Tulane's special teams have gotten better incrementally under Willie Fritz and one reason is how hard he coaches that unit. When I arrived at practice on a beautiful morning, he was drilling those guys hard on kickoff returns. Jalen McCleskey, who appears destined to be the primary returner, broke outside of his blockers (it was a simulation with no actual hitting or coverage unit; the drill was just to have the blockers and returners run upfield in the right formation) on one of them, and Fritz screamed "stay between them," repeatedly, explaining that the returner could freelance only in extreme circumstances but needed to follow the plan.

Next, they went to 7 on 7 drills, and believe it or not, Christian Daniels completed the most passes. He's not making a move up the depth chart, but he looked improve from the fall even though his injured knee is not 100 percent year. Going against backup defenders, he completed passes to Dane Ledford and Jared Poche in stride among others. Near the end of practice, he threw a really nice pass to walk-on Ryan Thompson.

Keon Howard absolutely, positively has to improve his accuracy. He missed an open receiver in the middle of he field and even threw a swing pass into the ground. That cannot happen. Howard rebounded a little bit in 11 on 11, throwing a nice pass to Ygenio Booker over the middle and finding Dauphine for a short gain. But he also threw over the wrong shoulder to Jorrien Vallien on a deep ball. Vallien adjusted to it poorly, taking too long to move outside when he thought it was coming to his inside shoulder, resulting in an incomplete pass. Jaetavien Toles then caught a pass on the outside. T

It was not Justin McMillan's sharpest day, either, as the defense had the upper hand in 7 on 7 and 11 on 11. He threw behind Corey Dauphine, had a pass for Jorrien Vallien broken up by Lawrence Graham. After connecting with McCleskey over the middle, he threw a pretty deep spiral to no one as someone broke off a route or McMillan simply missed the call.

Tulane still does not have a proven No. 3 wideout, but Toles is the closest. The other guys still need to improve a lot. Sorrell Brown, who was promising at the beginning of fall camp a year ago before tearing two knee ligaments, is dressing but will not get reps this spring as his knee continues to heal. I did not see Kevin LeDee, another 2018 injury, running routes, either. I might have missed him, but the group of him, Jacob Robertson, Booker, Vallien and Ledford are not ready at this point. They have 10 more spring practices to get better.

The depth charts offensively and defensively remained the same. I like the defense, with the only real concern at both safety spots. P.J. Hall needs to play better than last year, and the Chase Kuerschen/Macon Clark combo at strong safety is unproven. The cornerbacks, despite losing Donnie Lewis, should be fine with some combination of Thakarius Keyes, Jaylon Monroe, Willie Langham and Chris Joyce.

Amare Jones did not practice. Fritz said he attended meetings but was ill and unable to work out.

FRITZ

How would you assess practice?

"It went all right. We worked on four-minute (drill) here at the end of practice. I think that's something that often gets overlooked, bleeding the clock, milking the clock, the calls we make defensively in that situation, the calls we make offensively in that situation. There's a whole lot of things we have to talk about in our meeting we have to do when we are in a four-minute type situation, and then we did a little perimeter drill throwing the ball, bodies on bodies, physicality, so that was good, too. We're starting to incorporate more special teams into practice as well."

You coached those kickoff return drills hard. How important are the details in stuff like that?

"It's all important. You have to make a good decision first of all. They changed the rules (last year) and now you get the ball on the 25-yard line (on all fair catches from the 25 through the end zone) and I believe 70-some-odd percent when you bring it out of the end zone, you don't make it to the 25. We're going to take it and fair catch it and get it on the 25-yard line. You gotta catch that ball with your momentum going forward. There's a stat in the NFL about how successful the returns were based on whether the guy was stationary or going backwards and drifting when he tried to bring it out. It's a huge difference. Just getting the right bodies on the right bodies. We try to play our best players in the kicking game."

What have you seen out of your running backs?

"Today I liked there at the very end, Cam Carroll ran with some power. He split two guys and those were some glancing blows and the size and speed of our guys, they ought to run through arm tackles. That should be their goal. Obviously defensively we're coaching that that can't happen, but we've got to do a better job of running with power. We're not running with power all the time out here in practice. Sometimes we fall down because we're not running with that power. We need to have a good forward lean but not so much we fall on our face."

What is Sorrell Brown's status?

"Yeah, he'll be ready July 30th when we have our first day (of preseason drills). We're not trying to push. He (tore) both his ACL and his MCL, so we're waiting a little bit, but he's getting better and better every day."

How much credit should Kyle Speer get for the strength of the players?

"He does a great job. Kyle was with me at Sam Houston, I brought him to Georgia Southern and I brought him with me over here. It's he and his staff. He has a good staff. We also are very involved as coaches. For 15 years I was a strength coach. I love getting in the weight room. Other coaches love being in there. Everyone reinforces what we're looking for in the strength program and Kyle does a great job of leading us."

How important is it to know you share the same philosophy with Speer?

"The thing that's good for me is I don't have to sit around and micromanage him. I did the first spring I was with him in 2010, but since that time, he runs the program exactly the way I want him to run it and does a very good job with our guys."

An unexpected issue prevented me from attending Saturday morning's practice, but I was there this morning as Tulane began the third of five weeks of spring drills with practice No. 7. The team will practice again on Friday, not Thursday, because Willie Fritz wants to watch one of his older brothers, Ed Fritz, coach the East team in the McDonald's All-America high school all-star basketball game. Ed, 4 years older than Willie, has won five state championships at Blue Valley Northwest High in Overland Park, Kansas.

Fritz said one of the keys to spring ball was developing a pecking order on the depth chart, and that's what's happening three weeks into drills. The starting offensive line appears set with Tyler Johnson at left tackle, Corey Dublin at left guard, Christian Montano at center, Cameron Jackel at right guard and Joey Claybrook at right tackle. They've lined up that way for every practice I have attended, although Virginia transfer Ben Knutson could take over at right guard when he arrived in the summer.

With only nine scholarship players on the spring roster up front, the second-team line has Michael Remondet at left tackle, walk-on Ben Bratcher at left guard, Stephen Lewerenz at center, Nik Hogan at right guard and Keyshawn McLeod at left tackle. McCleod, the only fifth-year senior on the roster who arrived as a freshman, is working with three redshirt freshmen and is the only one of the group with any chance to move up in the fall. The drop-off from the first unit to the second is substantial, but strength and conditioning coordinator Kyle Speer believes the three redshirt freshman will become good players down the road and are developing at a reasonable pace.

There is a clear pecking order at wide receiver, too, with Jalen McCleskey, Darnell Mooney and Jaetavian Toles always working with the first unit. Only six scholarship receivers practiced today, with Jorrien Vallien, Dane Ledford and Ygenio Booker on the second unit. Jacob Robertson, Kevin LeDee and Sorrell Brown are not practicing in team drills due to injuries.

The running backs, of course, go five deep, and Stephon Huderson, who started three games a year ago, could find himself fifth on the depth chart if he does not have a good finish to the spring. Darius Bradwell and Corey Dauphine remain the top two guys. Amare Jones, who missed a practice last week because he was sick but returned Saturday, appears to be third, with Cameron Carroll and Huderson fighting for fourth at the moment.

Tyrick James is the top tight end, with Will Wallace next. It's an annual rite of spring to talk about how the tight end is going to be used more in the offense, but that really appears to be the case with James, who makes catches every day in 11-on-11 drills.

Cornerback Thakarius Keyes missed practice today because he was sick, giving Chris Joyce a chance to work with the first team opposite Jaylon Monroe. I'll have the rest of the depth chart info on the defense later today along with quotes from Fritz, but I'm off to Devlin Fieldhouse for Ron Hunter's introductory press conference.

Here was the story I wrote on Georgia State and Ron Hunter when I was the point man for The Advocate's coverage of the 2014 Sun Belt tournament at UNO.

Georgia State ended up losing to Elfrid Payton and ULL in OT in the championship game after leading the entire way and having a sizable lead late in regulation. I've never seen a team look any more devastated than that group, which rebounded to make the championship game the following year and then played tight and scared the entire 40 minutes before beating Georgia Southern 38-36 in one of the ugliest games ever played.

Freed up by that win, they beat Baylor in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

By Guerry Smith
Special to The Advocate

The last time Georgia State’s Ron Hunter won a conference tournament, he celebrated with a belly flop on the court in a wild postgame celebration.

That was 11 years ago when he coached underdog IUPUI. If Georgia State repeats the feat at Lakefront Arena on Sunday, his first reaction may be a sigh of relief.

The Panthers (24-7, 17-1), who have won 21 of their last 22 and took the Sun Belt Conference regular season title by a whopping five games, are overwhelming favorites to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. With that status comes the overwhelming pressure of having an entire season defined by what happens this weekend.

Win, and they believe they can do damage in the NCAA tournament.

Lose, and the season will be a crushing disappointment.

“When that first (tournament championship) came, I didn’t plan that celebration, so I don’t know what I would do,” Hunter said. “I will say I will be just as excited if we are able to get this done because it would cap off what has been a terrific year.”

The new Sun Belt tournament format favors Georgia State, giving the Panthers a double bye into Saturday’s semifinals along with No. 2 seed Western Kentucky. They only have to win twice to cut down the nets.

“We just talked about let’s play the best, most efficient games that we’ve played for 80 minutes,” Hunter said. “It’s 80 minutes. Don’t make it bigger than anything else. This is a very talented team. If we play what we’re capable of doing and what we’ve done all year, we’re going to be fine.”

Still, nothing is as easy as it appears during championship week.

Regular-season champions won only three of the 11 tournaments completed by Tuesday night. The list of upset losers included Vermont, which won the America East by two games, Green Bay, two games clear in the Horizon League, and Davidson, which won the Southern Conference by three games. None of them even reached their tournament championship game.

“It doesn’t matter at this time of the year,” said sophomore guard R.J. Hunter, Ron Hunter’s son and the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year. “Everybody is zero and zero. Winning streaks don’t matter. Nobody wants to go home, so everybody is playing a little better. You just have to be on top of your game. We all want that pressure and we all want that spotlight.”

R.J. Hunter, who averages 18.5 points, is part of an unusually gifted offensive team. Four Georgia State players have scored 30 or more points in a game, including his 41-point outburst on 12-of-19 3-point shooting against UTSA in December.

The others are Kentucky transfer Ryan Harrow, a McDonald’s All-America selection in 2010, swingman Manny Atkins and point guard Devonta White --all double-figures scorers.

Sun Belt opponents have not been able to keep up with them.

The Panthers beat two-time defending tournament champion Western Kentucky by 18 and 23 points.

“We’re built like an AAU team,” Atkins said. “We like to run, we have four guards on the team that can do really anything on the floor, and that’s what makes our team so great. If we go out there and play our game like we have been, there’s really no team that can beat us right now in our league.”

Guarding against overconfidence may be their biggest concern. Atkins, a senior, already has cautioned his teammates not to be cocky when they arrive in New Orleans.

The Sun Belt tournament will be a steppingstone to bigger things only if they take it seriously. Georgia State, which upset Wisconsin in its last NCAA tournament appearance 13 years ago under former Maryland coach Lefty Driessel, can’t wait for another chance.

“I think we can be a Cinderella,” R.J. Hunter said. “There’s just a lot of talent and firepower, and you don’t see that at this level. The sky’s the limit for us. We have lethal scorers and we’re unselfish. Everybody just sacrificed because we want to win so bad.”

Seth Davis tweeted that Ron Hunter (Georgia Sis a “prime target” for Tulane job.

If Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray have taught us anything, it's that size is not the most important characteristic at QB. Edna Karr's Leonard Kelly is a sleeper to watch. Houston, Louisiana Tech and Tulane are all showing a lot of early interest

➡️ https://rvls.co/2TSByFs

nm

So I saw this on twitter last night....

https://www.athleticbusiness.com/sp...ing-tv-deal-will-have-huge-ramifications.html

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/3-takeaways-from-the-aac’s-reported-new-tv-deal/ar-BBUYEc5

https://collegefootballtalk.nbcspor...-television-deal-will-be-on-par-with-power-6/


New deal is $1 Billion over 12 years, which breaks down to about $83.3 million per season (4 times more than the current $20 million per year) $6.94 million per school which is about $5 mil more than the current $1.9 Mil per year. The deal did not include a grant-of-rights. I think it's a solid, if not spectacular deal. Obviously not on par with the rest of the P6 but light years better than the G4.

The last spring practice of the winter took place in full pads this morning in pretty chilly conditions at Yulman Stadium, although it warmed up a bit under the sun by the 10 a.m. finish. I cleared up the Keitha Jones mystery when I noticed he was playing tight end, a move Willie Fritz confirmed after practice. Not sure why I did not see him running routes last week, but he gives the Green Wave a third scholarship tight end to go along with Will Wallace and Tyrick James. His move leaves Tulane with six scholarship inside linebackers in the spring--starters Marvin Moody and Lawrence Graham, sometime-first unit guy Nick Anderson, Quentin Brown, K.J. Vault and true freshman Dorian Williams.

Justin McMillan was sharp at the end of practice in an 11-on-11 drill, throwing accurately. He hit Amare Jones on an inside route, and I cannot stress enough how much Tulane needs to throw to the backs next fall. It was not a viable part of the playbook under Doug Ruse, but Will Hall appears willing and able to incorporate these guys into the passing game. At the moment, most of the running backs are better receivers than any wideout other than Darnell Mooney and Jalen McCleskey.

McMillan threw an interception earlier in the practice that safety Macon Clark snagged near the sideline. McMillan hurt his left leg on the play and had to go to the sideline to flex the leg, but he returned soon and looked completely fine.

"He (Clark) is getting bigger," Fritz said. "He was a 170 pounds max when he got here and he's 188, 189 now. He runs well, he's got good instincts, he's a good, physical player. He knows how to pull the trigger. Some guys, everything has to be perfect for them to come up and make a play. Rod Teamer was great at that. When he played run, he went and played run, and Macon has some of those characteristics. He can make the hit and make the interception."

Clark, it turns out, is only working with the first team at strong safety because Chase Kuerschen is recovering from offseason back surgery. Kuerschen is practicing, but Fritz said he was not 100 percent.

"If he was, he'd be out there working with the first group," Fritz said. "He improved big time last season as well and was really good in the kicking game and did some good things on the defensive side of the ball as well. We're just being safe with him. We don't have a game until August 29."

Kuerschen made 60 tackles as a true freshman in 2017, the fourth most on the team, while starting eight games, but he was exposed in open space in some games and was moved to linebacker last spring. That decision did not pan out, so he went back to safety in the fall but did not play much early. His role expanded as the season progressed, and he finished with 23 tackles and three starts.

"A big part of my job is figuring out where to put these guys," Fritz said. "Sometimes a (position coach) who's working with a guy every day can't really see it. You have to step back a little bit and look at it. It's like Rod Teamer this last year. We moved him to a different position (strong safety from free safety) and it was gold for him and gold for us. We did the same thing with Chase. You have to make sure you're accenting what a guy's skill set is all about."

Keon Howard still needs to improve his accuracy. He rolled out nicely to avoid pressure on one play but threw behind Jorrien Vallien and off his hands on what could have been a nice gain.

Both quarterbacks elected to keep the ball and scramble downfield on several pass plays, which is hard to analyze when they are not allowed to be tackled. Redshirt freshman Cam Carrroll showed some pop on running plays, but again, it's a little hard to gauge when the drill is not totally live. This is one talented running back group, so the more the coaches find a way to get them a lot of touches, the better.

Brown grad transfer Christian Montano is getting good reviews at center after four practices. For starters, every one of his snaps has been perfect. Corey Dublin was adequate but not perfect in that department last year, and his move to left guard to accommodate the Brown transfer's arrival has strengthened two positions.

"Obviously he's a highly intelligent guy," Fritz said. "He's got good football sense. He's getting better every practice. He's going against better players than he normally would go against in his practices at Brown. He's a battler. He's got a competitive streak in him that I really like. He finishes blocks. He's just going to a good player for us."

Fritz obviously never saw Montano play in person, but his film was impressive.

"It looked like he was big enough to play at the level," Fritz said. "He's 6-3, 300 pounds and has excellent strength. He's a 400-pound plus bench presser. He's a mid-500-pound squatter, so he's got the mass and the strength to play inside. I watched his first game last year and he played in 28 snaps (before suffering a season-ending foot injury). I watched him the year before at tackle. Those guys that can snap and move and play and block, it's a little tougher than the other spots. They've got to be calling stuff out. It kind of gave us two new players, putting him at center and putting Corey back at guard, his natural position. Corey's improved his strength level probably 20 percent since he got here, and that's significant."

Dublin is suited more for guard. A few too many of his snaps were a little off target last year, and he started every game at left guard as a true freshman, where he is now.

"For stepping in there and having to play center last year (when Junior Diaz transferred to FAU) he did an excellent job," Fritz said. "But at guard, he does a good job of pulling, climbing into the second level, comboing up with defensive linemen. He's a really good run blocker. Our guards have got to be able to create vertical movement, and he's got a lot of power to him. I really think this is a good move for Corey. He's very competitive. It's good to have those two guys side by side. We have a lot of competitive guys up on the offensive line."

It really is amazing how many active bodies Tulane has on the defensive front. I've never seen anything like it since I started covering the team in 2010, with DeAndre Williams, Jeffery Johnson, Alfred Thomas and Jamiran James inside and Patrick Johnson, Cam Sample, Carlos Hatcher, Juan Monjarres and Davon Wright outside giving the Wave nine capable players.

"It's big time," Fritz said. "That's where you want to start your defense off, and the best pass defense is a good rush. We've got some guys that are natural pass rushers. Patrick Johnson obviously, Cam Sample, but all those guys had sacks last year. We had 41 sacks, which I believe is the most in school history (Tulane had 46 in 1973) and the third best in the nation (actually eighth). Besides that, they are all big enough and strong enough to play at the point. We are a lot stronger team now. We've got a bunch of guys benching over 400, a bunch of guys squatting 500 and over 600 pounds, which is hard to do. To do 600 pounds, that's tough to do, and there are not a whole lot of guys who really do a 600-pound squat, and we've got six or seven guys doing that."

Fritz said Christian Daniels, a redshirt freshman who is practicing as the third string QB, is not close to 100 percent after having a serious knee injury last fall when he was working at receiver. Daniels did not show much at QB at the beginning of 2018, but he's still young.

"He's doing a nice job," Fritz said. "Guys are doing a good job of staying off him and he's doing a good job of not cranking it loose. He really has (made a quick recovery). I'd rather have guys in their rehab doing football stuff than be standing here on the sideline doing other stuff. I tell him every day he's got to be smart out there. Don't all of a sudden do a cut you're not ready to do yet, but we need him ready to go July 31 when we start preseason camp and he'll be ready then."

About 25 players headed out of the stadium about two minutes before practice ended because Fritz sends them on their way an hour before the start of their 11 am. classes. That's one constant at Tulane I almost never saw in the 17 years I covered Florida--missed practice time due to classwork-- but they did not miss anything today. They took off during a water break, and Fritz ended practice at the end of the break.

Tulane will have its fifth practice Thursday morning, with Pro Day taking place at the Saints Indoor facility at noon. Unless The Advocate tells me I have to cover it, I will skip Pro Day this year. Tulane's draft prospects are small, with maybe Donnie Lewis getting taken, and that event is interminable with every senior hoping to catch an NFL scout's eye plus players from McNeese and other small colleges participating. I've sat through it the last two years and been bored.

We talked to Montano, Dublin and Clark after practice today. I don't have time to transcribe them, but I will get that stuff up tomorrow. And yes, I will get the long interview with Kyle Speer I had last week on the site soon.

This was obviously the right move and another good sign that the status quo from the past no longer exists at Tulane. I was caught off guard because I've been around the program too long and expect coaches to be kept far longer than they should be, which was the Tulane model under Rick Dickson.

That's not the case under Dannen.

If you don't change the input, the output is going to stay the same.

TROY DANNEN

I met with coach this morning at 9 o'clock and told him. We've been meeting regularly over the past several weeks. I told him we are going to go a different direction with the program. I met with the team shortly thereafter and informed them, and that's where we are today.

"I made a statement about five or six weeks ago of support for the program, support for the coach. I thought it was really important at that time. A lot of things happen in a season when you struggle. A lot of people on the outside start trying to get to your kids convincing them that they need to go somewhere else. A lot of the kids we're trying to recruit, there's people telling them don't go there, don't go there. And really it was twofold in mind. One to address that, to take some of the pressure off and give everybody a chance without that pressure to come down the stretch and see what we can do. From that point on there was continuous evaluation of the program, and it came down to at the end, we just weren't making the progress we needed to make. The question is what do want Tulane to be and what are our aspirations and goals. I said when I go here I want to win at everything, and when I say win, I don't just mean competitive. I mean academically, I mean socially, I mean in every way I want to be successful, and we have a scoreboard, and very obviously we are a long way away from that in men's basketball right now. So it was time to make a leadership change.

"I love Mike to death. He did so much for this program that I don't think will ever be noticed because we all look at the win-loss records. He inherited a team GPA of 1.99 and turned it into 3.15, but that's important at Tulane. He has great kids who represent the university on and off the floor tremendously. All season they played hard. I told the guys when I met with them, it's really easy when things went to quit, to give up, and the last thing they ever did was quit or give up. They played as hard the last minute of the season as they did the first, and I'm very proud of that, but that also goes back to Mike's leadership and the commitment inside the program.

"It's time to start a search. Like every AD in the country I do have my list in the pocket and I've already had my first few calls this morning. We will not use a search film. We will handle that inside the department and hopefully in the next couple of weeks make good progress and clearly the next you'll hear about the search from me is when the next head coach is announced."

At what point did it become untenable to bring him back for a fourth year?

"If you don't feel progress is being made, if you're not looking forward with interest about what lies ahead, then you have to ask yourself why aren't you. I got to the point, and I know we had some injuries, and we struggled in certain areas, were we going to be able to bounce back from that, is the program going to be better off a year from now if we stand pat or if we make a change, or will it be better off two years from now. I don't know if there was a day, but that switch kicked. It was really obvious over the course of the last few weeks that we weren't in a position to get better next year and the next two years based on what I saw."

When you got to Tulane, you had to make a bunch of big hires immediately. Do you feel like you know much more about what this basketball program needs now?

"I do know a lot more about the program and a lot more about the league and what it takes to compete in this league. That said, maybe this won't come across right, but Mike was the right hire at the time. He came here with a skill set, he came in with experience that frankly, we needed a lot of fire in the program. We needed to become credible again. This is a great basketball league. I told president Fitts during my interview that it would be harder for basketball to turn it around than football. I reminded him of that a couple of weeks ago and he said, 'I didn't believe you at the time.' But we have six or seven schools in this league who are basketball-first schools who have great traditional, historical success and made great investments, and we're trying to catch them. Mike was the right guy at the right time. He got a lot of things done. The program is structurally stable. The underneath part that maybe doesn't show on the scoreboard, I feel good about that part of it, and if you don't feel good about that part, you really don't have a chance to get going on the scoreboard.

"I do understand from a recruiting standpoint, from the guys on the floor, we need to up our level of recruiting. That will obviously be a primary focus of whoever I turn to as the next head coach. We have to catch up. We've got a good young core, and it is a young core, but we need more of them and we to surround them at all five positions and make sure we have talent across the board. You see the teams in the conference tournament. We shot 62 percent most of the first half against Memphis and we trailed most of the first half. It was athleticism that was the difference. We need to get more athletic. I think we'll be in a good position and have a good grasp on what we need to do going forward."

You hired Dunleavy when he had no college experience. Will that push you towards a more traditional hire this time?

"It's easy to say it doesn't matter but whenever you terminate a coach, almost invariably you hire the opposite. I'm not saying we're hiring the opposite, but my focus is going to be on sitting college head coaches, those who have been sitting college coaches and I'm sure there will be a couple of elite-level assistants in there as well. If I have 20 guys in mind, 15 of them will be coaching in the NCAA tournament next week in one form or another and the rest will have coached in the NCAA tournament. That's my focus to start. You just never know, though. These searches that you think you might be going in a straight line and then all of a sudden there's a turn."

What was Mike's reaction?

"Mike believes the program was in better shape than I believe it's in from an ability to compete next year and going forward. Mike and I have had a great relationship together. The hardest part of all this is the personal part. He's a good man and he did everything right. He didn't win, but he was what who we want Tulane to be. I wanted a good man who did everything right and I wanted to win. Mike understands that. I'm sure he'll have some comment later today."

As bad as the season was, there are some good parts. Do you feel confident the key guys will stick around?

"You know, there were 800 transfers last year, which means about 2.5 per team, so status quo you would expect changes. As I told the guys this morning, and this I've told every team that I've ever met with that a new coach is coming in, it's easy to be emotional and get inpatient. Give it a couple of weeks and let the new coach come in and see if you like the songs the new coach sings. It's re-recruitment all over again any time a new coach comes in. Re-recruit the guys that are in the program, sell them on their vision for the program, the same way you sell incoming freshmen.

"My only job as an AD really is to empower other people's success, and I told them I want to empower your success. Hopefully that's here, but give the next coach a chance and see where it goes from there."

Tulane has its best chance to date to win an AAC game on Thursday against Tulsa.

Tulsa's highs are much higher than Tulane's highs (16-point win over Memphis and 18-point win over Temple in its last two home games) but it has yet to win a conference road game, falling to Houston by 18, SMU by 20, UCF by 2, Cincinnati by 24 and Wichita State by 11. If Tulane shoots well, an elusive goal, and Tulsa plays like it has in all but the UCF game away from home, the Wave can avoid tying its second-worst conference start in school history.

In 1978, the first year the Metro Conference had a full schedule, Tulane started 0-11 before winning its finale against Saint Louis in a year it finished 5-22 overall.

In 1964, Tulane lost its first 13 SEC games and its first 22 overall before beating LSU 80-68 in the finale to finish 1-13 in the league and 1-22 overall.

Since those two seasons, Tulane's worst conference start was 0-8 in the first year of the regrettable Shawn Finney era in 2001. Even Perry Clark's first-year team in 1990 won its third conference game before going 1-13.

This type of pursuit of history is not what Tulane had in mind when it hired Mike Dunleavy, but I continue to hear he will be back next year. None of this comes directly from Troy Dannen, but the consensus is Dunleavy is safe. This article from ESPN.com--one of the strangest I've read on the site--agrees with that sentiment.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...4/reverse-hot-seat-why-embattled-coaches-stay

The one thing no one can say with a straight face is Tulane has been unlucky to go 0-10. In 400 minutes of AAC play, Tulane has been ahead for 45 minutes and 27 seconds by my count, trailing wire-to-wire in six games and never leading in the last four minutes.

Dunleavy said on the AAC teleconference yesterday that Ona Embo, Koka and Ajang are out for the year now. I had thought Koka would be back, but he won't be, so Tulane will have limited depth in the frontcourt the rest of the way.

Crabtree hit all four of his 3s against Wichita State after missing 15 consecutive 3s over a seven-game span. Moses Wood did not contribute a whole lot on the stat sheet in his 21 minutes, but he has very active hands and makes smart plays, something that is rare on this team. If Kevin Zhang, who has been soft as tissue paper, has one of his good games, Tulane can avoid going 0-18 in the league. But that's a lot of ifs. And it's not like Tulane will get any help from playing at home. The Wave is 5-31 at home in AAC play, which has to be the worst record for any D1 team over the last five years.

Terry Carter, an offensive lineman for the class of 2021 from Memphis Freedom Prep Academy, picked up his first offer from Tulane today.

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Tulane is only two days into spring practice, but here are two things you can expect to see next fall that you have not seen during the Willie Fritz era: a tight end making big plays down the middle of the field and running backs actively involved in the passing game.

Sophomore Tyrick James was the star of the day, getting open down the middle for two long touchdown passes from Keon Howard in 11-on-11 drills. The second one was against the No. 2 defense, but James gives the Wave an explosiveness at the position it has lacked, and it has an offensive coordinator in Will Hall who appears willing to take advantage of that asset. He was open another time, but Justin McMillan missed on his throw.

"Tyrick James had a super practice. He had four or five catches and is playing with confidence and is is really doing a good job. It means we're able to line up in all sorts of different formations. It helps you with mismatches on the perimeter blocking. When you have a guy that can do a lot of stuff, they may play a dime type defense for your power formation or it puts them at a disadvantage where they have to play vanilla. It helps your offense when you have a tight end who can make big plays."

Fritz was high on James when he first started recruiting him. He played high school football for Brian Bell, the starting quarterback for Fritz in all four years of his stint at Sam Houston State, and Bell gave James rave reviews.

"Brian told me he's the smartest kid he's coached," Fritz said. "He can do a lot of stuff. I would watch him playing basketball when we were recruiting him. He's got great body control. He's only about 6-2, but he's almost 250, runs well and is just a really good athlete. He's got good movement. He played quarterback in high school, he played back, he played wide receiver and he ended up playing tight end, so he's still learning."

Amare Jones, a revelation as a kickoff returner last fall in his true freshman year, appears ready to become the full package even in a backfield loaded with talent. Tulane finally has a swing pass in its repertoire--still have not seen a screen--and Jones took one and sprinted down the sideline for a long gain against the first-team defense. He has big play written all over him.

"There are a lot of things he can do for us," Fritz said. "Obviously he's great in the return game but he's also excellent in catching the ball. He's got natural hands and he runs super routes. If you didn't know any better, you'd think he was a wide receiver. Then he's good back there as a running back and he played quarterback in high school and throws a pretty ball. He needs to touch the ball between returns, catches and running the ball 15 times a game."

The running backs combined to catch 35 passes in Fritz's first three years, and that's if you count Devin's Glenn's few grabs when he split time between running back and receiver. The most by a back in a single season was Dontrell Hilliard's eight in 2017. The plan is for those numbers to go up significantly, and it was born out by the plays the Wave worked on this morning.

"The backs are going to be catching the ball for us," Fritz said. "We're lucky all those guys have pretty good hands. Darius Bradwell's got soft hands. Cam Carroll made a nice catch over here and turned it into a run afterwards. Huderson can catch the ball. We've got a bunch of backs who can catch it."

Aside from his two long passes to James, Howard struggled for the most part. He missed a running back on a simple swing pass, throwing it into the ground, overthrew walk-on wide receiver Ryan Thompson and threw an interception on a misdirection play where he tried to throw to a receiver behind the line of scrimmage and nickelback Will Harper grabbed it. His next pass, an off target throw to Ytevio Booker, almost was intercepted, too.

McMillan was sharp at the start, completing the pass to Jones that went for a big gain and connecting with Jalen McCleskey on a post, although that was a better decision than throw. McCleskey had to adjust and go to the ground to catch it, making it look easy although I doubt any receiver would have made that play last year. A little later, McCleskey should have hauled in a deep ball in the end zone McMillan threw, but he dropped it in traffic.

McMillan dipped a bit during later reps, including throwing a horrendous deep ball to McCleskey that would have been a long completion if it been to the inside shoulder. Instead it was about five yards to the outside shoulder and McCleskey had to contort his body before diving and failing to catch it.

Christian Daniels and walk-on Josh Holl got some reps, too. Daniels did not do anything special. Holl threw a deep pass with a lot of velocity that ended up being intercepted when it looked like it would be a reception (I could not see the number of either player involved). Holl has a nice arm.

Jamiran James did not play last year because of his hand injury, and he appears to want to make up for lost time. He leveled Stephon Huderson on a running play, a no-no in contact drills. He had nice form on the tackle.

The depth chart remained unchanged from yesterday, except that newcomer Nick Anderson got some reps with the first unit at linebacker. He's short (5-10), but he plays with intensity, focus and athleticism.

"He's got tremendous strength." Fritz said. "He's a 400-pound bench presser, he's a 600-pound-plus squatter, he's a 300 and some odd pound power cleaner. He's got good linebacker movement. We have a really difficult time getting junior college guys in here. They've got to have great academics from high school and he's one of the few guys that we were able to recruit from the junior college level.

"I went into his JC and told him you're the only guy I'm recruiting here and he thought I was bluffing, but I said no, it's because you're the only guy I can get. He's a great student. He was a 4.2 GPA in high school, 4.0 in junior college, had a very high test score and was also an All-American player. That's what we're looking for. He fits in at our school and our program perfectly."

Fritz said Tulane did not recruit Hall out of his Mississippi high school, when he only had FCS offers because of his height, but once Tulane latched on to him in junior college, it was an immediate match. He is the rare JC guy who stayed only one year, giving him three years of eligibility.

"It really is rare," Fritz said. I was a junior college coach and it only happened one or two times the whole time I was in JC."

Tulane will practice Saturday morning at the Saints indoor facility. I plan to be there.

We talked to Fritz. Anderson, Jones and Thakarius Keyes after practice today. I do not have time today, but look for full transcripts of their interviews tomorrow.

Ethan Hudak, who visited in January, committed to Tulane yesterday. He's ranked in the top 10 nationally among long snappers by Rubio's Kicking Camp.

Since this is Willie Fritz's staff recruiting him, I can only assume he'll be a lot better than Michael Lizanich, the last long snapper from Arizona to come to Tulane.

https://rubiolongsnapping.com/player-rankings/profile?player=8485

Tulane conducted its first spring practice in nice weather this morning as it begins the process of building off last year's Cure Bowl win that occurred 87 days ago.

I finally had my interview with Kyle Speer after practice today, and he was very good. I'm swamped with work right now, so I can't make any promises as to exactly when I will transcribe it, but count on seeing it sometime within the next two weeks. He talked about the refurbished weight room that will debut some time this summer, but he thinks the biggest improvement is the cafeteria that opened in Yulman Stadium last fall. It has made it much easier to control what players eat because just about everything served there is healthy, unlike Bruff, and even the cookies come individually so they don't overload on the junk. After turning the tape recorder off, Spear and I discussed some individual players. and he is fine with my printing the positive stuff. To answer a WaveOn question earlier this week, Speer is high on the potential of all three of the offensive linemen who have not played yet-- Lerewenz, Hogan and Remondet. Although he does not think they will be ready this year, he expects them to be key contributors in the future, adding it takes longer for offensive linemen than any other position to develop.

Speer also singled out Thakarius Keyes for praise after I turned off the tape recorder, saying he was so much bigger and stronger than the rail-thin guy who arrived on campus in the summer of 2017. I'll add he is really positive about the outlook for this team this year. The rest I'll leave for the future.

The Virginia transfer the coaches cannot talk about until he is officially enrolled--Ben Knutson--watched practice today, and he is huge in a good way. Insiders are excited about him joining the offensive line in the fall and expect him to start.

Donnie Lewis also was at practice. Tulane's Pro Day is March 21, and he is the top prospect of the eligible Green Wave players.

As for practice, wide receiver Kevin Ledee dressed out but did not get any reps., wearing a big brace on his left knee. He ran patterns after practice and is not 100 percent. I asked Willie Fritz about guys who would miss the spring after practice, and he said he did not want to comment until talking with the trainers.

Dane Ledford is practicing with the wide receivers. The five QBs today were Justin McMillan, Keon Howard, Christian Daniels, Josh Holl and P.J. Hurst, with McMillan and Howard getting almost all of the reps.

Obviously the way the team lines up on day 1 of spring ball is no proof of what will happen at the beginning of the season, but there was only one surprise on the depth chart. Redshirt freshman Macon Clark was the first-team free safety ahead of Chase Kuerschen. I mentioned in a preseason report last August that former Tulane DB Derrick Strozier loved Clark's natural ability when he watched an early practice.

The rest of the first-team defense had Cam Sample, Jeffery Johnson, De'Andre Williams and Patrick Johnson up front, Lawrence Graham and Marvin Moody at inside linebacker, Tirise Barge at nickelback, Jaylon Monroe and Thakarius Keyes at cornerback and P.J. Hall and Clark at safety.

The second-team defense had Davon Wright at left end, Carlos Hatcher at joker, Jamiran James and Alfred Thomas inside, Quentin Brown and walk-on Sam Bruchaus at inside linebacker (newcomers Dorian Williams and Nick Anderson got reps together later), Will Harper at nickelback, Chris Joyce and Willie Langham at cornerback and Kuerschen and Larry Brooks at safety. Sean Harper got some reps with the second unit at safety later on, and K.J. Vault had some reps at nickelback. One player I did not see was Keitha Jones, so I will check on his status Thursday. I also did not see Kanyon Walker.

On offense, the first-team receivers were Jalen McCleskey, Darnell Mooney and Jaetavian Toles. McCleskely lined up wide right, with Mooney wide left and Toles in the slot. Darius Bradwell was at running back, with Will Wallace at tight end. The starting linemen were Tyler Johnson at left tackle. Corey Dublin at left guard, Christian Montano at center, Cameron Jackel at right guard and Joey Claybrook at right tackle.

The second-team line was Remondet at left tackle. walk-on Ben Bratcher at left guard, Lewerenz at center, Hogan at right guard and Keyshawn McLeod at right tackle with Tyrick James at tight end.

The second-team wide receivers were Jacob Robertson, Ledforsd and Jorien Vallien. Sorrell Brown, who suffered a season-ending injury in preseason camp, dressed out to my surprise, but I did not see him getting reps.

McCleskey, wearing jersey No. 1, looked explosive running patterns. I would have known who he was without ever seeing him before just because of his obvious ability.

The execution in the practice was a little ragged, which is understandable on the first day of new offensive coordinator Will Hall. Justin McMillan miscommunicated with his receivers a couple of times when he tried to improvise, but the workout still looked smoother than the first day of spring in the past under Fritz. They ratcheted up the tempo, a Hall priority that Fritz has signed off on.

I expect Joyce to make a significant jump at cornerback this year. He jumped a route against a backup QB (I did not see which one) and dropped an interception that would have gone for a touchdown in a live drill, and he just appears quick reacting out there.

Ryan Wright is one of the biggest punters I've ever seen. He is listed at 6-3, 245 pounds and looks every bit that big. He stayed after practice to punt, with Joyce fielding the punts, and got off some boomers.

We talked to Fritz, Hall, McMillan and McCleskey after practice today. I will post those interviews as soon as I can.

As Guerry mentioned in one of his “Three Thoughts” threads, which, BTW, I really enjoy, spring football is almost upon us. Like every team in the country we have plenty of question marks though quite a few won’t be answered until the fall and the beginning of the 2019 season. But some questions I have for the spring:

1. Are there any changes to the roster? Is everyone back for the spring semester? Or have we suffered any attrition?

2. Has anyone changed positions? What about our QB’s, Ledford and Daniels? Where is Yegenio Booker lining up? Any others?

3. How does the team look and feel? Roster stats are notoriously optimistic. But, do the linemen appear to be in shape or are some of them 50# overweight like we’ve seen in some recent years? Do our skill position guys look quick? Watching some of the NFL combine, very few of even the top NFL-caliber recruits actually run sub-4.5 40’s. Yet, thousands of high school kids claim that speed. Forget the clock, what’s our “football speed?”

4. What’s the status of our injured players, redshirt players, and those who simply didn’t play much, if at all last year? I’m particularly thinking about Kubiet and Singletary who have been here a couple of years without seeing the field. Are they healthy? Can they be game-time contributors? Any others?

5. On the same note, is anyone missing the spring practices due to injuries (or other reasons, for that matter). How serious is the issue? When are they expected to return?

6. At wide receiver, everyone wants to see Mcleskey on the field. But we need some depth behind Mooney and McLeskey. What’s the status of kids like Jacob Robertson who has shown some flashes but missed a lot of time last season. What about Kevin LeDee? He’s shown a lot of potential in practice from what I’ve heard but has been sidelined with injuries since he got here. Along with Valien, who didn’t show much in brief appearances last season, I thought Sorrell Brown was our most “talked about” frosh wide receiver, only to sit out the year with injuries. Is he ready to contribute?

7. On the offensive line, we all are interested in how Christian Montano fits in to the lineup. All indications are he’ll be our starting center. Does an Ivy League all-star translate into a significant contributor at the AAC level? We’ll not learn that this spring, but might see some indications. Dublin, Tyler Johnson, Joey Claybrook, Keyshawn McLeod, and Cameron Jackel appear to be frontrunners for the other four positions, but what’s the story on Nik Hogan, Michael Remondet, and Stephen Lewerenz? They were prized recruits who redshirted. Can they challenge for playing time? Where are they lining up?

8. At tight end, Wallace started a number of games last year and appeared to be our best blocker at the position. Can he expand his pass-catching ability? On the other hand, Tyrick James seemed to be a better “down-field” receiver. Can the two of them give us the kind of performance at the position most of us have longed for?

9. I doubt many Wave fans are concerned about our running backs. Essentially, we return everyone from a very good group. My biggest question is how or if we will fit Cameron Carroll into the mix. He reportedly ran a 4.42 40 last year and at 230# is of NFL size. Can he translate those “measurable” into football success? Will we learn anything this spring?

10. Of course, everyone is interested in the QB position and most of us expect Justin McMillan to continue as the starter. I doubt we’ll learn much from spring practices but he clearly needs to avoid the “disastrous” play that plagued him in a couple of games last year. So, my focus would be on Howard. How does he look? What’s his arm like? How about his movement in the pocket and when he takes off to run. He’s likely to be our back-up next year which suggests he’ll likely start at least one game and maybe finish off one or two more. And, he’s clearly, at this point, the odds-on favorite to be our starter in 2020. I’d not forget him in analyzing practices.

11. Shifting to special teams, we’ll probably not learn much about the return game or coverage units during the spring, but kickers and punters should be on display. Has Glover gained any distance? That appears to be his main shortcoming. And is Neenan even participating? He’s never mentioned, yet he’s our only scholarship kicker, though I’d be surprised if Glover isn’t awarded one in the fall. Wright certainly had a good freshman season as a punter and appears headed to an all-conference (at least) career. I’d like to see him speed up a little but it’s hard to complain about his performance thus far.

12. On the defensive line, it appears that Sample, Jeffery Johnson, Williams, and Patrick Johnson are the likely starters with Alfred Thomas, Davon Wright, and Carlos Hatcher returning in back-up roles. I’m really interested in the status of Jamiran James. We need at least one more interior defender and until the freshmen arrive, he looks like the most logical choice. That still leaves Monjarres who had some great moments last year running 3rd string Joker. Could he move to linebacker? And, of course, we still have the aforementioned Kubiet and Singletary. Can they play?

13. Obviously Graham and Moody return at linebacker and are expected to contribute mightily. It will be interesting to see if Vault, Keisha Jones, and/or Quentin Brown can force their way into a rotation. And, of course, the JC transfer, Nik Anderson, may be the most intriguing of the lot. His recent 610# squat in the weight room suggests enormous strength. How does he look?

14. We lost some key players from last year but return a dozen lettermen. I doubt a lot will be learned in the spring but expect to see the coaches try a variety of combinations across the five backfield positions. Does anyone stand out?

15. Possibly most interesting will be how our new Offensive Coordinator and OLine Coach fit in. Most of us are looking forward to Will Hall's offense and are hopeful that the "young blood," Cody Kennedy, can continue the recent improvement in our line play. What's their demeaner during practice? How "hands on" are they? How much learning is going on? How are the players responding? I can remember watching film of some practices under CJ when some players seemed to be ignoring pointers from even our most respected assistant coaches like Lionel Washington. That can't be happening.

Anyhow, between watching a lot of baseball and all but forgetting basketball, I’m looking forward to spring football. I hope some of the locals get a chance to see some of the practices to augment Guerry’s always excellent reporting.

Roll Wave!!!

Spring practice starts tomorrow. Assuming the workouts are open to reporters, look for reports each day.

I am still working on getting the Kyle Speer interview, which will happen either today as I promised or later this week but definitely will happen.

QUARTERBACK

Projected starter: Justin McMillan
Backups: Keon Howard, Dane Ledford, Christian Daniels

Overview: The coaches were not totally happy with McMillan at times last year, but he cemented his status with his performance on the winning drive and 2-point conversion against Navy and with his solid bowl game. The bottom line is he won five of his six starts and, for the most part, looked good doing it. It will be interesting to see if Ledford or Daniels lines up at receiver, although Daniels might not be healthy to practice.

RUNNING BACK

Projected starters: Darius Bradwell, Corey Dauphine
Backups: Stephon Huderson, Amare Jones, Cameron Carroll

Overview: Bradwell and Dauphine don't have anything to prove in the spring, although players always can get better. More significant will be the development of Jones and Carroll, who both have a lot of potential, and whether Huderson can exhibit more explosiveness. Other were down on him more than I was last year, but his 4.1 yards per carry were considerably lower than the other guys in the rotation.

WIDE RECEIVER

Projected starters: Darnell Mooney, Jalen McCleskey, Jaetavian Toles
Backups: Jacob Robertson, Ygenio Booker, Jorrien Vallien, Kevin LeDee, Sorrell Brown

Overview: Will McCleskey line up on the outside, in the slot or rotate between both spots? Regardless, he will be fun to watch. Tulane needs something from a guy outside of the M&M duo. Toles' seven catches were the most from the group. The health status of Vallien, LeDee and Brown is unclear.

TIGHT END

Projected starter: Tyrick James or Will Wallace
Backup: James or Wallace

Overview: Depth is coming in the fall, but James and Wallace are the only scholarship tight ends on the spring roster. They combined for seven catches last year, but the coaches were not afraid to send James deep down the hash. He appeared to have more potential as a receiving threat, but spring ball will help answer that question. New offensive coordinator Will Hall was the tight ends coach at Memphis last year, and the Tigers' top two tight ends combined for 34 catches last year. When he ran the offense at ULL in 2017, the Cajuns' tight ends had eight catches.

OFFENSIVE LINE

Projected starters: Keyshawn McLeod and Joey Claybrook at tackle, Corey Dublin and Cameron Jackel at guard, Christian Montano at center.
Backups: Tyler Johnson, Stephen Lewerenz, Nik Hogan, Michael Remondet

Overview: The coaches have more work to do here than anywhere else after losing three starters up front. I'm not sure what to make of this group. From all indications, Montano will play center, with Dublin moving back to guard, his spot as a freshman. The tackle spots are wide open, with Claybrook becoming a starter late last year and McLeod and Johnson losing their starting spots during the season. Jackel was a backup all last season. Lerewenz, Hogan and Remondet were non-factors and will want to make an impact.

DEFENSIVE LINE

Projected starters: Cameron Sample at DE, De'Andre Williams at DT, Jeffery Johnson at NT, Patrick Johnson at OLB
Backups: Juan Monjarres, Carlos Hatcher, Alfred Thomas, Davon Wright, Jamiran James, Torri Singletary, Nick Kubiet

Overview: This can be a dominant unit. Johnson squatted 630 pounds recently and should be ready to improve on a promising freshman year. Williams was the surprise of the defense last fall. Sample and Johnson should be All-Conference performers. Monjarres and Hatcher showed plenty of potential, and Thomas earned some playing time. The development of James, who was sidetracked by a hand injury, will be interesting. That's nine likely contributors in a group of 11.

LINEBACKERS

Projected starters: Marvin Moody and Lawrence Graham
Backups: KJ Vault, Keitha Jones, Quentin Brown, Nick Anderson

Overview: Moody and Graham are certain starters, but developing depth is important. The players to watch are the backups. Nick Anderson has a year of junior college experience and squatted 610 pounds recently, so he figurers to be in the mix right away. Vault has ability but made only one tackle as a reserve a year ago, one more than Jones in a limited role.

SECONDARY

Projected starters: Chase Kuerschen at strong safety, P.J. Hall at free safety, Will Harper at nickelback, Thakarius Keyes and Jaylon Monroe at cornerback
Backups: Willie Langham and Chris Joyce at CB, Tirise Barge and Larry Bryant at NB, Larrry Brooks, Macon Clark, Sean Harper and Kanyon Walker at S.

Overview: Competition will be intense. Kuerschen got lost in the shuffle a bit as a sophomore after making a lot of tackles as a true freshman but getting exposed in coverage. The coaches have not found the perfect fit for him. Hall was good but not great at free safety. Clark and Brooks will have a chance to make an impact. All four cornerbacks are potential starters at a position that should be a strength. Barge and Bryant got significant time at nickel behind Harper. Nothing is set in the secondary.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Projected first-teamers: Merek Glover at PK, Ryan Wright at punter, Geron Eatherly at long snapper.
Backups: No one of consequence.

Overview: Wright needs to work on his consistency. He has the leg to excel in college. Kicker Coby Neenan, a scholarship player, is still on the roster but never has been a factor. Randy Harvey is the likely second-team PK. The coaches have to settle on a kickoff specialist after departed punter Zach Block handled the role well last year.

1) Hoops Hell

No one is paying much attention to the disaster that is the basketball team at this point, but Tulane moved thisclose to an 0-19 season in the AAC by blowing an early 19-3 lead at Tulsa on Thursday before halftime and trailing almost the entire second half. If the Wave loses at NCAA tourney hopeful Temple this afternoon, its only remaining chances for victory will be home games against USF and Wichita State (Tulane is an inconceivably awful 5-38 in AAC home games) and an almost certain first-round AAC tourney game against Memphis on the Tigers' home court.

Not that it probably matters, but that's the worst possible tournament matchup. Memphis is hot and has been dominant at home. It's also a tourney scenario with which close followers of the basketball team should be familiar. The Conference USA tourney was held in Memphis from 2005 through 2009, and Tulane was in the Memphis bracket every year from 2006 to 2009, playing the Tigers in its second game and losing by 19, 22, 19 and 10 and never scoring more than 56 points. That sounds about right for what will happen this year in the first round against a Memphis team that is good enough to make a run at the tourney title in front of its fans.

Tulane, Vanderbilt, Chicago State and Portland are the only teams winless in conference play now. Previously winless California beat Pac-12 champion Washington and Washington State this week, and San Jose State beat New Mexico for its first victory in the Mountain West

2) Weak schedule

The non-conference schedule for the Tulane baseball team is shaping up to be weak, so the Wave needs to keep winning. On paper, and it's very early, the only good team remaining is UCSB, which comes to town next weekend (I will be away and miss the first two games). UC Riverside and Houston Baptist, the last two weekend opponents, are no good. Texas Southern, the next midweek opponent, may be one of the worst teams to set foot at Turchin Stadium. Texas Southern lost its opening series to New Mexico State by the scores of 20-2, 24-8, 38-6 and 16-3. Ouch. It managed to win one of four at Kansas but lost its opening series in the SWAC to Grambling this weekend. Nicholls and UNO are nothing special, although the Privateers started 7-1 and beat ranked USM on the road before coming back to earth this weekend by losing a series to Yale. ULL is off to a bad start. Southeastern is 3-8. LSU is not on the schedule.

You get the picture. Tulane appears good enough to take the bubble out of the equation this year and maybe even win the AAC, but if the Wave is on the borderline, it will get no help from its weak schedule. Beating a decent Army team today is important. Tulane is raking right now. It scored 12 runs yesterday against Saint Joseph's and left 16 on base, including the bases loaded three times. All nine starters got hits, and Luke Glancy had three hits including the go-ahead home run in the eighth.

3) Must see

Spring practices starts in nine days, and I can't wait to watch Jalen McCleskey. He said on signing day that he expects to play outside more often than he did at Oklahoma State, where he was primarily a slot receiver, but he should be terrific wherever he lines up. The combo of him and Darnell Mooney should be Tulane's best in quite some time. Terren Encalade is talented, but he was far too inconsistent last year. Mooney had a case of the drops in the second half of the season, too, but that was uncharacteristic. He should benefit from McCleskey's presence, giving Justin McMillan a 1-2 combo he should love. I will have some type of preview up on the Monday before spring drills.

I also still have some quotes from Kanyon Walker and De'Andre Williams when they attended signing day that I never have transcribed (I forgot about them), but I will get those soon.

This should get the blood flowing:

https://expo.nola.com/sports/g66l-2...-ready-to-start-calling-plays-for-tulane.html

Marcus Jones is a second team Sun Belt DB and first team Sun Belt kick returner who we were on late in the 2017 recruiting season and if my memory is correct we thought we had a decent shot at getting to Tulane. He went to Troy and has done a good job there. Just announced today he is entering transfer portal. The article I read did not specify why but I would assume it has to do with the coaching change. He has two years of eligibility remaining.

TREVOR JENSEN

Talk about slapping the sticker on Jewett's chest after the win last night against Nicholls and how much fun you guys are having?

We are having a good time every night, as you can tell when the video goes out. It seems like everyone is looking forward to seeing that. But yeah, when he brought it out, we were like where is he going to put it, where is he going to put it? He's like, 'Oh, no, we're still putting it up tonight.' He was like, yeah, right here and then patted his chest. Before I slapped the sticker, I said this is for (freshman infielder Ethan) Groff because I don't know if you guys heard, but I got him pretty good with a line drive in B.P. He had to go to the hospital and get six stitches in his head. That kind of made me feel good. I had to say it because it was a scary moment."

The energy of the ballpark last night obviously wasn't the same as when you played Ole Miss over the weekend. You could have come out flat but did the opposite, scoring five runs early. How significant was that?

"We're trying to really push it. Every game matters. When we got there, everyone was chattering about wow, this feels so much different, but like the older guys were saying, it still matters. The win matters."

There probably will not be very many people at the games this weekend. How do you make sure to treat those with the same energy as you did Ole Miss?

"Just how it is, one game at a time. I have no idea and most of the team probably doesn't know what to expect. We've never played any of these teams and I don't know how much we know on them and most of them are from up north, so they have been playing inside for a while. It's a totally different feel, but it's still the same game. If we go out there and do what we've been doing, I think we'll be perfectly fine."

How nice was it to see Brendan Cellucci dominate and Connor Pellerin get the job done last night?

"It was unbelievable. When I saw Cucc come out there and right after the first or second pitch to the first batter, I was like, oh man, he's really got it tonight. When he has it, it's really unhittable. It's Big League stuff. Fastball, power slide, it's fun to watch and it's fun to play behind. And they both work with pretty good tempo. A lot of guys don't square them up, but if they do the infield's ready and position players are ready to make a play. Pellerin's the same way. He got ahead of the kid, the kid put a good swing on it and hit a hard hit to left field and instantly the next pitch ground-ball double play. That was good for Pellerin and for Brendan."

Who came up with the idea for the sticker slap after wins?

"I have no idea (it was Jewett). It was Jew or Curtis (director of baseball operations Curtis Akey). Everyone's buying into it, and as you can see, everyone gets really excited. I don't think anyone thinks about it during the game, but once the game's over, everyone is all right, it's time."

TRAVIS JEWETT

Whose idea was it to slap the stickers in the back of the dugout after wins?

"That was my idea. The biggest thing about it was I wanted the kids to start enjoying winning. We hadn't done it a ton. We've done it in flashes but without consistency, but now it's coming to fruition. We've trained that way, too. We're just trying to create a little bit more competitive winning school."

Had that idea been done anywhere else you've coached?

"No. First time."

You did a little variation last night. I assume you came up with that, too?

"I did. I sat and talked to my wife about it. OK, honey, so we're going to go on the road and we're going to win hopefully and if we come back and do it two-and-a-half hours later I think it loses its gusto. I wanted a little bit more flair to it. We actually had one of the kids bring a pitching stand-in hitter thing and I was thinking about slapping it on his his head. But the other one I had on my mind first it was my forehead. But then I was worried about somebody getting crazy and maybe breaking my nose. Not that they would try. Well they might actually. And then it was my back, but my back's too soft. Chest was probably the next, so I just said this is the wall today, put it right there.

"He put it on there pretty good. He probably could have done it a little bit better, but he knows who writes the lineup."

In that atmosphere it was very easy for the team to not be charged up, but you got out to a 5-0 lead.

"You're exactly right, but there confidence was really good all day. Mine was too, but I worried were we mature enough mentally to leave the past in the past and going on the road and all the things that are different. That swing in the first inning (David Bedgood's three-run home run into the wind) was big. It said OK, we're here and let's do this thing. And then we fought off some situations by them. Yesterday we were 4 for 4 in what we call shutdown opportunities. We threw up some zeroes after we scored. That was big."

When you get relief performances like you got out of Cellucci and Pellerin, how much better does that make this team?

"You've got to add (Ryan) Green in there, too. The seventh inning he came in and charged that thing over the plate. And when you've got (an effective Cellucci and Pellerin) starting at you at the back end of the game, then the game can get a little bit shorter. Those guys have stuff and arm strength. It could make it tough on people."

The hitting numbers are sensational. How excited are you by the the way the whole team is swinging the bat?

"We're kind of doing a little bit of everything. We're walking more. We're getting hit by pitches. We're fighting more with two strikes, and then we can split a gap with a double and we've got 15 home runs.The kids are feeling it pretty good, and that goes to our depth. That lineup is what we call a baton pass. Every time the kids are up there, you're like, this guy can get a hit, this guy can get a hit, this guy can get a hit. Everybody that we're running out there has a pretty good offensive approach."

What is the mindset entering a weekend where you will face two teams (Dartmouth and Saint Joseph's) that are not good on paper and then Army, which appears to be decent?

"The same thing. Respect the game, respect the opponent. Respect all, fear none. We're not that good yet. We've got a lot of work to do. We can't float. We've got to keep our gloves up. The minute we put our gloves down, we've seen some things that happened to us in terms of free things that were given away or giving teams a scoring opportunity right after we score, two outs with nobody on. We've got to keep our gloves up. When you come off the mound or get off the field, you can relax, but until that moment we've got to keep our gloves up. In this game if you disrespect the other opponent, you get beat."

Will it be the same rotation?

"Same rotation. Roper, Gillies and Solesky."

1) Tulane's got a good win at Nicholls State last night, and the best part by far was the performance at the back end of the bullpen. If Brendan Cellucci and Connor Pellerin become reliable, this could be the best team Tulane has had since I returned to New Orleans in 2008. I'm confident in saying that after nine games. Cellucci was dominant in his inning, prompting Graff to wonder if they should put Pellerin in for the ninth. Pellerin rolled the double play ball after giving up a hit to start the ninth.

Those two certainly have to prove it over a long stretch, but their stuff is excellent. If they harness it consistently, Tulane will have enough pitching to do damage with a solid, deep starting staff and Krishna Raj looking very promising in longer relief. It's hard to win big when their a sense of doom in close games entering the late innings. Make that part of the game a pitching strength, and the potential expands exponentially.

2) I agree totally with WaveOn's comment about winning enough to host a regional. It's too early to know if Tulane is good enough for that, but it definitely should be the goal because the alternative is not pretty. With LSU dropping Tulane from the schedule, you know the selection committee would send Tulane to Baton Rouge as a No. 2 or 3 seed this year rather than somewhere else. Teams go to Baton Rouge to die in regionals.

By my count, the Tigers are 20-4 in regionals at Alex Box Stadium, losing to Rice twice, Cal State Fullerton once and Houston most recently. Tulane is 0-7 in regionals there, advancing to the championship round the first time it went to Baton Rouge in 1986 (I attended every game as a recent high school graduate, including the resumption in the ninth inning of the last one after a day's rain delay) and going 1-2 every time since then, losing all four games it played against the Tigers.

Tulane is 2-0 as a regional host and is 6-0 at Turchin Stadium in regional games.

3) I have not set up the interview with Kyle Speer but it is in the works. I am going out of town from Mardi Gray day until the following Saturday, and spring practice starts the following Tuesday. Hopefully I will get the interview by the end of this week. Otherwise, I will try to set it up for the Monday before spring practice starts.

1) Tonight's game at Nicholls is a big deal for the Tulane baseball team, which was brutal away from home last year. The Green Wave went 6-17 on the road during the regular season and 1-2 in the AAC tourney. Nicholls probably is not very good--The Colonels were picked ninth by the coaches and SIDs in the Southland Conference preseason poll--but their announced starting pitcher has allowed only one earned run in three appearances covering 10 inning this year. Josh Bates needs to be sharp, and the hitters have to keep doing what they've been doing at Turchin Stadium. Good teams wins games like this. Heck, Tulane won at Nicholls in 2017, and that turned out not to be a good team. The right tone needs to be set headed into the North Carolina tournament against two teams that appear to be bad (Dartmouth and St. Joe's) and one that appears to be decent (Army). At the very worst, Tulane needs to go 3-1 this week as it tries to prove it is a totally different team than the last two years.

2) The start of spring football practice is exactly two weeks away as Tulane tries to build on its Cure Bowl victory. I can't wait to see what the offense looks like under new coordinator Will Hall. How much will it change from what we saw in the past three years under Doug Ruse? With Justin McMillan returning along with Darnell Mooney and Jalen McCleskey, the opportunities in the passing game should be there, but the real revelation with McMillan was how comfortable he was as a decisive runner. It looks like Tulane should have the dual-threat guy at the position it has always lacked, with Jonathan Banks only having flashes rather than any consistent production as a passer and becoming a reluctant runner this past year before getting benched. But I truly don't know what the offense will look like now with Hall and Willie Fritz.

3) The basketball team appears headed for 0-18 in the AAC. For a story that ran in The Advocate on Saturday, I researched every team that went winless in conference play over the past 15 years and what happened to their coaches. Only one, Tim Miles at Colorado State, had any success after his winless year, which was his first there in 2008. He built the Rams into an NCAA tourney team and bolted for Nebraska (where he might get fired after this season).

Since Miles, the most success any coach had after a winless season was Kerry Keating taking Santa Clara to the CIT or CBI championship near the end of a mostly disappointing nine-year run. His winless season came in year No. 5. Most of the 23 coaches in the last 15 years who have gone winless were fired either in the season it happened or in the next two years. Jim Christian of Boston College appeared to be bucking the trend with significant improvement last season, two years after he went winless, but the Eagles have regressed this season and he is in trouble. Tulane is sticking with Mike Dunleavy, but history indicates it is incredibly unlikely there will be a turnaround down the road.

Here is the full list, which includes only six coaches from major conferences--two from the ACC and one each from the SEC, the Big 12, the Big East and the Pac-12. There could be three more this year with Tulane, California and Vanderbilt all winless in conference play.

2018

Pittsburgh (fired Kevin Stallings after 2nd year)

2016

Boston College (2nd year under Jim Christian, still there)

Chicago State (sixth season under Tracy Dildy, who was fired after 8)

2015

San Jose State (2nd year under David Wojcik, resigned after fourth year)

Grambling (1st year under Shawn Walker, fired after three)

2014

TCU (2nd year under Trent Johnson, fired after fourth)

2013

Grambling (first year under Joseph Price, fired after 2nd)

2012

Kennesaw State (first year under Lewis Preston, resigned during third year)

South Carolina State (fifth year under Tim Carter, fired after sixth)

UT Martin (third year under Jason James, fired after fifth)

Navy (first year under Ed DeChellis, now in eighth)

Santa Clara (Kerry Keating in fifth year, fired after ninth)

2011

Towson (Pat Kennedy in seventh year, fired then)

2010

Fordham (Dereck Whittenburg fired 5 games in, seventh year)

2009

DePaul (Jerry Wainright in fourth year, fired early in fifth)

SE Missouri (Scott Edgar in 3rd year, went on leave early)

Air Force (2nd year under Jeff Reynolds, fired during fifth season)

2008

Rice (Willis Wilson in 16th year, fired then)

Colorado State (first year under Tim Miles, left for Nebraska after 5 years)

Oregon State (Jay John in sixth season, fired during year)

2005

Campbell (2nd year under Robbie Laing, lasted 10 years)

2004

Texas A&M (sixth year under Melvin Watkins, fired then)

Cleveland State (first year under Mike Garland, fired after three)

Hitting: It’s hard to complain about our hitting so far. With a .341 batting average and 13 HR’s in 7 games, we’re on a pace to break the all-time Tulane average of .340 (1998) and hit 104 HR’s in the regular season. The only times that was topped was in 1999 (128) in 65 games and 1998 (105) in 63 games, both during the "Gorilla Ball" era. I don’t think we’ll actually approach any of those records but it suggests an incredible start. With eight batters with at least 16 at bats hitting .300 or over and only Gozzo (.194) hitting less than that, the entire lineup save one man is contributing at the plate. And except for the opening day starter for George Washington (who I thought was the best pitcher we’ve faced so far), we’ve been very successful against almost everyone else. Other than that first game, we’re hitting .342 against starting pitching (.440 against Ole Miss starters) and .356 against relievers (though only .300 against Ole Miss). Essentially we’re hitting virtually anyone they throw out there. And we’re even hitting .237 with two strikes. The best we’ve done in the previous four years was .155 in 2015. Yet, we’re still killing the ball on the first strike (.431) and with one strike (.430). We’re being aggressive early and guarding the plate much better with 2 strikes. We’re only striking out 40% of the time once we get to two strikes while we struck out roughly 50% of the time with that count in each of the past four years since I’ve been keeping that stat.

Fielding: Our .976 fielding average is fine but we’ve made a number of mental mistakes in the field and our pitchers, in particular, have made a number of very damaging errors. Kobi Owen has shored up our centerfield pretty well but even he misplayed a single into a triple a few games back. Mathews is not a very good outfield in left field and looks unsure under even the easiest fly balls. He, too, misplayed a single into a triple. I think Ty Johnson is a solid, though not great, outfielder who would be better in left field. A lot depends on the status of his thumb injury, which I blame for his drop against Ole Miss. Haskins looks good in the outfield and from previous years I think Heinrichs is also solid, though he may not get many opportunities. I haven’t seen enough of either Sepcich or Glancy to make even a too-early guess. Jensen is solid at first and I think Artigues has improved significantly over what I thought wasn’t a very good season last year in the field. Gozzo also appears to be improved but is still not a great shortstop, though serviceable. Hoese has made a couple of errors but is fine at third base. Our catchers haven’t been very good at catching base stealers (they’re 7 for 8), but have only allowed one passed ball and 5 wild pitches, which, of course, are counted against the pitcher but can be reduced by the catcher. If we can avoid the costly errors from our pitchers, we should be good.

Base Running: I like aggressive base running. But, we’ve been picked off three times, overrun a couple of bases and made other serious base running errors that could have caused us some runs. We’ve been 6 for 7 on attempted steals but don’t have great team speed. It’s what it is.

Pitching: Most Tulane fans expect the addition of Danial Latham to our staff will significantly improve our pitching. I still think so. But so far, our 4.97 ERA is only marginally better than last year’s 5.42. Still, last year, opponents hit .272 against us, while this year they’re hitting .218. Our “fre passes” (BBs&HBPs) per 9 innings are down from 6.44 to 5.44 and our strikeouts are up from 6.90 to 8.05. Of course it’s early and at least two factors could be in play here. While Ole Miss may well be the best hitting team we’ll see all year, neither George Washington nor Lamar have good hitting teams, possibly two of the worst we’ll see this season, but we don’t know. Also, as the weather gets warmer, teams tend to hit better. So, while that can be encouraging to our hitters, it probably doesn’t bode well for pitching staffs.

As to specifics, Roper looked good, though somewhat wild, against a weak hitting George Washington, but didn’t fare as well against Ole Miss. Whether he’s a shutdown Friday night starter is still in doubt, at least to me. Gillies has had two not very impressive outings and we need him to get back to last year’s success. And while it’s good to see Solesky back out there, he’s getting his pitches up too high. After an inning or so it seems to me that he’s not following through enough. Bates obviously had a great game against Lamar and his performance against Nichols, a much better team in my view, will be instructive. Raj, of course, has been a surprise, though his lack of control (6 walks in 8.2 innings) has to be a concern. After their successes this past summer I expected Campbell and Cellucci to be much better than they’ve shown so far. Cellucci, in particular, has had a rough go. Opponents are hitting .294 against him and he’s allowed four “free passes” in 5.1 innings. That the two of them (our only two lefthanders to pitch thus far) have appeared 8 times in our seven games suggests that Ross Massey is either injured or not close to what we’d hoped for this season. I thought Trent Johnson had good stuff in both his appearances and it’s too bad his fielding destroyed his second outing. Price, Green, and Whelan have a combined ERA of 11.74 and have walked or hit 7 batters in 7.2 innings while being batted around at a .333 clip. And that leaves Pellerin. He’s been terrible in his two appearances during “crunch” time and looked good when he pitched during “garbage” time. That’s not a good resume for a “closer.” He needs to come around.

While hitting has bailed out our pitching for the most part, we need at least four starters, three middle relievers, and a closer to compete at the level most of us desire. I think we’ve got the arms, but technique and mental focus has to come into play.

Future Opponents: At this point, RPI doesn’t mean much, mostly because the win-loss record of opponents, which counts 50%, provides much more importance to individual games than it will later in the season. That said, once we get into conference play, the win-loss record of our opponents (mostly conference mates) will greatly affect our RPI. For that reason, the fact that the AAC is currently in 9th place form an RPI standpoint isn’t that concerning. More concerning is the conference is in 13th place from a win-loss standpoint. From an RPI standpoint it’s better to play opponents with a .600 winning record than a .500. Right now the conference stands at .5161.
Our remaining out of conference opponents have a current record of 79-81, not far from average, but still on the negative side. That may mean the schedule plays into our hands, but it doesn’t bode well for the win-loss component of our future RPIs. A long way to go of course.

General: Our team looks to be all pulling for each other and the coaches seem to have the confidence of the players. That appears to be a major improvement over what we saw two years ago in particular. Hitting will probably cool off somewhat so pitching needs to improve. Although some would like to see a return to “gorilla ball,” I doubt we have many more 16-6, 22-10, and 13-12 games this year. Jewett seems to be more in control and possibly a little less rigid; all good. While it may be a step too far, our goal should be to host a regional this season. Not “sweating out” a bid going into the conference tournament should be a fall-back position. A month from now, with 25 games gone and the conference season starting, we’ll have a much better handle on where we stand vis-à-vis such goals. Hoping for the best…

Roll Wave!!!

I really like this team. Two weeks ago, I wrote that it probably would not make a regional, but I have changed my mind.

The bats are potent and the resiliency reminds me of David Pierce's first year. Tulane responds to every gut kick it receives, and that quality usually does not go away.

It's been ages since Tulane was swinging the bat well enough to put a guy like David Bedgood on the bench. Given his first at-bat of the weekend today, he crushed the walk-off two-run homer. Trever Jensen is an excellent hitter. Kody Hoese is white hot. Grant Mathews is a very good hitter. Kobi Owen had a huge day and is hitting above .400. Hudson Haskin and Owen give Tulane two of the best athletes it has had in a while.

Sal Gozzo, very sure of himself at shortstop, made three outstanding plays today. His range has gotten better, but more significantly, he makes the play every time if he gets his glove on the ball.

The pitching is good enough. Kaleb Roper is a legitimate Friday starter, and even though he gave up five runs Friday, he will not face a lineup as potent as Ole Miss's the rest of the year. He made a few mistakes and paid for all of them, but he held those guys to five hits in 6-plus innings.

Keagan Gillies has not pitched well and does not have dominant stuff. but he showed a lot today by striking out four of the last five batters he faced, and it was the 1-2-3-4-5 part of the order.

Chase Solesky. who gave up more hits than he pitched innings even in his solid freshman year, needs to get better in that department, but if he doesn't, there are other candidates for the weekend rotation. Josh Bates looked really sharp against overmatched Lamar, and Trent Johnson, despite his horrific error today, is pitching better than a year ago.

Krishna Raj appears to be the real deal out of the bullpen, which is thin. Connor Pellerin still has to prove he can get the job done and that his great stuff translates into outs. Everyone else is an adventure at this point, but Tulane can get by with seven arms for the most part since it has no more five-game weeks. If Pierce's first team could make a regional with the very average Patrick Duester as his starting pitcher for the regional opener, this team can do it with a deeper lineup and its ability to make contact. I like Roper's chances to throw a gem in the postseason more than any pitcher on Pierce's two regional teams.

The mental mistakes have to be addressed, though. Three guys picked off in two games? No bueno. The hesitation by Roper when he fielded the bunt, and the airmailed throw by Trent Johnson after he did not field a one-hopper cleanly? Can't happen again.

One caveat about the hitting. Ole Miss lost its entire weekend rotation, and Will Ethridge, its Friday starter this year, will not pitch this weekend because of a blister issue. He pitched 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball against Wright State last Friday. The rest of the starters have given up 15 earned runs in 13 2/3 innings, so Tulane will face much better starters in upcoming weekend series.

Tomorrow's game is huge because Tulane needs all the quality out-of-conference victories it can get in a schedule that is considerably easier than last year's brutal one. A series win against Ole Miss would look awfully good come NCAA regional selection time.

Tough, exciting game tonight. Tulane outhit Ole Miss 12-6 but made a few too many mistakes, which the 10th-ranked Rebels capitalized on fully. And I'm lost by the strategy of trading a run for . an out when Ole Miss intentionally got into a rundown with runners on first and third. Travis Jewett and Trevor Jensen insisted they do that every time in the early innings to avoid a big inning. Don't you have to trust your fielders to make a basic play? What am I missing here?

This is a much better Tulane team than in the past two years, but the Wave has to win at least one this weekend for RPI purposes down the road. The non-conference schedule is less demanding than last year's, so this is the primary opportunity to notch one or two RPI-boosting victories against a top notch team.

Jewett, Trevor Jensen and Kaleb Roper spoke after the game.

JEWETT

What are your thoughts?

"It was a good game. It was an anticipated matchup. We certainly knew what kind of a team they have and you guys have seen what kind of a club we're going to have so it was a good matchup. What they did was when we made a couple of mistakes, they capitalized. and that's what good teams do. We had some opportunities for some shutdowns there. (Cade) Zabowski put a good swing on a ball there (for a mammoth 2-run tying homer). It wasn't meant to go our way, but I'll tell you what, I like this group. We fought like heck. We outhit them 12-6, and you saw the fight in the kids. That's what I like to see. I don't know if you could ask for a better opportunity. You've got (Kody) Hoese up there with two on and one out in the eighth, and then we don't go down quietly in the ninth either. We put a couple guys on there, and (Luke) Glancy's kind of been our ace in the hole coming off the bench doing his thing. I felt pretty good about some situations we had late and they were able to make some good pitches and get out of here with the W."

Trevor Jensen talked about knowing you guys could hang with this team. Is that the sense you have from the guys in the dugout?

"Absolutely. The thing is I've been talking to you guys about this group and kind of how they connect and their believability. We talk about hearing the bell. These guys hear the bell, man. The leadership group, before I even had a chance to talk, I kind of stepped to the back and they were kind of pulling themselves together saying we're fine, we're fine, we're fine. I told them that at the end of the game. It's a three-round fight and they won round 1. We just have to come out tomorrow, learn from our mistakes and our positives today and we've just got to put it into effect tomorrow. I liked watching the kids battle tonight and I'm looking forward to seeing how they respond to their first adversity of the season.

"Ty Johnson wanted to apologize to everybody for getting picked off of first base. It was a pretty comforting feeling to think that the other 34 guys were like, no, you just keep coming, you're fine. There's a lot of leadership in there. This is a team I'm enjoying around here right now. These kids are engaged in one another. I genuinely like these kids. I like the way they compete, I like the way they train. I like the way they go about it. I'm just excited the game's at 1, not 2 tomorrow so we can get out here sooner and see how these kids respond."

In a close game, there a plays you'd always like back. Roper hesitated when he fielded a bunt with a runner on second and threw to third too to try to cut down the lead runner. Ty getting picked off. I know Trevor Jensen said the run that scored while you got an out in the rundown was OK.

"Yeah. We had a certain play on, and it was early in the game. Against a team like that, you just want to get off the field. That to me was a damage control opportunity. We were able to just keep that inning at a minimum. That's important. If we're trying to run everybody around the bases, then all of a sudden safe there and safe there and then the inning has a chance. Obviously if it was later in the game we would have probably done something different, but right there we felt good about the balance of the game."

Were guys maybe a little over-eager in the first couple of innings? After that it seemed like the whole team settled down.

"Yeah maybe. I was eager all day. When you get these moments, this is why we coach and this is why we play, for games and moments like this. We had a great crowd. They brought some people with them and we had a nice crowd, so it's easy to get a little bit hyped up. But like I tried to tell the kids, if we're going to win and be the team I think we're going to be, we're going to have to control these moments. I've said this to you guys a million times. It's just experiences, experiences. We haven't maybe had these experiences yet. It's a good feeling to know that you're good enough and maybe be a little bit overhyped, but like you said I thought we settled in. We played good enough to win. We made some mistakes, and when you're facing the 10th-ranked team in the country, they take advantage of them. When they do, that's kind of the difference in a very close game on a Friday night."

What was Ole Miss coach Rob Bianco so hot and bothered about (he twice came out screaming at the umpires)?

"Obviously coach Latham's doing a good job of just trying to create tempo. It's not like we're trying to be bush league or anything. We're just trying to get the flow of the game going. We're trying to be quick and efficient and get back to the dugout to hit, which we're doing well. We're just trying to speed it up, and their guys felt that a little bit. They certainly want to get time as a hitter. You don't want to feel rushed up there, so they were doing fine. I think he was protecting his players. It was a good managerial move on his part. It's nothing personal. It's just we were trying to get on the rubber and trying to get going. That's baseball. It just got a little animated, which is fine."

Keagan Gillies struggled last week. What are you looking for from him tomorrow?

"A good one. You're right, he wasn't as sharp as he's been in the spring and the early scrimmages and stuff like that, but I think he'll get that one away from him. Hopefully he'll come out tomorrow and I'm sure he will and pitch well."

What did you think of Roper's performance?

"He was pretty good. If you can hold that team, and like I said, when we did make the bunt play you referred to and he'd hit a guy with two outs and all of a sudden the ball goes over (the wall). They just capitalized, but for the most part he gave us a pretty good start. He got us deep into the sixth, so we were able to save some bullets that way. We should be loaded for bear in the bullpen tomorrow."