Tulane, which is in dire need of a pass rush entering its game against East Carolina, may be without the services of starting defensive end Cameron Sample on Saturday. He missed Tuesday's practice after getting hurt against Cincinnati, and although coach Willie Fritz shies away from discussing the status of injured players, he said Robert Kennedy would play a lot against the Pirates. Kennedy, coming off knee surgery that sidelined him for the first seven games this season, replaced Sample in the first half against Cincinnati and finished with five tackles, the same number as the rest of the linemen combined.
That's not bad for a guy wiping off the rust of inactivity, although Kennedy's forte is run stopping rather than pressure--he had zero sacks last year and has one in his career.
"Robert Kennedy did a good job," Fritz said. "He's getting in better shape. He played quite a lot more than we thought he was going to play. He brings a physicality to the team as well and a lot of toughness. He'll play a lot this weekend. He's starting to get in game shape a little bit better every single week."
Zero is a common number when it comes to Tulane and sacks. The Wave last recorded one on the first play of the fourth quarter against Tulsa on Oct. 7, taking over on downs with a 55-21 lead. Since then, opponents have thrown 114 times without allowing a sack, and, as would follow, Tulane has lost four in a row.
"Sometimes it's the calls, both offense and defense," Fritz said. "You're bringing pressure and they're getting rid of the ball quick or it's a play-action pass and we had a three-man front and they were max protecting it. We had three or four opportunities in the game where we either had a guy free and he got there just a tad late or we had six guys on six guys. We have to win one of those match-ups when that happens. It makes your secondary a lot better when we do get pressure up front. That's an area we're very aware of we need to do a better job."
ECU, which threw 74 times and was sacked only once by Houston's talented front four in Saturday's 52-27 loss to Houston, will not make it easy on Tulane's pass rushers. Many of the passes were quick outs that coach Scottie Montgomery calls "extended runs." The Pirates likely will start junior Gardner Minshew, who replaced the ineffective Thomas Sirk in the first quarter and completed 52 of 68 passes for 463 yards and three TDs in the lost cause against Houston. Montgomery refused to divulge his plans at his weekly news conference, but Sirk, a better runner than thrower, probably will be used in short-yardage situations. If the name is familiar, when he was at Duke he started against Tulane in the 2015 opener and completed 27 of 40 passes for 289 yards and two scores with zero interceptions and also ran for 68 yards on 15 attempts. A year earlier, he ran five times for 94 yards as a short-yardage specialist against Tulane, including a key 50-yard run on fourth down early in the game.
In other news, Rae Juan Marbley missed Tuesday's practice, but it was for a good reason that I will release when cleared. He's healthy and most likely very happy right about now. In his absence, freshman Lawrence Graham got first-team reps and made a nice play with an interception.
The offensive line change I thought Tulane might make based on practice last week did not materialize, with Dominique Briggs starting and playing most of the way at right guard ahead of Leeward Brown. Today, the same starting five as usual got the first-team reps, so the coaches still believe Briggs is the best option at his spot.
The defense, which has had a series of breakdowns at the back end that safety Rod Teamer attributed to poor communication, had another one in practice today during team drills. Jabril Clewis slipped out uncovered on a seam route, and I mean uncovered.
While still wearing his white (offense) jersey, John Washington left the main field to go to the practice field outside the stadium with the other defensive linemen during practice. I will check about that tomorrow, but Tulane definitely is thin on depth along the line with Eldrick Washington gone for the year and Sample possibly out this week. There's Sean Wilson and Braynon Edwards at the nose, Ade Aruna and Patrick Johnson at the hybrid end/tackle spot, Kennedy and Peter Woullard at the other spend spot and DeAndre Williams as a spot player, with Quinlan Carroll and Larry Bryant at the hybrid end/OLB spot. Of that group, Williams, Edwards, Carroll, Woullard and Johnson did not make a tackle against Cincinnati.
John Washington has been an offensive lineman since Fritz converted him from defensive tackle early last year. Initially optimistic about his potential, the staff clearly has soured on his potential there, and he has spent this season playing on the scout team. Could he give the Wave some serviceable downs inside on defense? I don't know, but it will be interesting to see if the staff is considering it.
Luke Jackson, who was credited with five tackles, including one for a loss against Cincinnati, has been named one of 20 semifinalist for the inaugural Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award, which goes to the player who best exhibits leadership on and off the field. Jackson has 41 tackles, the sixth most on the team, six stops for loss, second to Marbley's 6 1/2, and a team-high 3 1/2 sacks. For more info, check the link below:
http://tulanegreenwave.com/news/201...iate-man-of-the-year-award.aspx?path=football
One last nugget: Tulane has committed only six turnovers this year, tied for the second fewest in the country and trailing only Alabama's five. Of the teams in the top 20 in that category, 17 already are bowl eligible, Kansas State is 5-4, Vanderbilt is 4-5 and Tulane is 3-6. The combined record of the other 19 is 121-46. So even though the Wave has taken care of the ball incredibly well, the payoff has been negligible to this point.
That's not bad for a guy wiping off the rust of inactivity, although Kennedy's forte is run stopping rather than pressure--he had zero sacks last year and has one in his career.
"Robert Kennedy did a good job," Fritz said. "He's getting in better shape. He played quite a lot more than we thought he was going to play. He brings a physicality to the team as well and a lot of toughness. He'll play a lot this weekend. He's starting to get in game shape a little bit better every single week."
Zero is a common number when it comes to Tulane and sacks. The Wave last recorded one on the first play of the fourth quarter against Tulsa on Oct. 7, taking over on downs with a 55-21 lead. Since then, opponents have thrown 114 times without allowing a sack, and, as would follow, Tulane has lost four in a row.
"Sometimes it's the calls, both offense and defense," Fritz said. "You're bringing pressure and they're getting rid of the ball quick or it's a play-action pass and we had a three-man front and they were max protecting it. We had three or four opportunities in the game where we either had a guy free and he got there just a tad late or we had six guys on six guys. We have to win one of those match-ups when that happens. It makes your secondary a lot better when we do get pressure up front. That's an area we're very aware of we need to do a better job."
ECU, which threw 74 times and was sacked only once by Houston's talented front four in Saturday's 52-27 loss to Houston, will not make it easy on Tulane's pass rushers. Many of the passes were quick outs that coach Scottie Montgomery calls "extended runs." The Pirates likely will start junior Gardner Minshew, who replaced the ineffective Thomas Sirk in the first quarter and completed 52 of 68 passes for 463 yards and three TDs in the lost cause against Houston. Montgomery refused to divulge his plans at his weekly news conference, but Sirk, a better runner than thrower, probably will be used in short-yardage situations. If the name is familiar, when he was at Duke he started against Tulane in the 2015 opener and completed 27 of 40 passes for 289 yards and two scores with zero interceptions and also ran for 68 yards on 15 attempts. A year earlier, he ran five times for 94 yards as a short-yardage specialist against Tulane, including a key 50-yard run on fourth down early in the game.
In other news, Rae Juan Marbley missed Tuesday's practice, but it was for a good reason that I will release when cleared. He's healthy and most likely very happy right about now. In his absence, freshman Lawrence Graham got first-team reps and made a nice play with an interception.
The offensive line change I thought Tulane might make based on practice last week did not materialize, with Dominique Briggs starting and playing most of the way at right guard ahead of Leeward Brown. Today, the same starting five as usual got the first-team reps, so the coaches still believe Briggs is the best option at his spot.
The defense, which has had a series of breakdowns at the back end that safety Rod Teamer attributed to poor communication, had another one in practice today during team drills. Jabril Clewis slipped out uncovered on a seam route, and I mean uncovered.
While still wearing his white (offense) jersey, John Washington left the main field to go to the practice field outside the stadium with the other defensive linemen during practice. I will check about that tomorrow, but Tulane definitely is thin on depth along the line with Eldrick Washington gone for the year and Sample possibly out this week. There's Sean Wilson and Braynon Edwards at the nose, Ade Aruna and Patrick Johnson at the hybrid end/tackle spot, Kennedy and Peter Woullard at the other spend spot and DeAndre Williams as a spot player, with Quinlan Carroll and Larry Bryant at the hybrid end/OLB spot. Of that group, Williams, Edwards, Carroll, Woullard and Johnson did not make a tackle against Cincinnati.
John Washington has been an offensive lineman since Fritz converted him from defensive tackle early last year. Initially optimistic about his potential, the staff clearly has soured on his potential there, and he has spent this season playing on the scout team. Could he give the Wave some serviceable downs inside on defense? I don't know, but it will be interesting to see if the staff is considering it.
Luke Jackson, who was credited with five tackles, including one for a loss against Cincinnati, has been named one of 20 semifinalist for the inaugural Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award, which goes to the player who best exhibits leadership on and off the field. Jackson has 41 tackles, the sixth most on the team, six stops for loss, second to Marbley's 6 1/2, and a team-high 3 1/2 sacks. For more info, check the link below:
http://tulanegreenwave.com/news/201...iate-man-of-the-year-award.aspx?path=football
One last nugget: Tulane has committed only six turnovers this year, tied for the second fewest in the country and trailing only Alabama's five. Of the teams in the top 20 in that category, 17 already are bowl eligible, Kansas State is 5-4, Vanderbilt is 4-5 and Tulane is 3-6. The combined record of the other 19 is 121-46. So even though the Wave has taken care of the ball incredibly well, the payoff has been negligible to this point.
