Tulane practiced in shorts and shoulder pads today, and CJ was in a very ornery mood from the start. Maybe it's my cynicism after covering college football coaches for 25 years, but it seems like there's a coaches' handbook out there somewhere that tells coaches to be tough on their team after giving everyone a day off, as CJ did Sunday.
After hearing an inspiring speech from former FSU All-America/Rhodes Scholar Myron Rolle on Sunday and seeing the movie Straight Outta Compton in only their second day off since the start of preseason camp, the Green Wave defense drew CJ's ire for a lack of hustle. After Lazedrick Thompson ran through a big hole in 11-on-11 work )there was no tackling allowed), CJ benched the entire first-team defense and had the second-team D play the next 10 snaps or so in their place.
"They weren't running to the ball," CJ said after practice. "The one thing about defense, nine guys can mess up and one guy can make the tackle, but if you're not going to hustle and you're going to jog around, I'll play the 2s. We may get killed, but we're not going against my philosophy of running to the ball and doing the right things. We will do the right thing in this program."
Repeatedly during practice he screamed at players to hustle more, and when freshman wideout Rickey Preston dropped an easy pass, he was sent to the sidleline to catch throws from walk-on QB Dylan Richman as punishment.
"It was sloppy," CJ said. "We gave them the day off and took them to a nice movie, and then we come back and we're not running to the ball. I was at Tulsa last year, and saw the defense didn't run to the ball. I was at Duke last year and I saw what the offense did, turning the ball over. We're not going to do that, and if we do that, we won't win any games."
Local WGNO reporter Ed Daniels then asked CJ what number he was on the ticked off scale from 1 to 20, and CJ said "25."
"We regressed today," he said. "We should never do that."
CJ was then asked how concerned he was about a practice like that less than two weeks before his opener.
"It's a concern. We have to be fired up and ready to go every day. We're not the New England Patriots where we can come out here and kick a field goal at the end and win. That's not us. We have to come out here and go to work. I don't think we came to work today."
He was then asked how he would correct it.
"We'll be out here probably tomorrow morning and it will be tougher. It will get right tomorrow morning, guaranteed."
CJ added he would start lightening the load when regular game-week preparation for Duke arrived, playing a mock game on Thursday and then beginning the normal season routine on Friday.
CJ was a one-topic person today. When Daniels asked him about the kicking situation, he said Zach Block might have the job if he did something in the next couple of weeks and that he was competing with Trevor Simms for the long field goal role at worst. One problem: Block did not kick at all in the field goal drill during practice and is not in the running for the job at this point. It remains a competition between Andrew DiRocco and Steven Logan for the regular field goals, with Simms the option for long kicks.
Daniels' pet topic (we all have them) is Tulane's poor pass protection last year, so he asked a series of questions about how it would improve. CJ's response:
"Some of it was the receivers, some of it was Tanner (Lee) and some of it was the offensive linemen. The one thing we're going to do this year is protect Tanner, without a doubt. He's not going to get hit like he did last year. The protection really has gotten better."
CJ definitely has been tougher on his players this preseason than in the past. Asked by Daniels if he was hard enough on the team last year, he responded:
"I couldn't be (as tough last year). They were too young. When you have a bunch of freshmen playing, some of those kids had never gotten on an airplane before. I couldn't put much in. My friends were on me about you didn't do much on offense, you are a better offensive coach, well I couldn't do much because of what I was playing with. I had more freshmen than anything else, so now it's time to grow up a little bit.
"Last year, if I yelled at them, those guys would call their mom, and I'd have a two-hour conversation with mothers and fathers. Now they've grown up, they've been around me enough and they know I care about them and I want to win."
OK, on to practice. One thing that also probably had CJ irate was the field goal drill, which was not good. Actually, DiRocco kicked pretty well, making a 37-yarder from the right hash, a 39-yarder from the right hash, a 39-yarder from the left hash and a 40-yarder from the left hash while missing wide left on a 38-yarder from the right hash. His first kick, from 33 yards, was close and I could not tell whether it went through.
Logan struggled after making his initial 33-yarder from the left hash. He was wide right on a 36-yarder from the left hash, wide right on a 39-yarder from the right hash and duck hooked a 42-yarder from the right hash. When a kicker misses as badly as he did trying to kick too hard, it takes away a lot of belief.
Simms missed wide left from 42 yards, made a 42-yarder from the left hash and drilled a 47-yarder before coming up well short on a 51-yarder, something you rarely see from him unless he duck hooks it. Almost all of his kicks have the distance, but accuracy is the overriding problem.
"We just have to find the right guy," CJ said. "Hopefully it's just one. I wish Cairo (Santos) would come back, but he's doing too well. For the vast majority of camp, we (the entire team) have been moving in the right direction. We've just got to make some kicks. That's part of football."
Tulane may have had its first serious injury of the preseason when backup right tackle Kenneth Santa Marina went down and writhed on the ground for a few minutes, screaming in pain with a hurt left knee. I was in the upper deck, so I did not get a good view of exactly what they working on. CJ will have an update tomorrow, but I whiffed after practice because Daniels asked about 15 questions in a row, my mind drifted and I forgot to ask about Santa Marina. I also did not see him leave the field because I was watching the other end of the practice field by then, so I can't tell you how he looked. Todd Jacquet, who has supplanted him as the starter, walked up to him while has on the ground and patted him on the stomach. With Santa Marina out, John Leglue moved from left tackle to right tackle on the second unit and Devon Johnson entered at left tackle.
A little later, Sean Wilson went down, but he got up and was able to walk slowly. He had some injury issues in the spring, but I don't think this one will be significant.
Some quick depth chart notes: Donnie Lewis Jr. ran with the first unit at strong safety for almost the entire time. My new favorite Sam Davis worked with the second team at nickelback in 11 on 11 work midway through practice but practiced with the scout team defense at the end. The other notable on the scout team was William Townsend, and linebackers coach Doug Lichtenberger confirmed Townsend's primary role this year would be on special teams. As a converted DB, he still has a lot to learn about linebacker play. True freshman DT John Washington was on the scout team, too, with Corey Redwine and Calvin Thomas the second-team tackles.
Parry Nickerson returned to practice on a limited basis, getting reps at CB in individual drills before they put their jerseys or helmets on and also taking reps fielding onside kicks in a special drill. He did not get any time with the defense during 11-on-11 work, staying on the sideline, but the other starting CB, Richard Allen. was full go today. Taris Shenall continued to work with the first team in place of Nickerson, with Stephon Lofton and Dedrick Shy on the second team.
After hearing an inspiring speech from former FSU All-America/Rhodes Scholar Myron Rolle on Sunday and seeing the movie Straight Outta Compton in only their second day off since the start of preseason camp, the Green Wave defense drew CJ's ire for a lack of hustle. After Lazedrick Thompson ran through a big hole in 11-on-11 work )there was no tackling allowed), CJ benched the entire first-team defense and had the second-team D play the next 10 snaps or so in their place.
"They weren't running to the ball," CJ said after practice. "The one thing about defense, nine guys can mess up and one guy can make the tackle, but if you're not going to hustle and you're going to jog around, I'll play the 2s. We may get killed, but we're not going against my philosophy of running to the ball and doing the right things. We will do the right thing in this program."
Repeatedly during practice he screamed at players to hustle more, and when freshman wideout Rickey Preston dropped an easy pass, he was sent to the sidleline to catch throws from walk-on QB Dylan Richman as punishment.
"It was sloppy," CJ said. "We gave them the day off and took them to a nice movie, and then we come back and we're not running to the ball. I was at Tulsa last year, and saw the defense didn't run to the ball. I was at Duke last year and I saw what the offense did, turning the ball over. We're not going to do that, and if we do that, we won't win any games."
Local WGNO reporter Ed Daniels then asked CJ what number he was on the ticked off scale from 1 to 20, and CJ said "25."
"We regressed today," he said. "We should never do that."
CJ was then asked how concerned he was about a practice like that less than two weeks before his opener.
"It's a concern. We have to be fired up and ready to go every day. We're not the New England Patriots where we can come out here and kick a field goal at the end and win. That's not us. We have to come out here and go to work. I don't think we came to work today."
He was then asked how he would correct it.
"We'll be out here probably tomorrow morning and it will be tougher. It will get right tomorrow morning, guaranteed."
CJ added he would start lightening the load when regular game-week preparation for Duke arrived, playing a mock game on Thursday and then beginning the normal season routine on Friday.
CJ was a one-topic person today. When Daniels asked him about the kicking situation, he said Zach Block might have the job if he did something in the next couple of weeks and that he was competing with Trevor Simms for the long field goal role at worst. One problem: Block did not kick at all in the field goal drill during practice and is not in the running for the job at this point. It remains a competition between Andrew DiRocco and Steven Logan for the regular field goals, with Simms the option for long kicks.
Daniels' pet topic (we all have them) is Tulane's poor pass protection last year, so he asked a series of questions about how it would improve. CJ's response:
"Some of it was the receivers, some of it was Tanner (Lee) and some of it was the offensive linemen. The one thing we're going to do this year is protect Tanner, without a doubt. He's not going to get hit like he did last year. The protection really has gotten better."
CJ definitely has been tougher on his players this preseason than in the past. Asked by Daniels if he was hard enough on the team last year, he responded:
"I couldn't be (as tough last year). They were too young. When you have a bunch of freshmen playing, some of those kids had never gotten on an airplane before. I couldn't put much in. My friends were on me about you didn't do much on offense, you are a better offensive coach, well I couldn't do much because of what I was playing with. I had more freshmen than anything else, so now it's time to grow up a little bit.
"Last year, if I yelled at them, those guys would call their mom, and I'd have a two-hour conversation with mothers and fathers. Now they've grown up, they've been around me enough and they know I care about them and I want to win."
OK, on to practice. One thing that also probably had CJ irate was the field goal drill, which was not good. Actually, DiRocco kicked pretty well, making a 37-yarder from the right hash, a 39-yarder from the right hash, a 39-yarder from the left hash and a 40-yarder from the left hash while missing wide left on a 38-yarder from the right hash. His first kick, from 33 yards, was close and I could not tell whether it went through.
Logan struggled after making his initial 33-yarder from the left hash. He was wide right on a 36-yarder from the left hash, wide right on a 39-yarder from the right hash and duck hooked a 42-yarder from the right hash. When a kicker misses as badly as he did trying to kick too hard, it takes away a lot of belief.
Simms missed wide left from 42 yards, made a 42-yarder from the left hash and drilled a 47-yarder before coming up well short on a 51-yarder, something you rarely see from him unless he duck hooks it. Almost all of his kicks have the distance, but accuracy is the overriding problem.
"We just have to find the right guy," CJ said. "Hopefully it's just one. I wish Cairo (Santos) would come back, but he's doing too well. For the vast majority of camp, we (the entire team) have been moving in the right direction. We've just got to make some kicks. That's part of football."
Tulane may have had its first serious injury of the preseason when backup right tackle Kenneth Santa Marina went down and writhed on the ground for a few minutes, screaming in pain with a hurt left knee. I was in the upper deck, so I did not get a good view of exactly what they working on. CJ will have an update tomorrow, but I whiffed after practice because Daniels asked about 15 questions in a row, my mind drifted and I forgot to ask about Santa Marina. I also did not see him leave the field because I was watching the other end of the practice field by then, so I can't tell you how he looked. Todd Jacquet, who has supplanted him as the starter, walked up to him while has on the ground and patted him on the stomach. With Santa Marina out, John Leglue moved from left tackle to right tackle on the second unit and Devon Johnson entered at left tackle.
A little later, Sean Wilson went down, but he got up and was able to walk slowly. He had some injury issues in the spring, but I don't think this one will be significant.
Some quick depth chart notes: Donnie Lewis Jr. ran with the first unit at strong safety for almost the entire time. My new favorite Sam Davis worked with the second team at nickelback in 11 on 11 work midway through practice but practiced with the scout team defense at the end. The other notable on the scout team was William Townsend, and linebackers coach Doug Lichtenberger confirmed Townsend's primary role this year would be on special teams. As a converted DB, he still has a lot to learn about linebacker play. True freshman DT John Washington was on the scout team, too, with Corey Redwine and Calvin Thomas the second-team tackles.
Parry Nickerson returned to practice on a limited basis, getting reps at CB in individual drills before they put their jerseys or helmets on and also taking reps fielding onside kicks in a special drill. He did not get any time with the defense during 11-on-11 work, staying on the sideline, but the other starting CB, Richard Allen. was full go today. Taris Shenall continued to work with the first team in place of Nickerson, with Stephon Lofton and Dedrick Shy on the second team.