They are in shorts today for practice No. 15 of the preseason after going in full pads Monday for their morning workout at the Saints facility and working out again at the Saints facility in the afternoon.
They are doing 1 on 1 drills with the receivers and DBs. Larry Dace just burned Jarrod Franklin for a long catch. Donnie Lewis Jr. stayed right with Rickey Preston and knocked down a long pass in the end zone. I will be surprised if Lewis does not earn the starting job at strong safety. He showed potential as a cornerback in preseason drills last year when he got reps with the first unit while Doss and a couple of other guys were injured, Tristan Cooper may be a year older, but neither of them has any game experience, and Lewis appears to have better ball sense.
They are practicing the option at the moment, which makes sense since they have to play three triple option teams this year in Georgia Tech, Navy and Army. Facing the option is bears no resemblance to anything else a team will face during the season, and Tulane plays every option team in the country this year except for New Mexico. Georgia Tech and Navy were 1-2 in rushing yards last season, and Army finished fifth. Slowing down the option, which Tulane did pretty well against Georgia last year despite giving up a lot of rushing yards by the end, will be a key to the season. Bob Toledo's teams were awful at it.
It looks like Teddy Veal will be Tulane's No. 1 punt returner again. He was not good last year, muffing at least two in critical situations, but he's a year older and has the work ethic and toughness to learn from his past mistakes. I'm not thrilled with having a key starter in the role unless he's a difference maker on punt returns, though, and I'm not sure Veal is. Darion Monroe is the No. 2 punt returner, and Donnie Lewis Jr. is third, Terren Encalade fourth and Sherman Badie fifth if you go by the order they started the drill.
The punt block unit just blocked a PIcerelli punt coming up the middle. I did not see who did it, but it might have been Rene Fleury. Larry Dace just blocked a punt right off the foot of Picerelli after a high snap. Dace is a player. I don't know if he can get separation consistently as a receiver, but he has excellent football instincts.
Robert Kennedy, who got injured early in Saturday's scrimmage and was down for a while before walking off the field, is not practicing today. I'll get an update after practice. It looks like he and cornerback Parry Nickerson are the only potential contributor not practicing. Anthony Taylor has been out for a while and Richard Carthon has not practiced at all this preseason, but neither was pushing for playing time.
EDIT: Kennedy returned for 1 on 1 pass rushing drills and was out there for the 2-minute drill for a few plays, something I had in my original report but which disappeared during my computer glitch. I'm sure there were a few other tidbits that disappeared, too.
I just charted the entire field goal drill, and my feature guy from The Advocate this morning performed best again. Steven Logan led off the drill for the first time and hit a 33-yarder from the right hash. Andrew DiRocco then missed from the same distance from the left hash, sending it wide right.
Zach Block hit a 36 harder, and Trevor Simms had his 36-yarder blocked by Richard Allen.
DiRocco then missed a 39-yarder wide left from the left hash and Logan connected from 39 yards from the right hash.
Simms, who is really struggling, missed wide right from 42 yards from the right hash before DiRocco was wide right from the same distance.
Logan, who has consistent range up to 40 yards according to special teams coach Doug Lichtenberger, then completely botched a 45-yarder, sending a duck hook to the left from the right hash. DiRocco nailed his 45-yarder from the same spot.
From 48 yards, Block came up short and Simms was wide right.
From 52 yards, DiRocco was short and Logan barely short with a much better effort than his 45-yarder.
They went back to 49 yards, and Simms was wide right before Block hit a beauty threw the uprights with plenty of room to spare.
Logan capped off his effort by hitting a 46-yarder before DiRocco was wide right from 49 yards.
By my count, Logan was 3 for 5, Block was 2 for 3, DiRocco was 1 for 6 and and Simms was 0 for 4. All of Logan's kicks were straight,. He clearly will struggle on long range kicks, but Tulane needs a guy who can be trusted from 40 yards and in. He appears to have the best shot to do it.
I had Internet and computer issues at practice and at home, but here's the end of the report now that I have working internet at a coffee shop.
Eric Bowie and Rae Juan Marbly are competing for the backup MLB spot. CJ said yesterday no one had stepped up at MLB other than starter Eric Thomas.
On the first play of 11-on-11 work, tight end Trey Scott beat Tristan Cooper for a good gain. Right after the play, Cooper initiated a conversation with Jarrod Franklin about something.
They quickly moved on to a long 2-minute drill. The starting defense was the same as always except for Taris Shenall subbing for Nickerson at one cornerback spot. Ade Aruna was on the unit too, ahead of Daren Williams., but Aruna appeared to get sick midway through the drill and had to lie on the sideline for several minutes with a trainer working on him.
John Leglue worked with the first-team offensive line at right tackle during the drill while Todd Jacquet and Kenneth Santa Marina watched from the sideline. Jacquet had gotten all the reps with the first unit until that point. Running back Dontrell Hilliard had a rare dropped pass, and Royce LaFrance batted down a Lee throw. Sherman Badie made a nice grab of a throw on a swing pass that was in front of him, making sure he held on while not breaking stride. When the offense got near the goal line, Shenall defended a fade pass to Breaux beautifully, getting both hands on the ball but not bringing it in for the interception. On the next play, tight end Trey Scott got his hands on a low throw in traffic in the back of the end zone, could not hold on and then came up asking for interference, at which point tight ends coach David Johnson screamed at him to catch the ball and stop complaining about something that never happened.
They apparently are trying to build the confidence of the offense because the scoreboard read Tulane 28, Duke 21 with 11:04 left in the third quarter.
CJ was not happy at the end of practice, saying the defense did not hustle enough. He then ripped into the team, saying that playing hard did not guarantee winning but not playing hard guaranteed losing. He also was upset about the locker room being too messy, which appears to be his annual complaint, so he made every player do crab walks at the end of practice, which went long a little past 11 a.m. It was hot by that point, and offensive linemen Keeyon Smart was the last to reach the goal line (finish line) in the punishment.
CJ said Rob Kelley threw up during practice, and he appeared irritated at how his players handled the heat. He was fairly mild when he talked to me but saved his ire for the team a minute later. He quoted Dock Rivers as he excoriated everyone out there and told them they needed to be tougher and show more pride in the way they maintained the locker room.
I'll have his official quotes (not those, which were not intended to be on the record) in a few minutes.
They are doing 1 on 1 drills with the receivers and DBs. Larry Dace just burned Jarrod Franklin for a long catch. Donnie Lewis Jr. stayed right with Rickey Preston and knocked down a long pass in the end zone. I will be surprised if Lewis does not earn the starting job at strong safety. He showed potential as a cornerback in preseason drills last year when he got reps with the first unit while Doss and a couple of other guys were injured, Tristan Cooper may be a year older, but neither of them has any game experience, and Lewis appears to have better ball sense.
They are practicing the option at the moment, which makes sense since they have to play three triple option teams this year in Georgia Tech, Navy and Army. Facing the option is bears no resemblance to anything else a team will face during the season, and Tulane plays every option team in the country this year except for New Mexico. Georgia Tech and Navy were 1-2 in rushing yards last season, and Army finished fifth. Slowing down the option, which Tulane did pretty well against Georgia last year despite giving up a lot of rushing yards by the end, will be a key to the season. Bob Toledo's teams were awful at it.
It looks like Teddy Veal will be Tulane's No. 1 punt returner again. He was not good last year, muffing at least two in critical situations, but he's a year older and has the work ethic and toughness to learn from his past mistakes. I'm not thrilled with having a key starter in the role unless he's a difference maker on punt returns, though, and I'm not sure Veal is. Darion Monroe is the No. 2 punt returner, and Donnie Lewis Jr. is third, Terren Encalade fourth and Sherman Badie fifth if you go by the order they started the drill.
The punt block unit just blocked a PIcerelli punt coming up the middle. I did not see who did it, but it might have been Rene Fleury. Larry Dace just blocked a punt right off the foot of Picerelli after a high snap. Dace is a player. I don't know if he can get separation consistently as a receiver, but he has excellent football instincts.
Robert Kennedy, who got injured early in Saturday's scrimmage and was down for a while before walking off the field, is not practicing today. I'll get an update after practice. It looks like he and cornerback Parry Nickerson are the only potential contributor not practicing. Anthony Taylor has been out for a while and Richard Carthon has not practiced at all this preseason, but neither was pushing for playing time.
EDIT: Kennedy returned for 1 on 1 pass rushing drills and was out there for the 2-minute drill for a few plays, something I had in my original report but which disappeared during my computer glitch. I'm sure there were a few other tidbits that disappeared, too.
I just charted the entire field goal drill, and my feature guy from The Advocate this morning performed best again. Steven Logan led off the drill for the first time and hit a 33-yarder from the right hash. Andrew DiRocco then missed from the same distance from the left hash, sending it wide right.
Zach Block hit a 36 harder, and Trevor Simms had his 36-yarder blocked by Richard Allen.
DiRocco then missed a 39-yarder wide left from the left hash and Logan connected from 39 yards from the right hash.
Simms, who is really struggling, missed wide right from 42 yards from the right hash before DiRocco was wide right from the same distance.
Logan, who has consistent range up to 40 yards according to special teams coach Doug Lichtenberger, then completely botched a 45-yarder, sending a duck hook to the left from the right hash. DiRocco nailed his 45-yarder from the same spot.
From 48 yards, Block came up short and Simms was wide right.
From 52 yards, DiRocco was short and Logan barely short with a much better effort than his 45-yarder.
They went back to 49 yards, and Simms was wide right before Block hit a beauty threw the uprights with plenty of room to spare.
Logan capped off his effort by hitting a 46-yarder before DiRocco was wide right from 49 yards.
By my count, Logan was 3 for 5, Block was 2 for 3, DiRocco was 1 for 6 and and Simms was 0 for 4. All of Logan's kicks were straight,. He clearly will struggle on long range kicks, but Tulane needs a guy who can be trusted from 40 yards and in. He appears to have the best shot to do it.
I had Internet and computer issues at practice and at home, but here's the end of the report now that I have working internet at a coffee shop.
Eric Bowie and Rae Juan Marbly are competing for the backup MLB spot. CJ said yesterday no one had stepped up at MLB other than starter Eric Thomas.
On the first play of 11-on-11 work, tight end Trey Scott beat Tristan Cooper for a good gain. Right after the play, Cooper initiated a conversation with Jarrod Franklin about something.
They quickly moved on to a long 2-minute drill. The starting defense was the same as always except for Taris Shenall subbing for Nickerson at one cornerback spot. Ade Aruna was on the unit too, ahead of Daren Williams., but Aruna appeared to get sick midway through the drill and had to lie on the sideline for several minutes with a trainer working on him.
John Leglue worked with the first-team offensive line at right tackle during the drill while Todd Jacquet and Kenneth Santa Marina watched from the sideline. Jacquet had gotten all the reps with the first unit until that point. Running back Dontrell Hilliard had a rare dropped pass, and Royce LaFrance batted down a Lee throw. Sherman Badie made a nice grab of a throw on a swing pass that was in front of him, making sure he held on while not breaking stride. When the offense got near the goal line, Shenall defended a fade pass to Breaux beautifully, getting both hands on the ball but not bringing it in for the interception. On the next play, tight end Trey Scott got his hands on a low throw in traffic in the back of the end zone, could not hold on and then came up asking for interference, at which point tight ends coach David Johnson screamed at him to catch the ball and stop complaining about something that never happened.
They apparently are trying to build the confidence of the offense because the scoreboard read Tulane 28, Duke 21 with 11:04 left in the third quarter.
CJ was not happy at the end of practice, saying the defense did not hustle enough. He then ripped into the team, saying that playing hard did not guarantee winning but not playing hard guaranteed losing. He also was upset about the locker room being too messy, which appears to be his annual complaint, so he made every player do crab walks at the end of practice, which went long a little past 11 a.m. It was hot by that point, and offensive linemen Keeyon Smart was the last to reach the goal line (finish line) in the punishment.
CJ said Rob Kelley threw up during practice, and he appeared irritated at how his players handled the heat. He was fairly mild when he talked to me but saved his ire for the team a minute later. He quoted Dock Rivers as he excoriated everyone out there and told them they needed to be tougher and show more pride in the way they maintained the locker room.
I'll have his official quotes (not those, which were not intended to be on the record) in a few minutes.
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