Tulane had its second scrimmage in as many days on Saturday morning, but with a different venue, moving from the comfortable confines of the Saints indoor facility to the Yulman Stadium, where a constant cloud cover and a brief mist kept conditions much cooler than normal outdoors in New Orleans in August.
This time, the practice was open to reporters and season-ticket holders, and as Willie Fritz promised, it featured live tackling of the quarterbacks for a portion, something I have not seen in a practice since I started covering the team in 2010. I got there a little after 9, and I did not see Jonathan Banks or Johnathan Brantley being made live, but freshmen Khalil McClain and Dane Ledford definitely got that treatment.
On the first possession of the full-tackling portion of the scrimmage (top two QBs excluded), Banks connected with Jacob Robertson for one of the prettiest plays of preseason camp, laying a deep ball down the sideline perfectly as Robertson beat freshman cornerback Jaylon Monroe by a step, ran under it and cruised into the end zone for about a 55-yard score. You could not have drawn up the offensive execution any better, and that is something I never saw in practice last year during a live scrimmage.
The offense did not do a whole lot on the other plays with the first and second group, but Banks was sharp, looking better than he has the rest of the week. As for Robertson, I'm ready to make the call for him as the third starter if Tulane uses the base three-wideout formation that has been Fritz' staple at Sam Houston State and Georgia Southern. It's no lock, but Robertson has made more plays than Jabril Clewis or the other wideouts besides Terren Encalade and Darnell Mooney. Robertson ended spring drills in front of Clewis on the listed depth chart, and I have seen nothing to indicate the change in order I predicted before preseason camp began.
Brantley was not as sharp today as he had been earlier in the week, fumbling a snap and not making any big passes, but he did get to the corner on an option to the left that would have gone for a huge gain even if he were allowed to be tackled, which he wasn't. He beat every defender to the boundary, easily, in what had to be a busted assignment by someone.
The line play was decent for the most part, although Banks was "sacked" quickly on one play (the whistle blew when the pocket collapsed immediately) and rush end Larry Bryant used freshman Joey Claybrook as a turnstile to get to Dane Ledford in about 1 second flat.
The battle between McClain and Ledford for third string is pretty close, but McClain clearly has the edge and has taken reps first of the two in every practice I've seen. On his first play in the live portion, McClain ran and was tackled by Lawrence Graham for a short gain. He made a nice pitch to Stephon Huderson on an option, threw incomplete on a pass that glanced off walk-on Rocky Ferony's hands and hit Kevin LeDee on a short sideline route in his first series.
Next up was Ledford, who had an embarrassing Aaron Brooks-like play where he tried to throw and the ball slipped out the back for a fumble before he brought his arm forward. He then completed a short pass to LeDee after holding on to the ball forever (it likely would have been sack against an opponent) and should have been sacked again when Bryant blew by Claybrook, but he held up and didn't hit him.
McClain went back in and overthrew Chris Johnson on a deep post when Johnson appeared to have a slight lead on Stephon Lofton, got nothing on an option and found Darius Bradwell on a short out. An option pitch to Corey Dauphine yielded a short gain, and McClain took off running for a short gain on the next play.
Back in went Ledford, who immediately hooked up with D.J. Owens on a deep post to the 5-yard line that Fritz praised. My take: he really underthrew him, preventing it from being a touchdown, but Owens made a nice adjustment to catch it just beyond Willie Langham. The possession did not produce a touchdown because the defense blew up an option pick to Bradwell, who made a heck of an effort to avoid a tackle for a 7-yard loss but still went down at the 8. Another Bradwell carry got stuffed, and Fritz blew his whistle to end the practice.
Offensive line improvement is Tulane's most critical issue, and the first-team line today was John Leglue at left tackle, freshman Corey Dublin at left guard, Junior Diaz at center, Dominique Briggs at right guard and Keyshawn McLeod at right tackle. That probably will be the opening-day line, which should please those of you who did not like Leeward Brown's performance last season. Fritz said yesterday he would make some changes to the depth chart after viewing the video of Friday's scrimmage, and Briggs over Brown appears to be one of them. Dublin has worked with the first unit all week, so he seems set.
The second-team line was Claybrook at left tackle, Cameron Jackel at left guard, Leglue at center (Briggs simply did not snap enough to warrant reps there), Brown at right guard and Tyler Johnson at right tackle. John Washington did not practice, if you're wondering, but I forgot to ask about his status after practice.
The first-team defense appears set in stone pending Zach Harris' status. Harris missed his fourth consecutive practice with a bothersome knee but likely will be ready for the opener against Grambling, with Luke Jackson starting in his place at WLB if he's not. Quinlan Carroll is getting almost all the reps with the first team at rush end, clearing up any mystery about one of the open positions, with Bryant the next guy in.
The second-team defense had Bryant, De'Andre Williams, Braynon Edwards and Peter Woullard on the line, Tirise Barge at nickelback, Monty Montgomery and KJ Vault at linebacker, Monroe and Langham at cornerback and P.J. Hall and Chase Kuerschen at safety. That lineup has been pretty stable this week. Barge has looked good, and although Hall would play before him at nickelback, that's a compliment to Hall, who has been double-trained, rather than criticism of Barge. I heard a player tell a sports info staffer to watch out for Barge as a surprise contributor.
NOTES
...There were two scouts from the Titans at practice today, marking that team's second presence at practice in as many weeks.
...Andrew Hicks took a turn on the exercise bike and ran sprints on the sideline while unable to practice due to a minor injury that has kept him out all week.
...In kickoffs, Randy Harvey kicked to the 4 and Dontrell Hilliard returned it, looking like he had a crease to the left side if the drill had been live. Zach Block kicked to the goal line, where Devin Glenn returned it. Still, look for Sherman Badie to be the primary kickoff returner.
...On the scoreboard for a portion of the scrimmage was the message: Tulane Green Wave: NOLA's College Football Team. That's going to be a repeated theme from the Tulane marketing staff this year.
...Tulane will nominate Leglue for the National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete Award. Leglue is smart on the field because he has played three positions this week and four in camp, getting a few reps at right guard yesterday while someone was unavailable to go along with his starting left tackle spot, backup center role and right tackle, where he began preseason camp before moving to the left side. It's only a matter of time before he gets a rep at left guard.
This time, the practice was open to reporters and season-ticket holders, and as Willie Fritz promised, it featured live tackling of the quarterbacks for a portion, something I have not seen in a practice since I started covering the team in 2010. I got there a little after 9, and I did not see Jonathan Banks or Johnathan Brantley being made live, but freshmen Khalil McClain and Dane Ledford definitely got that treatment.
On the first possession of the full-tackling portion of the scrimmage (top two QBs excluded), Banks connected with Jacob Robertson for one of the prettiest plays of preseason camp, laying a deep ball down the sideline perfectly as Robertson beat freshman cornerback Jaylon Monroe by a step, ran under it and cruised into the end zone for about a 55-yard score. You could not have drawn up the offensive execution any better, and that is something I never saw in practice last year during a live scrimmage.
The offense did not do a whole lot on the other plays with the first and second group, but Banks was sharp, looking better than he has the rest of the week. As for Robertson, I'm ready to make the call for him as the third starter if Tulane uses the base three-wideout formation that has been Fritz' staple at Sam Houston State and Georgia Southern. It's no lock, but Robertson has made more plays than Jabril Clewis or the other wideouts besides Terren Encalade and Darnell Mooney. Robertson ended spring drills in front of Clewis on the listed depth chart, and I have seen nothing to indicate the change in order I predicted before preseason camp began.
Brantley was not as sharp today as he had been earlier in the week, fumbling a snap and not making any big passes, but he did get to the corner on an option to the left that would have gone for a huge gain even if he were allowed to be tackled, which he wasn't. He beat every defender to the boundary, easily, in what had to be a busted assignment by someone.
The line play was decent for the most part, although Banks was "sacked" quickly on one play (the whistle blew when the pocket collapsed immediately) and rush end Larry Bryant used freshman Joey Claybrook as a turnstile to get to Dane Ledford in about 1 second flat.
The battle between McClain and Ledford for third string is pretty close, but McClain clearly has the edge and has taken reps first of the two in every practice I've seen. On his first play in the live portion, McClain ran and was tackled by Lawrence Graham for a short gain. He made a nice pitch to Stephon Huderson on an option, threw incomplete on a pass that glanced off walk-on Rocky Ferony's hands and hit Kevin LeDee on a short sideline route in his first series.
Next up was Ledford, who had an embarrassing Aaron Brooks-like play where he tried to throw and the ball slipped out the back for a fumble before he brought his arm forward. He then completed a short pass to LeDee after holding on to the ball forever (it likely would have been sack against an opponent) and should have been sacked again when Bryant blew by Claybrook, but he held up and didn't hit him.
McClain went back in and overthrew Chris Johnson on a deep post when Johnson appeared to have a slight lead on Stephon Lofton, got nothing on an option and found Darius Bradwell on a short out. An option pitch to Corey Dauphine yielded a short gain, and McClain took off running for a short gain on the next play.
Back in went Ledford, who immediately hooked up with D.J. Owens on a deep post to the 5-yard line that Fritz praised. My take: he really underthrew him, preventing it from being a touchdown, but Owens made a nice adjustment to catch it just beyond Willie Langham. The possession did not produce a touchdown because the defense blew up an option pick to Bradwell, who made a heck of an effort to avoid a tackle for a 7-yard loss but still went down at the 8. Another Bradwell carry got stuffed, and Fritz blew his whistle to end the practice.
Offensive line improvement is Tulane's most critical issue, and the first-team line today was John Leglue at left tackle, freshman Corey Dublin at left guard, Junior Diaz at center, Dominique Briggs at right guard and Keyshawn McLeod at right tackle. That probably will be the opening-day line, which should please those of you who did not like Leeward Brown's performance last season. Fritz said yesterday he would make some changes to the depth chart after viewing the video of Friday's scrimmage, and Briggs over Brown appears to be one of them. Dublin has worked with the first unit all week, so he seems set.
The second-team line was Claybrook at left tackle, Cameron Jackel at left guard, Leglue at center (Briggs simply did not snap enough to warrant reps there), Brown at right guard and Tyler Johnson at right tackle. John Washington did not practice, if you're wondering, but I forgot to ask about his status after practice.
The first-team defense appears set in stone pending Zach Harris' status. Harris missed his fourth consecutive practice with a bothersome knee but likely will be ready for the opener against Grambling, with Luke Jackson starting in his place at WLB if he's not. Quinlan Carroll is getting almost all the reps with the first team at rush end, clearing up any mystery about one of the open positions, with Bryant the next guy in.
The second-team defense had Bryant, De'Andre Williams, Braynon Edwards and Peter Woullard on the line, Tirise Barge at nickelback, Monty Montgomery and KJ Vault at linebacker, Monroe and Langham at cornerback and P.J. Hall and Chase Kuerschen at safety. That lineup has been pretty stable this week. Barge has looked good, and although Hall would play before him at nickelback, that's a compliment to Hall, who has been double-trained, rather than criticism of Barge. I heard a player tell a sports info staffer to watch out for Barge as a surprise contributor.
NOTES
...There were two scouts from the Titans at practice today, marking that team's second presence at practice in as many weeks.
...Andrew Hicks took a turn on the exercise bike and ran sprints on the sideline while unable to practice due to a minor injury that has kept him out all week.
...In kickoffs, Randy Harvey kicked to the 4 and Dontrell Hilliard returned it, looking like he had a crease to the left side if the drill had been live. Zach Block kicked to the goal line, where Devin Glenn returned it. Still, look for Sherman Badie to be the primary kickoff returner.
...On the scoreboard for a portion of the scrimmage was the message: Tulane Green Wave: NOLA's College Football Team. That's going to be a repeated theme from the Tulane marketing staff this year.
...Tulane will nominate Leglue for the National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete Award. Leglue is smart on the field because he has played three positions this week and four in camp, getting a few reps at right guard yesterday while someone was unavailable to go along with his starting left tackle spot, backup center role and right tackle, where he began preseason camp before moving to the left side. It's only a matter of time before he gets a rep at left guard.
