With Tulane getting into preparation for the opener against Grambling today at Yulman Stadium, the reports will no longer be as detailed as during preseason camp, but the first practice involving scout teams always brings some news when players are divided into the guys who will play and the guys who are not in position to play.
The most notable names on the scout-team defense were freshman linebacker Monty Montgomery, who has gotten reps with the second unit throughout camp, true sophomore safety Sean Harper, who began the preseason as the No. 2 strong safety but has been passed by multiple players, and redshirt freshman defensive tackle Deion Rainey, who failed to take advantage of the lack of depth at his position. The other scholarship players on the scout team were expected, with sophomore linebacker/safety Chase Napoleon, freshman safety Quentin Brown and freshman defensive ends Torri Singletary and Michael Scott.
Andrew Hicks is on the scout-team offense. As the fourth-string tight end behind Charles Jones, Kendall Ardoin and Will Wallace, there simply aren't any reps available for him on offense. It's probably a combination of not being 100 percent healthy coming off back-to-back ACL injuries and not being comfortable at tight end after being moved from wide receiver. I was surprised to see freshman wideout Kevin LeDee over there, too, and will check to see where he is tomorrow. Although he has made a lot of catches in the preseason, he is very thin and likely needs a year in the weight room to be ready. Another freshman wideout, Travis Tucker, joined him, but after looking really good in shorts on the first day of practice, Tucker has not done much, so his scout-team presence was not surprising. P.J. Hurst was the scout-team QB, with a lot more walk-ons around him.
Dane Ledford did not practice with the scout team and he did not practice at QB, getting all of his reps at wide receiver in the portion of the practice I saw. Although no announcement has been made, Khalil McClain is the third-string QB. Glen Cuiellette stood on the sideline by himself on the offensive end of the field, getting zero reps in the last 30 minutes of practice.
One amusing note: with a shortage of cornerbacks on the scout team, kicker Merek Glover spent some time "covering" receivers.
Zach Harris was held out of practice again with the hope he will return Monday for a full week of practice before the Grambling game. If he is unavailable, it sure seems that redshirt junior Luke Jackson will get his first career start at weakside linebacker.
Also not practices were cornerbacks Willie Langham and Thakarius Keyes, who both were pedaling the exercise bike when I arrived, and a few offensive linemen who likely will not return until Monday --Keyshawn McLeod, Hunter Knighton and Tyler Johnson.
I'm working on a story about Tulane's poor third-down defense. Although the Wave finished in the top half of the AAC in almost every defensive statistical category last year, it tied for ninth in third-down conversion defense (42.9 percent) and gave up some gargantuan ones that influenced the outcomes of games. The two most notable ones came in the fourth quarter against SMU, when the Mustangs converted a third-and-17 and a third-and-25 on two late touchdown drives after Tulane went ahead 31-21.
But there were plenty of others. Navy converted a third-and-12 and a third-and-8 (not the Midshipmen's forte) on separate touchdown drives in its 21-14 victory at Yulman Stadium. Wake Forest converted a third-and-8 and a third-and-9 before its long score in an opening 7-3 victory against Tulane. UMass converted a third-and-10 on its touchdown drive that cut Tulane's lead to 7 in the fourth quarter. Even UConn had some success in Tulane's season-ending rout of the Huskies, scoring its two touchdowns on a 62-yard run on third-and-2 and a 20-yard pass on third-and-8.
That deficiency must be fixed for Tulane to reach a bowl game this year.
"We spent about two days on that in the offseason just looking at why we were so deficient on third down," coach Willie Fritz said. "There were a lot of reasons. Part of it is the play call. We've got to make sure we're in what we want to be in, and there were too many occasions when we lost leverage in our pass rush and didn't stay in our lanes. The college game is different than the pro game. In the pro game (the defense) likes getting those quarterbacks out of the pocket because they are not as good athletes throwing the ball, but in the college game that's where those guys thrive because they can run. We had eight or nine times when teams converted on us just because we lost leverage, and we have to do a great job of that.
"You can't just run one thing on third down. You have to have a multitude of calls based on their personnel and also the score of the game."
Defensive coordinator Jack Curtis addressed the same topic.
"We did identify the problems and spent a lot of time over the summer studying ways to get better," he said. "Part of the problem last year was a lack of depth and the players that could get into the game and play and teach them enough so we could be more multiple on third down. I felt like we had enough pass rush on third down, but we didn't have enough in the coverage end of it to confuse some players.
"That was one of the bigger things, and being in a new system and trying to get guys to play, we had to take baby steps. We're light years from where we were last year."
The failures against SMU obviously was the most frustrating because they made the difference in winning by maybe 17 points and losing by 4.
"We really have devoted a lot of time to doing a lot more on third down and being a lot more multiple and giving the quarterbacks different looks and then trying to make him make post-snap decisions. Get in a similar look, and then when the ball is snapped, he has to make a post-snap decision of what he's saying, whether it's blitz or the illusion of blitz. Those are the things we've worked on."
Most, but not all, of the biggest third-down mistakes came late in the game or late in the first half, when Tulane's lack of depth became an issue. When the Wave went to its bench, it was using freshmen in the secondary like P.J. Hall, Thakarius Keyes and Will Harper, none of whom were ready. That's no longer the case.
"That's exactly right," Curtis said. "We won't have to throw freshmen in there. That's a tough position to put those guys in. You'd like for them to be able to grow up a little bit and play with a little bit more confidence, and it's hard when you're a freshman. That was part of the SMU game. P.J. was out there, and you don't want to give up the big play and you play cautious (as Hall did), and you can't play in the secondary that way."
Curtis said the third-down issues extended to giving up costly big plays in general.
"Memphis was another game, and I think it was a second down we gave up a long play (a 46-yard touchdown pass with 1:01 left) that changed the game right before halftime," he said. "We've worked at it hard. I think we can still generate some good pass pressure on our four-man rush. We've got to let Ade (Aruna) get into situations where he can win some one-on-ones and try to put him in some one-on-one situations where he can make a difference."
Safety Rod Teamer said he would leave the analysis of what went wrong on third downs to the coaches, but he knows it has to get better.
"We didn't finish drives," he said. "That's one thing coach Fritz always talks about is finishing everything you do, and third down for a defense is finishing a drive unless a team wants to press their luck on fourth down. We call that our money down. That's what we've been putting a lot of emphasis on in camp this year. If we are running team (drills), coach Fritz scripts everything for a reason. If we get to third down, he's like, 'Hey, what down is it, talk to the defense,' so that's something we are putting a lot of emphasis on--getting off the field."
Today was Sno-ball Wednesday. I was behind Hunter Knighton in line, so I know he got half ice cream flavor and half nectar cream flavor on his snoball. I'm much more simple and stuck with cherry.
Tulane has not announced where it will practice tomorrow, but with the Saints in town, any workout at their facility would have to be in the evening, as was the case in the first week when the torrential rain prompted the Wave to go indoors for three consecutive night practices. The schedule lists Yulman Stadium for tomorrow and Friday but that's not a done deal.
The most notable names on the scout-team defense were freshman linebacker Monty Montgomery, who has gotten reps with the second unit throughout camp, true sophomore safety Sean Harper, who began the preseason as the No. 2 strong safety but has been passed by multiple players, and redshirt freshman defensive tackle Deion Rainey, who failed to take advantage of the lack of depth at his position. The other scholarship players on the scout team were expected, with sophomore linebacker/safety Chase Napoleon, freshman safety Quentin Brown and freshman defensive ends Torri Singletary and Michael Scott.
Andrew Hicks is on the scout-team offense. As the fourth-string tight end behind Charles Jones, Kendall Ardoin and Will Wallace, there simply aren't any reps available for him on offense. It's probably a combination of not being 100 percent healthy coming off back-to-back ACL injuries and not being comfortable at tight end after being moved from wide receiver. I was surprised to see freshman wideout Kevin LeDee over there, too, and will check to see where he is tomorrow. Although he has made a lot of catches in the preseason, he is very thin and likely needs a year in the weight room to be ready. Another freshman wideout, Travis Tucker, joined him, but after looking really good in shorts on the first day of practice, Tucker has not done much, so his scout-team presence was not surprising. P.J. Hurst was the scout-team QB, with a lot more walk-ons around him.
Dane Ledford did not practice with the scout team and he did not practice at QB, getting all of his reps at wide receiver in the portion of the practice I saw. Although no announcement has been made, Khalil McClain is the third-string QB. Glen Cuiellette stood on the sideline by himself on the offensive end of the field, getting zero reps in the last 30 minutes of practice.
One amusing note: with a shortage of cornerbacks on the scout team, kicker Merek Glover spent some time "covering" receivers.
Zach Harris was held out of practice again with the hope he will return Monday for a full week of practice before the Grambling game. If he is unavailable, it sure seems that redshirt junior Luke Jackson will get his first career start at weakside linebacker.
Also not practices were cornerbacks Willie Langham and Thakarius Keyes, who both were pedaling the exercise bike when I arrived, and a few offensive linemen who likely will not return until Monday --Keyshawn McLeod, Hunter Knighton and Tyler Johnson.
I'm working on a story about Tulane's poor third-down defense. Although the Wave finished in the top half of the AAC in almost every defensive statistical category last year, it tied for ninth in third-down conversion defense (42.9 percent) and gave up some gargantuan ones that influenced the outcomes of games. The two most notable ones came in the fourth quarter against SMU, when the Mustangs converted a third-and-17 and a third-and-25 on two late touchdown drives after Tulane went ahead 31-21.
But there were plenty of others. Navy converted a third-and-12 and a third-and-8 (not the Midshipmen's forte) on separate touchdown drives in its 21-14 victory at Yulman Stadium. Wake Forest converted a third-and-8 and a third-and-9 before its long score in an opening 7-3 victory against Tulane. UMass converted a third-and-10 on its touchdown drive that cut Tulane's lead to 7 in the fourth quarter. Even UConn had some success in Tulane's season-ending rout of the Huskies, scoring its two touchdowns on a 62-yard run on third-and-2 and a 20-yard pass on third-and-8.
That deficiency must be fixed for Tulane to reach a bowl game this year.
"We spent about two days on that in the offseason just looking at why we were so deficient on third down," coach Willie Fritz said. "There were a lot of reasons. Part of it is the play call. We've got to make sure we're in what we want to be in, and there were too many occasions when we lost leverage in our pass rush and didn't stay in our lanes. The college game is different than the pro game. In the pro game (the defense) likes getting those quarterbacks out of the pocket because they are not as good athletes throwing the ball, but in the college game that's where those guys thrive because they can run. We had eight or nine times when teams converted on us just because we lost leverage, and we have to do a great job of that.
"You can't just run one thing on third down. You have to have a multitude of calls based on their personnel and also the score of the game."
Defensive coordinator Jack Curtis addressed the same topic.
"We did identify the problems and spent a lot of time over the summer studying ways to get better," he said. "Part of the problem last year was a lack of depth and the players that could get into the game and play and teach them enough so we could be more multiple on third down. I felt like we had enough pass rush on third down, but we didn't have enough in the coverage end of it to confuse some players.
"That was one of the bigger things, and being in a new system and trying to get guys to play, we had to take baby steps. We're light years from where we were last year."
The failures against SMU obviously was the most frustrating because they made the difference in winning by maybe 17 points and losing by 4.
"We really have devoted a lot of time to doing a lot more on third down and being a lot more multiple and giving the quarterbacks different looks and then trying to make him make post-snap decisions. Get in a similar look, and then when the ball is snapped, he has to make a post-snap decision of what he's saying, whether it's blitz or the illusion of blitz. Those are the things we've worked on."
Most, but not all, of the biggest third-down mistakes came late in the game or late in the first half, when Tulane's lack of depth became an issue. When the Wave went to its bench, it was using freshmen in the secondary like P.J. Hall, Thakarius Keyes and Will Harper, none of whom were ready. That's no longer the case.
"That's exactly right," Curtis said. "We won't have to throw freshmen in there. That's a tough position to put those guys in. You'd like for them to be able to grow up a little bit and play with a little bit more confidence, and it's hard when you're a freshman. That was part of the SMU game. P.J. was out there, and you don't want to give up the big play and you play cautious (as Hall did), and you can't play in the secondary that way."
Curtis said the third-down issues extended to giving up costly big plays in general.
"Memphis was another game, and I think it was a second down we gave up a long play (a 46-yard touchdown pass with 1:01 left) that changed the game right before halftime," he said. "We've worked at it hard. I think we can still generate some good pass pressure on our four-man rush. We've got to let Ade (Aruna) get into situations where he can win some one-on-ones and try to put him in some one-on-one situations where he can make a difference."
Safety Rod Teamer said he would leave the analysis of what went wrong on third downs to the coaches, but he knows it has to get better.
"We didn't finish drives," he said. "That's one thing coach Fritz always talks about is finishing everything you do, and third down for a defense is finishing a drive unless a team wants to press their luck on fourth down. We call that our money down. That's what we've been putting a lot of emphasis on in camp this year. If we are running team (drills), coach Fritz scripts everything for a reason. If we get to third down, he's like, 'Hey, what down is it, talk to the defense,' so that's something we are putting a lot of emphasis on--getting off the field."
Today was Sno-ball Wednesday. I was behind Hunter Knighton in line, so I know he got half ice cream flavor and half nectar cream flavor on his snoball. I'm much more simple and stuck with cherry.
Tulane has not announced where it will practice tomorrow, but with the Saints in town, any workout at their facility would have to be in the evening, as was the case in the first week when the torrential rain prompted the Wave to go indoors for three consecutive night practices. The schedule lists Yulman Stadium for tomorrow and Friday but that's not a done deal.