Practice must have started late today because I saw about an hour when I usually see about 30 minutes at most on Thursdays when I have to write all my copy for Friday's and Saturday's editions of The Advocate and usually am writing in the morning before I make it to practice (I got a lot of work done last night this time).
Tulane was a little thin at rush end today with Juan Monjarres, the surprise fourth quarter star against Memphis, sitting out along with Peter Woullard, who did not play against Memphis and likely got hurt last week. Both of them watched practice, and I was told Monjarres will make the trip to Cincinnati after getting hurt during a pass rush drill earlier this week with the anticipation he will be available to play.
With those two guys out, the backup OLB/DE was Carlos Hatcher and the backup OLB/DE on the right side was Larry Bryant, a nickelback who has spent plenty of time at OLB in the past. I know Tulane usually has only one OLB on the field, but both of them were playing in a two-point stance. If Monjarres cannot play, the Wave won't have anyone else available at the end spots other than starters Cameron Sample and Patrick Johnson. Alfred Thomas got some work at end in preseason practice but is more of an inside guy in his skill set.
Cameron Carroll has not practiced this week, so I asked Fritz about him today, concerned he might have gotten upset about not playing. Nope. Not the issue.
"He has pink eye," Fritz said. "It's infectious, so we're keeping him away. It's unfortunate. He's had it for a couple of weeks."
Reserve linebacker Quentin Brown also sat out, but other than the injured players, Tulane used its normal first and second teams defensively. Donnie Lewis practiced in a no-contact jersey but did not miss a rep. I would not be surprised if Chase Kuerschen plays a bigger role this week, athough he did not appear to get any more reps than usual as the backup free safety. I could see him sliding over to strong safety to provide run support if the P.J. Hall and Taris Shenall struggle early, but maybe that's just me.
The quarterback play has been so much better in practice since Justin McMillan's emergence. It was painful to watch Ledford and Daniels at times, but the offense looks crisp with Banks and McMillan taking all the reps.
Tulane had the same first-team offensive line out there today, but they had a combination of Joey Claybrook at LT, Corey Dublin at LG, Hunter Knighton at C, Dominique Briggs at RG and John Leglue at LT getting reps as a group, too. Cameron Jackel got some reps with the first unit at LG in place of Briggs, but Tulane has mixed and matched before with no change on Saturday.
I confirmed that Noah Fisher got hurt last week, so the move to Tyler Johnson was injury based rather than just him outperforming Fisher.
A few guys working on the scout-team defense who you definitely will not see play this year barring major injuries or late-season action due to the new four games and redshirt rule are Larry Brooks, Keitha Jones and Dorian Camel. Jamiran James was on the scout-team defense, too, but since he has a had injury, I would not rule him out for playing early. I do not expect him to be a part of the rotation, but it's possible when the hand heals.
It started raining just as practice ended. Here was my brief interview with Fritz aside from the Carroll question.
Darnell Mooney said he had a date with the Juggs machine after his three drops against Memphis. Did he have that date?
"He's been doing a whole bunch of it. It was very uncharacteristic of him He has great hands, makes the tough catch and makes it in traffic. He'll bounce back."
How impressed are you with the year he's having?
"It doesn't surprise me. He always plays hard and he knows his assignments inside and out. As I say all the time, he plays to his ability level every day and then he puts together good games."
You have such a young defensive line. Have they progressed the way you expected?
"Yeah, we know they had a bunch of ability. The thing I like that they are doing right now is last week, not just on the pass downs, but on run downs we were playing on the other side of the line of scrimmage. We have to be able to do that Saturday against a big, strong offensive line."
How much improvement have you see from those guys in the last five weeks?
"Oh, a bunch. That should be an area of strength for us for years to come."
Tulane was a little thin at rush end today with Juan Monjarres, the surprise fourth quarter star against Memphis, sitting out along with Peter Woullard, who did not play against Memphis and likely got hurt last week. Both of them watched practice, and I was told Monjarres will make the trip to Cincinnati after getting hurt during a pass rush drill earlier this week with the anticipation he will be available to play.
With those two guys out, the backup OLB/DE was Carlos Hatcher and the backup OLB/DE on the right side was Larry Bryant, a nickelback who has spent plenty of time at OLB in the past. I know Tulane usually has only one OLB on the field, but both of them were playing in a two-point stance. If Monjarres cannot play, the Wave won't have anyone else available at the end spots other than starters Cameron Sample and Patrick Johnson. Alfred Thomas got some work at end in preseason practice but is more of an inside guy in his skill set.
Cameron Carroll has not practiced this week, so I asked Fritz about him today, concerned he might have gotten upset about not playing. Nope. Not the issue.
"He has pink eye," Fritz said. "It's infectious, so we're keeping him away. It's unfortunate. He's had it for a couple of weeks."
Reserve linebacker Quentin Brown also sat out, but other than the injured players, Tulane used its normal first and second teams defensively. Donnie Lewis practiced in a no-contact jersey but did not miss a rep. I would not be surprised if Chase Kuerschen plays a bigger role this week, athough he did not appear to get any more reps than usual as the backup free safety. I could see him sliding over to strong safety to provide run support if the P.J. Hall and Taris Shenall struggle early, but maybe that's just me.
The quarterback play has been so much better in practice since Justin McMillan's emergence. It was painful to watch Ledford and Daniels at times, but the offense looks crisp with Banks and McMillan taking all the reps.
Tulane had the same first-team offensive line out there today, but they had a combination of Joey Claybrook at LT, Corey Dublin at LG, Hunter Knighton at C, Dominique Briggs at RG and John Leglue at LT getting reps as a group, too. Cameron Jackel got some reps with the first unit at LG in place of Briggs, but Tulane has mixed and matched before with no change on Saturday.
I confirmed that Noah Fisher got hurt last week, so the move to Tyler Johnson was injury based rather than just him outperforming Fisher.
A few guys working on the scout-team defense who you definitely will not see play this year barring major injuries or late-season action due to the new four games and redshirt rule are Larry Brooks, Keitha Jones and Dorian Camel. Jamiran James was on the scout-team defense, too, but since he has a had injury, I would not rule him out for playing early. I do not expect him to be a part of the rotation, but it's possible when the hand heals.
It started raining just as practice ended. Here was my brief interview with Fritz aside from the Carroll question.
Darnell Mooney said he had a date with the Juggs machine after his three drops against Memphis. Did he have that date?
"He's been doing a whole bunch of it. It was very uncharacteristic of him He has great hands, makes the tough catch and makes it in traffic. He'll bounce back."
How impressed are you with the year he's having?
"It doesn't surprise me. He always plays hard and he knows his assignments inside and out. As I say all the time, he plays to his ability level every day and then he puts together good games."
You have such a young defensive line. Have they progressed the way you expected?
"Yeah, we know they had a bunch of ability. The thing I like that they are doing right now is last week, not just on the pass downs, but on run downs we were playing on the other side of the line of scrimmage. We have to be able to do that Saturday against a big, strong offensive line."
How much improvement have you see from those guys in the last five weeks?
"Oh, a bunch. That should be an area of strength for us for years to come."