Because Tulane had no classes today due to Yom Kippur, practice started an hour later, allowing players to sleep in a bit before arriving for meetings at 8 a.m. The workout itself was under blazing hot conditions, ending around 11:30 with plenty of breaks for water.
Charles Jones and Kendall Ardoin missed their second straight day of practice, and Willie Fritz said a a determination would be made Friday whether either of them would make the trip to Ohio State. That means Tulane could have its third different starting tight end, with either redshirt freshman Will Wallace or promising true freshman Tyrick James getting the nod.
Instead of playing piped-in crowd noise, they had Ohio State's band over the loudspeakers today. It was quite noisy and I believe more effective at preparing the team for the atmosphere it will face than simply crowd noise.
It looks like Tulane will continue to use Cameron Sample, De'Andre Williams and Robert Kennedy as the starting defensive front, with Jeffery Johnson getting plenty of time, too. Williams had seven tackles against UAB, more than double the total of the next highest lineman.
The only reps I saw Dane Ledford get today were for the scout-team offense when Keon Howard took a break.
Freshman Chris Joyce practiced at cornerback, so the wide receivers getting reps other than the starters are Jaetavian Toles, Chris Robertson, Jorrien Vallien and Brian Newman, although to be honest, I didn't notice Newman out there. The foursome has combined for three catches--all by Toles--through three games.
Here is Fritz:
What were your thoughts on practice?
"I told them today this was a hot day. Some days I hear guys say it's hot out there and I say, no, it wasn't. That was nothing. This was a hot day today, but we got it in. We took quite a few breaks during practice. Nobody fell out. That's good."
What impresses you the most about Dwayne Haskins?
"He's very accurate. He seems like he's got a great handle on the offense. I don't know how much he's played in the past, very little, but he handles himself like a veteran quarterback, gets rid of the ball quickly and has good command of the offense."
How much do you have to be cognizant of this guy is hard to sack?
"He's a big guy and he gets rid of it quick. We just have to keep pushing with tight coverage and make him throw it a millisecond faster than he wants to, quicker than he wants to, and the coverage guy has to cover for a split second longer, and that gives a good chance to get some pressure."
Thakarius Keyes had the terrific interception against UAB and appeared to play a good all-around game. How good do you feel about him and Donnie Lewis at cornerback?
"They are both doing a good job. Donnie's having a very good senior year. Those guys are playing a lot of man coverage. Thakarius, the good thing about him is if he does get a ball caught on him, he doesn't sit and pout. He goes on to the next play and competes. You have to have a short memory as a corner."
He's a young junior, and he says he's a lot more confident now than he was in the opener just because he has three games under his belt. Do you see that?
"Yeah, he's a tall, long guy. I think he's only going to get better. He's going to probably be another 10 pounds heavier next year than what he is right now, and he's able to use his levers to his advantage. There's no reason to press if you're not going to get your hands on them, and he does a good job getting his hands on people."
How important is it for the secondary to be on point for the whole game Saturday?
"It's always important obviously. The thing we've got to do is try to mix up our coverage a little bit with zone and zone blitz and man and do a few things we haven't done in the first three games to give some different looks."
Last year when you went to Oklahoma there was no Banks and no Teamer. How important is it for those sort of guys to be out there and healthy?
"Oh, it's real important. If you're a competitor, this is the game you want to play in, plain and simple. It will be interesting. There will be some dudes that are really going to the top in this game. You will see their best game that they played this season. I hope that's a bunch of them. You want to have your best dudes out there with the frame of mind to compete."
Will the crowd be a big factor, or is it a matter of how you handle it?
"It's how you handle it. We've got to withstand the beginning of the game and do a good job. That's going to be very important."
You are a little injured at tight end right now. Is there a chance Charles Jones and Kendall Ardoin can play against Ohio State?
"We're going to make a decision on Friday and see how they are. They are both veteran guys. They know what we're doing. We just have to see if they are able to go."
THAKARIUS KEYES
Talk about that interception in the end zone against UAB.
"We were in man coverage, so once he faded to the back of the end zone I had in my mind that I was going to pick it. He didn't want it as bad as I did. We practice every day on high pointing the ball. It was a 50-50 ball. I had to come up with it."
That would have been the turning point if you had finished the comeback. You prevented the team from going down by three scores.
"Yes, it could have. I feel like it will give me a lot of momentum going into the next game and also it put more trust into the team and the coaches, so it will be a good thing for us."
What impresses you the most about Dwayne Haskins?
"He's pretty good with his passes. He can squeeze it in tight holes, but I mean we should have a good game. They tie their shoes like we do. We play with hard man focus all game and we'll have a great game."
How much more confident do you feel now?
"I feel a whole lot more confident, like it went from 50 (percent confidence) to a hundred, so this will carry on for the rest of the season."
What are your best strengths?
"Press and ball skills."
Charles Jones and Kendall Ardoin missed their second straight day of practice, and Willie Fritz said a a determination would be made Friday whether either of them would make the trip to Ohio State. That means Tulane could have its third different starting tight end, with either redshirt freshman Will Wallace or promising true freshman Tyrick James getting the nod.
Instead of playing piped-in crowd noise, they had Ohio State's band over the loudspeakers today. It was quite noisy and I believe more effective at preparing the team for the atmosphere it will face than simply crowd noise.
It looks like Tulane will continue to use Cameron Sample, De'Andre Williams and Robert Kennedy as the starting defensive front, with Jeffery Johnson getting plenty of time, too. Williams had seven tackles against UAB, more than double the total of the next highest lineman.
The only reps I saw Dane Ledford get today were for the scout-team offense when Keon Howard took a break.
Freshman Chris Joyce practiced at cornerback, so the wide receivers getting reps other than the starters are Jaetavian Toles, Chris Robertson, Jorrien Vallien and Brian Newman, although to be honest, I didn't notice Newman out there. The foursome has combined for three catches--all by Toles--through three games.
Here is Fritz:
What were your thoughts on practice?
"I told them today this was a hot day. Some days I hear guys say it's hot out there and I say, no, it wasn't. That was nothing. This was a hot day today, but we got it in. We took quite a few breaks during practice. Nobody fell out. That's good."
What impresses you the most about Dwayne Haskins?
"He's very accurate. He seems like he's got a great handle on the offense. I don't know how much he's played in the past, very little, but he handles himself like a veteran quarterback, gets rid of the ball quickly and has good command of the offense."
How much do you have to be cognizant of this guy is hard to sack?
"He's a big guy and he gets rid of it quick. We just have to keep pushing with tight coverage and make him throw it a millisecond faster than he wants to, quicker than he wants to, and the coverage guy has to cover for a split second longer, and that gives a good chance to get some pressure."
Thakarius Keyes had the terrific interception against UAB and appeared to play a good all-around game. How good do you feel about him and Donnie Lewis at cornerback?
"They are both doing a good job. Donnie's having a very good senior year. Those guys are playing a lot of man coverage. Thakarius, the good thing about him is if he does get a ball caught on him, he doesn't sit and pout. He goes on to the next play and competes. You have to have a short memory as a corner."
He's a young junior, and he says he's a lot more confident now than he was in the opener just because he has three games under his belt. Do you see that?
"Yeah, he's a tall, long guy. I think he's only going to get better. He's going to probably be another 10 pounds heavier next year than what he is right now, and he's able to use his levers to his advantage. There's no reason to press if you're not going to get your hands on them, and he does a good job getting his hands on people."
How important is it for the secondary to be on point for the whole game Saturday?
"It's always important obviously. The thing we've got to do is try to mix up our coverage a little bit with zone and zone blitz and man and do a few things we haven't done in the first three games to give some different looks."
Last year when you went to Oklahoma there was no Banks and no Teamer. How important is it for those sort of guys to be out there and healthy?
"Oh, it's real important. If you're a competitor, this is the game you want to play in, plain and simple. It will be interesting. There will be some dudes that are really going to the top in this game. You will see their best game that they played this season. I hope that's a bunch of them. You want to have your best dudes out there with the frame of mind to compete."
Will the crowd be a big factor, or is it a matter of how you handle it?
"It's how you handle it. We've got to withstand the beginning of the game and do a good job. That's going to be very important."
You are a little injured at tight end right now. Is there a chance Charles Jones and Kendall Ardoin can play against Ohio State?
"We're going to make a decision on Friday and see how they are. They are both veteran guys. They know what we're doing. We just have to see if they are able to go."
THAKARIUS KEYES
Talk about that interception in the end zone against UAB.
"We were in man coverage, so once he faded to the back of the end zone I had in my mind that I was going to pick it. He didn't want it as bad as I did. We practice every day on high pointing the ball. It was a 50-50 ball. I had to come up with it."
That would have been the turning point if you had finished the comeback. You prevented the team from going down by three scores.
"Yes, it could have. I feel like it will give me a lot of momentum going into the next game and also it put more trust into the team and the coaches, so it will be a good thing for us."
What impresses you the most about Dwayne Haskins?
"He's pretty good with his passes. He can squeeze it in tight holes, but I mean we should have a good game. They tie their shoes like we do. We play with hard man focus all game and we'll have a great game."
How much more confident do you feel now?
"I feel a whole lot more confident, like it went from 50 (percent confidence) to a hundred, so this will carry on for the rest of the season."
What are your best strengths?
"Press and ball skills."
