I'm stockpiling a lot of interviews and will start having time to do longer writeups early next week. Got Jarrod Franklin and Richard Allen on Wednesday and haven't used those interviews yet.
Today I got to practice late, but I focused on the offensive line rotation. Clearly, Kenneth Santa Marina is beginning spring drills as the No. 1 right tackle in place of Sean Donnnelly, Tulane's lone departure on the offensive line. The other four starters return from a unit that improved significantly for the second straight year but still was not good enough for Tulane to win against solid competition. The Wave needs Santa Marina to come through with a big year and the holdovers to get better.
"He (Santa Marina) is very impressive," CJ said. "He's jumped right in there. He was good. I like what he's doing. He's going to be good for us."
Santa Marina was less effusive than CJ.
"It is real exciting to have a chance to go out on the field and play alongside my teammates," he said. "The role is kind of tough, trying to fill in the big shoes of Sean Donnelly. I have to know all the plays and all the right calls. I'm trying my best not to make any kind of mistakes or any type of errors."
Santa Marina, a McDonogh 35 product who arrived as a heralded three-star recruit in 2013, was redshirted his first year and played sparingly last season. More was expected of him early, but he needed some time to adjust to college football.
"When I first came, I really had to work on my pad level and my steps and movement," he said. "It was kind of hard. It's more up-tempo than high school. You have to get off the ball real fast."
Santa Marina comes off as a humble guy, easily mentioning his shortcomings while needing to be prompted to talk about his positives. He graded himself "OK" for the first two of spring practice.
"Right now I need to work on exploding off the ball even more," he said. "I have to get faster off the ball in the running game and the passing game."
Santa Marina roomed with Donnelly for road games last year, and he says he picked up a lot of pointers.
"He was showing me plays I didn't know," he said. "Every time I had a question I didn't know, I asked him. He gave me a lot of advice on what to do and what not to do."
The first-team line the first two days was no surprise--Arturo Uzdavinis at left tackle, Colton Hanson at left guard, Nathan Shienle at center, Christ Taylor at right guard and Santa Marina at right tackle.
The backup line today was John Leglue at left tackle, Brandon Godfrey and Jason Stewart at left guard, Junior Diaz at center, Bob Bradley and Anthony Taylor at right guard and Todd Jacquet and Devon Johnson at right tackle.
Johnson, a less-heralded recruit from Amite who redshirted as a freshman, passed Santa Marina on the depth chart at tackle during preseason drills last fall, but it looks like he will have some work to do get back up there again. CJ said Johnson was being double-trained at guard at tackle, but Johnson said he was spending most of his time on the outside. He lists pass blocking as his best strength.
"I just need to continue to get better and work on my game," he said. "It doesn't matter where I play. I played both positions in high school. I will work hard to get better and just hope for the best."
CJ praised Johnson, too.
"He's big, he's physical and he's tough," Johnson said. "He's very physical. We're trying to figure out a home for him, but he looks good at guard and tackle."
PRACTICE NOTES
CJ liked what he saw from the running backs, who are coming off a solid year, at least when they here healthy.
"The backs had a good day," he said. "Sherman (Badie), Dontrell (Hilliard), Lazedrick (Thompson), (Josh) Rounds, all those guys ran the ball very well, Marshall (Wadleigh), too. They are picking up protections. Tanner (Lee) threw it well. I thought they had a good day."
CJ did not like what he saw from some of the linebackers and the linemen on both sides of the ball. It was a non-tackling day, but some guys didn't get the message.
"I just thought tackling, grabbing guys, throwing them to the ground (drew his ire)," he said. "The linebackers got a little sloppy. I didn't like the hustle of some of the offensive and defensive linemen. But other than that, I thought we practiced very, very well."
Guys can change from year to year, and that's a good thing for safety Leonard Davis. After the coaches raved about him in the 2014 preseason, he just wasn't effective when he played last year, giving up a pivotal long TD that hurt Tulane in the opener against Tulsa and never really recovering. He made 15 tackles for the year and looked shaky in pass coverage several times.
With Sam Scofield graduating, a spot is open at safety, and Davis is getting first crack to play alongside Darion Monroe.
"These two days, he's been very impressive," CJ said. "One thing he can do, he can run, he's covering guys up, he's doing a good job for us."
Tulane will return to the practice field on Saturday morning to finish the first week of spring drills. The Wave will work out four times in each of the next three weeks (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday), with the spring game taking place at Yulman Stadium on March 14.
Today I got to practice late, but I focused on the offensive line rotation. Clearly, Kenneth Santa Marina is beginning spring drills as the No. 1 right tackle in place of Sean Donnnelly, Tulane's lone departure on the offensive line. The other four starters return from a unit that improved significantly for the second straight year but still was not good enough for Tulane to win against solid competition. The Wave needs Santa Marina to come through with a big year and the holdovers to get better.
"He (Santa Marina) is very impressive," CJ said. "He's jumped right in there. He was good. I like what he's doing. He's going to be good for us."
Santa Marina was less effusive than CJ.
"It is real exciting to have a chance to go out on the field and play alongside my teammates," he said. "The role is kind of tough, trying to fill in the big shoes of Sean Donnelly. I have to know all the plays and all the right calls. I'm trying my best not to make any kind of mistakes or any type of errors."
Santa Marina, a McDonogh 35 product who arrived as a heralded three-star recruit in 2013, was redshirted his first year and played sparingly last season. More was expected of him early, but he needed some time to adjust to college football.
"When I first came, I really had to work on my pad level and my steps and movement," he said. "It was kind of hard. It's more up-tempo than high school. You have to get off the ball real fast."
Santa Marina comes off as a humble guy, easily mentioning his shortcomings while needing to be prompted to talk about his positives. He graded himself "OK" for the first two of spring practice.
"Right now I need to work on exploding off the ball even more," he said. "I have to get faster off the ball in the running game and the passing game."
Santa Marina roomed with Donnelly for road games last year, and he says he picked up a lot of pointers.
"He was showing me plays I didn't know," he said. "Every time I had a question I didn't know, I asked him. He gave me a lot of advice on what to do and what not to do."
The first-team line the first two days was no surprise--Arturo Uzdavinis at left tackle, Colton Hanson at left guard, Nathan Shienle at center, Christ Taylor at right guard and Santa Marina at right tackle.
The backup line today was John Leglue at left tackle, Brandon Godfrey and Jason Stewart at left guard, Junior Diaz at center, Bob Bradley and Anthony Taylor at right guard and Todd Jacquet and Devon Johnson at right tackle.
Johnson, a less-heralded recruit from Amite who redshirted as a freshman, passed Santa Marina on the depth chart at tackle during preseason drills last fall, but it looks like he will have some work to do get back up there again. CJ said Johnson was being double-trained at guard at tackle, but Johnson said he was spending most of his time on the outside. He lists pass blocking as his best strength.
"I just need to continue to get better and work on my game," he said. "It doesn't matter where I play. I played both positions in high school. I will work hard to get better and just hope for the best."
CJ praised Johnson, too.
"He's big, he's physical and he's tough," Johnson said. "He's very physical. We're trying to figure out a home for him, but he looks good at guard and tackle."
PRACTICE NOTES
CJ liked what he saw from the running backs, who are coming off a solid year, at least when they here healthy.
"The backs had a good day," he said. "Sherman (Badie), Dontrell (Hilliard), Lazedrick (Thompson), (Josh) Rounds, all those guys ran the ball very well, Marshall (Wadleigh), too. They are picking up protections. Tanner (Lee) threw it well. I thought they had a good day."
CJ did not like what he saw from some of the linebackers and the linemen on both sides of the ball. It was a non-tackling day, but some guys didn't get the message.
"I just thought tackling, grabbing guys, throwing them to the ground (drew his ire)," he said. "The linebackers got a little sloppy. I didn't like the hustle of some of the offensive and defensive linemen. But other than that, I thought we practiced very, very well."
Guys can change from year to year, and that's a good thing for safety Leonard Davis. After the coaches raved about him in the 2014 preseason, he just wasn't effective when he played last year, giving up a pivotal long TD that hurt Tulane in the opener against Tulsa and never really recovering. He made 15 tackles for the year and looked shaky in pass coverage several times.
With Sam Scofield graduating, a spot is open at safety, and Davis is getting first crack to play alongside Darion Monroe.
"These two days, he's been very impressive," CJ said. "One thing he can do, he can run, he's covering guys up, he's doing a good job for us."
Tulane will return to the practice field on Saturday morning to finish the first week of spring drills. The Wave will work out four times in each of the next three weeks (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday), with the spring game taking place at Yulman Stadium on March 14.