Only 10 days away from the opener against FIU, Tulane conducted the first of what will will be four practices at the Superdome. The staff and players love working out there, although one slight disadvantage is the NFL hashmarks, which are closer than the college ones. Coaching one drill, Willie Fritz had to remind them of the difference and that they were much closer to the center of the field than they would be on a college field.
They split into scout teams in the latter part of practice for the first time this year. The only surprise to me was linebacker Quentin Brown because he had just gotten a few reps with the first-team defense. Maybe it was just a numbers situation that required his presence on the scout team. The other scholarship players who took reps on the defensive scout team were Eric Hicks, Darius Hodges, Sean Harper, Tyler Judson, Ton'Quez Ball and Torri Singletary.
The scholarship players on the offensive scout team were Trace Oldner, Michael Remondet, Jackson Fort, Colby Orgeron and defensive back Kiland Harrison, who was in a green (defense) jersey but was playing wideout in that portion. The rest were walk-ons, including wideout Ryan Thompson, who I thought might be in the running for game action.
The defense, which broke up a ton of passes last year but did not have many interceptions (12), had not picked off many passes in camp this year until today, when there were a few. Chase Kuerschen leaped to pick off Keon Howard after reading an out pattern and later dropped another leaping interception opportunity on a throw by Justin McMillan. Christian Daniels had one picked off and retuned to the end zone in seven-on-seven drills, but I did not catch the number of the interceptor.
Dane Ledford has looked pretty good since coming back from injury last week. He caught a pass downfield near the sideline for a big gain. Freshman wideout Tyrek Presley, who has been out for a while with an injury, returned and drew praise for a nice route during individual drills. With the exception of Sorrell Brown, Tulane is at full strength at receiver, creating quite the logjam of candidates vying for playing time behind Jalen McCleskey, Darnell Mooney and Jaetavian Toles. The two freshmen, Presley and Jha'Quan Jackson, actually lined up with the second unit when that group went out for the first time in 11-on-11 drills, with Jacob Robertson the third receiver. The coaches are flip-flopping the order of all of these guys to see what they can do. Robertson got open on a deep sideline route, and I'd say he has been the most consistently productive of the backups, although Kevin LeDee has made plays, too.
On defense, Nick Anderson had a good day. He totally read a screen pass and would have crushed Stephon Huderson right after he caught the ball if it had been a contact drill. He touched him instead and celebrated, getting kudos from teammates and coaches for his diagnosis. Anderson and Malik Lawal are a talented second group and are pushing starters Lawrence Graham and Marvin Moody. Tulane's depth at LB is very good now.
WILLIE FRITZ
You are 10 days away from the season opener, so the focus has changed in practice.
"Yeah, we're starting to do some units versus scouts and are splitting up. We'll do that the rest of the way on in."
You brought in two grad transfers in Malik Lawal and Mike Hinton who may not start but are pushing for a lot of playing time.
"They are both going to play a bunch for us. Number one, they are great young men. I'm excited about having them. You try to do all the homework you can when you bring these guys in, but they really have fit in well. Malik is going to help us as both a linebacker and also rushing the passer. Mike's another big dude that can play either tackle position for us. Malik's a great student and Mike's a great student, so they've picked up things very quickly."
You have a lot of experience on defense but not a lot of seniors, and both of those guys are grad students. How much has that helped?
"We don't have a ton of them. Those guys are going to be really good additions. We're fortunate to have them come over here and decide to work on their graduate degrees here at Tulane."
What is Hinton's strength?
"He's a big, thick guy. He told a story the other night when he was talking to the team. I had the seniors all visit with the guys, and he didn't start playing football until right before his junior year in high school. He was a basketball player. He's just gotten better and better and better and he has good movement. He's thick. He's strong, good at the point of attack and is quick enough to get off blocks and still play tackle to tackle."
Lawal really looks like a good player.
"He's about 230 pounds. Shoot, I think he had 3 1/2 sacks for (Arizona State) last year. Both of those guys are going to play 20 to 40 snaps in the first game and they are going to fight for a starting job, too. We'll see how quickly it happens."
They split into scout teams in the latter part of practice for the first time this year. The only surprise to me was linebacker Quentin Brown because he had just gotten a few reps with the first-team defense. Maybe it was just a numbers situation that required his presence on the scout team. The other scholarship players who took reps on the defensive scout team were Eric Hicks, Darius Hodges, Sean Harper, Tyler Judson, Ton'Quez Ball and Torri Singletary.
The scholarship players on the offensive scout team were Trace Oldner, Michael Remondet, Jackson Fort, Colby Orgeron and defensive back Kiland Harrison, who was in a green (defense) jersey but was playing wideout in that portion. The rest were walk-ons, including wideout Ryan Thompson, who I thought might be in the running for game action.
The defense, which broke up a ton of passes last year but did not have many interceptions (12), had not picked off many passes in camp this year until today, when there were a few. Chase Kuerschen leaped to pick off Keon Howard after reading an out pattern and later dropped another leaping interception opportunity on a throw by Justin McMillan. Christian Daniels had one picked off and retuned to the end zone in seven-on-seven drills, but I did not catch the number of the interceptor.
Dane Ledford has looked pretty good since coming back from injury last week. He caught a pass downfield near the sideline for a big gain. Freshman wideout Tyrek Presley, who has been out for a while with an injury, returned and drew praise for a nice route during individual drills. With the exception of Sorrell Brown, Tulane is at full strength at receiver, creating quite the logjam of candidates vying for playing time behind Jalen McCleskey, Darnell Mooney and Jaetavian Toles. The two freshmen, Presley and Jha'Quan Jackson, actually lined up with the second unit when that group went out for the first time in 11-on-11 drills, with Jacob Robertson the third receiver. The coaches are flip-flopping the order of all of these guys to see what they can do. Robertson got open on a deep sideline route, and I'd say he has been the most consistently productive of the backups, although Kevin LeDee has made plays, too.
On defense, Nick Anderson had a good day. He totally read a screen pass and would have crushed Stephon Huderson right after he caught the ball if it had been a contact drill. He touched him instead and celebrated, getting kudos from teammates and coaches for his diagnosis. Anderson and Malik Lawal are a talented second group and are pushing starters Lawrence Graham and Marvin Moody. Tulane's depth at LB is very good now.
WILLIE FRITZ
You are 10 days away from the season opener, so the focus has changed in practice.
"Yeah, we're starting to do some units versus scouts and are splitting up. We'll do that the rest of the way on in."
You brought in two grad transfers in Malik Lawal and Mike Hinton who may not start but are pushing for a lot of playing time.
"They are both going to play a bunch for us. Number one, they are great young men. I'm excited about having them. You try to do all the homework you can when you bring these guys in, but they really have fit in well. Malik is going to help us as both a linebacker and also rushing the passer. Mike's another big dude that can play either tackle position for us. Malik's a great student and Mike's a great student, so they've picked up things very quickly."
You have a lot of experience on defense but not a lot of seniors, and both of those guys are grad students. How much has that helped?
"We don't have a ton of them. Those guys are going to be really good additions. We're fortunate to have them come over here and decide to work on their graduate degrees here at Tulane."
What is Hinton's strength?
"He's a big, thick guy. He told a story the other night when he was talking to the team. I had the seniors all visit with the guys, and he didn't start playing football until right before his junior year in high school. He was a basketball player. He's just gotten better and better and better and he has good movement. He's thick. He's strong, good at the point of attack and is quick enough to get off blocks and still play tackle to tackle."
Lawal really looks like a good player.
"He's about 230 pounds. Shoot, I think he had 3 1/2 sacks for (Arizona State) last year. Both of those guys are going to play 20 to 40 snaps in the first game and they are going to fight for a starting job, too. We'll see how quickly it happens."