Tulane had what will be its only practice in the sun this week on Monday morning, workout out for two hours at Yulman Stadium. The Green Wave will go to the Saints indoor facility on Tuesday and Thursday, the Superdome on Friday and Saturday and will hold a Wednesday night workout at Yulman Stadium from 7 to 9.
Coaches had to drive the player through parts of the practice today. In particular, during a defensive drill where players had to approach a teammate from behind and punch the ball out, DB coach Chris Hampton got on them for dragging, saying they had to be tougher to win championships.
"We shorten it a little bit when we go here and go a little longer when we're at the dome or in the Saints facility," Willie Fritz said. "It was all right. We pushed through some stuff. We have to get acclimated to the heat and the humidity. It's probably not going to be this humid at night, but it's going to be humid, so we just need to get ready for it. We're going to sprinkle in some indoor and outdoor practices.
Fritz wants the right balance between outdoor practices mimicking the heat they will face in the opener against FIU at night on Aug. 29 and the productivity they get from indoor practices.
"We can get better work in (indoors)." he said. "We can go longer and get a lot more done."
In that fumbles drill, everyone should try to imitate the technique freshman safety Ton'Quez Ball had, when he punched the ball into the air and caught it. No one else did that, and the coaches emphasized the importance of wrapping up with good tackling form before the attempted punch. You see guys try to punch the ball out and whiff on tackles all the times in games, so that was an important lesson.
Merek Glover got some field goal work in with holder Ryan Wright and snapper Geron Eatherly today while their teammates were practicing at the other end of the field. Glover hit a 45-yarder easily from the right hash, sending the ball high into the net behind the goal post, and he connected from 46 yards on the same side. When they moved to the left hash, he struggled, sending a 48-yarder to the right of the upright and then over-correcting with a straight hook to the left from the same distance. After a break, they went back out there and he hit a 43-yarder.
Jalen McCleskey returned to practice today, fielding kickoffs after sitting out last week to rest a tight hamstring, but the Wave may be down a backup receiver for a while. In 11-on-11 work, Keon Howard underthrew a deep ball down the center of the field and freshman Tyrek Presley came down awkwardly after a failed attempt to catch it in traffic. He had to be helped off the field by two trainers with what appeared to be a right ankle injury and could not put any weight on it for the rest of practice.
There were a few other injuries coming off the weekend. Cornerback Willie Langham was waring a boot on his left leg, leaving the Wave with three scholarship returning cornerbacks in Thakarius Keyes, Jaylon Monroe and Chris Joyce. The other two scholarship corners are freshmen Kiland Harrison and Levi Williams. Tulane will be fine at this position if it does not have injuries, but it cannot afford to lose guys there.
Tight end Keitha Jones was on crutches, so he appears to be out for a while.
When Justin McMillan decides to run, he is very assertive. That's another difference between him and Jonathan Banks. Fritz had to keep urging Banks to take off, saying over and over that one of Tulane's best plays was when Banks stuck his foot in the ground and ran downfield. He does not have to remind McMillan about the same thing. He did it once today and was 10 yards downfield before anyone reacted. He is not as imposing a runner in the open field as Banks was, but that quick decision-making is huge.
On the offensive line, the first unit had the four regulars plus Ben Knutson at right guard. The second unit had Nik Hogan at left tackle, Michael Remondet at left guard, Sincere Haynesworth at center, Keyshawn McLeod at right guard and Timothy Shafter at right tackle. The third unit had Trace Oldner at LT, Jackson Fort at LG, Stephen Lewerenz at center, Ben Bratcher at RG and Colby Orgeron at right tackle.
Tyler Johnson is getting strong reviews from coaches and teammates at left tackle despite not having the size of an FBS linemen (6-3, 280). I wrote here that he was a concern the other day, but that view is not shared widely. In fact, McMillan labeled him the lineman who was having the best camp the other day. The lineup is set at every position but right guard.
Sterling Stockwell looked good on kickoffs today, and when I prefaced a question to Fritz about him by saying he had big shoes to fill replacing Zach Block, I don't think he agreed with my assessment. Block had touchbacks on 35 of 60 kickoffs last year but he did not always put the ball where he was supposed to.
"He (Stockwell) does a really nice job with his location and hang time," Fritz said. "We want them (opponents) to return them, but we sure don't want line drives to the goal line. Usually when you hit a line drive at them they hit a line drive back at you. Our coverage is predicated on him kicking to a certain spot. When you don't do that, you've got problems. In our last game against (UL) Lafayette, we were kicking it left and it went right and they got a return out to the 35 on it and, heck, they didn't hardly block anybody. You've got to make sure you have that proper placement."
Tulane's depth of returning talent will prevent a lot of freshmen from playing significant roles this year, but joker Armoni Dixon applied heavy pressure on one play in 11-on-11 drills. He looks pretty good.
Coaches had to drive the player through parts of the practice today. In particular, during a defensive drill where players had to approach a teammate from behind and punch the ball out, DB coach Chris Hampton got on them for dragging, saying they had to be tougher to win championships.
"We shorten it a little bit when we go here and go a little longer when we're at the dome or in the Saints facility," Willie Fritz said. "It was all right. We pushed through some stuff. We have to get acclimated to the heat and the humidity. It's probably not going to be this humid at night, but it's going to be humid, so we just need to get ready for it. We're going to sprinkle in some indoor and outdoor practices.
Fritz wants the right balance between outdoor practices mimicking the heat they will face in the opener against FIU at night on Aug. 29 and the productivity they get from indoor practices.
"We can get better work in (indoors)." he said. "We can go longer and get a lot more done."
In that fumbles drill, everyone should try to imitate the technique freshman safety Ton'Quez Ball had, when he punched the ball into the air and caught it. No one else did that, and the coaches emphasized the importance of wrapping up with good tackling form before the attempted punch. You see guys try to punch the ball out and whiff on tackles all the times in games, so that was an important lesson.
Merek Glover got some field goal work in with holder Ryan Wright and snapper Geron Eatherly today while their teammates were practicing at the other end of the field. Glover hit a 45-yarder easily from the right hash, sending the ball high into the net behind the goal post, and he connected from 46 yards on the same side. When they moved to the left hash, he struggled, sending a 48-yarder to the right of the upright and then over-correcting with a straight hook to the left from the same distance. After a break, they went back out there and he hit a 43-yarder.
Jalen McCleskey returned to practice today, fielding kickoffs after sitting out last week to rest a tight hamstring, but the Wave may be down a backup receiver for a while. In 11-on-11 work, Keon Howard underthrew a deep ball down the center of the field and freshman Tyrek Presley came down awkwardly after a failed attempt to catch it in traffic. He had to be helped off the field by two trainers with what appeared to be a right ankle injury and could not put any weight on it for the rest of practice.
There were a few other injuries coming off the weekend. Cornerback Willie Langham was waring a boot on his left leg, leaving the Wave with three scholarship returning cornerbacks in Thakarius Keyes, Jaylon Monroe and Chris Joyce. The other two scholarship corners are freshmen Kiland Harrison and Levi Williams. Tulane will be fine at this position if it does not have injuries, but it cannot afford to lose guys there.
Tight end Keitha Jones was on crutches, so he appears to be out for a while.
When Justin McMillan decides to run, he is very assertive. That's another difference between him and Jonathan Banks. Fritz had to keep urging Banks to take off, saying over and over that one of Tulane's best plays was when Banks stuck his foot in the ground and ran downfield. He does not have to remind McMillan about the same thing. He did it once today and was 10 yards downfield before anyone reacted. He is not as imposing a runner in the open field as Banks was, but that quick decision-making is huge.
On the offensive line, the first unit had the four regulars plus Ben Knutson at right guard. The second unit had Nik Hogan at left tackle, Michael Remondet at left guard, Sincere Haynesworth at center, Keyshawn McLeod at right guard and Timothy Shafter at right tackle. The third unit had Trace Oldner at LT, Jackson Fort at LG, Stephen Lewerenz at center, Ben Bratcher at RG and Colby Orgeron at right tackle.
Tyler Johnson is getting strong reviews from coaches and teammates at left tackle despite not having the size of an FBS linemen (6-3, 280). I wrote here that he was a concern the other day, but that view is not shared widely. In fact, McMillan labeled him the lineman who was having the best camp the other day. The lineup is set at every position but right guard.
Sterling Stockwell looked good on kickoffs today, and when I prefaced a question to Fritz about him by saying he had big shoes to fill replacing Zach Block, I don't think he agreed with my assessment. Block had touchbacks on 35 of 60 kickoffs last year but he did not always put the ball where he was supposed to.
"He (Stockwell) does a really nice job with his location and hang time," Fritz said. "We want them (opponents) to return them, but we sure don't want line drives to the goal line. Usually when you hit a line drive at them they hit a line drive back at you. Our coverage is predicated on him kicking to a certain spot. When you don't do that, you've got problems. In our last game against (UL) Lafayette, we were kicking it left and it went right and they got a return out to the 35 on it and, heck, they didn't hardly block anybody. You've got to make sure you have that proper placement."
Tulane's depth of returning talent will prevent a lot of freshmen from playing significant roles this year, but joker Armoni Dixon applied heavy pressure on one play in 11-on-11 drills. He looks pretty good.