On what will be the only Sunday practice of preseason camp, Tulane worked out in shoulder pads this morning at Yulman Stadium, adding some energy and pop to the third day. The Green Wave also handled the heat better than on Saturday, when more players cramped than in any single day I've witnessed in Willie Fritz's tenure. Fritz added a couple of extra breaks, forcing players to go to the sideline, hydrate and take their helmets off in the middle of practice segments rather than just at the end of them. I did not see any player going to the ground with debilitating cramps, unlike Friday,, when Josh Remetich, Sincere Haynesworth, Will Wallace and Shae Wyatt all went to the ground within seconds of each other. Remetich had the worst of it, being taken off the field on a cart after trainers removed his jersey, and he sat out all but the beginning of practice on Sunday, removing his jersey and pads and watching the rest of the day from the sideline. Haynesworth, too, left early, although he had some reps in the first 11-on-11 drill, unlike Remetich. Wallace and Wyatt were full go.
Drops are a problem for the receivers. That much is clear after three days. When I arrived at practice today, Ygenio Booker and T.J. Huggins dropped balls in the end zone on simple throwing and catching drills with no defenders on the field. When they went to 1-on-1 battles, Tyrek Presley promptly dropped a pass from Michael Pratt that hit him in the hands. Christian Daniels could not haul in a tougher catch, Cyron Sutton dropped a slightly low throw, Wallace had one go of his hands when he jumped for it and Bryce Bohanon dropped one. Ball security was a problem in 7-on-7 work as well, with Bohanon getting stripped by D.J. Douglas and Huggins getting stripped on consecutive plays. Presley dropped two more passes, and the first one was an easy catch with no excuses while the second one was more challenging. The drops were much less prevalent in 11-on-11 drills, but they need to stop. There are too many overall.
If I were ranking the wideouts right now, Jha'Quan Jackson would be the clear No. 1, with Duece Watts behind him and Shae Wyatt third. Jackson is the clear star at the position so far, and he burned safety Bailey Despanie badly on a deep angled route to hall in a long pass from Pratt in 7 on 7 for the prettiest play of the day. Earlier, during one-on-one drills, he beat Ajani Kerr with a nice hesitation move before sprinting to catch a nice pass from Justin Ibieta on a corner route. Jackson is not perfect yet, but he's smooth and a big-play guy. Watts did not catch a pass in 7-on-7 or 11-on-11 when I was watching, but he did not drop any either and has proven his worth in the past. He got a stern lecture from Chip Long at one point, and later Long brought a playbook over to the sideline to continue the discussion with him more quietly. Wyatt, rebounding from a rough second day, was back to his opening-day form. Although he slipped as he made his cut in the one-on-one drills, he later caught a pass over the middle from Ibieta in 7-on-7 drills and made a nice grab of another Ibieta pass after beating Lance Robinson to the sideline. Finally, he caught a touchdown pass from Ibieta in red zone work. Wyatt runs better routes and gets open more frequently than the receivers not named Jackson, at least to this point. Toles is inconsistent, although he made a nice inside move to get a touchdown catch from Pratt in the OT drill at the end of practice. Presley, who had a very slow start to his career, is up and down. He scored a touchdown in 1-on-1 drills, beating his man to the inside, but his hands are not reliable. I haven't seen a whole lot out of Cyron Sutton, although he caught a beautiful pass from Ibieta Phat on the sideline in the last 11-on-11 session, which was designed to simulate overtime, nor from Phat Watts or the three freshman receivers, but it's still early.
Ygenio Booker continues to flash. He caught a deep pass from Ibieta in the first 11-on-11 segment and then did a dancing, sideline celebration with Phat Watts. Booker will get a chance to be a significant factor in the passing game right away this year.
During 7 on 7 and 11 on 11, Pratt took five snaps, followed by Ibieta getting five snaps and Kai Horton getting two. Ibieta makes some really nice throws and has a little more zip on his throws than Pratt, but Pratt has enough arm strength to get the job done in Chip Long's offense and possesses all of the intangibles. Horton is far behind both of them. I had Pratt going 6 for 10 in 7-on-7 drills and Ibieta going 7 of 10. Three of Ibieta's last four completions were checkdowns.
I liked what I was from Douglas today. He broke up a pass for Daniels in the corner of the end zone at the end of 1-on-1 competition, getting over there quickly. He stripped Bohanon as I already pointed out, and just seems ball active. He is backing up Kerr at nickelback at the moment.
Fritz had both of the top two quarterbacks attempt 2-point conversions,. Pratt was a little late on a throw on an out route by "Booker, and the pass was broken up at the last second. Ibieta tried to run his in, and when the drill is not live, it is impossible to gauge whether he would have been successful.
Near the end of practice, tight end Keitha Jones stayed on the ground after landing awkardly in the end zone while failing to catch up to a pass. They were about to run another snap while trainers were attending to him in the end zone before coaches on the defensive sideline finally got the attention of the players on the field and halted a play right before the snap.
The only interception of the day came at the end of the first series in the OT simulation, when a DB (the defensive starters did not have their jersey numbers on, wearing shirts that read "First Line of Defense" instead) was not fooled by a pass-back to Pratt and picked off an underthrown ball by Duece Watts. Pratt, though, showed one of his intangibles when the ball was fumbled on another trick play. With two defenders closer to it than he was, he sprinted and dove on the ball to retain possession even though it was not really a live drill. He is very competitive and constantly is encouraging and coaching teammates after series when he is on the sideline.
Tyjae Spears took one handoff, turned the corner and ran about 60 yards for a touchdown, showing he still has good acceleration. It likely would not have been a touchdown in a live drill, but he was not going to stop until he crossed the goal line.
For the third consecutive practice, Horton hooked up with high school teammate Mason Courtney, a walk-on running back, for a touchdown, this time on his first snap from the 25-yard line in the OT drill. He also ended the day with a touchdown to uncovered walk-on tight end Jonathan Kahn on a misdirection play. He did not do much in between those scores, though.
The first-team offensive line at the start of the first 11-on-11 drills was Claybrook, Dublin, Haynesworth, Caleb Thomas and Matt Lombardi. Haynesworth excited shortly thereafter, so Thomas became the first-team center the rest of the way. The second-team line was Cameron Jackel, Hutson Lillibridge, Ethan Marcus Trey Tuggle and Joseph Solomon, with Jackson Fort replacing Lillibridge at left guard at times, Lillibridge getting some reps at right guard and Haydan Shook getting some reps at backup right tackle. Rashad Green sat out with an unspecified injury, and I did not see Timothy Shafter.
The second-team defense had Darius Hodges and Angelo Anderson on the outside, Jeffery Johnson and Noah Seiden on the inside, Marvin Moody and Mandel Eugene at linebacker, Kevaris Hall (his first sighting) and Lance Robinson at cornerback, Kerr at nickelback and Rudy (formerly Cornelius) Dyson and Despanie at safety. Obviously Johnson is going to start, but Chris Hampton believes in shaking things up defensively and likely was using it as a motivational tool for Johnson, with other guys wearing the First Line of Defense jersey. I'm guessing Macon Clark was the first-team nickel because Kerr and Douglas had their jersey numbers on and there is no other viable canddiate. Rishi Rattan and Ski'Keem Laister got reps with the second unit at cornerback, too, as did Kolby Phillips and Reggie Neely.
=
Drops are a problem for the receivers. That much is clear after three days. When I arrived at practice today, Ygenio Booker and T.J. Huggins dropped balls in the end zone on simple throwing and catching drills with no defenders on the field. When they went to 1-on-1 battles, Tyrek Presley promptly dropped a pass from Michael Pratt that hit him in the hands. Christian Daniels could not haul in a tougher catch, Cyron Sutton dropped a slightly low throw, Wallace had one go of his hands when he jumped for it and Bryce Bohanon dropped one. Ball security was a problem in 7-on-7 work as well, with Bohanon getting stripped by D.J. Douglas and Huggins getting stripped on consecutive plays. Presley dropped two more passes, and the first one was an easy catch with no excuses while the second one was more challenging. The drops were much less prevalent in 11-on-11 drills, but they need to stop. There are too many overall.
If I were ranking the wideouts right now, Jha'Quan Jackson would be the clear No. 1, with Duece Watts behind him and Shae Wyatt third. Jackson is the clear star at the position so far, and he burned safety Bailey Despanie badly on a deep angled route to hall in a long pass from Pratt in 7 on 7 for the prettiest play of the day. Earlier, during one-on-one drills, he beat Ajani Kerr with a nice hesitation move before sprinting to catch a nice pass from Justin Ibieta on a corner route. Jackson is not perfect yet, but he's smooth and a big-play guy. Watts did not catch a pass in 7-on-7 or 11-on-11 when I was watching, but he did not drop any either and has proven his worth in the past. He got a stern lecture from Chip Long at one point, and later Long brought a playbook over to the sideline to continue the discussion with him more quietly. Wyatt, rebounding from a rough second day, was back to his opening-day form. Although he slipped as he made his cut in the one-on-one drills, he later caught a pass over the middle from Ibieta in 7-on-7 drills and made a nice grab of another Ibieta pass after beating Lance Robinson to the sideline. Finally, he caught a touchdown pass from Ibieta in red zone work. Wyatt runs better routes and gets open more frequently than the receivers not named Jackson, at least to this point. Toles is inconsistent, although he made a nice inside move to get a touchdown catch from Pratt in the OT drill at the end of practice. Presley, who had a very slow start to his career, is up and down. He scored a touchdown in 1-on-1 drills, beating his man to the inside, but his hands are not reliable. I haven't seen a whole lot out of Cyron Sutton, although he caught a beautiful pass from Ibieta Phat on the sideline in the last 11-on-11 session, which was designed to simulate overtime, nor from Phat Watts or the three freshman receivers, but it's still early.
Ygenio Booker continues to flash. He caught a deep pass from Ibieta in the first 11-on-11 segment and then did a dancing, sideline celebration with Phat Watts. Booker will get a chance to be a significant factor in the passing game right away this year.
During 7 on 7 and 11 on 11, Pratt took five snaps, followed by Ibieta getting five snaps and Kai Horton getting two. Ibieta makes some really nice throws and has a little more zip on his throws than Pratt, but Pratt has enough arm strength to get the job done in Chip Long's offense and possesses all of the intangibles. Horton is far behind both of them. I had Pratt going 6 for 10 in 7-on-7 drills and Ibieta going 7 of 10. Three of Ibieta's last four completions were checkdowns.
I liked what I was from Douglas today. He broke up a pass for Daniels in the corner of the end zone at the end of 1-on-1 competition, getting over there quickly. He stripped Bohanon as I already pointed out, and just seems ball active. He is backing up Kerr at nickelback at the moment.
Fritz had both of the top two quarterbacks attempt 2-point conversions,. Pratt was a little late on a throw on an out route by "Booker, and the pass was broken up at the last second. Ibieta tried to run his in, and when the drill is not live, it is impossible to gauge whether he would have been successful.
Near the end of practice, tight end Keitha Jones stayed on the ground after landing awkardly in the end zone while failing to catch up to a pass. They were about to run another snap while trainers were attending to him in the end zone before coaches on the defensive sideline finally got the attention of the players on the field and halted a play right before the snap.
The only interception of the day came at the end of the first series in the OT simulation, when a DB (the defensive starters did not have their jersey numbers on, wearing shirts that read "First Line of Defense" instead) was not fooled by a pass-back to Pratt and picked off an underthrown ball by Duece Watts. Pratt, though, showed one of his intangibles when the ball was fumbled on another trick play. With two defenders closer to it than he was, he sprinted and dove on the ball to retain possession even though it was not really a live drill. He is very competitive and constantly is encouraging and coaching teammates after series when he is on the sideline.
Tyjae Spears took one handoff, turned the corner and ran about 60 yards for a touchdown, showing he still has good acceleration. It likely would not have been a touchdown in a live drill, but he was not going to stop until he crossed the goal line.
For the third consecutive practice, Horton hooked up with high school teammate Mason Courtney, a walk-on running back, for a touchdown, this time on his first snap from the 25-yard line in the OT drill. He also ended the day with a touchdown to uncovered walk-on tight end Jonathan Kahn on a misdirection play. He did not do much in between those scores, though.
The first-team offensive line at the start of the first 11-on-11 drills was Claybrook, Dublin, Haynesworth, Caleb Thomas and Matt Lombardi. Haynesworth excited shortly thereafter, so Thomas became the first-team center the rest of the way. The second-team line was Cameron Jackel, Hutson Lillibridge, Ethan Marcus Trey Tuggle and Joseph Solomon, with Jackson Fort replacing Lillibridge at left guard at times, Lillibridge getting some reps at right guard and Haydan Shook getting some reps at backup right tackle. Rashad Green sat out with an unspecified injury, and I did not see Timothy Shafter.
The second-team defense had Darius Hodges and Angelo Anderson on the outside, Jeffery Johnson and Noah Seiden on the inside, Marvin Moody and Mandel Eugene at linebacker, Kevaris Hall (his first sighting) and Lance Robinson at cornerback, Kerr at nickelback and Rudy (formerly Cornelius) Dyson and Despanie at safety. Obviously Johnson is going to start, but Chris Hampton believes in shaking things up defensively and likely was using it as a motivational tool for Johnson, with other guys wearing the First Line of Defense jersey. I'm guessing Macon Clark was the first-team nickel because Kerr and Douglas had their jersey numbers on and there is no other viable canddiate. Rishi Rattan and Ski'Keem Laister got reps with the second unit at cornerback, too, as did Kolby Phillips and Reggie Neely.
=
