Tulane had its last practice of preseason camp this morning in shorts and shells at the Superdome and will take Friday off before returning Saturday to begin normal game-week preparation for next Thursday's opener against FIU. The rest of the schedule is exactly like what it would be for . a Saturday game, only moved two days up. Saturday will be the same as a normal Monday, Sunday a normal Tuesday, Monday a normal Wednesday and Tuesday a normal Thursday.
I would say the new offense is still a work in progress, with more consistent accuracy needed from Justin McMillan. He threw a gorgeous fade to Jorien Vallien for a touchdown in the corner of the end zone but also threw a pass over the wrong shoulder to Amare Jones, forcing him to contort his body in an unsuccessful attempt to bring it in and a pass behind Jalen McCleskey on an out route that bounced of his hands as he reached behind his body. McMillan can make all the throws but he doesn't always put the ball where it needs to be.
Although Sincere Haynesworth has looked good as a blocker in camp, Tulane cannot afford to lose Christian Montano because of his snapping ability. Haynesworth has struggled at times with his shotgun snaps, and so has third-string center Stephen Lewerenz. An errant snap by Lewerenz today caused all of the offensive players on the field to do up-downs as punishment. As we saw in the CJ era, snaps need to be perfect every time or trouble arises.
Keon Howard made another pretty thrown on the run, his best strength in the passing game, hitting Vallien while sprinting to his left. Not for the first time in camp, Vallien had an excellent day.
The offense got into a good rhythm practicing against the scout-team defense. At the end of a stretch with several completions in a row, including a McMillan pass to Jacob Robertson over the middle, offensive coordinator Will Hall went over to the entire first-team offense and gave each player a high five.
One freshman who may play is Armoni Dixon. He has gotten some reps with the No. 2 defense at joker and is a good pass rusher. Since Tulane's depth is really good on the defensive line, it's not a sure thing, but I like what I've seen from him.
Two guys who definitely will not play are safety Sean Harper and walk-on wide receiver Ryan Thompson. They have practiced with the scout teams all week. Aside from that one day when Quentin Brown was on the scout team, I have not seen anyone surprising on the scout teams, which are primarily made up of walk-ons and scholarship guys who did not make an impact in camp.
Cameron Carroll did not practice again today.
Like I wrote yesterday, I have run out of questions for Willie Fritz until real prep work for FIU starts Saturday. I am writing a feature for The Advocate today on Will Hall's 8-year old son attending all the practices and having a great time throwing a little ball around with trainers (until school started at John Curtis yesterday), so I talked to Fritz about that.
FRITZ
So you like having Pete Hall at all of the practices?
"Oh, I'm am old coach's son myself and Will is a coach's son. His dad's the second winningest coach in the history of the state of Mississippi with 310 wins. His kid just loves it. He sucks it up and sits with me on the bus rides out here. We try to foster a family atmosphere here, and shoot, I want our coaches to be able to have their kids around all the time. It doesn't bother me a bit."
Did you experience the same thing as a kid?
"Yeah, I grew up that way. My dad was an athletic director, so I'd go watch the basketball team practicing, the football team, I was a batboy for the college baseball team and all that stuff. My two girls and my boy, they'd come to practices all the time. It's just a neat experience that we want to be able to have now and not regret not having it later."
Will Hall says Pete think you're the only person around here he has to listen to.
"I don't know about that. He just is a very well mannered kid, too. Him and his older boy Tripp are good, young kids."
Justin McMillan says he likes having Pete around.
"Yeah, it's fun. My former players knew all of my kids. They were at practice all the time. My former players were kind of the older brothers they had growing up."
I also talked briefly with Jalen McCleskey.
MCCLESKEY
The opener is a week away. How excited are you?
"I'm really excited. It's been a while since I've played in a game. I can't wait. We've made a lot of strides as a team in fall camp. We really worked on a bunch of things and got better. It's going to be real fun. Coach Hall does a great job scheming plays up, knowing his personnel and knowing how to put us in a great situation."
You rested with a hamstring injury for about a week in drills. How do you feel?
"I feel great. I couldn't wait to get back out to practice. It feels good to be back out there with my team."
I would say the new offense is still a work in progress, with more consistent accuracy needed from Justin McMillan. He threw a gorgeous fade to Jorien Vallien for a touchdown in the corner of the end zone but also threw a pass over the wrong shoulder to Amare Jones, forcing him to contort his body in an unsuccessful attempt to bring it in and a pass behind Jalen McCleskey on an out route that bounced of his hands as he reached behind his body. McMillan can make all the throws but he doesn't always put the ball where it needs to be.
Although Sincere Haynesworth has looked good as a blocker in camp, Tulane cannot afford to lose Christian Montano because of his snapping ability. Haynesworth has struggled at times with his shotgun snaps, and so has third-string center Stephen Lewerenz. An errant snap by Lewerenz today caused all of the offensive players on the field to do up-downs as punishment. As we saw in the CJ era, snaps need to be perfect every time or trouble arises.
Keon Howard made another pretty thrown on the run, his best strength in the passing game, hitting Vallien while sprinting to his left. Not for the first time in camp, Vallien had an excellent day.
The offense got into a good rhythm practicing against the scout-team defense. At the end of a stretch with several completions in a row, including a McMillan pass to Jacob Robertson over the middle, offensive coordinator Will Hall went over to the entire first-team offense and gave each player a high five.
One freshman who may play is Armoni Dixon. He has gotten some reps with the No. 2 defense at joker and is a good pass rusher. Since Tulane's depth is really good on the defensive line, it's not a sure thing, but I like what I've seen from him.
Two guys who definitely will not play are safety Sean Harper and walk-on wide receiver Ryan Thompson. They have practiced with the scout teams all week. Aside from that one day when Quentin Brown was on the scout team, I have not seen anyone surprising on the scout teams, which are primarily made up of walk-ons and scholarship guys who did not make an impact in camp.
Cameron Carroll did not practice again today.
Like I wrote yesterday, I have run out of questions for Willie Fritz until real prep work for FIU starts Saturday. I am writing a feature for The Advocate today on Will Hall's 8-year old son attending all the practices and having a great time throwing a little ball around with trainers (until school started at John Curtis yesterday), so I talked to Fritz about that.
FRITZ
So you like having Pete Hall at all of the practices?
"Oh, I'm am old coach's son myself and Will is a coach's son. His dad's the second winningest coach in the history of the state of Mississippi with 310 wins. His kid just loves it. He sucks it up and sits with me on the bus rides out here. We try to foster a family atmosphere here, and shoot, I want our coaches to be able to have their kids around all the time. It doesn't bother me a bit."
Did you experience the same thing as a kid?
"Yeah, I grew up that way. My dad was an athletic director, so I'd go watch the basketball team practicing, the football team, I was a batboy for the college baseball team and all that stuff. My two girls and my boy, they'd come to practices all the time. It's just a neat experience that we want to be able to have now and not regret not having it later."
Will Hall says Pete think you're the only person around here he has to listen to.
"I don't know about that. He just is a very well mannered kid, too. Him and his older boy Tripp are good, young kids."
Justin McMillan says he likes having Pete around.
"Yeah, it's fun. My former players knew all of my kids. They were at practice all the time. My former players were kind of the older brothers they had growing up."
I also talked briefly with Jalen McCleskey.
MCCLESKEY
The opener is a week away. How excited are you?
"I'm really excited. It's been a while since I've played in a game. I can't wait. We've made a lot of strides as a team in fall camp. We really worked on a bunch of things and got better. It's going to be real fun. Coach Hall does a great job scheming plays up, knowing his personnel and knowing how to put us in a great situation."
You rested with a hamstring injury for about a week in drills. How do you feel?
"I feel great. I couldn't wait to get back out to practice. It feels good to be back out there with my team."