Tulane ended its practice today with a spirited two-minute drill, and wide receiver Jha'Quan Jackson made his presence felt in his first team workout since landing hard on his arm in the first week of the preseason. Wearing a no-contact jersey, he jumped in traffic to haul in a pass from Keon Howard to put the first-team offense in the red zone against the first-team defense. I know it was only five practices in the spring, but Jackson just has a knack for getting open and making big grabs. He's dynamic.
His big play did not lead to a score, though. Howard missed tight end Christian Daniels with a low throw on a crossing route in the end zone. Daniels, who had good burst out of cuts, was open enough for a connection if the throw had been better, but he is not ready to make the spectacular catch. On the next play, Kyle Meyers knocked down a pass intended for Ryan Thompson on another crossing route, and after Fritz called timeout to give both units a chance to regroup, Howard tried to hit a covered Jackson in the corner of the end zone and airmailed it well over his head on what was designated as fourth down.
The starting offensive line was the usual suspects: LT Joey Claybrook, LG Corey Dublin, center Sincere Haynesworth, RG Ben Knutson and RT Jaylen Miller.
The starting defense was Cam Sample, Patrick Johnson, Eric Hicks and De'Andre Williams on the line, Marvin Moody and Kevin Henry at linebacker, Willie Langham at nicklelback, Meyers and Jaylon Monroe at cornerback and Larry Brooks and Chase Kuerschen at safety. Kuerschen was back after missing the previous few days with a minor injury.
Hick was on the first team even though Jeffery Johnson returned to practice, getting a few reps with the second unit.
"Eric Hicks has gotten much better," Fritz said. "He's a guy that's a little bit of an unknown to everybody because he didn't get to play much last year. I think we played him maybe one or two games (it was one, against UConn). He got in under the new redshirt rule. He comes from a super program, Benedictine (Military School) over in Georgia. His high school coach is a buddy of mine, Danny Britt. They've won a bunch of games over there, so he's been well coached. He did an excellent job in the time we were away of training because when he came in on day 1 on June 15, he looked like a different guy. He's almost 290 (pounds). He's got very good movement. He's another one of the defensive linemen we think is a heck of a player."
The practice ended with the second team going against the second team, with Michael Pratt directing the offense. He threw an 8-yard completion on first down, had a pass knocked down by cornerback Kiland Harrison and scrambled 4 yards to keep the drive alive. Dorian Williams "sacked" him on the next play for a 5-yard loss, but he then hit Amare Jones for 13 yards on a play that would have gone for more in a live drill because Jones spun right past new cornerback Jaetavian Toles into the open field. The play was whistled down at the 49, and the defense jumped offside on the next snap (it was either Adonis Friloux or Brandon Brown, I believe). On the next snap, Pratt threw a strike to Duece Watts on a streak, with Watts running by Harrison easily for a 44-yard touchdown. Always creating extra situations, Fritz asked the offense to start at the 1 as if Watts had gone out of bounds there, and Pratt sneaked across the goal line for a touchdown.
That was it for the day as practice ended before 9:20. The wideouts on the first snap with Pratt were Phat Watts, Tyrek Presley and Amare Jones split out wide, but the receivers rotated constantly. The second-team defensive line had Angelo Anderson at joker, Carlos Hatcher at end and a rotation of Jeffery Johnson, Brown and Friloux inside.
The second-team offensive line was Nik Hogan at LT, Stephen Lewerenz at LG, Caleb Thomas at C, Cameron Jackel at RG and Trey Tuggle at LT. Tuggle is in the running for a starting spot because Fritz said a few days ago that the two spots on the right side of the line had tight competition. The other three healthy true freshmen, all of whom Fritz likes, are on the third team with redshirt freshman Colby Orgeron and and walk-on Timothy Shafter. Josh Remetich is not practicing yet.
FRITZ
"We went with just helmets this morning. We are going to have a big one tomorrow. We feel like we're going pretty darn hard, so we focused on the kicking game and did a lot of good drill work and some full-field cover stuff as well and some 7 on 7, what other people call pass skelly, and we worked on some two-minute at the end of practice. It's really difficult for the defense to simulate two-minute and pretty easy for the offense to do it. We have to do that against the defense to help them out a little bit, so we'll try to hit that at least four times prior to game one and do that in bits and pieces in practice. Tomorrow we'll do a little four-minute period in there where the offense is trying to play keepaway, stay in bounds and keep the clock running and force the defense to use timeouts and the defense is trying to force them out of bounds, get a quick three-and-out and make them punt and give the chance for their offense to score."
On opening game possibility:
"Troy Dannen came out after practice today and told me we've still got one that's a possibility. We've tried all over the place and just have not been real fortunate. There's not going to be a whole lot of week 1 games. We had difficulty trying to find one, so if it doesn't happen, hopefully we're going to find out here today or tomorrow because if we're not going to play that week 1 game, I'm going to adjust our practices if we're not playing until the 12th (of September). That's why I'd like to find out now. We've been practicing this whole time under the assumption we are going to play a week 1 game, and if it's not going to happen, I want to give these guys a couple days off in a row at least."
You moved Jaetavian Toles to cornerback. What does that say about your confidence in the receivers on hand?
"We're pretty deep at receiver with the addition of the Wattses and Mike Jones. We've got some veteran guys. When you get a guy from the junior college ranks, especially a quality junior college like Jones, that's a tough league over there in Mississippi. That's good football over there. That's where our man Nick Anderson's from, so you've got those two guys who are really vets. Obviously there's a huge difference from junior college to Division I, but they've really adapted well. Mike Jones is another great addition. Jha'Quan Jackson had a great five practices of spring ball and he's a dynamic player. Sorrell Brown, who's been banged up since he got here, we think is a dynamic player, a bigger guy out on the perimeter. Dane Ledford has shown some good things the last few days. Jacob Robertson is by far playing the best of his career. He's very durable and has great attention to detail. Then we can always throw Amare out there and can throw YG out there and some other guys if we had to. Tyjae Spears catches the ball extremely well. Our tight ends are all very talented. Great move by moving Christian Daniels out there to that tight end position. He runs super routes, has excellent speed, so we've got some options out there.
"Also the quarterbacks are really doing a super job of being accurate. You can have all the players you want out there, but if the quarterback is not accurate and you're not providing good pass protection, a good stable of receivers can look like they're bad."
His big play did not lead to a score, though. Howard missed tight end Christian Daniels with a low throw on a crossing route in the end zone. Daniels, who had good burst out of cuts, was open enough for a connection if the throw had been better, but he is not ready to make the spectacular catch. On the next play, Kyle Meyers knocked down a pass intended for Ryan Thompson on another crossing route, and after Fritz called timeout to give both units a chance to regroup, Howard tried to hit a covered Jackson in the corner of the end zone and airmailed it well over his head on what was designated as fourth down.
The starting offensive line was the usual suspects: LT Joey Claybrook, LG Corey Dublin, center Sincere Haynesworth, RG Ben Knutson and RT Jaylen Miller.
The starting defense was Cam Sample, Patrick Johnson, Eric Hicks and De'Andre Williams on the line, Marvin Moody and Kevin Henry at linebacker, Willie Langham at nicklelback, Meyers and Jaylon Monroe at cornerback and Larry Brooks and Chase Kuerschen at safety. Kuerschen was back after missing the previous few days with a minor injury.
Hick was on the first team even though Jeffery Johnson returned to practice, getting a few reps with the second unit.
"Eric Hicks has gotten much better," Fritz said. "He's a guy that's a little bit of an unknown to everybody because he didn't get to play much last year. I think we played him maybe one or two games (it was one, against UConn). He got in under the new redshirt rule. He comes from a super program, Benedictine (Military School) over in Georgia. His high school coach is a buddy of mine, Danny Britt. They've won a bunch of games over there, so he's been well coached. He did an excellent job in the time we were away of training because when he came in on day 1 on June 15, he looked like a different guy. He's almost 290 (pounds). He's got very good movement. He's another one of the defensive linemen we think is a heck of a player."
The practice ended with the second team going against the second team, with Michael Pratt directing the offense. He threw an 8-yard completion on first down, had a pass knocked down by cornerback Kiland Harrison and scrambled 4 yards to keep the drive alive. Dorian Williams "sacked" him on the next play for a 5-yard loss, but he then hit Amare Jones for 13 yards on a play that would have gone for more in a live drill because Jones spun right past new cornerback Jaetavian Toles into the open field. The play was whistled down at the 49, and the defense jumped offside on the next snap (it was either Adonis Friloux or Brandon Brown, I believe). On the next snap, Pratt threw a strike to Duece Watts on a streak, with Watts running by Harrison easily for a 44-yard touchdown. Always creating extra situations, Fritz asked the offense to start at the 1 as if Watts had gone out of bounds there, and Pratt sneaked across the goal line for a touchdown.
That was it for the day as practice ended before 9:20. The wideouts on the first snap with Pratt were Phat Watts, Tyrek Presley and Amare Jones split out wide, but the receivers rotated constantly. The second-team defensive line had Angelo Anderson at joker, Carlos Hatcher at end and a rotation of Jeffery Johnson, Brown and Friloux inside.
The second-team offensive line was Nik Hogan at LT, Stephen Lewerenz at LG, Caleb Thomas at C, Cameron Jackel at RG and Trey Tuggle at LT. Tuggle is in the running for a starting spot because Fritz said a few days ago that the two spots on the right side of the line had tight competition. The other three healthy true freshmen, all of whom Fritz likes, are on the third team with redshirt freshman Colby Orgeron and and walk-on Timothy Shafter. Josh Remetich is not practicing yet.
FRITZ
"We went with just helmets this morning. We are going to have a big one tomorrow. We feel like we're going pretty darn hard, so we focused on the kicking game and did a lot of good drill work and some full-field cover stuff as well and some 7 on 7, what other people call pass skelly, and we worked on some two-minute at the end of practice. It's really difficult for the defense to simulate two-minute and pretty easy for the offense to do it. We have to do that against the defense to help them out a little bit, so we'll try to hit that at least four times prior to game one and do that in bits and pieces in practice. Tomorrow we'll do a little four-minute period in there where the offense is trying to play keepaway, stay in bounds and keep the clock running and force the defense to use timeouts and the defense is trying to force them out of bounds, get a quick three-and-out and make them punt and give the chance for their offense to score."
On opening game possibility:
"Troy Dannen came out after practice today and told me we've still got one that's a possibility. We've tried all over the place and just have not been real fortunate. There's not going to be a whole lot of week 1 games. We had difficulty trying to find one, so if it doesn't happen, hopefully we're going to find out here today or tomorrow because if we're not going to play that week 1 game, I'm going to adjust our practices if we're not playing until the 12th (of September). That's why I'd like to find out now. We've been practicing this whole time under the assumption we are going to play a week 1 game, and if it's not going to happen, I want to give these guys a couple days off in a row at least."
You moved Jaetavian Toles to cornerback. What does that say about your confidence in the receivers on hand?
"We're pretty deep at receiver with the addition of the Wattses and Mike Jones. We've got some veteran guys. When you get a guy from the junior college ranks, especially a quality junior college like Jones, that's a tough league over there in Mississippi. That's good football over there. That's where our man Nick Anderson's from, so you've got those two guys who are really vets. Obviously there's a huge difference from junior college to Division I, but they've really adapted well. Mike Jones is another great addition. Jha'Quan Jackson had a great five practices of spring ball and he's a dynamic player. Sorrell Brown, who's been banged up since he got here, we think is a dynamic player, a bigger guy out on the perimeter. Dane Ledford has shown some good things the last few days. Jacob Robertson is by far playing the best of his career. He's very durable and has great attention to detail. Then we can always throw Amare out there and can throw YG out there and some other guys if we had to. Tyjae Spears catches the ball extremely well. Our tight ends are all very talented. Great move by moving Christian Daniels out there to that tight end position. He runs super routes, has excellent speed, so we've got some options out there.
"Also the quarterbacks are really doing a super job of being accurate. You can have all the players you want out there, but if the quarterback is not accurate and you're not providing good pass protection, a good stable of receivers can look like they're bad."
