Today was Parry Nickerson's birthday, so the team sang Happy Birthday to him at the end of a hot practice. I was hard on him on twitter for missing the tackle on the long touchdown pass Tulane gave up in the first half against Tulsa and then yelling at Chase Kuerschen rather than owning up on his own contribution to the score, but as you'll see from Willie Fritz down farther, Nickerson had good reason to be irritated.
The weather this week has been extremely humid and unseasonably warm, even for New Orleans, in October. It's supposed to rain during the FIU game, and even if it doesn't, the Wave will be very prepared for the humid conditions in Miami on Saturday night.
I talked to offensive line coach Alex Atkins and linebackers coach Michael Mutz for Q&As that will run later this week, but here's what Fritz had to say today:
"We had a good game today. We're still learning a few things. We had a few guys at different spots, but I thought overall it was pretty good. We really front loaded everything, and with fall break, we're going to let them sleep in a little bit tomorrow. We're not going to start 'til 8:30 as far as meetings, but we're getting there."
Tyler Johnson has really come on in the last two weeks after starting at the end of last year. What is he doing well?
"We're blessed to have a little bit of competition. We didn't have a whole lot of competition last year, and it was a big move for us to throw him in there to start as a true freshman. It got him a ton of experience, and he just knows what he's doing. You redshirt a guy, that next year is his first year of playing, cut it any way you want. That year of experience last year really helped him out. He's got great feet. He's starting to get size and strength."
What did the offensive line do against Tulsa that they had not been doing consistently?
"Well, bodies on bodies, creating some movement. If we can just get the right bodies on their right bodies, we have a chance on every play, and then it comes down to technique. That was a big deal. We run a lot of that inside zone, and you have to create a little movement vertically and horizontally, and we did that."
You inherited an offensive line with a whole lot of work to do. How happy are you with the progress?
"It's good. Coach (Alex) Atkins does a great job. Our graduate assistant, coach (Mack) Helms, is awesome with the offensive line, too, but then also to have a good running game, the backs have got to block, the tight ends have got to block. I thought our wide receivers did a fantastic job on the perimeter Saturday. The offensive line, the tight ends, the backs, they are the ones that get it to the second level, but to get the big runs, you've got to be blocking downfield, and we had a bunch of them."
The defense has given up some big pass plays. How do you fix those busts?
"The first one was just a very elementary bust, as a matter of fact a day 1 bust which we shouldn't have. Otherwise it was 48-zip at halftime, so you've got to be pretty happy with how they played. The second half we played a bunch of guys, and they are a really good running team, and when you do that you have to out-populate them at the line of scrimmage and it leaves you playing a bunch f man-to-man coverage. A few times we had poor technique at the break point of the route, and also we started turning and looking at the quarterback when we got beat. We always talk about hard-man focus, so we have to eliminate that stuff for sure."
Zach Harris came back from his ankle injury that kept him out for most of the preseason and is making a lot of tackles as usual, getting back into the starting lineup. What do you like the most about him?
"He's a good tackler. He really is. He's done a good job. He doesn't miss many tackles, either. That's a big deal as well. Sometimes a guy will make 10 tackles but have three or four misses. Really, they are hurting you more than they are helping you. He's good. If he's around 10, it's either one or zero (missed tackles)."
The weather this week has been extremely humid and unseasonably warm, even for New Orleans, in October. It's supposed to rain during the FIU game, and even if it doesn't, the Wave will be very prepared for the humid conditions in Miami on Saturday night.
I talked to offensive line coach Alex Atkins and linebackers coach Michael Mutz for Q&As that will run later this week, but here's what Fritz had to say today:
"We had a good game today. We're still learning a few things. We had a few guys at different spots, but I thought overall it was pretty good. We really front loaded everything, and with fall break, we're going to let them sleep in a little bit tomorrow. We're not going to start 'til 8:30 as far as meetings, but we're getting there."
Tyler Johnson has really come on in the last two weeks after starting at the end of last year. What is he doing well?
"We're blessed to have a little bit of competition. We didn't have a whole lot of competition last year, and it was a big move for us to throw him in there to start as a true freshman. It got him a ton of experience, and he just knows what he's doing. You redshirt a guy, that next year is his first year of playing, cut it any way you want. That year of experience last year really helped him out. He's got great feet. He's starting to get size and strength."
What did the offensive line do against Tulsa that they had not been doing consistently?
"Well, bodies on bodies, creating some movement. If we can just get the right bodies on their right bodies, we have a chance on every play, and then it comes down to technique. That was a big deal. We run a lot of that inside zone, and you have to create a little movement vertically and horizontally, and we did that."
You inherited an offensive line with a whole lot of work to do. How happy are you with the progress?
"It's good. Coach (Alex) Atkins does a great job. Our graduate assistant, coach (Mack) Helms, is awesome with the offensive line, too, but then also to have a good running game, the backs have got to block, the tight ends have got to block. I thought our wide receivers did a fantastic job on the perimeter Saturday. The offensive line, the tight ends, the backs, they are the ones that get it to the second level, but to get the big runs, you've got to be blocking downfield, and we had a bunch of them."
The defense has given up some big pass plays. How do you fix those busts?
"The first one was just a very elementary bust, as a matter of fact a day 1 bust which we shouldn't have. Otherwise it was 48-zip at halftime, so you've got to be pretty happy with how they played. The second half we played a bunch of guys, and they are a really good running team, and when you do that you have to out-populate them at the line of scrimmage and it leaves you playing a bunch f man-to-man coverage. A few times we had poor technique at the break point of the route, and also we started turning and looking at the quarterback when we got beat. We always talk about hard-man focus, so we have to eliminate that stuff for sure."
Zach Harris came back from his ankle injury that kept him out for most of the preseason and is making a lot of tackles as usual, getting back into the starting lineup. What do you like the most about him?
"He's a good tackler. He really is. He's done a good job. He doesn't miss many tackles, either. That's a big deal as well. Sometimes a guy will make 10 tackles but have three or four misses. Really, they are hurting you more than they are helping you. He's good. If he's around 10, it's either one or zero (missed tackles)."