I saw the best pass of any practice this year today. Justin McMillan, who is splitting second-team reps with Dane Ledford now, threw a frozen rope to well-covered tight end Kendall Ardoin on a deep seam route for a touchdown. drawing oohs from the players on the sideline. I mean, Drew Brees could not have thrown that ball any better. I don't know if McMillan is ready to play in a game--I will ask tomorrow--but with that kind of arm talent, he is a bright spot for the future.
Dane Ledford threw some nice passes today as well, including a deep one to Terren Encalade, but he does not have the same arm strength as McMillan. Ledford threw a short out that bounced on the ground. And freshman Christian Daniels, who competed with Ledford for the top backup spot in preseason camp, no longer gets any reps. He was giving signals at one point of practice and watching on the field the rest of the time. Keon Howard operates the scout team and completed a wounded duck down the sideline to Jaetavian Toles, but he, too, does not look as smooth as McMillan in practice.
Jeffery Johnson missed practice again today. Willie Fritz said he expected him to be ready Saturday, but if he is not, a heavy load will fall on DeAndre Williams. Tulane really does not have a third guy at the position, and with the temperature expected to be in the low 90s by the end of the game at UAB, it would be awfully tough for Williams to go play after play. Fritz confirmed that true freshman Jamiran James had finger surgery and will be unavailable for quite some time. He will be able to practice with a cast soon, but Fritz said he had not seen good results when previous players tried to play with a cast. James was practicing with the third team anyway, so he might not have been ready to play if healthy. Fellow true freshman Alfred Thomas (one tackle) is the only other guy who has played any downs at nose tackle in the first two games.
There are a few other injuries. Larry Bryant, part of the three-player rotation at nickelback, spent most of practice on the exercise bike, so Will Harper and Tirise Barge figure to split all of the time at UAB. Freshman DB/WR Chris Joyce and freshman DB Dorian Camel are out, too.
Charles Jones practiced today but was not made available for interviews, which is unusual. He may have needed treatment right after practice.
While the wide receivers were on the sideline, they worked on their hands. One player would stand with his back to Darnell Mooney about 10 yards away, and when Mooney yelled "go," he would toss the ball as they turned around and caught it. Terren Encalade caught every one. When it was Mooney's turn to catch, Joyce served as the quarterback. Joyce is wearing a green (defense) jersey despite not practicing but was standing next to the receivers. A little into the inpromptu drill, Encalade started hitting players with a cushion as they turned around to catch the ball, creating another distraction.
It was hot at practice, which should serve as good preparation for the UAB game. Maybe sensing players were dragging, Fritz hollered out several times, "Tough guys, push the weak guys." At the end of practice, he talked to the entire team for at least 10 minutes, the longest I've ever seen, and appeared angry with their effort, but he said that was not the case when he came in for interviews afterward. My take: although he approaches every game the same, he knows how important effort level will be Saturday. It's the difference between an encouraging 2-1 start and a disappointing 1-2 start with Ohio State next on the agend. It is a game in which Tulane simply has to put its best foot forward.
Here is Fritz after practice:
So you weren't too happy with practice today?
"No, it was all right. It was OK."
How have preparations gone for UAB?
"It's been OK. We're into the week grind right now where we do things a little bit different. I take Sunday off. It allows everybody the opportunity to go to church. It allows everybody to kind of step back and be a student-athlete. We come in a little bit later as a staff and then a lot of us will really analyze the game and then Monday we have our heavy lift of the week. I don't really practice much on Monday. We don't do very many things now. There have been a few weeks where you come off of different dates and you do practice on a Monday, but when we get into Saturday to Saturday, we don't.
"We have a tough practice on Tuesday and Wednesday and cut back a little bit tomorrow and then cut way back on Friday. It's a grind. You have to be tough to sustain a grind."
It's going to be 90 degrees or hotter by the end of the game in Birmingham. Do you feel pretty comfortable with your team's ability to handle the heat?
"Yeah, these guys are outside a bunch, so they ought to be used to the heat. We'll have fans and all that other stuff there, so we'll do everything we can to get them ready to play to the best of their ability. We're always prepping our guys to turn it loose at game time. They (UAB) will be playing int the same weather."
Will Jeffery Johnson be ready to play Saturday?
"I think so. I think he'll be ready to go."
Especially on the defensive line, how important is it to have everyone healthy for this game?
"Well, you always want to have everybody available so you have the proper amount of depth and you can roll some guys and all those kind of things. Every position you want to make sure you have proper depth, but it's next man up. If one guy goes down, it's next man up and we expect him to play well."
Did Jamiran James have surgery?
"Yeah. He had a deal on his finger right here, a spiral fracture, so they had to put a pin in there. In order for him to come out here and practice, they had to club it up."
Is he going to redshirt?
"Well, we'll see when he gets that club off. It just is awful difficult. I haven't had a lot of guys that played with a club and have been real effective. It's difficult."
Terren Encalade and Darnell Mooney have combined for more than 900 receiving yards in their last four games dating to 2017. Are they as good a duo as you've coached?
"Oh yeah, they are good. They are really good players, both of them. I've been blessed with really good receivers over the years, but those two guys, the thing I like about them is they are both tough. I've said this about Darnell and I worry people think it's a cut on him, but it's a compliment. He plays up to his ability always. He plays as fast as he can. He's always playing as physical as he can. He's a student of the game.
"And Terren, he loves football. He doesn't like football. He loves football. I don't know how many times I've come out here, I work every day and I'll come up here on a Saturday and look out the deck and he's out there running routes or doing something. Those are the kind of guys you want to have."
Encalade did not practice much before the Wake Forest game and then had almost 200 reception yards. What does that say about him?
"He's a senior. If he was a freshman, I'd worry about it and probably wouldn't have played him. He banged his shoulder up, so we just put him in a red shirt for about two weeks and said you know, the game is going to be on this date, so we need to have you ready for that day. He's also a smart player. He can just come out and execute the game plan and maybe not practice. Other guys need the reps, reps, reps, reps, reps."
Dane Ledford threw some nice passes today as well, including a deep one to Terren Encalade, but he does not have the same arm strength as McMillan. Ledford threw a short out that bounced on the ground. And freshman Christian Daniels, who competed with Ledford for the top backup spot in preseason camp, no longer gets any reps. He was giving signals at one point of practice and watching on the field the rest of the time. Keon Howard operates the scout team and completed a wounded duck down the sideline to Jaetavian Toles, but he, too, does not look as smooth as McMillan in practice.
Jeffery Johnson missed practice again today. Willie Fritz said he expected him to be ready Saturday, but if he is not, a heavy load will fall on DeAndre Williams. Tulane really does not have a third guy at the position, and with the temperature expected to be in the low 90s by the end of the game at UAB, it would be awfully tough for Williams to go play after play. Fritz confirmed that true freshman Jamiran James had finger surgery and will be unavailable for quite some time. He will be able to practice with a cast soon, but Fritz said he had not seen good results when previous players tried to play with a cast. James was practicing with the third team anyway, so he might not have been ready to play if healthy. Fellow true freshman Alfred Thomas (one tackle) is the only other guy who has played any downs at nose tackle in the first two games.
There are a few other injuries. Larry Bryant, part of the three-player rotation at nickelback, spent most of practice on the exercise bike, so Will Harper and Tirise Barge figure to split all of the time at UAB. Freshman DB/WR Chris Joyce and freshman DB Dorian Camel are out, too.
Charles Jones practiced today but was not made available for interviews, which is unusual. He may have needed treatment right after practice.
While the wide receivers were on the sideline, they worked on their hands. One player would stand with his back to Darnell Mooney about 10 yards away, and when Mooney yelled "go," he would toss the ball as they turned around and caught it. Terren Encalade caught every one. When it was Mooney's turn to catch, Joyce served as the quarterback. Joyce is wearing a green (defense) jersey despite not practicing but was standing next to the receivers. A little into the inpromptu drill, Encalade started hitting players with a cushion as they turned around to catch the ball, creating another distraction.
It was hot at practice, which should serve as good preparation for the UAB game. Maybe sensing players were dragging, Fritz hollered out several times, "Tough guys, push the weak guys." At the end of practice, he talked to the entire team for at least 10 minutes, the longest I've ever seen, and appeared angry with their effort, but he said that was not the case when he came in for interviews afterward. My take: although he approaches every game the same, he knows how important effort level will be Saturday. It's the difference between an encouraging 2-1 start and a disappointing 1-2 start with Ohio State next on the agend. It is a game in which Tulane simply has to put its best foot forward.
Here is Fritz after practice:
So you weren't too happy with practice today?
"No, it was all right. It was OK."
How have preparations gone for UAB?
"It's been OK. We're into the week grind right now where we do things a little bit different. I take Sunday off. It allows everybody the opportunity to go to church. It allows everybody to kind of step back and be a student-athlete. We come in a little bit later as a staff and then a lot of us will really analyze the game and then Monday we have our heavy lift of the week. I don't really practice much on Monday. We don't do very many things now. There have been a few weeks where you come off of different dates and you do practice on a Monday, but when we get into Saturday to Saturday, we don't.
"We have a tough practice on Tuesday and Wednesday and cut back a little bit tomorrow and then cut way back on Friday. It's a grind. You have to be tough to sustain a grind."
It's going to be 90 degrees or hotter by the end of the game in Birmingham. Do you feel pretty comfortable with your team's ability to handle the heat?
"Yeah, these guys are outside a bunch, so they ought to be used to the heat. We'll have fans and all that other stuff there, so we'll do everything we can to get them ready to play to the best of their ability. We're always prepping our guys to turn it loose at game time. They (UAB) will be playing int the same weather."
Will Jeffery Johnson be ready to play Saturday?
"I think so. I think he'll be ready to go."
Especially on the defensive line, how important is it to have everyone healthy for this game?
"Well, you always want to have everybody available so you have the proper amount of depth and you can roll some guys and all those kind of things. Every position you want to make sure you have proper depth, but it's next man up. If one guy goes down, it's next man up and we expect him to play well."
Did Jamiran James have surgery?
"Yeah. He had a deal on his finger right here, a spiral fracture, so they had to put a pin in there. In order for him to come out here and practice, they had to club it up."
Is he going to redshirt?
"Well, we'll see when he gets that club off. It just is awful difficult. I haven't had a lot of guys that played with a club and have been real effective. It's difficult."
Terren Encalade and Darnell Mooney have combined for more than 900 receiving yards in their last four games dating to 2017. Are they as good a duo as you've coached?
"Oh yeah, they are good. They are really good players, both of them. I've been blessed with really good receivers over the years, but those two guys, the thing I like about them is they are both tough. I've said this about Darnell and I worry people think it's a cut on him, but it's a compliment. He plays up to his ability always. He plays as fast as he can. He's always playing as physical as he can. He's a student of the game.
"And Terren, he loves football. He doesn't like football. He loves football. I don't know how many times I've come out here, I work every day and I'll come up here on a Saturday and look out the deck and he's out there running routes or doing something. Those are the kind of guys you want to have."
Encalade did not practice much before the Wake Forest game and then had almost 200 reception yards. What does that say about him?
"He's a senior. If he was a freshman, I'd worry about it and probably wouldn't have played him. He banged his shoulder up, so we just put him in a red shirt for about two weeks and said you know, the game is going to be on this date, so we need to have you ready for that day. He's also a smart player. He can just come out and execute the game plan and maybe not practice. Other guys need the reps, reps, reps, reps, reps."