. The first two or three games is when you experiment to see who is going to play and who won't."

Starting cornerbacks Thakarius Keyes and Jaylon Monroe are not letting guys get open. Justin McMillan tried to hit Darnell Mooney on a fly pattern in the end zone, but Monroe blanketed him. Monroe told me either he or Jalen McCleskey is the fastest player on the team, and if he gets the confidence to get past the times he gets beaten, which invariably happens with the rules favoring receivers, he can have a heck of a year. At times last year he got down on himself.

The 11-on-11 work ended with a long pass from Howard to Ygenio Booker that had collision written all over it. Freshman Kiland Harrison raced over from the center of the field to chase it down and arrived at the spot the same time as Booker. Luckily, they avoided heavy contact as Harrison got his hands on the ball but could not bring it in as he fell to the ground hard.

They definitely did not have any running backs on the offensive scout team at the end of practice, using defensive players in that role instead. I don't know how the coaches are going to handle having seven running backs, but they have not put any of them on the scout team as of yet.

The receivers dropped some passes at the end, with McCleskey letting one go through his fingers over the middle and Darnell Mooney mishandling one later. The drops have not been as prevalent in this camp as last year's, but Booker was stripped after a short reception in 11-on-11 work, too. Even offensive coordinator Will Hall's 8-year-old son, who catches everything at practice when he tosses a little football around with trainers, dropped a long toss after practice ended.

I got to practice later than normal because preparation for an upcoming concert at the Smoothie King Center blocked off my normal parking spot and I had to search for one and walk a long way back to get in the dome. I'll be glad when practice returns to Yulman Stadium for a day tomorrow morning.

WILLIE FRITZ

How good do you feel about your cornerback play?

"Good. We're pretty deep at that spot. We think Thakarius Keyes can be a top-flight corner in our conference. He has a lot of length and size and then Jaylon Monroe has played well for us in the past. Willie Langham is going to compete and Chris Joyce, we've got four guys we feel really confident about."

Monroe has a lot of ability. Does he need to focus a little better than he did in games last year?

"He played quite a bit for us last year. He's got great speed and is quick as a cat. He's got great change of direction. We also think he can be a top-flight corner."

And Langham?

"He's a lot like (Keyes). He's got a lot of length to him. He's 6-0, 6-1 and a reach of a guy 6-5, the same thing with Keyes. We've got some taller guys and some quick guys who may not be as tall."

Joyce had an interception in the bowl game last year after not playing a bunch during the year.

"He's going to be involved quite a bit in some of our different packages. He'll also roll in there and play some at corner. He's a good player as well."

What are your thoughts on the receivers' speed?

"We've got some good speed on the perimeter. Darnell Mooney was one of the tops in the nation last year in yards per catch (20.7), which is really phenomenal. Jalen McCleskey has got great top-end speed. He can be a deep threat for us. And the other guys as well, Amare Jones and YG (Booker), those guys can fly, so we've got good speed outside."

As a coach, do you look forward to that first game to know how it's going to look putting all the pieces together. Are you excited about it?

"Yeah, I'm really excited about it, but you have to temper guys worrying about that first game right now. We still have to practice and get better and improve. We have to take advantage of these eight workouts we have left prior to the first ball game. Part of my job is makjng sure to keep practices interesting, coaches are demanding and the players understanding there is still a lot of room for improvement."

Do you tell your players to treat Florida International like a top-tier program?

"You know, they won a bowl game last year. Butch Davis was a head coach in the NFL, Miami and North Carolina. They are very well coached. We went down to their place and got whipped a couple of years ago. They are a quality team. We are going to have to definitely bring our A game."

Only 10 days away from the opener against FIU, Tulane conducted the first of what will will be four practices at the Superdome. The staff and players love working out there, although one slight disadvantage is the NFL hashmarks, which are closer than the college ones. Coaching one drill, Willie Fritz had to remind them of the difference and that they were much closer to the center of the field than they would be on a college field.

They split into scout teams in the latter part of practice for the first time this year. The only surprise to me was linebacker Quentin Brown because he had just gotten a few reps with the first-team defense. Maybe it was just a numbers situation that required his presence on the scout team. The other scholarship players who took reps on the defensive scout team were Eric Hicks, Darius Hodges, Sean Harper, Tyler Judson, Ton'Quez Ball and Torri Singletary.

The scholarship players on the offensive scout team were Trace Oldner, Michael Remondet, Jackson Fort, Colby Orgeron and defensive back Kiland Harrison, who was in a green (defense) jersey but was playing wideout in that portion. The rest were walk-ons, including wideout Ryan Thompson, who I thought might be in the running for game action.

The defense, which broke up a ton of passes last year but did not have many interceptions (12), had not picked off many passes in camp this year until today, when there were a few. Chase Kuerschen leaped to pick off Keon Howard after reading an out pattern and later dropped another leaping interception opportunity on a throw by Justin McMillan. Christian Daniels had one picked off and retuned to the end zone in seven-on-seven drills, but I did not catch the number of the interceptor.

Dane Ledford has looked pretty good since coming back from injury last week. He caught a pass downfield near the sideline for a big gain. Freshman wideout Tyrek Presley, who has been out for a while with an injury, returned and drew praise for a nice route during individual drills. With the exception of Sorrell Brown, Tulane is at full strength at receiver, creating quite the logjam of candidates vying for playing time behind Jalen McCleskey, Darnell Mooney and Jaetavian Toles. The two freshmen, Presley and Jha'Quan Jackson, actually lined up with the second unit when that group went out for the first time in 11-on-11 drills, with Jacob Robertson the third receiver. The coaches are flip-flopping the order of all of these guys to see what they can do. Robertson got open on a deep sideline route, and I'd say he has been the most consistently productive of the backups, although Kevin LeDee has made plays, too.

On defense, Nick Anderson had a good day. He totally read a screen pass and would have crushed Stephon Huderson right after he caught the ball if it had been a contact drill. He touched him instead and celebrated, getting kudos from teammates and coaches for his diagnosis. Anderson and Malik Lawal are a talented second group and are pushing starters Lawrence Graham and Marvin Moody. Tulane's depth at LB is very good now.

WILLIE FRITZ

You are 10 days away from the season opener, so the focus has changed in practice.

"Yeah, we're starting to do some units versus scouts and are splitting up. We'll do that the rest of the way on in."

You brought in two grad transfers in Malik Lawal and Mike Hinton who may not start but are pushing for a lot of playing time.

"They are both going to play a bunch for us. Number one, they are great young men. I'm excited about having them. You try to do all the homework you can when you bring these guys in, but they really have fit in well. Malik is going to help us as both a linebacker and also rushing the passer. Mike's another big dude that can play either tackle position for us. Malik's a great student and Mike's a great student, so they've picked up things very quickly."

You have a lot of experience on defense but not a lot of seniors, and both of those guys are grad students. How much has that helped?

"We don't have a ton of them. Those guys are going to be really good additions. We're fortunate to have them come over here and decide to work on their graduate degrees here at Tulane."

What is Hinton's strength?

"He's a big, thick guy. He told a story the other night when he was talking to the team. I had the seniors all visit with the guys, and he didn't start playing football until right before his junior year in high school. He was a basketball player. He's just gotten better and better and better and he has good movement. He's thick. He's strong, good at the point of attack and is quick enough to get off blocks and still play tackle to tackle."

Lawal really looks like a good player.

"He's about 230 pounds. Shoot, I think he had 3 1/2 sacks for (Arizona State) last year. Both of those guys are going to play 20 to 40 snaps in the first game and they are going to fight for a starting job, too. We'll see how quickly it happens."

https://247sports.com/Article/Tulan...ass-in-American-Athletic-Conference-134551141

This is the first of what I hope to be many articles on how awesome our current recruiting class is.

Another reminder that at end of day, it's about the winning.

Here is my stab at a depth chart as Tulane's focus moves to preparing for FIU and away from battling for playing time. I will post on the defense tomorrow.

QUARTERBACK

1) Justin McMillan
2) Keon Howard
3) Christian Daniels

Comment: Nothing will change here unless McMillan plays like Banks did last year in the first half of the season.

RUNNING BACK

1) Darius Bradwell
2) Amare Jones
3) Corey Dauphine
4) Stephon Huderson
5) Ygenio Booker
6) Tyjae Spears
7) Cameron Carroll

Comment: The top of the depth chart really doesn't matter much here. The coaches will rotate them in and go with the hot hand, sometimes using one of the backs as a receiver to get two on the field at the same time. My guess is the top five will all get action against FIU and that Spears and Carroll have work to do.

WIDE RECEIVER

1) Darnell Mooney
1) Jalen McCleskey
1) Jaetavian Toles

2) Jorien Vallien
2) Jacob Robertson
2) Kevin LeDee

3) Dane Ledford
3) Ryan Thompson
3) Jha'Quan Jackson

Comment: After the starters, the depth chart does not mean a whole lot here, either. None of the backups are proven and all with the possible exception of Jackson will get the opportunity to show they are ready to contribute.

TIGHT END

1) Tyrick James
2) Will Wallace
3) Keshon Williams

Comment: There are defined roles for the top two guys in the offense.

LEFT TACKLE

1) Tyler Johnson
2) Nik Hogan

LEFT GUARD

1) Corey Dublin
2) Cameron Jackel

CENTER

1) Christian Montano
2) Sincere Haynesworth

RIGHT GUARD

1) Keyshawn McLeod
2) Ben Knutson

RIGHT TACKLE

1) Joey Claybrook
2) Ben Knutson

Comment: The second-team projections are for who would actually play in a game if a starter got hurt. I just can't see Timothy Shafter getting on the field, so I would expect Knutson to be the first guy off the bench at right guard and right tackle and maybe left guard, too. The starting spot has not been locked up at right guard, either.

These are what I think would happen in games if every significant player were healthy, which to the best of my knowledge is possible. The defense has been a little harder to figure because they have used multiple formations and rotated the personnel a lot in preseason camp.

JOKER

1) Patrick Johnson
2) Carlos Hatcher
3) Juan Monjarres
4) Torri Singletary

Comment: A true star and two guys who had productive moments as true freshmen. It's hard to ask for anything more.

DEFENSIVE TACKLE

1) De'Andre Williams
2) Mike Hinton
3) Jamiran James

NOSE TACKLE

1) Jeffery Johnson
2) Alfred Thomas
3) Eric Hicks

Comment: Other than the starters, I'm actually not sure here even though I've attended every practice but one. It's a different group every time. DT and NT are not interchangeable, but I don't have a good handle on who is lining up where.

DEFENSIVE END

1) Cam Sample
2) Davon Wright
3) Armoni Dixon/Darius Hodges

Comment: Sample is an All-AAC caliber player. Wright is a good backup. Dixon has showed promise.

INSIDE LINEBACKERS

1) Marvin Moody
1) Lawrence Graham

2) Nick Anderson
2) Malik Lawal

3) Quentin Brown
3) Dorian Williams

Comment: They have lined up in these groupings most of the time, but the backups all will get a chance to determine the pecking order once the season starts. This is a pretty good group.

NICKELBACK

1) Tirise Barge
2) Will Harper
3) Larry Bryant

Comment: Barge has been the starter from day 1 of preseason.

CORNERBACK

1) Thakarius Keyes
1) Jaylon Monroe

2) Chris Joyce
2) Willie Langham

3) Kiland Harrison
3) Levi Williams

Comment: The Wave is shy on depth here but I like the top four. They have to prove it, though. Their body of work is limited.

STRONG SAFETY

1) P.J. Hall
2) Larry Brooks
3) Sean Harper

FREE SAFETY

1) Chase Kuerschen
2) Macon Clark

Others

Jacquez Norman/Tyler Judson/Ton'Quez Ball

Comment: Hall is a surefire starter. Kuerschen and Clark will determine their pecking order by their productivity at the beginning of the season. Brooks will play a lot, too. I don't know which safety spot the three freshman are playing. A fourth, Kanyon Walker, is injured.

I skipped yesterday's practice at the Saints indoor facility because it was a light workout in shells for less than an hour, but today's practice at the Superdome went the regular length and was energetic. The Green Wave will not return to the practice field again until Monday, when the primary focus will change from competing for playing time to preparing for the season, including scout teams for the offense and defense. I will post a tentative depth chart tomorrow based on my practice observation the past two-and-a-half weeks.

The coaches still are trying to find their best five offensive linemen and get guys ready to be pivotal backups, and for the first time today, grad transfer Ben Knutson got reps with the first unit at right tackle in place of Joey Claybrook. That made the first unit Tyler Johnson at LT, Corey Dublin at LG, Christian Montano at C, Keyshawn McLeod at RG and Knutson. The second-team line was Claybrook at LT, Michael Remondet at LG, Stephen Lewerenz at C, Sincere Haynesworth at RG, getting that look coach Willie Fritz had promised, and Timothy Shafter at RT.

"We're moving guys all around," Fritz said. "We really feel like we've got three guys who can play center, we have four guys who can play either tackle and five guys who can play the guards, so we've done a nice job of moving guys from spot to spot to spot. It just gives you a ton of depth and you don't panic when your left tackle goes down because the next best guy hasn't gotten any reps out there."

I do not think Claybrook has lost his first-team status, but it will be interesting to see how they line up on Monday. The four guys who can play tackle in a game, I expect, are Johnson, Claybrook, McLeod and Knutson. The five guys who can play guard, I expect, are Dublin, McLeod, Knutson, Haynesworth and Cameron Jackel.

Redshirt freshman running back Cameron Carroll had a disappointing spring game when he was featured and promoted as a guy who could do big things, but he looked good today. He returned to practice earlier this week and appears 100 percent. Whether there is a role for him at Tulane's deepest spot remains to be seen, but the coaches were high on his potential in the spring. Amare Jones, who has looked terrific just about every day, tweaked his right ankle at the end of a run today. It looked like he would be fine, but a trainer checked it. If he is fine, my prediction is Jones will catch Tulane's first pass of the year. He is very effective as a receiver coming out of the backfield or lining up in the slot.

The most predictable element of practice today was the perfect strike Justin McMillan threw to Jaetavian Toles for a 74-yard touchdown. I missed the number of the DB covering, but Toles had a step on him and ran right under the pass on his way to the end zone. It was predictable because I posted last night that the one constant in my 10 years of covering this team was the inability to connect on deep ball and that Toles has not stepped up in the last week.

One thing Keon Howard does well is throw on the run on planned roll outs. He hit tight end Keshon Williams for a score in the corner of the end zone while rolling out in individual drills and found Carroll on a bootleg during 11-on-11 work. His throws on the run are hitting the receivers in the right spot. When he stays in the pocket, his accuracy suffers. Twice today he airmailed short throws over the head of receivers and out of bounds. He also hit receiver Dane Ledford down the middle for a sizable gain. It was Ledford's first practice since opening week.

The coaches are riding freshman receivers Jha'Quan Jackson and Tyrek Presley hard in practice. Presley has been out for a while with an injury, but an assistant quizzed him about a play they had just run to make sure he was paying attention. Jackson got an earful after not running out a route during 7-on-7 drills.

Jalen McCleskey practiced in individual drills but did not do team work, nor did Darnell Mooney. Last year a lot of key guys were unable to practice much in the preseason because they were banged up--Darius Bradwell, Terren Encalade and Corey Dauphine among others--and the coaches appear to be more cautious this time around, limiting them in practice before injuries become significant and giving them Saturday and Sunday off instead of just Sunday.

"We were going to go tomorrow morning, but we've been going pretty hard," Fritz said. "We've had a few guys get bumps and bruises and we feel this will heal us up. Plus, our next day off is going to be next Friday and then we've got the game (the following Thursday). We want to give them a little time (off)."

Willie Langham returned to practice today, and just about everyone competing for a starting spot would be ready to play if the game was coming up this week.

"Most of our guys are pretty healthy right now," Fritz said. "If we had to play a game tomorrow, there'd only be about five or six guys who couldn't play. (Sorrell Brown, Keitha Jones, Presley, Kanyon Waker and Nick Kubiet are five I can name)."

Grad transfer Mike Hinton is making a move. He has consistenly been on the second-team defensive line this week. Today he was out there along with Davon Wright and Carlos Hatcher.

There have been fewer drops in practice this preseason than last, but Kevin LeDee and Ygenio Booker had bad ones today. It was rare mistake from Booker, who has excelled as a receiver.

Tulane practiced kickoffs again today. From left to right, the coverage unit was Thakarius Keyes, Toles, Chase Kuerschen, Quentin Brown, Macon Clark, Sterling Stockwell, Larry Bryant, KJ Vault, Tirise Barge, Larry Brooks and P.J. Hall. They did an interesting thing, having them run down to meet the kickoff returner (the drill was not live) and then freeze, checking on the position of all 11 players to make sure they were in the right spot. Stockwell sends most of his kicks high and inside the 5-yard line. With the touchback spot the 25 the last few years instead of the 20, Fritz wants opponents to have to return kicks, although they can elect to fair catch from anywhere now. He has the confidence in his coverage unit and Stockwell to pin them inside the 25.

Superdome workouts allow Tulane to practice the kicking game more because there is enough space for the position groups to work out while the kicking drills are going on. Tulane has three practices scheduled for the dome next week.

"One great thing about in here is we've got a lot of space on the sidelines," Fritz said. "Guys can do things on the side of the line of scrimmage and we can punt and kick and do all that kind of stuff. It gives us a chance to work on the kicking game. We had a good workout. We're giving the guys a couple of days off to rest and recover. We'll come back ready to go on Monday and then we'll start working on FIU."

Practice report:

It was a nice night with a good northerly breeze blowing. Donors were invited out. There were Refs. The players were in shells ( helmets and shoulder pads). The linemen were engaging but the ball carriers were just being touched.

The kickers came out early. Ryan Wright had Eatherly snapping to him from the north 50. He hit punts of 55,50, 50,57 and 50. They all had good hang time. Glover then had Eatherly snap to him to kick two attempts from 45 yards out from the left hash. He made both.

There was an agility drill by the defense at the north 5 and they had to scoop and score. I didn't see anyone mess up during the course of it. that would end with a staffer rolling a fumble at them

On the opposite end of the field the offense had the QB's taking snaps from under center at the south 10. They were then handing off to the backs who then would run it into the end zone. I didn't witness any miscues during that ball handling drill.

Before I give you the scrimmage notes you have to understand WF doesn't just let the drive flow. No matter the result he'll just say what he wants the next play situation to be. In other words on first down you could gain 8 yards but he'll tell them to make it second and 5. Between that and the tempo, which was fast, it makes it hard to keep up.

The first series started at the north 25 going south. On offense the line was left to right`- Tyler Johnson, Dublin,Montano, Knutson and Claybrook. On some series McLeod would go in at RG. The D was Patrick Johnson, Jeff Johnson, Williams and Sample on the line, Quentin Brown and Graham were at LB and the CB's were Keyes and Joyce with Keurchen and Brooks. Hall would also go with the one's on some series. Barge was the NB. Bradwell carried up the middle for 4 yards. McMillan threw short incomplete. He then hit Mooney for 5. He then scrambled for 2. The drive ended with him throwing incomplete on a deep ball which became a theme.

Howard came in with the two's . Left to right it was Shafter , Lewrenz, Haynesworth, Knutson and McLeod.The D was Hatcher, Thomas, James and Hinton. Howard was sacked, then threw incomplete to the left. Dauphine then broke a 10 yard run to left on the outside. He then hit Mooney for three on the left. Shafter went offsides. He finished by scrambling for 5.

The ones went back in. Jones ran right for 4 and then left for 6. He threw to Mooney for one yard. Keyes then had a PBU . The FG unit came in. Glover attempted it from 44 yards on the left hash. He missed to the right and it may have been a little short.

Daniels came in He was sacked and eventually threw an interception that was picked off by Sean Harper. McMillan replaced him and scrambled left throwing incomplete into the end zone to a well covered Mooney. Bradwell ran for 2. Glover made a FG from 37 on the right hash. He drilled this one.

Howard came back in with the two's and started at the south 39 going south. He threw a pretty pass to Huderson in the flat for 20 yards. Huderson then ran left for 5. He then hit Vallien for 6 over the middle. He then hit Booker for 5 to the left .

McMillan and the ones came back in from the north 45 going north. He threw a poor pass that the wide receiver did a good job of leaping and knocking the ball away from the DB preventing an interception. Bradwell went for no gain up the middle. He then threw incomplete to Mooney. He hit Huderson for 5but if contact was allowed Huderson would have been destroyed by the oncoming defender.

Howard came in and started the series at the south 35 going north. Dauphine ran for 3. He then scrambled left and under pressure from Hinton he threw it away. He then hit Booker for 5. Glover came in and tried a 31 yarder from the left hash. He shanked it left. Montano was extremely late coming out to be on the line. There were maybe 4 seconds left when he got set. Fritz, who uses a mic, called him out by saying there it's the same FG team every time so you know who you are,

A live punting drill was next Full units were out on both sides. Wright kicked from the south 17. Robertson was back to field it. He hit a 56 yarder with good hang time. No return. He then kicked from the north 38 and it hit at the south 25 and rolled to the 9 for 53 yards and no return by Jha'Quan Jackson.

Neenan then hit a 53 yarder but had poor hang time and Jones made a 10 yard return. He then kicked from the north 33 and hit a 30 yarder.

Mcmillan came in and hit Vallien for 10. Bradwell had no gain and the McMillan threw incomplete to Robertson.

After the three's came in for a series McMillan came back in starting at the south 35 going south. He then threw a poor pass incomplete to Vallien over the middle. PJ Hall then had a nice PBU. He was then sacked by Monjarres. McMillan then scrambled for 10. He then threw incomplete to Robertson who was well covered in the middle of the end zone. Lover then hit a 33 yarder from the right hash.

Howard came in at the north 45. He scrambled left for no gain. Booker ran left for no gain. He then threw to Booker for 9. Keurschen then intercepted him. The offense kept the ball. He dropped the ball while scrambling right. Pass to Jones gained 6. Macon Clark hit Jones hard and he flew to the ground.

McMillan and the ones came back. Started at the south 40 going south. He threw deep to Huderson but he hung it in the air and the DB's were able to close and clobbered Hud for an incompletion. Jones then caught a pass for 5. Stockwell tried a 43 yarder from the right hash that he missed.

McMillan came back in. They were starting at the south 25 going north.He was sacked by Sample. He then hit Vallien with a nice 30 yard pass He was then sacked by Williams. He then threw three straight incompletions with the first two under pressure.

Howard and the two's came back in. started at the south 29 going north. He hit a well covered Tyrick James for 6 yards with a nice pass. He then threw it away under pressure. On the next play he scrambled for 25. He threw to James again to the left sideline. James didn't make much effort and it fell incomplete. He then threw it away under pressure. On his last play he scrambled right under pressure and threw it away.

Live Kick-offs were next. Stockwell went first from the north 35. He hit it to the 10 on the right and Jones made a 30 yard run back. Glover then kicked to the one and Jones returned it to the twenty. Randy Harvey kicked it to the 10 and Spears ran it out to the 30.

After two hours it was over. The defense dominated. Scrimmages can be like that with one side dominating. It's also hard to tell without real tackling. With people in attendance I would think Fritz held the offense back from showing a lot.

Injury report- In skeleton drills very early on Conner Richardson hurt his right knee. It looked bad. He couldn't put any weight on it as he was helped from the south end zone back to the middle of the sideline to be put on a table. He eventually was taken off on a golf cart with the knee iced own. Tyrek Pressley, Sorell Brown , Jackel and Keitha Jones were just out there with their jersey's on and did not participate.

Everyone there will go to sleep with the words "Find the ball" ringing in their ears as WF said it constantly at the end of plays.

Guerry,

Is there anyway Rivals will look into ranking Tulane’s unranked commitments.

With another heat advisory in place for New Orleans, Tulane practiced at the Saints indoor facility in the first of five consecutive practices that will occur away from the glaring sun. The timing is coincidental--the Saints' facility is available because they are headed to Los Angeles to practice against the Chargers, and the Superdome was available on Friday and Saturday--but it certainly will make for better practices.

Actually, today would not have been too bad because of a constant cloud cover, but the Wave still took advantage of the climate-controlled conditions on Airline Highway with a much longer 11-on-11 session than normal. Willie Fritz said they ran 66 plays on Tuesday, almost double the 36 they had yesterday at Yulman Stadium.

There were no fights like the last time they went to the Saints' facility, but the workout was spirited. The team (11-on-11) portion started with a goal-line drill before they turned it around and forced the offense to start from its 1-yard line. Later, they did the normal scrimmage-type stuff with full contact at the line of scrimmage but not full tackling.

Ygenio Booker, an outstanding receiver out of the backfield, made one of the two catches of the day when he dove to snag a pass from Keon Howard in the corner of the end zone, beating freshman safety Tyler Judson. But tight end Will Wallace may have topped Booker on the last play of the day. After already getting wide open for a big-gaining reception on a bootleg by Howard, Wallace leaped to catch a Christian Daniels pass in the middle of the field with linebacker Nick Anderson draped all over him. It was the best play I've seen from Wallace as a receiver, and he really helped himself today.

When the first-team offense tried to move the ball out from its 1 against the first-team defense, it did not have much success. Most of the plays were stuffed for little gain. That changed when the second-team offense and defense went out there, with Stephon Huderson making consecutive nice runs for first downs, or what likely would have been a first down in a live drill.

During the regular portion of the 11-on-11 work, freshman linebacker Dorian Williams batted down a Daniels pass on a blitz. I'm not sure if Tulane's backup linebackers are starter quality, but four of them--Williams, Anderson, Malik Lawal and Quentin Brown--are in the mix for playing time and have made plays during the preseason.

Tulane's defense has used a lot of looks, experimenting with different combinations even though the guys who are going to play a lot are obvious. With better depth and more versatility, defensive coordinator Jack Curtis will make sure opponents won't have a good read on what his scheme is doing. Lawal and Anderson got some reps together with the first-team defense today while Lawrence Graham and Marvin Moody had some reps with the second unit. Graham was flying around anyway.

Larry Brooks provided a brief scare when he collapsed, holding his leg, but after walking slowly to the sideline, he was back in about three plays later.

They worked on kickoff returns with a ball machine sending kickoffs to the returners with blockers in front of them. Jalen McCleskey, who was full go today, was the only player to muff one, but he looks smooth as a returner and should be a nice complement for Amare Jones.

Jones almost dropped a pass during team drills, but he found a way to bring it in for a nice gain as it slipped down his body.

Justin McMillan's prettiest pass of the day was a perfect fade to Darnell Mooney for a touchdown int he corner of the end zone.

The longest gain of the day was a touchdown connection from Daniels to Jorien Vallien against a busted coverage. I'm not sure whose fault it was, but safety Sean Harper, the closest defender, was more than 10 yards away when Vallien ran under the pass.

The first-team offensive line was the usual suspects plus Keyshawn McLeod at right guard. The second-team line was Nik Hogan at LT, Jackson Fort at LG, Sincere Haynesworth at C, Ben Knutson at right guard and Timothy Shafter at RT. Cameron Jackel did not practice with an injury, watching the workout without a helmet. Near the end of the 11-on-11 work, the line was Shafter at LT. Fort at LG, Trace Oldner at C, Knutson at RG and McLeod at RT as offensive line coach Cody Kennedy continued to experiment with different combos and double-train some guys.

The first-team D-line was the usual suspects. Behind them were Davon Wright, Eric Hicks, Mike Hinton and Juan Monjarres, wiih Carlos Hatcher getting some reps at joker, too.

Chris Joyce got some reps with the first-team defense at corner in Jaylon Monroe's spot. With Willie Langham sitting out, Joyce would be the No. 3 corner.

Tulane will hold its first night practice tomorrow at Yulman Stadium, and if not a full-fledged scrimmage, it will be full pads with hitting. Should be interesting.

Tulane had what will be its only practice in the sun this week on Monday morning, workout out for two hours at Yulman Stadium. The Green Wave will go to the Saints indoor facility on Tuesday and Thursday, the Superdome on Friday and Saturday and will hold a Wednesday night workout at Yulman Stadium from 7 to 9.

Coaches had to drive the player through parts of the practice today. In particular, during a defensive drill where players had to approach a teammate from behind and punch the ball out, DB coach Chris Hampton got on them for dragging, saying they had to be tougher to win championships.

"We shorten it a little bit when we go here and go a little longer when we're at the dome or in the Saints facility," Willie Fritz said. "It was all right. We pushed through some stuff. We have to get acclimated to the heat and the humidity. It's probably not going to be this humid at night, but it's going to be humid, so we just need to get ready for it. We're going to sprinkle in some indoor and outdoor practices.

Fritz wants the right balance between outdoor practices mimicking the heat they will face in the opener against FIU at night on Aug. 29 and the productivity they get from indoor practices.

"We can get better work in (indoors)." he said. "We can go longer and get a lot more done."

In that fumbles drill, everyone should try to imitate the technique freshman safety Ton'Quez Ball had, when he punched the ball into the air and caught it. No one else did that, and the coaches emphasized the importance of wrapping up with good tackling form before the attempted punch. You see guys try to punch the ball out and whiff on tackles all the times in games, so that was an important lesson.

Merek Glover got some field goal work in with holder Ryan Wright and snapper Geron Eatherly today while their teammates were practicing at the other end of the field. Glover hit a 45-yarder easily from the right hash, sending the ball high into the net behind the goal post, and he connected from 46 yards on the same side. When they moved to the left hash, he struggled, sending a 48-yarder to the right of the upright and then over-correcting with a straight hook to the left from the same distance. After a break, they went back out there and he hit a 43-yarder.

Jalen McCleskey returned to practice today, fielding kickoffs after sitting out last week to rest a tight hamstring, but the Wave may be down a backup receiver for a while. In 11-on-11 work, Keon Howard underthrew a deep ball down the center of the field and freshman Tyrek Presley came down awkwardly after a failed attempt to catch it in traffic. He had to be helped off the field by two trainers with what appeared to be a right ankle injury and could not put any weight on it for the rest of practice.

There were a few other injuries coming off the weekend. Cornerback Willie Langham was waring a boot on his left leg, leaving the Wave with three scholarship returning cornerbacks in Thakarius Keyes, Jaylon Monroe and Chris Joyce. The other two scholarship corners are freshmen Kiland Harrison and Levi Williams. Tulane will be fine at this position if it does not have injuries, but it cannot afford to lose guys there.

Tight end Keitha Jones was on crutches, so he appears to be out for a while.

When Justin McMillan decides to run, he is very assertive. That's another difference between him and Jonathan Banks. Fritz had to keep urging Banks to take off, saying over and over that one of Tulane's best plays was when Banks stuck his foot in the ground and ran downfield. He does not have to remind McMillan about the same thing. He did it once today and was 10 yards downfield before anyone reacted. He is not as imposing a runner in the open field as Banks was, but that quick decision-making is huge.

On the offensive line, the first unit had the four regulars plus Ben Knutson at right guard. The second unit had Nik Hogan at left tackle, Michael Remondet at left guard, Sincere Haynesworth at center, Keyshawn McLeod at right guard and Timothy Shafter at right tackle. The third unit had Trace Oldner at LT, Jackson Fort at LG, Stephen Lewerenz at center, Ben Bratcher at RG and Colby Orgeron at right tackle.

Tyler Johnson is getting strong reviews from coaches and teammates at left tackle despite not having the size of an FBS linemen (6-3, 280). I wrote here that he was a concern the other day, but that view is not shared widely. In fact, McMillan labeled him the lineman who was having the best camp the other day. The lineup is set at every position but right guard.

Sterling Stockwell looked good on kickoffs today, and when I prefaced a question to Fritz about him by saying he had big shoes to fill replacing Zach Block, I don't think he agreed with my assessment. Block had touchbacks on 35 of 60 kickoffs last year but he did not always put the ball where he was supposed to.

"He (Stockwell) does a really nice job with his location and hang time," Fritz said. "We want them (opponents) to return them, but we sure don't want line drives to the goal line. Usually when you hit a line drive at them they hit a line drive back at you. Our coverage is predicated on him kicking to a certain spot. When you don't do that, you've got problems. In our last game against (UL) Lafayette, we were kicking it left and it went right and they got a return out to the 35 on it and, heck, they didn't hardly block anybody. You've got to make sure you have that proper placement."

Tulane's depth of returning talent will prevent a lot of freshmen from playing significant roles this year, but joker Armoni Dixon applied heavy pressure on one play in 11-on-11 drills. He looks pretty good.

Summary:

Brendan Power left his summer team in midseason after hitting only .114 (5 for 44) in 19 games. He won’t be returning to Tulane having recently committed to Northwest Florida State College.

Collin Burns hit .217 (10 for 46) as a freshman at Tulane and is likely to replace Gozzo at shortstop. This summer he made 10 errors in 182 chances (.945), which is about average for a college shortstop. Without seeing his range and arm strength it’s hard to judge him. At bat, he batted leadoff and hit .305 with a .400 on base percentage. His combined 30 walks and HBPs also compare favorably to only 28 strike outs. I look forward to him in the lineup next season.

David Bedgood had a big summer at bat, though his best work was during the first half. After hitting .402 (45 for 112) with 11 HR’s into mid-July, he only hit .255 (22 for 86) with 4 HR’s the rest of the way. Still, he hit .331 for the season and was second in the league in HR’s. Where to play him is the question. He played briefly at 3rd and was moved over to 2nd base. There, he made 5 errors in 79 chances (.937) in 20 games, which isn’t good. He also played a few games in left field and DH’d in roughly one-third of his appearances. Whatever, we’ll need his bat in the lineup.

Ethan Groff was one of our more important recruits last year as an infielder, but redshirted and moved to the outfield. This summer he started out hitting 11 for 32 (.344). But then he went 14 for 77 (.182), resulting in his final .217average. I’m not sure what his future is at Tulane, though his 11 for 15 stealing suggests some speed.

Hudson Haskin had a rough start this summer. He was 19 for 74 (.257), before finishing 22 for 60 (.367) to end up at .306 with 5 HR’s in 134 at bats. He also had 17 stolen bases in 20 attempts so we might see him run more for the Wave. Anyway, I’m looking forward to him having another great season next year.

Frankie Newman had a great sophomore season at Tulane and continued his hot hitting to start the summer, going 32 for his first 64 at bats. He cooled off after that, going 12 for 48 (.250) the rest of the season. Still, he hit .393 which, had he had enough plate appearances (he left 2 weeks early) would have lead the league. He only hit 1 HR for the summer so I’d like to see more power, but, still, those are great numbers. He caught in 11 games, played first in 4 and DH’d 16 times. He played errorless ball at 1st but his catching hasn’t been strength. He didn’t make any errors but was charged with six passed balls and only threw out five of 19 base stealers.

I’ve seen nothing of Grant Matthews or Jonathon Artigues but assume they’re simply taking the summer off. We clearly need them. Of the other position players not playing, Logan Stevens, started the summer in the West Coast League but after going 4 for 20 in six games, left his team. No idea what’s up. Kobi Owen was originally listed on the roster of the Sanford Mainers in the New England League but never played. Again, I have no idea of his current status. I also have no idea the status of Luke Glancy, Stephan Sepich, Michael Statten, or Ty Johnson. Not knowing anything specific, it wouldn’t surprise me if two or more of these last six players do not return.

That's what I have.

The announcement will come right after Tulane's scrimmage.

They started at 8 and I did not get there until about 8:20, but I saw the rest. It was typically sloppy like first scrimmages usually are, and the star of the day was Tyjae Spears. He had a remarkable sequence of runs against backup defensive players. There's no way they will keep this guy off the field despite being loaded at running back.

I will have the full report later today.

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Tulane's Wednesday practice ended with a nice run from Corey Dauphine, who took a handoff, made a sharp cut into a hole, a second cut to elude a linebacker and took off downfield. As always, the caveat is the drill was not live, but he looked like he was in midseason form.

Runs dominated the 11-on-11 ending of practice today, making it less interesting to watch because they did not face tackling, but it was another step forward on a typically hot August morning after an unusually mild first week. Darius Bradwell looked good. Dauphine looked good. Amare Jones looked good. What is all meant was hard to discern, but Friday will be a different story when Tulane has its second scrimmage-like session (Monday's workout at the Saints indoor facility was the first).

I counted 10 scholarship players not practicing. Wide receiver Jalen McCleskey missed his third consecutive day with a mild hamstring issue but was walking around fine. Joining him on the sideline were running back Cam Carroll, who went out with a leg issue last week, wide receiver Sorrell Brown, who had no crutch today but was limping significantly, defensive tackle Alfred Thomas, freshman offensive lineman Caleb Thomas, wide receiver Dane Ledford, freshman safety Kanyon Walker, DE/OLB Juan Monjarres, defensive lineman Nick Kubiet and freshman defensive back Levi Williams. Defensive end Davon Wright wore a no-contact jersey.

The first-team offensive line today was the usual suspects at four spots plus Keyshawn McLeod at right guard. Cameron Jackel, the No. 1 guy at right guard following spring drills, worked at right tackle on the second team along with left tackle Timothy Shafter, left guard Stephen Lewerenz, freshman center Sincere Haynesworth and right guard Ben Knutson.

The first-team defensive line you know, but the second-team line had Torri Singletary, Mike Hinton, Jamiran James and Darius Hodges with Wright, Thomas and Monjarres unavailable.

Jaylon Monroe was the starting cornerback opposite Thakarius Keyes, with P.J. Hall and Macon Clark the safeties. Chase Kuerschen rotated in with the first unit as they try different looks and packages.

Despite Tulane's improved depth, most of the starting spot are clear. The only one up for grabs on offense is right guard, with Darius Bradwell the starter at running back and Tyrick James the starter in one-tight end sets.

On defense, Tyrise Barge has worked with the first unit every day at nickelback. Although Clark will play a lot, Kuerschen is the starter at free safety. Monroe has the edge on Willie Langham at one cornerback spot, and the other starters are crystal clear--Patrick Johnson, Jeffery Johnson, De'Andre Williams and Cam Sample up front, Lawrence Graham and Marvin Moody at inside linebacker and P.J. Hall at strong safety. Clark picked off a Keon Howard pass for the only turnover of the day.

Quentin Brown and Malik Lawal got reps as a tandem with the first unit at linebacker when Moody and Graham were rested. Nick Anderson and Dorian Williams were the No. 2 unit. The depth there is better than I anticipated when preseason drills started.

NOTES

They ran an option in 11-on-11 work, so that part of the offense is not totally gone.

The defensive coaches presided over a fumble recovery drill where the ball was placed on the ground and a defender had to fall on it without rolling. Barge rolled, prompting defensive coordinator Jack Curtis to get on his case hard, saying he had told him 10 times not to roll, which can cause the ball to pop out. Drills like that are an example of this staff paying attention to detail.

Justin McMillan is doing everything the way the coaches want it done. Fritz hates it when guys up end up on the ground, and when McMillan stumbled on a run downfield, he immediately popped back on to his feet instead of lying down and delaying the next play. Fritz praised him.

All-time Tulane rushing leader Mewelde Moore attended practice. I did not talk to him, but look for a feature on him at the TulaneGreenWave.com later today or tomorrow.

I ran into frequent practice watcher Derrick Strozier when I arrived, but he was leaving. Wearing a suit for his downtown job, he had had enough of the heat. I wish he had stayed longer because he always gives good insight into individual players when he talks to me.

FRITZ

What makes Patrick Johnson a special player?

"He's just really got a knack for pass rushing. He really knows how to use his body. He's about 245. We talk about doing a hard joint where you have your near foot and your near shoulder delivering a blow to the guy. Part of that is strike timing. He just has a natural timing to it. You see big guys 320 pounds trying to kick him out and he stones them. Sometimes he's not making the tackle but he's the one making the play because he made the hole smaller and made an easy play for guys. He just knows how to coil and uncoil. So much of pass rush, get off is important, but timing with your hands on their hands and reducing your surface area, he just has a real knack for that stuff."

Is he ready for how teams will try to game plan him this year?

"Part of the coach's job is to find a chance for him to get one-on-one and get on a weak pass protector, but we feel like we've got a bunch of good pass rushers. Sometimes the guy who gets the sack didn't do a whole lot. it could have been the scheme or it could have been somebody else forcing him into another guy. Sometimes these guys get these PBUs and the DB gets all the credit and it was really the pressure. The pass was off by a couple of feet. Or sometimes the coverage is really tight and they are the guys that cause the sack because the quarterback had to hold the ball a count or two. It all plays in with each other."

What makes Cam Sample such an impressive player?

"He's a big guy. He's got a rare combination of size and speed and quickness. When we recruited him, going into his senior year he was 230 or 240, but he wasn't a real big guy, but we took a chance on him and now he's 280, 285. When he's hitting on all cylinders and playing really fast, it's a rare combination. There are not a lot of big guys who are quick like that."

Trying to get the legs fresh for Friday's scrimmage, Tulane conducted a light half-practice on Thursday morning at Yulman Stadium that started an hour late and ended at the usual time. Players wore caps instead of helmets and walking through drills they normally do not do. For instance, they had a field-goal block drill without a ball. The rushers lined up where they were supposed to before a fake snap and a fake kick.

Nearly the entire one-hour workout was devoted to special teams. Coaches reminded players they can return long field goals that come up short. They worked on kickoff returns against air, and since this is a full-service site, I wrote down the 11 guys on the kickoff return team. The No. 1 unit has Willie Langham, P.J. Hall, Larry Brooks, Chase Kuerschen, Larry Bryant and KJ Vault as the first line, Tyrick James, Patrick Johnson and Will Wallace as the up backs and Stephon Huderson and Amare Jones as the deep men. I believe Jalen McCleskey is the usual deep back along with Jones. I did not write down the second and third units, but the deep men on the No. 2 group are Chris Joyce and Jaetavian Toles and on the No. 3 group are Tyjae Spears and Jha'Quan Jackson.

The drills had no contact at all but required mental attention. At one point, Willie Fritz hollered out, "This is part of my eval. It's going to be impossible for me to tell him something during a game and have him do it" if he doesn't listen to instructions in practice.

During some of the special teams work, defensive coordinator Jack Curtis worked with the jokers (OLBs). They are Patrick Johnson, Carlos Hatcher, Juan Monjarres and Torri Singletary.

When the workout was over, Fritz praised their attention to detail in the team huddle and then told them,"Leave your hat in your lock boxes. They are for the whole year."

Here is Fritz after the practice:

How much can you get out of these practices?

"A bunch. It's really good. We go over things we don't get a chance to go over once the season starts. We're pretty lucky where the bye weeks fall. We will review some situations that will occur very often in those bye weeks, too. One of them is after four games and the other one's after eight games, so that works pretty good. It's excellent to go over a few things you don't get to go over on a daily basis."

About how many plays will the scrimmage be tomorrow?

"It's going to be fairly similar to the spring game format. We're going to go two quarters and some guys are going to play a lot and some guys are going to play a little."

What is the difference in Justin McMillan as a leader now that he's been here a year?

"He knows the guys. I read somewhere he made a comment he wasn't quite sure what Darnell Mooney's name was when he threw a touchdown pass (to him against Memphis last September). Hopefully he did, but maybe he didn't. He just knows all our players. That's good. I think he's very comfortable with coach Hall. Coach Hall does a fabulous job, not only with the offense, but he's really a good quarterback coach. There's not a lot of them out there. There's guys that act like they're quarterback guys, and if they are they probably can't tie it into a scheme. Or else the guy knows scheme but he doesn't know the proper mechanics of quarterback play. He really does a good job of both."

I will have quotes from Patrick Johnson and Cam Sample a little later.

This report will be shorter but with plenty of quotes. There were a lot of TV people at practice today and I got in too many conversations instead of paying attention to what was happening on the field. I will be back to the thorough report tomorrow.

Jalen McCleskey, who was serenaded with Happy Birthday for turning 22 today at the end of the workout, missed his second consecutive practice after feeling some tightness in his hamstring, so that bears watching. Willie Fritz said yesterday the new Catapult System they were using to monitor some players at practice had indicated McCleskey needed a rest. Also sitting out today were safety P.J. Hall and freshman safety Tyler Judson along with freshman offensive lineman Caleb Thomas. I'm no medical expert, but wide receiver Sorrell Brown was limping quite a bit on his right leg and I don't see him returning to practice any time soon.

When they went to 11-on-11 work in the last 25 minutes of what was the hottest (weather-wise) practice of camp today, they worked on red zone on the opposite end of the field from where I was standing. Tulane finished 10th nationally in red zone scoring percentage last year at 90.9 percent, and although the way the NCAA keeps that stat is wrong--It should be number of points scored per red zone possession because the current method essentialy measures how often a kicker makes medium-to-short field goals--the Wave was pretty effective at reaching the end zone in the red zone under Doug Ruse. The Wave scored 22 touchdowns in 33 red zone series, which was a better percentage than five of the nine teams ahead of it on the NCAA list and better than all but 31 teams in the FCS. The problem was getting to the red zone. Only six FBS teams had fewer red zone possessions per game than Tulane's 2.54.

Will Hall figures to rely on the passing game much more than Ruse did in the red zone. Tulane had only three red zone touchdown passes last season compared to 19 rushing TDs, but there was a lot of quick passing in the red zone drill today. I did not catalog the results, but Justin McMillan threw a nice pass to Amare Jones in the corner of the end zone and Stephon Huderson made a nice cut on his way to the end zone on a running play (again, the drills aren't really live, so judging what would have happened on runs is difficult).

Fritz, Hall. Bradwell and McMillan had group interviews today, but here is my one-on-one with Fritz at the Wilson Center yesterday after everyone returned from the Saints indoor facility:

FRITZ

That was one of the more testy practices under your tenure. What were your thoughts?

"We'll talk to them. I like the guys competing and all that kind of stuff, but sometimes they get to watching TV too much."

How helpful was it to be able to practice indoors in bad weather?

"It was great. I thought for a second the weather was going to be real nice (at noon, when they practiced after being rained out in the morning) and that we blew it, but you just never know around here. I've said a million times we're blessed that the Saints let us go out there and use their place. It's always nice to have 71 degrees indoor with the AC blowing. It allows you to go two-hour-and-15-minute practices and seem like you go an hour-and-a-half."

Has Ben Knutson moved ahead at right guard?

"We're still playing a bunch of guys. We're rolling in Keyshawn McLeod and Cameron Jackel and Ben and maybe next week Sincere Haynesworth might get some reps in there. He's a guard, too. We're just trying to find our best five."

This (wearable) Catapult System that you guys have started. How did you get involved with it?

"Yeah. I went up to a head-coaching retreat and a bunch of people had it and talked about it in great detail and length. It's just another way to have an edge. You kind of guess who's maybe taxed physically, but it's just that. It's just a guess. Now we're able to actually put numbers to it. It gives you a mark as far as explosiveness and distance covered and getting near your top speed throughout practice. We've got a bunch of different guys in positions groups and just seeing where they should be fairly indicative of their position. It's a very expensive system, but we want to know if Darnell Mooney is a little bit more taxed physically in one particular practice than another. That can maybe alleviate some soft-tissue injuries. There was an interesting stat I saw the other day where in the NCAA last year 40 percent of the soft-tissue injuries occurred in the first five days of practice, so we're really doing a good job building up with quality repetitions. It may seem like we're practicing a long time and not doing anything different, but it is different because we're rolling three groups instead of two groups, so guys are not getting as many quality reps in team and seven-on-seven and all those kind of things."

Was the coaching retreat this past offseason?

"Yeah, it was about a month or two ago. Pat Fitzgerald, who we're actually playing next year from Northwestern. We had a bunch of people up there. The guy from Oregon, Mario Cristobal, the head coach at Buffalo, Lance Leipold. It was just a meeting in Chicago. The guy from Toledo was there."

Are you using it on a trial basis?

"No, we bought it full. We bought two deals that probably not many teams in our league have. We got a Rise system that measures sleep. Everybody's got an App on their phone. We can tell how long the guys are sleeping, if they are in sleep debt, when their peak hours are. It tells all sorts of stuff. That's stuff we talk about a lot but now we can actually measure. And this Catapult System is really a GPS tracking device. We spent a lot of money on both of these deals. We'll do it year-round."

How many players are using it?

"For the Catapult we've got 22 guys that are on it. We've got a couple that we put on different guys each day. The Sleep Rise system is for all guys."

Are there specific positions you emphasize with the Catapult?

"Yeah, a little bit more movement guys. We have one offensive lineman and one defensive lineman that we're tracking. We're not tracking the quarterbacks. It's really wideouts, DBs, linebackers, tight ends."

What does it look like?

"It looks like they're wearing a sports bra. We are going to do something, too, where we put it in their shoulder pads. It's kind of hot."

So nobody has complained about having to use it?

"Nope. As a matter of fact the guys are pretty into it. We just hired an assistant strength coach from Oregon, and that's where he really did it. He can interpret the data. We've had a couple of meetings where we've really gone over everything from A to Z, but we don't have time to do that every day. He'll give us the high points or you better watch out for this guy or this guy established a new duration of running 75 percent or higher of his max speed. It's pretty interesting."

Have you changed anything yet based on that data?

'You know, Jalen McCleskey for example didn't practice today because he had hit some high marks and he was feeling it a little bit with his hamstring, so we just backed off. Back in the old days we would not have done that, but with his workload and how his body was feeling, it's a combination of a lot of things. It's also the input from the training staff and all that. We want to be smart with some guys. These guys pull a hamstring and sometimes that injury bothers them for a whole year, so we just want to stay as far away from those as we can."

I will have an update later today on the practice.

Tulane center Christian Montano, a grad transfer from Brown, donated his bone marrow in February of 2018 to a cancer patient, Jim Calhoun, and saved his life. Calhoun will attend the Army game on Oct. 5, and I will have a story in The Advocate about the whole deal before then. It's quite the story. Here's what Montano said about the process when I talked to him on Media Day.

Can you talk about how that all came about?

"It was though an organization called Be The Match. We started doing that at Brown a number of years ago when one of the offensive linemen, Lawrence Rubida, was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma (a type of cancer; Rubida, a former team captain, died in 2005). So we did two events. One in the fall was called Bench Press for Cancer, where you get a sponsor. Then in the spring we do a match and we do the mouth swab drive. Every year we go on the campus and try to get as many people to sign up as we could. So my freshman year I signed up for that and didn't hear anything for three years. Then they called me right before Thanksgiving (of 2017) and said, hey, we think you're a match for someone, would you be willing to come back and do a secondary testing to confirm you're the best available match. I said, yes, of course. I did that right after I got back from Thanksgiving break, and then right before Christmas they said, hey, you are our best person overall to do it. Would you be willing to. I said yes and then Feb. 1 of 2018 I did the donation."

What's happened since then?

"There's a one-year no-contact period. Obviously the patient's still very sick because on the day of the donation they basically radiate their immune system to the point where they have nothing left, so it's kind of their most compromised space. After a year they are supposed to be healthy again if everything went well. So around early February this year I got a phone call from Jim (Calhoun). He said I was your recipient. We just talked for close to a a half-hour, 40 minutes about it."

How old was he?

"He was 43 at the time. He is from upstate New York."

What's happened since the phone call?

"I got to meet him briefly in May when I went back home. They came down and visited our house for a weekend and visited me and my family, but we text probably on a daily basis now, just shoot messages back and forth. It's pretty cool. He's also going to come to our Army game up in New York. It's awesome. It's really cool to get to know him and his family."

What was it like when you first met him?

"It was really emotional when we first met. We've talked about it. I have a second chance at football here, and it was his second chance at life really. If you are over a certain age, he was just over by a matter of months where they no longer consider chemotherapy and radiation a treatment option. Bone marrow transplants are the only option with the cancer he had."

What cancer did he have?

"It's called ALL. Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (a type of blood cancer), but it's typically a child's cancer so if you're over 42 years old, your only chance is bone marrow they say."

What is his prognosis now?

'He's been clean (since the transplant). He's had no problems. I think he said it's two years post-transplant, but if there are no complications, they'll consider you cured. He's about halfway there."

What was the effect on you?

"Minimal. There are two ways to do it. One's through your blood. They run it through a machine. I forget the name of them, I think it's allergenic. There's that way through the blood and the other way's through the bone marrow, so I did it through the hip, which is an actual surgical operation. You go to general anaesthesia. They use needles to draw it out from the hip crest. It took about 2 1/2 hours. You wake up pretty sore because they had to really gut it into the bone, but after maybe a week or so you feel pretty normal."

So you were fine by a week?

"I was back in the gym doing light stuff about a week-and-a-half later and I was good to go, about a month I was a hundred percent."

I hear Bul Ajang will be declared a medical casualty, getting the scholarship down to the NCAA maximum of 13.

This is not surprising because there was no other player it could be unless all of my sources were incorrect. Zhang was not leaving and is back with the team after spending the summer with the Chinese national team. Hunter loves Koka's potential as a shot-blocker. The freshmen are all accounted for.