The last Tulane football practice I will cover in New Orleans until spring drills took place in frigid weather (by local standards) this morning. The Green Wave will work out at Yulman Stadium again tomorrow morning, but my flight to Florida leaves at 7 a.m, so I will be gone.
Considering it was the last practice I will cover fully, I took inventory, and the only injured players that have not already been declared out for the year are linebacker K.J. Vault, who I did not see, and wide receiver Jacob Robertson, who attended practice in shorts (he had to be cold) but was not in uniform. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember mentioning that Vault was hurt at any time this year. I noticed when I looked at the stats this morning that he had missed the last six games.
Jamiran James, who is being redshirted, no longer has the cast on his hand and received reps today, but defensive coordinator Jack Curtis told me it was very unlikely he would play in the Cure Bowl because the Wave does not need him with DeAndre Williams, Jeffery Johnson and Davon Wright rotating in the middle. Christian Daniels was not there, either, but he has been out for some time with a knee injury. Peter Woullard, who received a medical hardship earlier this year and never will play football again, also was there.
It looks like Jonathan Banks will be the backup QB to Justin McMillan. Banks, who has not played since the SMU game, received more reps today than he did at the end of the regular season.
When I got there, they were doing a kickoff coverage drill. Amare Jones was fielding the kicks while holding a ball in one of his hands, but he still caught the kickoff one-handed three out of four times when I was watching. He made it look easy. Normally, the player does not bother trying to catch the ball in the drill because it is all about the coaches watching the kickoff guys in their coverage lanes, but he put on an impressive display.
The coaches definitely are coaching hard. One defensive coach ripped a scout-team receiver for lolly-gagging, screaming "Run a route!"
With the exception of Robertson, all of the receivers who played this year practiced today. That means Brian Newman, Jaetavian Toles, Jorrien Vallien and Ygenio Booker and tight ends Tyrick James, Will Wallace and Kendall Ardoin in addition to the normal starters. Toles made a big play against Navy. Maybe one of the other guys will do something against ULL.
One thing I forgot when I wrote about Patrick Johnson for The Advocate is his new position coach this year was Jack Curtis, who coached the safeties last season. Johnson has a ton of ability, but Curtis also got the most out of him after moving to outside linebacker coach with the hiring of J.J. McCleskey.
Here is Willie Fritz from today:
How has the week gone?
"Oh, I think we've had a really good week. We needed this extra time both for recruiting and we're also doing a few new things offensively from coach (Will) Hall. It's helping us be a little more diverse, so that's good. The time helps. We kind of get all the new stuff in and be able to go down to Orlando and kind of enjoy ourselves and have a good time but also lock in on Friday and get ready for the game."
What do you tell offensive players you are recruiting about what to expect from this offense in 2019?
"Signing Day is a week from Wednesday and we're going to probably be done a week from Wednesday, which is good. We were close to being done last year and I believe 91 percent of Division I players signed in the early signing period. The thing we're doing, I like what Will's doing. There are some things he was already doing before when he was a head coach and play-caller. There are some similarities to what they're doing up there at Memphis and there are some things we're doing already that are similar, but the tempo stuff is what he's really helped us with. We do a little bit of tempo but we've been working on doing quite a bit more, and he's helped us incorporate that into what we're doing in a really simplified manner. It's not as complicated maybe as what I once thought it was."
What are those complications?
"A big part of it is the play call and what you're going to do and getting lined up and doing things. A lot of people are doing this, but one word tells you how to line up and the play call and everything. That's something that has been easy for us to pick up, and with the extra time that's helped as well. There are some wrinkles with run and the pass. too."
How much tempo did you do this year?
"We did I'd probably say for the whole season we may have done 15 plays where we tried to do some tempo, and that's something we can evolve in."
What will coach Hall's role be on game day?
"He's going to be on the field there. He will be another coach helping. Alex Atkins does a super job with preparation and engraining what we're doing and also taking some input from Will and some of the other offensive coaches as well."
What is the bowl experience like for you and how have you managed it?
"I had somebody call me last night and talk about the difference between a playoff and FBS bowl game. One thing is you're playing every week (in the FCS playoffs), and really the FCS level, probably most of their signees are going to occur in the later signing period. That's a big difference. It's win or go home. The thing that I thought was tough was the championship game was about a month after the semifinal, so that was difficult. With what we were doing at the time (in 2011 and 2012 with Sam Houston State, I thought that gave an advantage to the team we were playing (North Dakota State). They had a month to prepare for us rather than a week. The recruiting part is just much more emphasized at the FBS level because more of the kids are going to sign early than late. To me that's the big difference."
Do you prepare differently for a bowl game than the regular season?
One thing I think's good is we're going to be the first game I believe. There are some school playing the first week of January and that's difficult. How much time do you give a guy off. You get used to game speed. We've done a lot of good on good over the last few days, and then the little bit of extra time we had helped us implement some of the new strategies we are going to use offensively."
Have you been to get some of your younger kids additional reps in the bowl practices?
"A bunch. When we go good on good, we play everybody. First group, second group, third group. Last week we were going 32 plays a team, 32 plays of pass skellie and one day we did 24 plays of inside period. We got a chance to really work with the young guys doing our stuff instead of trying to replicate the opponent that we're going to play. That's been good. Really those guys have probably gotten in a week's worth of practice on our stuff. For me as the head coach and general manager of our team, it allows me to evaluate those guys further so that when we're signing people I kind of know where that guy's at right now and if we really do need somebody at that position, what our true depth is."
Your defense ended up ranked in the top half of the conference in every statistical category (except passing yards allowed) and second in rushing defense. How pleased are you with the way that group has performed?
"We've gotten much better. We switched from an even to an odd defense last year and whenever you do that there are going to be some growing pains. Right now coach Curtis and his staff really have a great handle on what we're doing and really showed great improvement. Rush defense we did a very nice job, and we are one of the nation's leader in completion percentage against. We had a tough time sacking the quarterback (last year) and we're doing a really good job of getting after the quarterback as well, so very good progress."
Editors note: Tulane was fourth in scoring defense, fourth in total defense, second in rush defense, ninth in pass defense, sixth in pass efficiency defense, sixth in interceptions, tied for first in sacks, fourth in opponents first downs, second in opponents third down conversion percentage, fifth in opponents fourth down conversion percentage and second in red zone defense.
Darius Bradwell was not a running back when he came here. He will be a 1,000-yard rusher after the bowl game if he gets 16 yards. How has he come along?
"Excellent. He's a big guy. He's 235 pounds. He's got excellent strength and does a good job the majority of the time getting north and south, putting his foot in the ground. I really think the sky's the limit for him. He's going to keep improving as a runner, but there's other facets of his game that he can really amp up as well with the blocking and the receiving. There are a lot of things he can do that we're tinkering with right now."
Tulane's only had one runner/receiver combo with 1,000 yards in the same year (Andre Anderson and Jeremy Williams in 2009), but Bradwell and Darnell Mooney almost certainly will do it this year. How much does that help the offense?
"That helps out a bunch. Darnell's had a fabulous year. I'm disappointed that he didn't make any type of All-Conference mention. He was very deserving of that. He runs great routes. He has super hands. He's very competitive. He comes to work every day. You get an honest day's work out of him every single day. He's a guy I always put upon a pedestal for our guys to emulate because he's just such a good practice guy day in and day out."
Considering it was the last practice I will cover fully, I took inventory, and the only injured players that have not already been declared out for the year are linebacker K.J. Vault, who I did not see, and wide receiver Jacob Robertson, who attended practice in shorts (he had to be cold) but was not in uniform. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember mentioning that Vault was hurt at any time this year. I noticed when I looked at the stats this morning that he had missed the last six games.
Jamiran James, who is being redshirted, no longer has the cast on his hand and received reps today, but defensive coordinator Jack Curtis told me it was very unlikely he would play in the Cure Bowl because the Wave does not need him with DeAndre Williams, Jeffery Johnson and Davon Wright rotating in the middle. Christian Daniels was not there, either, but he has been out for some time with a knee injury. Peter Woullard, who received a medical hardship earlier this year and never will play football again, also was there.
It looks like Jonathan Banks will be the backup QB to Justin McMillan. Banks, who has not played since the SMU game, received more reps today than he did at the end of the regular season.
When I got there, they were doing a kickoff coverage drill. Amare Jones was fielding the kicks while holding a ball in one of his hands, but he still caught the kickoff one-handed three out of four times when I was watching. He made it look easy. Normally, the player does not bother trying to catch the ball in the drill because it is all about the coaches watching the kickoff guys in their coverage lanes, but he put on an impressive display.
The coaches definitely are coaching hard. One defensive coach ripped a scout-team receiver for lolly-gagging, screaming "Run a route!"
With the exception of Robertson, all of the receivers who played this year practiced today. That means Brian Newman, Jaetavian Toles, Jorrien Vallien and Ygenio Booker and tight ends Tyrick James, Will Wallace and Kendall Ardoin in addition to the normal starters. Toles made a big play against Navy. Maybe one of the other guys will do something against ULL.
One thing I forgot when I wrote about Patrick Johnson for The Advocate is his new position coach this year was Jack Curtis, who coached the safeties last season. Johnson has a ton of ability, but Curtis also got the most out of him after moving to outside linebacker coach with the hiring of J.J. McCleskey.
Here is Willie Fritz from today:
How has the week gone?
"Oh, I think we've had a really good week. We needed this extra time both for recruiting and we're also doing a few new things offensively from coach (Will) Hall. It's helping us be a little more diverse, so that's good. The time helps. We kind of get all the new stuff in and be able to go down to Orlando and kind of enjoy ourselves and have a good time but also lock in on Friday and get ready for the game."
What do you tell offensive players you are recruiting about what to expect from this offense in 2019?
"Signing Day is a week from Wednesday and we're going to probably be done a week from Wednesday, which is good. We were close to being done last year and I believe 91 percent of Division I players signed in the early signing period. The thing we're doing, I like what Will's doing. There are some things he was already doing before when he was a head coach and play-caller. There are some similarities to what they're doing up there at Memphis and there are some things we're doing already that are similar, but the tempo stuff is what he's really helped us with. We do a little bit of tempo but we've been working on doing quite a bit more, and he's helped us incorporate that into what we're doing in a really simplified manner. It's not as complicated maybe as what I once thought it was."
What are those complications?
"A big part of it is the play call and what you're going to do and getting lined up and doing things. A lot of people are doing this, but one word tells you how to line up and the play call and everything. That's something that has been easy for us to pick up, and with the extra time that's helped as well. There are some wrinkles with run and the pass. too."
How much tempo did you do this year?
"We did I'd probably say for the whole season we may have done 15 plays where we tried to do some tempo, and that's something we can evolve in."
What will coach Hall's role be on game day?
"He's going to be on the field there. He will be another coach helping. Alex Atkins does a super job with preparation and engraining what we're doing and also taking some input from Will and some of the other offensive coaches as well."
What is the bowl experience like for you and how have you managed it?
"I had somebody call me last night and talk about the difference between a playoff and FBS bowl game. One thing is you're playing every week (in the FCS playoffs), and really the FCS level, probably most of their signees are going to occur in the later signing period. That's a big difference. It's win or go home. The thing that I thought was tough was the championship game was about a month after the semifinal, so that was difficult. With what we were doing at the time (in 2011 and 2012 with Sam Houston State, I thought that gave an advantage to the team we were playing (North Dakota State). They had a month to prepare for us rather than a week. The recruiting part is just much more emphasized at the FBS level because more of the kids are going to sign early than late. To me that's the big difference."
Do you prepare differently for a bowl game than the regular season?
One thing I think's good is we're going to be the first game I believe. There are some school playing the first week of January and that's difficult. How much time do you give a guy off. You get used to game speed. We've done a lot of good on good over the last few days, and then the little bit of extra time we had helped us implement some of the new strategies we are going to use offensively."
Have you been to get some of your younger kids additional reps in the bowl practices?
"A bunch. When we go good on good, we play everybody. First group, second group, third group. Last week we were going 32 plays a team, 32 plays of pass skellie and one day we did 24 plays of inside period. We got a chance to really work with the young guys doing our stuff instead of trying to replicate the opponent that we're going to play. That's been good. Really those guys have probably gotten in a week's worth of practice on our stuff. For me as the head coach and general manager of our team, it allows me to evaluate those guys further so that when we're signing people I kind of know where that guy's at right now and if we really do need somebody at that position, what our true depth is."
Your defense ended up ranked in the top half of the conference in every statistical category (except passing yards allowed) and second in rushing defense. How pleased are you with the way that group has performed?
"We've gotten much better. We switched from an even to an odd defense last year and whenever you do that there are going to be some growing pains. Right now coach Curtis and his staff really have a great handle on what we're doing and really showed great improvement. Rush defense we did a very nice job, and we are one of the nation's leader in completion percentage against. We had a tough time sacking the quarterback (last year) and we're doing a really good job of getting after the quarterback as well, so very good progress."
Editors note: Tulane was fourth in scoring defense, fourth in total defense, second in rush defense, ninth in pass defense, sixth in pass efficiency defense, sixth in interceptions, tied for first in sacks, fourth in opponents first downs, second in opponents third down conversion percentage, fifth in opponents fourth down conversion percentage and second in red zone defense.
Darius Bradwell was not a running back when he came here. He will be a 1,000-yard rusher after the bowl game if he gets 16 yards. How has he come along?
"Excellent. He's a big guy. He's 235 pounds. He's got excellent strength and does a good job the majority of the time getting north and south, putting his foot in the ground. I really think the sky's the limit for him. He's going to keep improving as a runner, but there's other facets of his game that he can really amp up as well with the blocking and the receiving. There are a lot of things he can do that we're tinkering with right now."
Tulane's only had one runner/receiver combo with 1,000 yards in the same year (Andre Anderson and Jeremy Williams in 2009), but Bradwell and Darnell Mooney almost certainly will do it this year. How much does that help the offense?
"That helps out a bunch. Darnell's had a fabulous year. I'm disappointed that he didn't make any type of All-Conference mention. He was very deserving of that. He runs great routes. He has super hands. He's very competitive. He comes to work every day. You get an honest day's work out of him every single day. He's a guy I always put upon a pedestal for our guys to emulate because he's just such a good practice guy day in and day out."
