Tulane practiced earlier than usual today to avoid the potential for bad weather, but I still caught the last 45 minutes. The most notable thing was Jeffery Johnson did not practice, standing on the sideline without his helmet. UAB averages about 250 rushing yards per game, so Johnson's presence would definitely help Saturday. In his absence, Robert Kennedy and Cam Sample flanked DeAndre Williams up front. That's a solid group, but depth becomes an issue without Johnson, particularly on a hot September afternoon. He only had one tackle against Nicholls--I'm not sure if he got hurt in the game because I was writing on deadline again--but he is tough to move out of the way in the middle. Fellow true freshman Alfred Thomas has played a little bit in the first two games but has not been as productive, and Tulane does not really have anybody else. True freshman Jamiran James recently had wrist surgery, his brother told Rod Walker of The Advocate last week, so he is out of the picture. Maybe Johnson will be back at practice Wednesday and negate this concern.
Darnell Mooney said he learned proper catching technique from Terren Encalade when he arrived at Tulane. Although Encalade is very good, the student has surpassed the teacher in that department. Mooney said after Saturday's game he could not recall ever dropping a pass in a game. Encalade has dropped a few, and he bobbled one before dropping it in practice today. Otherwise, though, it was a crisp workout. Jonathan Banks looked sharp. Mooney looked great. Corey Dauphine looked great.
Dane Ledford took most of the second-team reps at quarterback, but Justin McMillan got some, too, and he throws a pretty ball. I will ask Fritz for an update on him after practice tomorrow.
Charles Jones was in uniform with a helmet but did not practice while I watched. He was walking with a slight limp on the sideline. Freshman Tyrick James made a nice catch on the sideline downfield. He's not polished yet, but he has potential as a receiver.
Tulane is a 4-point favorite at UAB, which lost 47-24 at Coastal Carolina on Saturday. The Blazers are 7-0 at home since the start of 2017 and the resumption of the program. The Green Wave is the better team and should, but I did not like what I heard from the players on Saturday after the win against Nicholls. Both Banks and Mooney referred to UAB as a lower school than Tulane, which is pretty much the atittude the players took into the FIU game last season. I guarantee you UAB players do not think of Tulane is a higher school. They see this as a game they should win, just like Tulane does. It's up to the players to go to Birmingham with the right focus and the desire to play as hard as they possibly can. If they do that., they should be fine. UAB gave up nearly 300 rushing yards to Coastal Carolina, and if Tulane can run effectively, the Blazers won't be able to cover Encalade and Mooney.
On the other hand, UAB has a big running back, Spencer Brown (6-0, 228), who rushed for 1,329 yards last year and has gained 196 yards through two games this season. Phil Steele picked the Blazers to win the Eastern division of Conference USA. They rushed for more than 270 yards against Coastal Carolina. If Tulane does not come with a physical approach, the defense could struggle to get off the field.
Fritz's entire Tuesday press conference is available in video form at TulaneGreenWave.com, but he did not say anything earth shattering today. I got the impression he was not thrilled with the way Tulane played against Nicholls right after the game and again today. Coaches always are going to look for negatives in victories, and he found two major ones in Banks' fumble before halftime and the inability to bring Nicholls QB Chase Fourcade to the ground. He counted 11 missed tackles of Fourcade, although none of them involved him actually breaking a tackle. They were guys using the wrong leverage and whiffing.
The fumble kept the game reasonably close for longer than it needed to be.
"We had the game under control and then unfortunately had that fumble right before halftime," Fritz said. "That gave them hope. If we could have gotten points on that one (Tulane had the ball at the Nicholls 43, but the fumble and the return set up the Colonels at the Tulane 26, and they scored a touchdown to pull within 21-10), we would have gotten it under control at halftime. In the second half we didn't break much on defense and played well, especially in the red zone. Corey Dauphine had a sensational game and really did a good job with his vision. The big thing for him is when he gets into open space he runs fast. Darius Bradwell, there were a couple of times he should have stayed inside when he tried to pop it wide, but for the most part he had a good game recognizing where to run.
"It was a good job by Darnell Mooney. I brag on him quite a bit because he always plays up to his talent level, every practice, every game. And then defensively, Rod Teamer had a great game. He got a bunch of kudos for the interception, but the bigger play was that real good vision when they tried to sneak the back up the pike and he got over to knock the ball down (to prevent a TD in the second quarter; Nicholls then missed a field goal as Tulane preserved a 21-3 lead). That was an outstanding play. If he wouldn't have made that play, we would have said, ah, he was over there covering his guy, but he had the wherewithall to make that play. We feel like if we keep our guys each year, they are going to get better and better. Rod's a good example of that. He's really stepped his game up, he's changed his body and he's playing extremely well."
Darnell Mooney said he learned proper catching technique from Terren Encalade when he arrived at Tulane. Although Encalade is very good, the student has surpassed the teacher in that department. Mooney said after Saturday's game he could not recall ever dropping a pass in a game. Encalade has dropped a few, and he bobbled one before dropping it in practice today. Otherwise, though, it was a crisp workout. Jonathan Banks looked sharp. Mooney looked great. Corey Dauphine looked great.
Dane Ledford took most of the second-team reps at quarterback, but Justin McMillan got some, too, and he throws a pretty ball. I will ask Fritz for an update on him after practice tomorrow.
Charles Jones was in uniform with a helmet but did not practice while I watched. He was walking with a slight limp on the sideline. Freshman Tyrick James made a nice catch on the sideline downfield. He's not polished yet, but he has potential as a receiver.
Tulane is a 4-point favorite at UAB, which lost 47-24 at Coastal Carolina on Saturday. The Blazers are 7-0 at home since the start of 2017 and the resumption of the program. The Green Wave is the better team and should, but I did not like what I heard from the players on Saturday after the win against Nicholls. Both Banks and Mooney referred to UAB as a lower school than Tulane, which is pretty much the atittude the players took into the FIU game last season. I guarantee you UAB players do not think of Tulane is a higher school. They see this as a game they should win, just like Tulane does. It's up to the players to go to Birmingham with the right focus and the desire to play as hard as they possibly can. If they do that., they should be fine. UAB gave up nearly 300 rushing yards to Coastal Carolina, and if Tulane can run effectively, the Blazers won't be able to cover Encalade and Mooney.
On the other hand, UAB has a big running back, Spencer Brown (6-0, 228), who rushed for 1,329 yards last year and has gained 196 yards through two games this season. Phil Steele picked the Blazers to win the Eastern division of Conference USA. They rushed for more than 270 yards against Coastal Carolina. If Tulane does not come with a physical approach, the defense could struggle to get off the field.
Fritz's entire Tuesday press conference is available in video form at TulaneGreenWave.com, but he did not say anything earth shattering today. I got the impression he was not thrilled with the way Tulane played against Nicholls right after the game and again today. Coaches always are going to look for negatives in victories, and he found two major ones in Banks' fumble before halftime and the inability to bring Nicholls QB Chase Fourcade to the ground. He counted 11 missed tackles of Fourcade, although none of them involved him actually breaking a tackle. They were guys using the wrong leverage and whiffing.
The fumble kept the game reasonably close for longer than it needed to be.
"We had the game under control and then unfortunately had that fumble right before halftime," Fritz said. "That gave them hope. If we could have gotten points on that one (Tulane had the ball at the Nicholls 43, but the fumble and the return set up the Colonels at the Tulane 26, and they scored a touchdown to pull within 21-10), we would have gotten it under control at halftime. In the second half we didn't break much on defense and played well, especially in the red zone. Corey Dauphine had a sensational game and really did a good job with his vision. The big thing for him is when he gets into open space he runs fast. Darius Bradwell, there were a couple of times he should have stayed inside when he tried to pop it wide, but for the most part he had a good game recognizing where to run.
"It was a good job by Darnell Mooney. I brag on him quite a bit because he always plays up to his talent level, every practice, every game. And then defensively, Rod Teamer had a great game. He got a bunch of kudos for the interception, but the bigger play was that real good vision when they tried to sneak the back up the pike and he got over to knock the ball down (to prevent a TD in the second quarter; Nicholls then missed a field goal as Tulane preserved a 21-3 lead). That was an outstanding play. If he wouldn't have made that play, we would have said, ah, he was over there covering his guy, but he had the wherewithall to make that play. We feel like if we keep our guys each year, they are going to get better and better. Rod's a good example of that. He's really stepped his game up, he's changed his body and he's playing extremely well."