Coming off its best offensive line performance of the year, Tulane has made a significant change in the lineup for the South Florida game.
Right tackle Joey Claybrook, a redshirt freshman from Starkville, Miss., will make his first career start after having a terrific second half against Tulsa. Both of the starting tackle spots have changed hands in the last week or so, with Noah Fisher reclaiming his left tackle spot from Tyler Johnson for the Tulsa game and Claybrook supplanting Keyshawn McLeod this week.
"For his (Claybrook's) first extensive action, he did an excellent job," Willie Fritz said. "I'm impressed with him. We ran a counter one time and he was the second puller and he did that as well as we've had any tackle do here. A couple of times he down blocked and knocked guys five yards. He's a really smart player, and it's important to him. He's just kind of waited for his turn, and he got his chance and took advantage of it."
McLeod, a redshirt junior, started the first eight games after starting three times a year ago, but the offensive line struggled in run and pass blocking the previous two weeks before having an excellent game against Tulsa, paving the way for 300-plus rushing yards and allowing zero sacks. The Golden Hurricane has no pass rush to speak off, having registered seven sacks all year, but it still was a step forward for the Wave, which will try to duplicate that effort against South Florida this Saturday.
One player who expects to perform better this week is quarterback Justin McMillan, who made the AAC honor role after the Tulsa game despite struggling as a passer in his first career start. He needs to throw with less velocity and more accuracy, but he did everything else well against the Golden Hurricane, rushing for two touchdowns including the game-winning 39-yard score and committing zero turnovers.
"This start right now is going to be very important to me because it can show how I can make corrections on the mistakes I made from the first one," McMillan said. "In my mind I feel like if I make the same mistakes that I'm not getting better on my end and doing my job, so the big thing I'm focused on right now is learning from the mistakes I had in the first start and seeing how we can get better each week. We're on the cusp of being a really good offense."
McMillan should be calmer.
"You hope his second start is going to be better because he got all the butterflies out," Fritz said. "He did a really nice job of managing the game, which is the important part of being a quarterback, and then he's got a lot of arm talent and runs the ball probably better than we anticipated. He did a very nice job. The big thing for him right now is make the plays that are there, just don't force anything, and he's good about that. He stayed away from a bunch of sacks on Saturday and made the easy throws when they were there."
He also missed some makable throws, including a terrible pass to an open Darnell Mooney on third-and-goal in the fourth quarter that forced Tulane to settle for a tying field goal, but he did not let those mistakes get to him.
"That was really important," Fritz said. "There were a few throws he can make, but he also took some simple throws and I was impressed with that, too. Sometimes quarterbacks are always trying to hit the home run, and you have to know the situation in the game and move the sticks."
McMillan appears to be the only viable option. Jonathan Banks, who did not throw last week during practice and was unavailable to play against Tulsa according to Fritz's post-game comments, was not there today. Dane Ledford took the second-team reps.
Practice ended with sports information director Tom Symonds showing up in a penguin suit for Halloween. He went out to make interview requests from Fritz with a red bowtie, a yellow beak and the full costume. I'm not sure how that went over, but we got to talk to McMillan for (I believe) the first time since his first practice and to Corey Dauphine, too, so I'm all for the Halloween costume.
I will have the transcript of Dauphine either later today or tomorrow morning.
In other practice news, it appears that Jaylon Monroe will start at cornerback for the first time since the opener against Wake Forest. He had a very good game against Tulsa after Thakarius Keyes left with an injury and practiced ahead of Keyes today.
If Tulane blocks a punt against South Florida, look for it to be either Larry Bryant or Donnie Lewis. Those two clearly have the want to in that drill and are standouts in that department.
The defense had a breakdown against the scout team offense when it did not know what coverage it was in. Sorrell Brown caught an easy long pass from Keon Howard, beating P.J. Hall for a touchdown.
Tight end Kendall Ardoin returned in a no-contact jersey today.
Right tackle Joey Claybrook, a redshirt freshman from Starkville, Miss., will make his first career start after having a terrific second half against Tulsa. Both of the starting tackle spots have changed hands in the last week or so, with Noah Fisher reclaiming his left tackle spot from Tyler Johnson for the Tulsa game and Claybrook supplanting Keyshawn McLeod this week.
"For his (Claybrook's) first extensive action, he did an excellent job," Willie Fritz said. "I'm impressed with him. We ran a counter one time and he was the second puller and he did that as well as we've had any tackle do here. A couple of times he down blocked and knocked guys five yards. He's a really smart player, and it's important to him. He's just kind of waited for his turn, and he got his chance and took advantage of it."
McLeod, a redshirt junior, started the first eight games after starting three times a year ago, but the offensive line struggled in run and pass blocking the previous two weeks before having an excellent game against Tulsa, paving the way for 300-plus rushing yards and allowing zero sacks. The Golden Hurricane has no pass rush to speak off, having registered seven sacks all year, but it still was a step forward for the Wave, which will try to duplicate that effort against South Florida this Saturday.
One player who expects to perform better this week is quarterback Justin McMillan, who made the AAC honor role after the Tulsa game despite struggling as a passer in his first career start. He needs to throw with less velocity and more accuracy, but he did everything else well against the Golden Hurricane, rushing for two touchdowns including the game-winning 39-yard score and committing zero turnovers.
"This start right now is going to be very important to me because it can show how I can make corrections on the mistakes I made from the first one," McMillan said. "In my mind I feel like if I make the same mistakes that I'm not getting better on my end and doing my job, so the big thing I'm focused on right now is learning from the mistakes I had in the first start and seeing how we can get better each week. We're on the cusp of being a really good offense."
McMillan should be calmer.
"You hope his second start is going to be better because he got all the butterflies out," Fritz said. "He did a really nice job of managing the game, which is the important part of being a quarterback, and then he's got a lot of arm talent and runs the ball probably better than we anticipated. He did a very nice job. The big thing for him right now is make the plays that are there, just don't force anything, and he's good about that. He stayed away from a bunch of sacks on Saturday and made the easy throws when they were there."
He also missed some makable throws, including a terrible pass to an open Darnell Mooney on third-and-goal in the fourth quarter that forced Tulane to settle for a tying field goal, but he did not let those mistakes get to him.
"That was really important," Fritz said. "There were a few throws he can make, but he also took some simple throws and I was impressed with that, too. Sometimes quarterbacks are always trying to hit the home run, and you have to know the situation in the game and move the sticks."
McMillan appears to be the only viable option. Jonathan Banks, who did not throw last week during practice and was unavailable to play against Tulsa according to Fritz's post-game comments, was not there today. Dane Ledford took the second-team reps.
Practice ended with sports information director Tom Symonds showing up in a penguin suit for Halloween. He went out to make interview requests from Fritz with a red bowtie, a yellow beak and the full costume. I'm not sure how that went over, but we got to talk to McMillan for (I believe) the first time since his first practice and to Corey Dauphine, too, so I'm all for the Halloween costume.
I will have the transcript of Dauphine either later today or tomorrow morning.
In other practice news, it appears that Jaylon Monroe will start at cornerback for the first time since the opener against Wake Forest. He had a very good game against Tulsa after Thakarius Keyes left with an injury and practiced ahead of Keyes today.
If Tulane blocks a punt against South Florida, look for it to be either Larry Bryant or Donnie Lewis. Those two clearly have the want to in that drill and are standouts in that department.
The defense had a breakdown against the scout team offense when it did not know what coverage it was in. Sorrell Brown caught an easy long pass from Keon Howard, beating P.J. Hall for a touchdown.
Tight end Kendall Ardoin returned in a no-contact jersey today.