Although the home-run power is lacking, Tulane is good enough offensively to make a run in Clearwater again this year. Theo Bryant, who had a family crisis in December I am not allowed to reveal that really set him back mentally, has become the player the Wave coaches saw in the fall and actually is leading the AAC in OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) during conference play. Jason Wachs is tied for second in batting average at .370 in league games. Gavin Schulz is a proven clutch performer who was out-of-this-world good in Clearwater two years ago and productive again last season. Connor Rasmussen is a winner who understands what to do at the plate. Kaikea Harrison, the 9-hole hitter, is batting well above .300 since the start of April. Matthias Haas, Hugh Pinkney, Jason Agabedis and Tanner Chun all are capable of doing good things. And who knows? Maybe Jackson Linn will come off the bench and do something after having a shockingly miserable year. He is a good guy who has not checked out.

The million-dollar question is whether or not Tulane will get the pitching with its seemingly ERA of a million to make the potential hitting matter.

Barring a sweep in either direction this weekend, it looks like Tulane will be in the 8 a.m. Tuesday opener against FAU in the 4-5 seed game. FAU ace Trey Beard is far superior to anyone Tulane will throw, most likely Luc Fladda, and the Wave will need him to have an off day. Fladda gave up eight runs in 1.1 innings against FAU just two weeks ago, giving up one hard hit after the other, so the Wave coaching staff may go in another direction if they feel it is a matchup issue. Obviously Tulane has to win the opener to have any kind of a chance, so the odds will be stacked against the Wave if FAU is the opponent.

The second game would be a tough matchup, too, if Tulane ends up in UTSA's half of the bracket as appears likely. Yes, Trey Cehajic beat UTSA in San Antonio last month, but Wave pitching against those bats is a mismatch in almost any scenario. The hope would be that UTSA, which does not have a real ace, would lose to the No. 8 seed (of the potential opponents, Rice has the best ace, Memphis has a serviceable one and Wichita State has next to nothing). UTSA won't have much to play for because it already is a lock for a regional and did not even bother to bid on a hosting role because its facility is inadequate, so you never know what the motivation level would be.

Regardless, some Tulane pitcher who has endured a rough year will have to step up in Clearwater. Maybe Will Clements, who has good stuff but has not been a good pitcher in his two years in New Orleans, or Jacob Moore, who has been quite poor after having an excellent season in 2024, or Blaise Wicenski, whose good week last week appears to be an outlier, or even Garrett Payne, who has excellent stuff but zero control. You know Michael Lombardi will be terrific at the back end, but he has not proven he can pitch the same way as a starter. Tayler Montiel probably will pitch well--he has a good year and has good stuff--but after that, it's pitch and pray.

Lombardi will not be available as a hitter because of his injury, but he was struggling at the plate anyway recently and Bryant has been outstanding as his replacement.

Jay Uhlman, who has pulled the right strings in Clearwater, will have a lot of decisions to make along with Anthony Izzio as to who pitches when. There is no clear answer when a team struggles on the mound like Tulane has.

SEED SITUATION

Here are the only ways Tulane avoids being in the 4-5 game, either rising to 2 or 3 or falling to 6

1) Sweep Charlotte and FAU does not sweep UAB
2) Win 2 out of 3 against Charlotte and USF gets swept at home by ECU and FAU loses series at UAB
3) Win 1 of 3 against Charlotte and have ECU sweep USF and FAU win at least one game at UAB
4) Get swept by Charlotte and have ECU win series against USF

CHARLOTTE NOTES

Ace Blake Gillespie is a dominant workhorse who has gone at least 6.2 innings in every AAC start, but he almost certainly will be on a pitch count, so his durability will not be a factor.

Charlotte has the very rare combination of having the best fielding percentage in the nation but being last in the AAC in turning double plays.

Charlotte has stolen 16 bases for the year, ranking fourth-to-last in all of Division I.

Charlotte has only two left-handed pitches it uses with any regularity. Both are relievers.

Charlotte is near the bottom of the AAC in hitting but just scored 29 runs on Tuesday against UNC Asheville.

Charlotte's coach reminds me of David Pierce in the way his staffs always pitch well. The 49ers' ERA of 3.73 in league games is nearly a run better than anyone else in the AAC.

It is Cade Scott, who is rated 3 stars by 247Sports but did not have a rating from any other site. I just created his profile.

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Sorry for the one-week delay, guys. I had somewhat of a health crisis late last week when my blood pressure spiked to above 170 and I started feeling shortness of breath and chest pains. I've been on medication for hypertension for a couple of months that was supposed to bring the blood pressure down and it was going the opposite way, so I had a battery of tests done Friday and Monday, and although the blood pressure remains too high, the tests showed no other issues and I actually passed them with flying colors. I don't know. Maybe thinking about Ed Daniels passing away from a heart attack gave me some type of panic attack, though that's not my nature. But now instead of taking one prescribed medication, I am taking three daily plus aspirin.

At the same time, and presumably unrelated, I woke up Thursday morning with unbelievable shooting pain in my elbow that radiated down to my wrist off and on and was present more than 50 percent of the time. The symptoms are classic tennis elbow, but I have not played tennis since 2023 because of having no cartilage in my right knee, with the bone on bone friction causing too much pain to enjoy the game. The elbow got so bad Sunday and Monday that I had a hard time thinking about anything but the pain. When I did the EKG stress test for the heart/blood pressure issue on a treadmill at Ochsner yesterday, I had to hold on with only my left hand. I finally saw someone in orthopedics today and they are treating it as a severe case of tennis elbow with physical therapy starting next week. The elbow feels better and hopefully the pain will run its course soon, although I was not exactly encouraged when the nurse practitioner told me he had a case of tennis elbow in the past that lasted nine months.

Anyway, here, finally, is my defensive analysis. I know somebody who thinks this may turn out to be the best defense in Tulane history, and while that seems a tad overboard and is impossible to judge in the spring because you never know how much of it is suspect offense, I am high on the group, particularly up front.

DEFENSIVE TACKLE/NOSE GUARD

Defensive tackle

1) Santana Hopper
2) Derrick Shepard

Nose guard

1) Tre'Von McAlpine
2) Elijah Champaigne
3) Eliyt Nairne

Analysis: Hopper is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Teammates rave about his ability to shed blockers and get to the ball, and while the other guys in the middle are not as dominant, all of them can play well at a position that requires frequent substitution to stay fresh. It still is not totally clear how these guys will mesh when the games start, but they dominated most of the spring and should be significantly better than last year's group even though Patrick Jenkins is gone. McAlpine, a Texas Tech transfer, can be a big-time player. Nairne was more inconsistent, which is why I have him third behind the more reliable Champaigne, but that's a pretty talented depth chart. The coaches liked Adonis Friloux's commitment to losing weight at the beginning of spring, but he has not been very productive since his knee injury in August of 2022 and would have been a backup rotational player if he had not entered the portal.

DEFENSIVE END/BANDIT

Defensive end

1) Kam Hamilton
2) Gerrod Henderson
3) Jordan Norman

Bandit

1) Mo Westmoreland
2) Jah'rie Garner
3) Harvey Dyson

Analysis: I'm not confident this will be the order at bandit once the season starts, with all three guys capable of starting, but Westmoreland earned the most praise from the coaches and teammates. Whatever the order, Tulane should get more production here than it did from Adin Huntington, whose performance was decent but did not match his reputation coming in. Garner has been set back by injuries in the past but is ready to make an impact. Dyson, from Texas Tech, can play, too. Look for Kam Hamilton to have his best year after the coaches realized midway through last season he was more comfortable at end than he was inside. Henderson was the most surprising player on defense a year ago and should be better with the experience he gained.

LINEBACKER

Starters: Sam Howard and Dickson Agu
Top backup: Chris Rodgers
Next: Makai Williams

Analysis: It will be hard to keep Rodgers out of the starting lineup the way he played in the spring, although Agu is quite good, too. Look for them to rotate pretty much 50-50 until one outplays the other. Both are nice complements to the steady, heady Howard, who is not an elite athlete but makes plays and will be on the field most of the time. Sumrall raved about Williams' development at the end of the spring. I can't say I noticed it as much as he did, but I'll take his word for it. If that's the case, Tulane will have better depth that a year ago, when Rodgers was not ready at the beginning of the year but came on at the end of the year to provide a fourth solid player behind Howard, Tyler Grubbs and Agu. Grubbs will be missed a lot for sure, but he and Howard were similar type players. The athleticism will be a little better this time with either Agu or Rodgers on the field.

CORNERBACK

Starters: LJ Green and Jahiem Johnson
Backups: Armani Cargo and E'Zaiah Shine

Analysis: Tulane shored up its biggest potential weakness on defense with this week's addition of Green, who started every game at Troy last year as a redshirt freshman and had six breakups, two interceptions and 27 tackles. He definitely will start at a spot that had zero proven players, with former backkup Johnson and redshirt freshman Armani Cargo working with the first team in the spring. Johnson was impressive--far better than last spring, when he was outplayed by Rishi Rattan--but he has little experience. Cargo and Shine have zero experience. A good transfer portal addition was a must, and from all indications, Green will at least be at the level of Micah Robinson and Johnathan Edwards a year ago. Wofford transfer Isaiah Wadsworth showed some potential in the spring, too.

NICKELBACK

1) Javion White
2) Jayden Lewis
3) Tavare Smith

Analysis: White had an excellent spring. I know the coaches loved Caleb Ransaw, and so did the Jacksonville Jaguars, but I feel like White can be better in coverage. Lewis is versatile and could end up playing corner. Smith flashed at times but made some mistakes.

SAFETY

Strong safety

1) Bailey Despanie
2) Kevin Adams

Free safety

1) Jack Tchienchou
2) Joshua Moore

Analysis: I loved Tchienchou last year and was surprised he did not start in front of Jalen Geiger, and he has only gotten better since then. He will be a playmaker at the back end. Despanie provides experience, while Adams came on in the spring and should get significant time. This is a solid group with more experience at Tulane than any other spot on defense.

Guerry, I understand Tulane has a couple of commitments this evening a very large OT & an Athletic I think out of Mississippi?

Now that I'm back in a world where I don't feel excruciating elbow pain 24/7, it's high time I update Tulane's transfer portal situation, and yes, I know I did not respond to the thread on that topic from about a week ago. Let me know if I've missed anybody

By my count, Tulane has accepted eight players from the portal since the end of spring drills.

1) Mitch Hodnett, freshman OL, TCU

Outlook: Likely starter on the right side of the line.

2) Alec Clark, punter, Marshall/USM

Outlook: Tulane's starting punter. Averaged 42.4 yards for Marshall last year before transferring briefly to USM this spring, following his coach. Jonathan Galante, Tulane's new specialk teams coahc, was at Marshall with Clark.

3) LJ Green, soph CB, Troy

Outlook: Likely starter. He started every game for the Trojans last year and Sumrall and his staff recruited him to Troy

4) Brendan Sullivan, senior QB, Iowa

Outlook: Decent chance to start after the way Kadin Semonza and Donovan Leary looked in the spring. Depends on his ability and the speed in which he picks up the system.

5) Armandous Cooley, senior DT, USM

Outlook: Don't know. Will Hall and his staff recruited him to USM as a redshirt freshman transfer from Mississippi State in 2022. He started twice that year and made 16 tackles, then missed all of 2023 with a foot injury before returning last year and making only seven tackles in seven games.

6) Tre Shackelford, senior WR, Washington State

Outlook: Don't know. Tulane needed an impact wide receiver. The Wave missed with both of its post-spring additions last season. Shackelford had a good year at Austin Peay in 2023 (52 catches, 799 yards, 6 TDs) but had only 10 grabs for 144 yards at Washington State.

7) Dorian Jackson, sophomore CB, Troy

Outlook: Don't know. He played 38 snaps last year after being recruited by Sumrall and his staff and playing in five games while still being redshirted as a freshman.

8) Johnny Pascuzzi, senior TE, Iowa

Outlook: Don't know. He caught one pass for 40 yards for the Hawkeyes last year. That pass did come from Sullivan.


Tulane has lost 13 players since right before spring drills started or since then. Five have transferred to power five schools. The rest transferred down in my book

1) Will Karoll (UCLA)

Comment: NIL payment

2) Rayshawn Pleasant (Auburn)

Comment: NIL payment

3) Jesus Machado (Houston)

Comment: Not the same player as before his injury, found a home with former coach Willie Fritz

4) Adonis Friloux (Baylor)

Comment: He would have been a valuable rotation player, but his production has been meager since his knee injury before the start of the 2022 season.

5) Jude McCoskey (Purdue)

Comment: I am lost on this one. He was not a first-teamer at practice, but Iowa wanted him.

6) DeShaun Batiste (FAU)

Comment: wants to be a starter. Likely would not have happened at Tulane but he would have played.

7) Ty Cooper (Tulsa)

Comment: Probably expected to be anointed as starter transferring from Miss St. Would have been backup who played.

8) Sidney Mbanasor (Old Dominion)

Comment: He looked the part but never played the part. Was not going to be in the rotation and was outplayed by the similarly built (but much better athlete) Kellen Tasby right after Tasby moved from QB

9) Mandel Eugene (Prairie View)

Comment: Never a factor.

10) Gabe Fortson (undetermined)

Comment: Never a factor, which was surprising as a highly touted transfer from Georgia Tech last year

11) Robbie Pizzolato (undetermined)

Comment: Nicholls transfer was not a factor in the spring.

12) Guiseann Mirtil (undetermined

Comment: I actually liked his receiving ability after he recovered from injury from last spring as early enrollee, but he was not big enough to fit Tulane's definition of a tight end.

13) TJ Finley (forced)

Comment: I knew this was coming through sources right after his suspension. Tulane moved on.

I talked to Harris on the phone today about the $3.5 million to the athletic department by Don and Lora Peters and the coming changes in Tulane's approach to NIL and revenue sharing, with the school taking it in house rather than having the Fear The Wave collective continue to run it. We also addressed the scholarship numbers for football and baseball and what Tulane plans to do about it. I did not have mhy recorder on for the first minute, which was about the donation, but I got the rest.

On how payment has become the dominant issue in attracting players:

"We know that NIL is becoming increasingly a difference-making piece of the puzzle for them, and so to have the ability to be able to address that area is significant. If you talk with our coaches now, they will say that so many of their conversations that were once centered on the big picture of what it means to come to the university and all the benefits have now in many cases become singular conversations about the financial piece of it, so we're still going to build our culture around the idea that when you make the investment to come to Tulane it's a 40-year decision, but at the same time we understand that the world of college athletics means the financial component is significant and we have to be competitive in that area in order to keep our sports teams competitive, and so that's what we're looking to do."

On the sea change and having to adjust on the fly:

"We're all learning and we're all trying to figure out what is the best strategy possible based on who we are as a department and a university and the things that each of us feel like we have strengths in. We want to play to our strengths. We want to make sure we can keep our teams competitive. We want to make sure that we have the appropriate resources to be able to have success, and we want to be aggressive and we want to make sure that people continue to understand the tremendous momentum that we feel we have as a program based on things that have happened in the past few years and things that are happening this year, so the more days we have like we had yesterday, the more momentum we continue to garner and the more that our student-athletes have success, the more championships that they win like we've done this year with cross country and indoor track and field and sailing and we have some sports programs that have yet to finish this year, but all of that continues to paint the picture very positively about what we are looking to accomplish at Tulane."

On bringing athlete compensation in house and not using the Fear The Wave collective in the same way as the past:

"For us it was about being in a position to bring all the resources of the department and the university to bear on making sure that we can do a great job in this area. With Fear The Wave, Michael (Arata) and Jimmy Ordeneaux) have done just a phenomenal job if you look at the success we've been able to have, especially in the sports like football, you can trace a significant amount of that to the hard work they've put in to just volunteer to raise money to be able to help us with our NIL efforts, so we are going to be forever indebted to Michael and JImmy and people like Kelly Comarda, who just did a phenomenal job of help giving us an opportunity to compete during that time period, so now where we're in the position where it doesn't have to be done outside the department and doesn't have to be done the way that it has been, and we can bring the full resources of the university and the department to this effort, it just felt like this was the right time to be able to make this transition and to build on what Fear the Wave set the foundation for with us to try to make it bigger and better and more significant and bring in more money and be able to win more championships."

On changes from how Fear The Wave operated in the structure of soliciting revenue for payments:

"We haven't discussed that. Our conversations have really been about why we felt the transition was appropriate, and which we got on the same page. Michael and Jimmy were fantastic and obviously have been keeping up with this as much as anybody, so they understood exactly what we were trying to do and why. Most of our conversations have been about how do we make sure that for everyone who has been supporting Tulane athletics through Fear the Wave, they understand that this is the new way to do it and they start July 1. Up until then, the collective is still active in fund-raising to be able to meet our commitments, but as we get to July 1 going forward, and we want and need quite frankly everyone who was giving to Fear the Wave to give to the Green Wave Talent Fund. That's the way that we continue to have success, and I know that Michael put something out yesterday on social media about the importance of that happening, and so those guys got it from the very beginning. They were great to work with from the very beginning, and they understand exactly what we're trying to accomplish."

On the manpower that will be involved in Green Wave Talent Fund after Arata and Ordeneaux ran Fear The Wave by themselves after Kelly Comarda's departure:

"It will be an operation for myself and our development team, so I think all of us will have some piece of that puzzle and while there will be some of us that will be doing more than others because we have other initiatives that we're obviously trying to raise money for, I think in some form or fashion over time if you're working within in Tulane athletics in the development area, this will impact you, and then quite honestly there will be those who work within advancement in the entire university who have already been involved or will certainly be involved in the future, so this is certainly an all-hands-on-deck type of initiative for us."

On new Fear the Wave role:

"They will continue in their role as a media company providing behind-the-scenes access to those who subscribe to Fear the Wave, and I know they are interested in doing some special projects with us that will continue to help our student-athletes, so we will be having further discussions with them about what those things will look like, but they want to continue to be in the position for the people that follow them and subscribe, providing behind-the-scenes content on our sports programs and we know they've done a great job with that. They expect and we expect that they will continue to do so moving forward, but in this day and age when everything is constantly evolving, there's nothing to say that six months from now or heck, even six weeks from. now, that things won't change to where we're having further discussions, so it's one thing you learn when you're working in college athletics right now is nothing is standing still. It's a very dynamic environment, so we are certainly going to maintain our partnership with them and make sure that whatever they are doing for us, it lines up nicely with what's in the best interest of our student-athletes."

More on payment to players becoming THE top priority:

"Yeah, it really has shot to the top as being the thing we discuss most with our coaches because that's what they're discussing with our current student-athletes as well as prospective student-athletes, so we all recognize that facilities continue to be important and we're going to continue to make investments in those areas. We feel like the overall student-athlete experience is still critical for us, and graduating from Tulane is still a 40-year decision that pays dividends for decades down the road, but you can't be in this environment and not recognize that revenue sharing and NIL payments are at the top of everyone's mind an our student-athletes and their parents and their family members, so you have to have a plan to be able to meet those challenges and address that in those conversations. It is critically important for us to be competitive. We don't have to be in the position where we can outspend everyone. That can't be the strategy, but at the same time you know that you have to be in a position where what you are providing is competitive in combination with the other things that you bring to the table."

Although it has not officially clinched a spot in the AAC tournament, Tulane realistically will finish anywhere from second to sixth. It is one game behind USF and FAU while losing the tiebreaker to both, also a game behind Charlotte, which it hosts to end the year, and tied with ECU, which it beats in a tiebreaker.

There are two keys down the stretch. The first is finding reliable pitchers in a year when the ERA is straight-up awful, the third worst in program history behind 1990 and 2023. Uhlman said today he would like to have eight pitchers he could use in the conference tournament. Luc Fladda, who has been bad most of the year but proved in Corvallis last year he could come up big under pressure, and Trey Cehajic, who has been mediocre, have to be two of them. Michael Lombardi, who has been brilliant, and Tayler Montiel, who was terrific for most of the year before sliding, have the makeup and the stuff to be counted on heavily. Blaise Wilcenski, who was outstanding last week but never good before then, and Carter Benbrook, who has a lot of savvy but only average stuff, need to become reliable. Jacob Moore, who has been inexplicably bad with a loss of control this year, has to find his form, and someone else needs to be the eighth. Maybe that's Will Clements, who has excellent stuff but has never been reliable in two years, or Julius Ejike-Charles, whom the coaches like but has not impressed me, or Grayson Smith, who was god-awful as a touted transfer from Florida before pitching really well in relief on Saturday.

The other key is avoiding the 4th or 5th seed. Yeah, I know UTSA dropped two in a row as the top seed (No. 2 overall) in Tulane's half of the bracket last year, but that team is the class of the league this season and is a horrendous matchup for Tulane's pitchers because of the way it rakes. Get the Roadrunners on the other half of the bracket and hope they get eliminated or run out of pitching by the championship game, when they will not have the same motivation as an at-large lock anyway. That means finishing 6th would be much better than 4th or 5th, although 2nd or 3rd is obviously preferable because Tulane would enter the tournament with more confidence.

No team other than UTSA is remotely scary, but the problem for Tulane will be winning that first game. Fladda has not pitched as well as any other team's ace, and Tulane is nowhere near good enough on the mound to come out of the losers' bracket. I do like Tulane's chances if it finds a way to win the first game. The hitting has been quite good for more than a month, with no holes in the lineup, and once you get past the opponent's ace, no one has elite pitching in this league.

Memphis will play with a lot of desperation this weekend under Matt Riser. After starting 0-8 in the league, the Tigers are 7-6 even though they got swept by UTSA in that span. They have plenty of incentive to do well this weekend since they are tied for the final spot in the tournament with Wichita State and UAB. Thankfully for Tulane, they are the worst hitting team in the league by a long way (Tulane is dead last in ERA by a long way during conference play), but the Wave lost a series on the road to an even worse hitting team in Pepperdine.

Uhlman talked today, and he offered good news about Lombardi, who missed Saturday and Sunday with a strained oblique. Without a healthy Lombardi on the mound in Clearwater, Tulane would be toast.

On Memphis being a tricky opponent:

"They are on their first four-game winning streak of the year (becoming the first AAC team to sweep UAB and beating a garbage SWAC team) and are feeling good about it. They beat a good Friday night starter in UAB's Colin Daniel, the preseason selection for pitcher of the year. They are going to play hard. Coach Riser does a great job, and I know he's trying to get that thing going in the right direction. They might be fighting for their lives, but so are we. At this point of the year we're all fighting for our lives."

On Memphis Friday starter Seth Garner one-hitting Tulane over five innings last year:

"Tongue in cheek, we had finals last year when we played them. In all seriousness, he throws fastball-change to left-handers and fastball-slider to right-handers. He was able to locate and pitch really well. It's like everything else. It's a Friday night matchup, and we're going to have to be up to the task and score runs."

On Memphis being light-hitting team:

"The good news is offensively we're starting to trend in a better direction that gives us more ammunition and bullets and protection than maybe we got in the middle part of the year or even the beginning part of the year. That part helps. This is the time of year the ball starts flying. Their park can play very offensive depending on which way the wind's blowing. Really positive steps forward. Trey (Cehajic) getting back out there for a good spin on Saturday this past weekend. He would have probably gone longer had he gotten an out on the one bunt when we were up 7-1. It cost him more pitches and more hitters and the compound effect of that. He had a pretty good outing from the two times before that, and then Blaise has been tremendous the last three times. We get Lombardi back, so we'll have some things working for us and some guys doing some better things as we move into May."

On if Lombardi is cleared to hit and pitch:

"We'll see. Our hope is that he'll be fully ready to go. I'm speaking that a little bit more into existence than probably a firm mandate that he's back, but my expectation is for him to be back in some capacity."

On losing FAU series:

"Game 2 we were in totally command, but as you look back on it, we left 16 on (base) and when a team comes from behind, it's not just the things that led up to the big blow, which was the grand slam, but it's all the other things behind that--the defensive plays or lack thereof, maybe one got away, we didn't collect certain outs, we didn't turn a few double plays, those kinds of things. Then leaving meat on the bone from an offensive standpoint. All those things could have changed the complexion of the game. We're staring at being up 7-1 and I'm thinking like all right, let's get this into 10-run range and call it a day, and the next thing you know they kind of just chipped away at us. You've got to give credit where credit's due. They hung in there, and we weren't able to put the bow on the present. Friday was just a strange deal. We didn't start off the way we wanted to, but we kept battling and we got it close several times, and Grayson Smith came back in the resumption of that game 1 and pitched really well for us. I'd like to see him take that success and build on that and any other opportunities that he gets."

On what he wants to see from pitching staff moving forward:

"Here's what I would tell you. I think every year if you look at pitching staffs across the country, you could pick out the stats and look at the top eight pitchers, top nine pitchers, and usually it's the bulk that's going to be getting the vast majority of the opportunities (at the tournament) as we move down the stretch. Had we used eight guys strictly for the past two months, they'd be out of gas. We've had a track record the last couple of years where we've played our best down the stretch. We've gotten to postseason play and been able to maneuver through very tricky tournaments. Winning is hard, but winning tournaments is really difficult. For us, to be able to take care of our top end arms, to allow us to be in a better position at the end of the year is good. You are going to take some lumps. When you're out there and if Luc goes out there and has a tough one or one of the starting pitchers goes out and has a tough one, you have an obligation of not throwing in the towel so to speak, but how do we not use the guys that we know we need to use to get the series win, and when you're using the back end of your staff, a lot of times it's hold your breath and hope and pray and sometimes it's a bag of snakes. You don't get bit and sometimes you get bit. Unfortunately for the young people in that position, they want that opportunity and they're trying, but sometimes the try an the over-analyzation of what they need to do sometimes gets in the way and affects production and performance, but in terms of the bulk group of guys that we've had that have been productive, I'm happy with where they are. I feel like that group of guys gives us the best chance to get us where we need to go, which is Sunday in Clearwater."

With the exception of Rayshawn Pleasant, Tulane has not lost a player who would have been a likely starter and significant difference-maker to the transfer portal since the spring semester started, although Adonis Friloux definitely could have been an important rotational piece and Jesus Machado could have been a factor if he regained belief in his knee. I had not heard anything about Ty Cooper likely leaving, but I also do not believe he was on the two-deep depth chart, so he likely saw the writing on the wall. Sidney Mbanasor simply never made enough plays as the tall target the coaches wanted, and Kellen Tasby looked better in that role from the day he switched to wideout than Mbanasor ever did. That means Tulane never got anything out of its post-spring transfers at wideout last year, with Khai Prean leaving at the end of the fall and now Mbanasor departing.

Here is my projected depth chart with analysis at each position on offense. I will do defense tomorrow.

QUARTERBACK

1) Kadin Semonza or Donovan Leary
2) Kadin Semonza or Donovan Leary

Analysis: Even though both of them had really rough days in the spring game, the QBs were ahead of where the three QBs were at this time last spring in the last week of practice. That's not really relevant, though, because Darian Mensah improved exponentially over the summer, and that type of improvement is an outlier rather than the norm. Tulane is going to bring in another QB to join the fray, but that obviously will have missed all of the spring and will come in behind. I have no idea who will end up being the starting QB--no idea--but I'm slightly partial to Semonza, who made plays off schedule frequently in the spring. Leary is the slightly better athlete and has a stronger arm, but I'm not sure about his decision-making. The concern with Semonza, though, is he sometimes panics and throws the ball up for grabs when he is under pressure, something that simply cannot happen in a game. I'm not worried about his height. The NFL is no place for quarterbacks with his height, but plenty of guys his size flourish in college as passers. The QB that comes in soon definitely will have a chance to win the job, too, but they have to find the right guy. It is not clear that Semonza or Leary can take this team to a championship game.

RUNNING BACK

1) Maurice Turner
2) Jamauri McClure
3) Arnold Barnes
4) Zuberi Mobley or Javin Gordon

Analysis: I list all five guys because all of them have a shot. I've been a McClure guy almost from day 1 of camp last year. He makes more big runs in live 11-on-11 action than any running back Tulane has had in the last 10 years other than Tyjae Spears, and that has to count for something. The concern is his lack of knowledge of the offense, which shows up in blitz pickups. He has to buckle down this summer and in preseason camp to earn the playing time his ability says he deserves. I expect Turner to be the starter against Northwestern because he does everything the right way, but I'm not sure he's an every-down back. He likes to go for the home run and reverse field a lot, but I want to see more from his as a downhill runner. Barnes, who missed most of the last two weeks of drills with a nagging injury, is a physical runner whose attention to detail needs to improve. Gordon, an early-enrolling true freshman, was impressive from the start of spring, and Mobley really came on in the last weeks. I'm not sure there's enough carries for five backs, particularly since Tulane opens with Northwestern and has zero cupcakes on the non-conference schedule, so the latter two will need to show out in camp to earn a shot. Gordon is physical and fast, but is he mentally ready? Mobley has good acceleration and is effective as a receiver out of the backfield, too. Obviously Makhi Hughes' consistency and ability to pick the right hole will be missed, but I like the running back room as a whole and believe McClure can be a difference-maker if his mentality approaches his physicality. In my opinion, this is the strongest position on offense.

WIDE RECEIVER

Starters: Bryce Bohanon, Shazz Preston and Omari Hayes
Backups: Anthony Brown-Stephens, Zycarl Lewis and Jimmy Calloway
In the picture: Garrett Mmahat, Oliver Mitchell and Kellen Tasby

Analysis: They really need to hit on a receiver in the portal, which as I referenced above they did not do last summer, because I don't see a No. 1 in the group like Mario Williams. Bohanon and Preston are locks to start, but Bohanon, who had a very impressive spring, still needs to prove he can get separation in a game after not being much of a factor in his first four years. Preston is big and fast but caught zero passes in two years at Alabama before being bothered by a hamstring injury last year. He did have two touchdown catches, but the first one may have come when he ran the wrong route. Consistency is the challenge for him. I'm completely speculating about Hayes, who missed almost all of the spring with a leg injury, but Sumrall mentioned more than once the coaches thought he was their top pickup out of the portal at wideout. Calloway was limited for most of the spring, too, so I don't really know what he can or cannot do. Brown-Stephens is small but made plays regularly in the spring. Lewis came on in the final two weeks and appears to be well-rounded. Sumrall likes Mmahat, who consistently makes plays in practice, but he had never played receiver in his life until Willie Fritz moved him from quarterback in preseason camp of 2022, and it is not clear he can duplicate his practice feats in games or will be able to get separation. Tasby is the wild card if he sticks around. He is gifted physically and showed a knack for high-pointing the ball in practice, but his learning curve will be pretty steep. Overall, I am as concerned about wideout as quarterback. The top three guys from last year are gone, and no one on the roster is a certain success.

TIGHT END

1) Anthony Miller
2) Justyn Reid
3) Ty Thompson

Analysis: I like offensive coordinator Joe Craddock, but he made what on the surface appears to be one of the most surprising statements I've heard in 16 years covering this team when he said the tight end room could be the best of any G5 school and maybe the entire country. Wow. I didn't see it in the spring. Anthony Miller was solid but does not appear to the weapon Alex Bauman was before he transferred. Justyn Reid made plays here and there but did not look special. And Ty Thompson, who looked really good in the first week playing a brand new position, has a serious knee injury that may or may not heal properly, although Sumrall insisted he would return ahead of schedule in the summer. I don't know. Craddock clearly sees something in this group or he would not have said what he said. It will be interesting to see how much of a factor the tight ends can be.

OFFENSIVE LINE

Left Tackle

1) Derrick Graham
2) Dominic Steward

Left guard

1) Shadre Hurst
2) Jayce Mitchell

Center

1) Jack Hollifield
2) Elijah Baker

Right guard

1) John Bock
2) Landry Cannon

Right tackle

1) Reese Baker
2) Darion Reed

Analysis: I had Jude McCoskey second at right tackle, but with his departure, I'm putting Darion Reed there although he got most of his work at left tackle in the spring. He and Steward may be flip flopped. I'm concerned about this group, too, which got overrun in the spring game and has only two proven performers in Graham and Hurst on the left side. I have not seen enough from any of the other three positions to be confident the offensive line will hold up, although the talent level of Tulane's mostly new defensive front could be distorting the picture. Hollifield started every game at center for Appalachian State last year, so he has experience. Bock started 10 games over the past two seasons at FIU (primarily at center), getting suspended for a calendar year for testing positive for a banned ingredient and returning for the last three games in 2024. Reese Baker is a redshirt freshman, and the other two guys competing at tackle have zero starting experience. If the defensive line is as good a I think it might be, the offensive line will not have to make as much improvement as it appears on the surface, but that's no guarantee. The line simply could not handle the defensive front in most of the live drills this spring. A portal addition who can start would be helpful, but Sumrall said those guys are hard to find in this window. Graham had a connection to the staff last year, having played for them at Troy.

I will write up the defense tomorrow.

QB, DT, WR

It was an overcast day with a good breeze from the south. The scrimmage started at 10:13 and ended at 11:35. It was 4 10 minute quarters. @A 2 minute break between quarters and a 10 minute half time.

The 1's came out and started on the north 25 going south. Leary was at QB.
1-10: Incomplete to Mobley as Leary was under pressure.
2-10: Mobley ran for 2.
3-8: Sack by Dyson.

The 2's came out. Semonza at QB. Going S to N.
1-10 at the 30: Turner ran right for 2 yards.
2=8: Turner went for no gain up the middle as he was stuffed by several defenders.
3-8: Pass blocked by Derrick Shepard.

The 1's came out with Semonza at. Going N-S.
1-10 at the 22: Pass to Reid for 5.
2-5: McClure ran for 3
3-2: Pass to Reid for 9

1-10: Pass to Nicholas batted away by Jaheim Johnson
2-10 Pass to preston to the right for a loss of 1
3-11: Turner lost 1 on a run.

The 2's came out with Leary at QB. Strted at the 30 going N-S;

1-10: Pass to Mbanasor for 9
2-1: Gordon ran up the middle for 2

1-10: Pass to Gordon for 7
2-3: Gordon ran for 4

1-10:Leary missed a wide open Mitchell down the sideline for what would have been an easy TD
2-10:Mobley ran up the middle for 3
3-7:Leary ran for no gain. Holding was called on the offense but they just proceeded with 4-7
4-7:Missed an open Mitchell over the middle for what woukld have been a first down

1's came out with Semonza at QB. started at the 30 going S-N.
1-10:Semonza intercepted by Howard .

1-10: MclClure ran for 1.
2-9: pass to Bohanon for 1 who was greeted with a big hit by Jayden Lewis
3-4:False start by the offense.
3-9: pass to Preston for 3.
Preston was shook up by a big hit form a DB right after he made the catch. he did bounce off it to get the 3 yards but then bent over for a bit before a teammate helped him walk off.

2's out with Leary at QB. Started at the 35 going N-S:
1-10: Pass to Zycarl Lewis for 7. Sumrall refers to him as CJ.
2-3: Pass to Mmahat for 4
2 minute warning.
1-10: Penalty on the defense for offsides
1-5:Leary overthrew the receiver and it was intercepted by Kevin Adams.

1's came out with Semonza. Started at the 35 going S-N:
1-10:10 yard pass to Anthony Brown-Stephens ,who has had a good spring and will be referred to as ABS.
1-10: Pass to Lewis broken up by Tavare Smith
2-10Pass to Mithchell broken up by Joshua Moore
3-10:Sacked by Geordan Guidry and Jah'rie Garner for a loss of 10

2's with Leary. Started at the 33 going N-S.
1-10:throwaway under pressure
2-10; Pass to preston under pressure. It was little behind him and he batted it around some but ultimately dropped it.
Flag on the offense for holding and ineligible man downfield.
They went with 3-10 ignoring the penalties. McClure ran for 7
4-3:Interception by Dallas Winter-Johnson. When he went off the field he was dangling his right arm.

Half-time

2's came out with Semonza. Strarted at the 30 going S-N.
1-10:McClure ran up the middle for 25
1-10:McClure stuffed by Ty Cooper for a loss of 2
2-12:Gordon ran for 3
3-9; Pass dropped by Lewis
4-9:sack by Cooper

Tasby came out at QB. Started at tghe 35 going N-S.
1-10:run for no gain by Turner
2-10:Turner ran for 3 up the middle
3-7:Tasby ran for 5
4-2: Pass to Mobley for no gain

2's came out with Leary. Started at the 40 going S-N
1-10: Pass to McClure for 11

1-10: McClure ran up the middle for 13

1-10: Pass to McClure on the left for 2
2-8:Gordon ran right for 11

1-10: Gordon ran for 14

1 and goal from the 9:Mobley for 5 up the middle
2 from the 4: Mobley ran to the right for the TD

Went for 2 but he overthrew Mitchell

Semonza came on. Started at the 35 going N-S.
1-10: Pass to Mmahat for 11
1-10Pass to Mmahat for 14
1-10:Gordon ran for 6
2-4:Chase Green tackled Gordon for a loss of 1
3-5;pass to ABS for 10
1-10:Gordon ran right for 2
2-8; Pass to ABS for 8
1-10:Gordon ran left for 5
2-5: pass to Mirtil for a loss of2
3-7:Semonza lost 1 on a run


At this point the defense was up 35-6. They clearly dominated as they have for most of the spring. The QB's were often under pressure. We have to hope we can find help in the portal there and at QB.

Mostly 3's and walk-ons played the last 2 series. Dgam Bruno QB's the first series and led them to a TD on a pass to Anthony Miller. . They went for 2 but the pass was batted down by Nik Alston.

Jakson Judge QB's the last series and led them to a TD. Made the 4 point try.

The final was 36-22 for the defense.

On the O-Line the only 2 sure starters are Graham at LT and Hurst at either LG or Center. Too much mixing and matching plus players out like Darion Reed.

Turner will likey be RB1. McClure looks good as does Gordon. Barnes must be out injured.

Preston and Bohanon will likely start at WR with probably Lewis.

TE is up for grabs with Miller and Reid.

On D- it looked like Henderson, McAlpine,nairne and garner went out first. Howard and Makai Williams were the LB's. The DB's were Eziomume, Adams, Tchienchou and Smith. I missed one player. I'm a one man operation and with the no huddle tempo and having to sit in the Glazer seats instead of upstairs. it's hard to get a lot of the numbers.

We obviously have a ton of work to do on offense. With he portal and the way coaches can work with players during the summer now there is hope.

I am going to delay my defense position-by-position post-spring analysis until tomorrow. I forgot I never transcribed the interviews after the spring game.

JON SUMRALL

"Appreciate y'all being here to cover our game. The model of spring games has changed so much that people aren't even having them. As long as I'm the head coach, we're probably going tio have some form of the spring game. The challenge now with the roster sizes, we have all these crazy rules about what our roster size limits could be and as we prepare for that, you're probably not going to see a conventional 1 team versus another. Our model is offense versus defense, and some guys were very uniquely rep counted. Some guys probably took 6, 7, 8 reps today and some guys probably took 20 or 30. I would read nothing into who went out to start the game at quarterback. They were brought in the room with the offensive coaching staff and told to pick a number between 1 and 10. The number was already picked. It was 3. Donovan Leary picked 4 and Kadin Semonza picked 5. I actually credit Kadin for after one guy picked 4, actually picking the next number up to give himself the best odds of starting, but the number was 3 and that's why Donovan started today. A really scientific process of who started.

"All in all the defense started the day better, faster. It's been very back and forth. The first couple of weeks of the spring I would tell you defense was ahead. Then I would tell you the last four or five practices leading up to today the offense was ahead, and off of what it looked like today, the defense looked better. What's easy about defensive football is you can gake a couple of guys out of the equation and not drop off as much. When you take a couple of guys out of the equation on offense, it can look really bad if you're not careful, and that's why we have to develop the depth in our team. But I like the direction we're headed. A lot of work left to do. We're in the middle of the transfer portal, which makes a ton of sense to be in the middle of spring and the transfer portal all at one time. It's a great design that we have. We'll meet with our guys next week, figure out who's going to stay. Hopefully as many of them will stay as we can get, and then we have some additions that will be coming here over the next month roughly that we'll be working on to try to redo our roster to some degree. We'll be looking for a frontline player at a couple of spots and a couple of spots it's just continuing to build the roster in the right manner."

On his evaluation of the two QBs at the end of spring drills:

"It's been neck and neck throughout the spring. There were times when Donovan looked better, times when Kadin looked better. Today we didn't play good enough to win to be honest with you. We've got some work to do there. Kadin operated really the last four or five practices at a high level. We're a long way from being where we need to be. I like both guys. They are both great teammates. They both throw it well enough. They both work incredibly hard, but we are not where we need to be yet there. Who's the starter? I have no idea. We're really no different than we were a year ago at this time. I left the spring game last year not knowing who our starter was, and I still don't. Nobody has separated themselves enough for me to feel like that's the guy to this point."

On if he is committed to bringing in another QB:

"We are very likely bringing in another quarterback. It's not a shot at the other guys. I'd like to have four scholarship quarterbacks. That's sort of the number in college football that you carry. With Tasby sort of right now being a receiver that can still go at home to play some quarterback as needed, but Tasby's flashed enough at receiver that we're like his best way to contribute to this year's team is probably out there. We'll kind of have maybe a package for him at quarterback. We've got to get a quarterback just to make the room right and also to add competition and see who are starter's going to be."

On sales pitch to prospective QB:

"Every job is open. No job has got anybody that's cemented. Now certain guys that have started game have more likely an opportunity to be a starter. The pitch is a year ago at this time, Darian Mensah wasn't the starter. Hell, he was the third man. There's a lot of football left. Guys will get a little time off in May and then they'll come back in late May, early June and we'll have a couple months of summer stuff and we'll come back in August and have training camp, so there's really three-and-a-half, four months before we play a game once the guys get back here, so there's a lot of time left and nobody has cemented that they're the starter yet. I'm not saying they're not. If there was a guy that elevated and separated enough that I felt like he was the starter, I'd name him. I'm not trying to play the cards close to my vest just because I don't like holding everybody hostage. I don't. I haven't seen enough to make that declaration yet. Last year when I knew, I made the call and we rolled with it and we didn't look back. When we know, we'll know, but I just don't know yet, so there's a real opportunity. The pitch is do you want to win and be a big-time college quarterback in a place that has won and we intend on continuing to win."

On challenges of developing guys that aren't proven at a lot of key positions and re-establishing a brotherhood:

"We have to develop the guys that are here. We have to acquire new players and help them get into the fold and help them create the culture where we care about each other and become a family and don't let the standards fall, and that is the biggest challenge we have in college football. We lost our starting quarterback, our starting running back and our starting tight end (to the transfer portal) and we lost all three receivers to graduation. Center, right guard, right tackle--graduation. And then you have to figure out what young guys are going to elevate, what new guys can you add, how do you get everybody to come together. It's challenging. It is."

On what he wants the culture to be defined as:

"Our core values are attitude, toughness, discipline, love. We define those to our team very clearly. The only disability in life is a bad attitude. Tough teams win. We've got to be disciplined, which means the ability to defer short-term comfort for long-term growth. The little decisions you make add up and become the decisions that we want our guys to love each other. The way I talk about love in our program, it's the action, not a feeling. Love's not going on campus and seeing a pretty girl. That's called lust. We want our guys to actually like care about each other and look after each other and invest in each other's lives. Coach Greg McMahon, who was back this week, said man, when you do this the right way, you walk together forever. I don't care if you play one snap for me or a thousand. Once you do it with us, we walk together forever. It's how quickly can we get this unit to grow together and walk together. It is work. It's not easy. It takes a very focused, conscientious effort, and it's a hell of a lot easier when you recruit really good people. When you recruit people that are made up of the right stuff, it's a lot easier. When you don't, it's harder."

On DL showing out again:

"Yeah, golly. That group's got a chance. We'll see. That group right now is probably eight, nine, ten-ish guys deep. We probably need to add one more player in that room if everybody stays right now, I like playing multiple D-lineman. The hardest thing to do in football is rush the passer, like in a two-minute situation, just rush, rush, rush, rush, rush, so I want to get enough bodies there that can play at a high level. We've got a lot. We could probably use one more, but we're not going to just go take another guy to take a guy. If it's going to a guy that can add top-end value to the room."

On if Friloux leaving was unexpected:

"Yeah, everybody's got different reasons for looking and leaving. If you had asked me about a guy like that leaving four years ago, I would have said it was unexpected, but nothing surprises me anymore. It's like, all right, good. Want to go, I hate it, don't like it, wanted him to stay, wasn't trying to get him to leave, but I get surprised by nothing anymore. There's no such thing as an unexpected departure. The model we're in, everybody can leave. I know everybody things we've got some big checkbook around here, but our guys are not getting paid like a lot of people are getting paid, so that's the fight."

In addition to the others Deshawn Baptiste, Rayshawn Pleasant, the punter, etc. Just found out Edge Ty Cooper (previously of MSU) has hit the portal as well as TE Guisann Mirtil.