Tulane reached the midpoint of spring drills in the middle of Thursday morning's practice. The eighth session of the spring lasted two hours on a windy, humid day, and soon after I realized TJ Finley was not there, the news popped about his arrest. I missed a few minutes of the practice while I downloaded the police report and tried to reach his lawyer (unsuccessfully on the latter part), but it appears Tulane's quarterback race is down to two in the spring with the possibility of another one added in the summer portal period if neither Kadin Semonza nor Donovan Leary convinces the coaches he can lead this team to a championship. Forget about Kellen Tasby. He practiced at wide receiver today as the staff looks for more height at the position.
My concern with Semonza is he has missed more throws than I expected considering accuracy is his calling card. My spies tell me he picked up the offensive system in about a week after arriving and has the mind to be a successful QB. The question is whether he has the skill set. Leary's skill set is not in question. He has a cannon for an arm, but so did Kai Horton, who lacked the leadership qualities and the consistency to be a solid performer. Both quarterbacks are ahead of the pace any of the three set last spring, but Darian Mensah made a heck of a jump from there, and it remains to be seen if either one of these guys will do that.
I looked at depth charts at the line of scrimmage today while they spent plenty of time in two different segments of 11-on-11 action. The first-team offensive line was Jack Hollifield at center, John Bock at right guard and Reese Baker at right tackle to go along with the two returning starters. The second-team line had Tristen Fortenberry, Landry Cannon, Elijah Baker, Robbie Pizzolato and Dominic Steward from left to right, with Jordan Hall (LT), Jayce Mitchell (LG) and Elijah Baker (C) rotating in. Bock later got some work at center and snapped one high and hard that went through Semonza's hands and forced him to retrieve it 20 yards behind the line.
The defensive line had Harvey Dyson, Ty Cooper and Jah'rie Carner rotating at bandit, Deshaun Batiste and Gerrod Henderson getting the work at end and Eliyt Nairne, Derrick Shepard and Elijah Champaigne getting most of the work inside. Kam Hamilton remains out with an injury. Freshman Nik Alston caught my eye when he deflected a pass from Semonza as he tried to throw on the run.
I have seen a few too many fumbles during the spring. Today, the culprits were Anthony Brown-Stephens on an end around and Zuberi Mobley on an run near the goal line. Mobley got chewed out by a coach for putting the ball on the ground. Neither he nor fellow FAU transfer Omari Hayes, who has been out with an leg injury since day 2, have made much of an impact.
Wide receiver Antwaun Parham suffered a knee injury during practice and was walking off the field toward the locker room with a trainer.
Leary had a good stretch in a 7-on-7 red zone session, hitting Seth Gale in the back corner of the end zone, finding Bryce Bohanon in the back of the end zone and connecting with Oliver Mitchell on back-to-back-to-back touchdown passes.
Maurice Turner makes a highlight play every day, and he looked good again on a quick screen to the outside, taking it a long way. Sumrall absolutely loves him.
A cornerback who has flashed is Isaiah Wadsworth, the senior transfer from Wofford. He blanketed Turner on a pass from Leary in the end zone from the 5.
Jamauri McClure, who has not done much outside of Saturday's scrimmage, got stuffed for a loss by Henderson after catching a quick throw behind the line.
Linebacker Dallas Winner-Johnson continued to make plays, breaking up a throw by Semonza. Kevin Adams made a nice tackle of Mitchell after a short reception.
My concern with Semonza is he has missed more throws than I expected considering accuracy is his calling card. My spies tell me he picked up the offensive system in about a week after arriving and has the mind to be a successful QB. The question is whether he has the skill set. Leary's skill set is not in question. He has a cannon for an arm, but so did Kai Horton, who lacked the leadership qualities and the consistency to be a solid performer. Both quarterbacks are ahead of the pace any of the three set last spring, but Darian Mensah made a heck of a jump from there, and it remains to be seen if either one of these guys will do that.
I looked at depth charts at the line of scrimmage today while they spent plenty of time in two different segments of 11-on-11 action. The first-team offensive line was Jack Hollifield at center, John Bock at right guard and Reese Baker at right tackle to go along with the two returning starters. The second-team line had Tristen Fortenberry, Landry Cannon, Elijah Baker, Robbie Pizzolato and Dominic Steward from left to right, with Jordan Hall (LT), Jayce Mitchell (LG) and Elijah Baker (C) rotating in. Bock later got some work at center and snapped one high and hard that went through Semonza's hands and forced him to retrieve it 20 yards behind the line.
The defensive line had Harvey Dyson, Ty Cooper and Jah'rie Carner rotating at bandit, Deshaun Batiste and Gerrod Henderson getting the work at end and Eliyt Nairne, Derrick Shepard and Elijah Champaigne getting most of the work inside. Kam Hamilton remains out with an injury. Freshman Nik Alston caught my eye when he deflected a pass from Semonza as he tried to throw on the run.
I have seen a few too many fumbles during the spring. Today, the culprits were Anthony Brown-Stephens on an end around and Zuberi Mobley on an run near the goal line. Mobley got chewed out by a coach for putting the ball on the ground. Neither he nor fellow FAU transfer Omari Hayes, who has been out with an leg injury since day 2, have made much of an impact.
Wide receiver Antwaun Parham suffered a knee injury during practice and was walking off the field toward the locker room with a trainer.
Leary had a good stretch in a 7-on-7 red zone session, hitting Seth Gale in the back corner of the end zone, finding Bryce Bohanon in the back of the end zone and connecting with Oliver Mitchell on back-to-back-to-back touchdown passes.
Maurice Turner makes a highlight play every day, and he looked good again on a quick screen to the outside, taking it a long way. Sumrall absolutely loves him.
A cornerback who has flashed is Isaiah Wadsworth, the senior transfer from Wofford. He blanketed Turner on a pass from Leary in the end zone from the 5.
Jamauri McClure, who has not done much outside of Saturday's scrimmage, got stuffed for a loss by Henderson after catching a quick throw behind the line.
Linebacker Dallas Winner-Johnson continued to make plays, breaking up a throw by Semonza. Kevin Adams made a nice tackle of Mitchell after a short reception.
