I am swamped today because I have to write three stories for The Advocate (football, basketball, baseball game) AND have my kid in tow for Mardi Gras holidays, but here is some quick news from the first practice with a CJ Q&A. I will have much more thorough coverage after this week is over and my kid is back in school (he gets the whole week off).
Royce LaFrance was on the exercise bike for much of practice today, but it had nothing to do with an injury. He won't practice all spring for what CJ termed "academic" reasons. Assuming he is back for the fall, and that certainly is CJ's assumption, it's not a huge deal. The young guys competing for the other starting spot and top backup roles will get more reps, and LaFrance wasn't going to benefit that much from the spring anyway. He has been an up and down player, but I don't think anything he could have done in the spring would have affected his performance in the fall.
Leondre James is suspended for the spring for unspecified reasons. That's a bigger deal. With four scholarship receivers on the roster, Tulane needs all of them to get reps with Tanner Lee, and James appeared to be less polished than fellow freshmen Teddy Veal and Terren Encalade in the fall.
In other news, defensive tackle Corey Redwine is back with the team. He decided to walk with the seniors for the final home game last fall even though he had a year of eligibility left, but he has changed his mind. That is good news for the team. Redwine lost his starting job to Sean Wilson during the season and did not play very well, but he would be a quality backup with experience.
Ryan Griffin was at practice today and gave some pointers to Lee.
Braynon Edwards is still too big. He has good feet, but he has to lose weight to become relevant.
Jarrod Franklin, who has taken Lorenzo Doss' No. 6 (at least today), looked terrific. He made a spectacular interception in the end zone when he outjumped Devon Breaux and wrestled the ball away from him when it looked like it would be a TD throw from Lee. He also caught a deflected INT that Parry Nickerson let bounce off his chest. Nickerson, though, made his own sensational play, leaping to deflect a post pass that looked like a sure touchdown and doing it as if it second nature. He is really good.
Richard Allen is the first-team corner in the spot Lorenzo Doss occupied.
I only caught the last 30 minutes of practice and did not get a good read on the RIGHT TACKLE POSITION. From what I saw, Santa Marina was getting most of the reps, but that was a limited sample size.
Royce LaFrance was on the exercise bike for much of practice today, but it had nothing to do with an injury. He won't practice all spring for what CJ termed "academic" reasons. Assuming he is back for the fall, and that certainly is CJ's assumption, it's not a huge deal. The young guys competing for the other starting spot and top backup roles will get more reps, and LaFrance wasn't going to benefit that much from the spring anyway. He has been an up and down player, but I don't think anything he could have done in the spring would have affected his performance in the fall.
Leondre James is suspended for the spring for unspecified reasons. That's a bigger deal. With four scholarship receivers on the roster, Tulane needs all of them to get reps with Tanner Lee, and James appeared to be less polished than fellow freshmen Teddy Veal and Terren Encalade in the fall.
In other news, defensive tackle Corey Redwine is back with the team. He decided to walk with the seniors for the final home game last fall even though he had a year of eligibility left, but he has changed his mind. That is good news for the team. Redwine lost his starting job to Sean Wilson during the season and did not play very well, but he would be a quality backup with experience.
Ryan Griffin was at practice today and gave some pointers to Lee.
Braynon Edwards is still too big. He has good feet, but he has to lose weight to become relevant.
Jarrod Franklin, who has taken Lorenzo Doss' No. 6 (at least today), looked terrific. He made a spectacular interception in the end zone when he outjumped Devon Breaux and wrestled the ball away from him when it looked like it would be a TD throw from Lee. He also caught a deflected INT that Parry Nickerson let bounce off his chest. Nickerson, though, made his own sensational play, leaping to deflect a post pass that looked like a sure touchdown and doing it as if it second nature. He is really good.
Richard Allen is the first-team corner in the spot Lorenzo Doss occupied.
I only caught the last 30 minutes of practice and did not get a good read on the RIGHT TACKLE POSITION. From what I saw, Santa Marina was getting most of the reps, but that was a limited sample size.