After catching a break with the unseasonable temperate weather yesterday, Tulane paid for it when the temperature and humidity rose this morning. By the end of practice, as many players were cramping as I've ever seen at a Green Wave workout, including a few pretty severely. At the same time at the end of one 11-on-11 series, tight end Will Wallace, center Sincere Haynesworth, guard Josh Remetich and wide receiver Shae Wyatt all went down in agony, and Wallace did not quite make it to the sideline, prompting Corey Dublin to yell "drag him off the field" before a couple of teammates did exactly that. Michael Pratt went over and began stretching Wallace for a couple of minutes, but Remetich actually had the worst of it, looking a little overheated as well and eventually being carted off the field after trainers stripped his uniform (with Remetich's help) at the end of practice. The temperature at finishing time (9:30) was 86 degrees according to Weather.com, and the humidity was probably just as high. There will be worse days, but coming at the beginning of camp on the heels of a nice day, anyone who was not prepared felt the effects.,
"We got blessed yesterday," said running back Cam Carroll, who had no issues. "It was real cloudy and real shady and real cool. Today the sun was out and it was a little bit warmer. You gotta make sure you hydrate. That's the biggest thing. We had a lot of people cramping, but it's good. We need this heat because in a couple of weeks we've got a big game."
The highlight of practice was a beautiful leaping catch in the back of the end zone by Tyjae Spears on a pass from Justin Ibieta. Offensive coordinator Chip Long joked that everyone was happy when Spears' leg did not fall off, but this was another step in his comeback from ACL surgery. He showed good explosiveness on that play and can be a weapon in the passing game with his athletic ability. It was a better overall day for the offense, which struggled consistently on day 1. The improvement started in one-on-one drills, with Michael Preatt leading freshman wideout T.J. Huggins perfectly on a route in the middle of the field, throwing him open as people used to say about Drew Brees and allowing him to separate from cornerback Reggie Neely. On the next snap, Pratt threw a spot-on deep ball to Jha'Quan Jackson, beating Macon Clark.
Next, they did a 7-on-7 drill, and Phat Watts took advantage of a busted coverage for an easy touchdown with no one as close as 10 yards to him. That segment ended with Spears' pretty touchdown, but there still were a few too many drops in between the scores. Freshman running back Iverson Celestine bobbled one, and Carroll mishandled one that might have gone for a touchdown. Wallace dropped two in a row from Ibieta, one on an easy catch and the other a little more difficult The drops have to be eliminated. Shae Wyatt, who caught everything yesterday, dropped two passes in 11-on-11 work. Phat Watts had one deflect off his hands in the middle of the field and was lucky it was not intercepted. Celestine fumbled on a run and had to do 10 up-downs on the sideline as punishment. He did not appear to know how to do them at first before figuring it out.
Pratt was good at checking down to secondary receivers when his primary target was not open, doing it several times, including one to Jackson on the sideline. It probably would have gone for a minimal gain in a drill, but with Jackson's open-field ability, you never know.
The practice ended with another 11-on-11 drill red zone drill that Willie Fritz hollered out several times was the most important part of practice. Pratt began by lofting another beauty to Jackson in the corner of the end zone, also hitting Carroll and Tyrick James for shorter gains before Duece Watts ran it in for a touchdown. It was right around then that players began cramping severely as the starters came off the field. Ibieta almost had a touchdown pass on a slant, but Shi'Keem Laister, who is playing cornerback, knocked the ball away from Huggins in the end zone. The day ended with Kai Horton hooking up with walk-on running back Mason Courtney for their second touchdown combo in as many days. This is a full-service site, so even obscure moments get written up.
Before his cramping issue, Remetich lined up with the first-team offensive line at right guard. I did not see Rashad Green, who spent time with the first team at right guard yesterday, get any reps, so he might have had earlier cramping issues. Other than Remetich, the fist-team offensive line was the same as yesterday. The second-team group was Cameron Jackel at LT, Jackson Fort at LG, Caleb Thomas at C, Trey Tuggle at RG and Timothy Shafter at RT.
The first-team defensive line had Noah Seiden inside along with Jeffery Johnson (( did not seen Eric Hicks), with some combination of Jojo Dorceus, Angelo Anderson and Darius Hodges outside. The ends and jokers are rotating a lot, both in personnel and which side of the line they are coming from.. The second team had true freshman Keith Cooper, who was recruited as a linebacker but is up to 6-4, 265, at end along with Devean Deal at times, with Noah Taliancich and Elijah Champaigne inside. Armoni Dixon worked in on the outside, too. At times, many of the defensive players did not wear numbers on their jerseys, which read "First Line of Defense" where the number normally would have been. If that practice continues, I'll ask Chris Hampton about it.
Cornelius Dyson is going by the name Rudy now, and he was at practice after I did not see him yesterday working on a unit with freshman Bailey Despanie, who has looked pretty good early. The No. 2 cornerback s were Kiland Harrison and Laister. I still have not seen Kevaris Hall, so I will check on his status tomorrow.
After three receivers were in no-contact jerseys yesterday, there were none today, with only Spears in red. Cyron Sutton had several catches, but I also heard a coach lecturing him on not finishing a block and adding stuff like that would prevent him from getting playing time.
"We got blessed yesterday," said running back Cam Carroll, who had no issues. "It was real cloudy and real shady and real cool. Today the sun was out and it was a little bit warmer. You gotta make sure you hydrate. That's the biggest thing. We had a lot of people cramping, but it's good. We need this heat because in a couple of weeks we've got a big game."
The highlight of practice was a beautiful leaping catch in the back of the end zone by Tyjae Spears on a pass from Justin Ibieta. Offensive coordinator Chip Long joked that everyone was happy when Spears' leg did not fall off, but this was another step in his comeback from ACL surgery. He showed good explosiveness on that play and can be a weapon in the passing game with his athletic ability. It was a better overall day for the offense, which struggled consistently on day 1. The improvement started in one-on-one drills, with Michael Preatt leading freshman wideout T.J. Huggins perfectly on a route in the middle of the field, throwing him open as people used to say about Drew Brees and allowing him to separate from cornerback Reggie Neely. On the next snap, Pratt threw a spot-on deep ball to Jha'Quan Jackson, beating Macon Clark.
Next, they did a 7-on-7 drill, and Phat Watts took advantage of a busted coverage for an easy touchdown with no one as close as 10 yards to him. That segment ended with Spears' pretty touchdown, but there still were a few too many drops in between the scores. Freshman running back Iverson Celestine bobbled one, and Carroll mishandled one that might have gone for a touchdown. Wallace dropped two in a row from Ibieta, one on an easy catch and the other a little more difficult The drops have to be eliminated. Shae Wyatt, who caught everything yesterday, dropped two passes in 11-on-11 work. Phat Watts had one deflect off his hands in the middle of the field and was lucky it was not intercepted. Celestine fumbled on a run and had to do 10 up-downs on the sideline as punishment. He did not appear to know how to do them at first before figuring it out.
Pratt was good at checking down to secondary receivers when his primary target was not open, doing it several times, including one to Jackson on the sideline. It probably would have gone for a minimal gain in a drill, but with Jackson's open-field ability, you never know.
The practice ended with another 11-on-11 drill red zone drill that Willie Fritz hollered out several times was the most important part of practice. Pratt began by lofting another beauty to Jackson in the corner of the end zone, also hitting Carroll and Tyrick James for shorter gains before Duece Watts ran it in for a touchdown. It was right around then that players began cramping severely as the starters came off the field. Ibieta almost had a touchdown pass on a slant, but Shi'Keem Laister, who is playing cornerback, knocked the ball away from Huggins in the end zone. The day ended with Kai Horton hooking up with walk-on running back Mason Courtney for their second touchdown combo in as many days. This is a full-service site, so even obscure moments get written up.
Before his cramping issue, Remetich lined up with the first-team offensive line at right guard. I did not see Rashad Green, who spent time with the first team at right guard yesterday, get any reps, so he might have had earlier cramping issues. Other than Remetich, the fist-team offensive line was the same as yesterday. The second-team group was Cameron Jackel at LT, Jackson Fort at LG, Caleb Thomas at C, Trey Tuggle at RG and Timothy Shafter at RT.
The first-team defensive line had Noah Seiden inside along with Jeffery Johnson (( did not seen Eric Hicks), with some combination of Jojo Dorceus, Angelo Anderson and Darius Hodges outside. The ends and jokers are rotating a lot, both in personnel and which side of the line they are coming from.. The second team had true freshman Keith Cooper, who was recruited as a linebacker but is up to 6-4, 265, at end along with Devean Deal at times, with Noah Taliancich and Elijah Champaigne inside. Armoni Dixon worked in on the outside, too. At times, many of the defensive players did not wear numbers on their jerseys, which read "First Line of Defense" where the number normally would have been. If that practice continues, I'll ask Chris Hampton about it.
Cornelius Dyson is going by the name Rudy now, and he was at practice after I did not see him yesterday working on a unit with freshman Bailey Despanie, who has looked pretty good early. The No. 2 cornerback s were Kiland Harrison and Laister. I still have not seen Kevaris Hall, so I will check on his status tomorrow.
After three receivers were in no-contact jerseys yesterday, there were none today, with only Spears in red. Cyron Sutton had several catches, but I also heard a coach lecturing him on not finishing a block and adding stuff like that would prevent him from getting playing time.
