The defense, which gave up a lot of big plays in Tulane's short scrimmage at the end of Saturday's practice at the Saints Indoor facility, bounced back in Monday's 11-on-11 team drills. It was not the same as Saturday, with no tackling allowed, but the offense did next to nothing until Jonathan Banks hooked up with Terren Encalade for a long touchdown on one of the final plays. Encalade beat Willie Langham to haul in the latest of a series of a long touchdown grabs he has made during the spring.
The defense had its way the rest of the time. The 11-on-11 started with wide receiver Jaetavian Toles dropping a well-covered pass from Banks on a slant and Jabril Clewis also failing to hold on to a pas on the exact same route the next play. Banks then missed walk-on receiver Rocky Ferony on the sideline.
Christian Daniels, who looked sharper than at any time in the spring on Saturday, was less impressive today. He airmailed a short sideline pass about five yards over his intended receiver's head on one play and had an option pitch dropped by Corey Dauphine on the next one. That was probably more on Dauphine, but their spacing did not appear right. Really the whole session was a series of incomplete passes against tight coverage until Encalade got open. Rod Teamer broke up one attempt for tight end Will Wallace with a nice play on the ball.
Lawrence Graham, my pick (guess?) for starting inside linebacker along with Zach Harris before spring drills started, continues to work with the first unit and had a really nice play today, knifing into the backfield on a blitz and taking down Corey Dauphine before he could get started on a run parallel to the line of scrimmage. Graham is quick.
After watching three weeks plus one day of spring drills, here is my prediction for Tulane's starting offensive line in the fall:
Keyshawn McLeod at LT
Dominique Briggs at LG or RG
Corey Dublin at C
Bailey Granier at LG or RG
John Leglue at RT.
I'm taking a flier on Granier, but my spies tell me he is more suited to guard than tackle, and that will be Tulane's bigger need assuming one of the starting guards from last year (Dublin or Briggs) wins the job at center instead of Hunter Knighton. I don't trust Briggs as a snapper, and Dublin is a better overall player anyway. Briggs has gotten more of the reps at center this spring, but Dublin practiced at center today for the second time in three practices and has been getting reps there periodically all spring.
The other starting guard right now is redshirt freshman Cameron Jackel from Shaw. Here's Willie Fritz on his progress:
"He's getting a lot better," Fritz said. "He's really improved since he got here. He's going to have a chance to be a good player for us. Is it going to be next year or is it going to be the year after? That's going to be decided by competition and how he keeps progressing. He's done a nice job."
My guess is he will be become a starter next year rather than this year, but there's no way to know for sure until Granier begins practicing next August.
The entire second-team offensive line today was Tyler Johnson at left tackle, walk-on Ben Bratcher at left guard, Knighton at center, Brian Webb at right guard and Joey Claybrook at right tackle, with Devon Johnson getting some reps there, too. As a whole, that's a shaky second group, but backups don't play on the offensive line unless a starter gets hurt.
Darius Bradwell, who sat out Saturday's scrimmage, returned to practice today, giving the offense its full complement of four backs along with Corey Dauphine, Stephon Huderson and Devin Glenn.
Senior cornerback Stephon Lofton, who had a good practice in the first week of drills, is out with an injury. Freshman cornerback Chris Joyce was on the exercise bike when I arrived and did not practice, and so was Darnell Mooney, who was held out but did not appear to have a significant injury. The wide receiver corps is thin right now because Jacob Robertson remained out and D.J. Owens did not practice. Meanwhile, Brian Newman, who had a sensational practice right before spring break, has not made a single play while I've been watching in the last few workouts. Dane Ledford overthrew him on a sideline route the one time I saw him targeted today.
Jeffery Johnson was back with the first unit on the defensive front, surrounded by the usual suspects. Davon Wright is working with the second team.
The musical selection during 11 on 11 was a little different today, skewing towards the coaches' taste rather than the players. Fritz even joked after practice that when Johnny Cash's Walk the Line played, it likely was more of a distraction to him than the players. A TV reporter asked him if the loud music was an attempt to loosen up practice--you show me a football coach who wants to loosen up practices, and I'll show you one unusual coach--so Fritz explained again that he plays the music to create a distraction similar to what they deal with in games.
They also played Willie Nelson's On the Road Again, Heart's Barricuda and Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry, Be Happy as part of the early selections, breaking from the hip-hop selection that been playing most of the time this spring.
"We do it at the end of practice in the team periods during the spring and during preseason camp we might do it during a passing period, and we do it during stretching every day, too," Fritz said. "Really we're just trying to give as much distractions as we can out there. Like when we're doing Johnny Cash, that distracts me. I like listening to Johnny Cash. The other stuff I don't even listen to, so it doesn't distract me a bit, but it distracts some of these guys. You have to concentrate on the task at hand, and that's the main purpose--communication being loud, hand signals, all those kind of things. We're not doing it to be loosey goosey. We're doing it to get better as a team."
When they did the tackling drills today, nearly the entire team took part. The offensive players were at one end of the field tackling donuts. The linebackers and defensive backs tackled donuts in the middle of the field working on right-shoulder technique, and the defensive tackles had to deal with a rolling ball into their legs before tackling a donut. Only the offensive linemen did not participate, practicing on the outside practice field before the 11-on-11 work at the end.
When the staff addressed the team in the middle of the field at the end of practice, one of them told reminded the players to "turn the showers off" after finishing in the locker room. Yep, college kids.
Fritz yelled "be a good teammate," don't be a selfish son of a gun" as the players shook hands, a daily practice ritual under his watch.
Here's more from Fritz, who got a lot of general questions from the reporter who was at practice for the first time this spring:
On Banks:
"He's done a nice job. I think he's got a good handle on the offense. When you go from high school to junior college or junior college to college, there's a learning curve. We were able to spend more time with him, we were able to do more things. In particular, he's always had great fundamentals and technique in drills. Now he's doing it in practice. I really see his feet and his lower body and his upper body working in correlation with each other when he's throwing. He just has a lot better handle of the offense. He's doing a very nice job."
On the running backs:
"We've got some good backs. Huderson has had a great spring. Corey Daughine has done some good things. Bradwell has done some good things. Jet Glenn had a good scrimmage Saturday, some good runs and good catches. That will be another area of strength for us. They are talented guys."
On the defense winning the day:
"We do quick whistles and we're not tackling to the ground. Therefore it's kind of hard to tell exactly what's going on. Even this Saturday when we scrimmage, it's not going to be a real game. The quarterback's not going to be live. They've got to be able to carry that over into games, but we're working on a whole lot of fundamentals in between the end of the play and the beginning of the play."
The defense had its way the rest of the time. The 11-on-11 started with wide receiver Jaetavian Toles dropping a well-covered pass from Banks on a slant and Jabril Clewis also failing to hold on to a pas on the exact same route the next play. Banks then missed walk-on receiver Rocky Ferony on the sideline.
Christian Daniels, who looked sharper than at any time in the spring on Saturday, was less impressive today. He airmailed a short sideline pass about five yards over his intended receiver's head on one play and had an option pitch dropped by Corey Dauphine on the next one. That was probably more on Dauphine, but their spacing did not appear right. Really the whole session was a series of incomplete passes against tight coverage until Encalade got open. Rod Teamer broke up one attempt for tight end Will Wallace with a nice play on the ball.
Lawrence Graham, my pick (guess?) for starting inside linebacker along with Zach Harris before spring drills started, continues to work with the first unit and had a really nice play today, knifing into the backfield on a blitz and taking down Corey Dauphine before he could get started on a run parallel to the line of scrimmage. Graham is quick.
After watching three weeks plus one day of spring drills, here is my prediction for Tulane's starting offensive line in the fall:
Keyshawn McLeod at LT
Dominique Briggs at LG or RG
Corey Dublin at C
Bailey Granier at LG or RG
John Leglue at RT.
I'm taking a flier on Granier, but my spies tell me he is more suited to guard than tackle, and that will be Tulane's bigger need assuming one of the starting guards from last year (Dublin or Briggs) wins the job at center instead of Hunter Knighton. I don't trust Briggs as a snapper, and Dublin is a better overall player anyway. Briggs has gotten more of the reps at center this spring, but Dublin practiced at center today for the second time in three practices and has been getting reps there periodically all spring.
The other starting guard right now is redshirt freshman Cameron Jackel from Shaw. Here's Willie Fritz on his progress:
"He's getting a lot better," Fritz said. "He's really improved since he got here. He's going to have a chance to be a good player for us. Is it going to be next year or is it going to be the year after? That's going to be decided by competition and how he keeps progressing. He's done a nice job."
My guess is he will be become a starter next year rather than this year, but there's no way to know for sure until Granier begins practicing next August.
The entire second-team offensive line today was Tyler Johnson at left tackle, walk-on Ben Bratcher at left guard, Knighton at center, Brian Webb at right guard and Joey Claybrook at right tackle, with Devon Johnson getting some reps there, too. As a whole, that's a shaky second group, but backups don't play on the offensive line unless a starter gets hurt.
Darius Bradwell, who sat out Saturday's scrimmage, returned to practice today, giving the offense its full complement of four backs along with Corey Dauphine, Stephon Huderson and Devin Glenn.
Senior cornerback Stephon Lofton, who had a good practice in the first week of drills, is out with an injury. Freshman cornerback Chris Joyce was on the exercise bike when I arrived and did not practice, and so was Darnell Mooney, who was held out but did not appear to have a significant injury. The wide receiver corps is thin right now because Jacob Robertson remained out and D.J. Owens did not practice. Meanwhile, Brian Newman, who had a sensational practice right before spring break, has not made a single play while I've been watching in the last few workouts. Dane Ledford overthrew him on a sideline route the one time I saw him targeted today.
Jeffery Johnson was back with the first unit on the defensive front, surrounded by the usual suspects. Davon Wright is working with the second team.
The musical selection during 11 on 11 was a little different today, skewing towards the coaches' taste rather than the players. Fritz even joked after practice that when Johnny Cash's Walk the Line played, it likely was more of a distraction to him than the players. A TV reporter asked him if the loud music was an attempt to loosen up practice--you show me a football coach who wants to loosen up practices, and I'll show you one unusual coach--so Fritz explained again that he plays the music to create a distraction similar to what they deal with in games.
They also played Willie Nelson's On the Road Again, Heart's Barricuda and Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry, Be Happy as part of the early selections, breaking from the hip-hop selection that been playing most of the time this spring.
"We do it at the end of practice in the team periods during the spring and during preseason camp we might do it during a passing period, and we do it during stretching every day, too," Fritz said. "Really we're just trying to give as much distractions as we can out there. Like when we're doing Johnny Cash, that distracts me. I like listening to Johnny Cash. The other stuff I don't even listen to, so it doesn't distract me a bit, but it distracts some of these guys. You have to concentrate on the task at hand, and that's the main purpose--communication being loud, hand signals, all those kind of things. We're not doing it to be loosey goosey. We're doing it to get better as a team."
When they did the tackling drills today, nearly the entire team took part. The offensive players were at one end of the field tackling donuts. The linebackers and defensive backs tackled donuts in the middle of the field working on right-shoulder technique, and the defensive tackles had to deal with a rolling ball into their legs before tackling a donut. Only the offensive linemen did not participate, practicing on the outside practice field before the 11-on-11 work at the end.
When the staff addressed the team in the middle of the field at the end of practice, one of them told reminded the players to "turn the showers off" after finishing in the locker room. Yep, college kids.
Fritz yelled "be a good teammate," don't be a selfish son of a gun" as the players shook hands, a daily practice ritual under his watch.
Here's more from Fritz, who got a lot of general questions from the reporter who was at practice for the first time this spring:
On Banks:
"He's done a nice job. I think he's got a good handle on the offense. When you go from high school to junior college or junior college to college, there's a learning curve. We were able to spend more time with him, we were able to do more things. In particular, he's always had great fundamentals and technique in drills. Now he's doing it in practice. I really see his feet and his lower body and his upper body working in correlation with each other when he's throwing. He just has a lot better handle of the offense. He's doing a very nice job."
On the running backs:
"We've got some good backs. Huderson has had a great spring. Corey Daughine has done some good things. Bradwell has done some good things. Jet Glenn had a good scrimmage Saturday, some good runs and good catches. That will be another area of strength for us. They are talented guys."
On the defense winning the day:
"We do quick whistles and we're not tackling to the ground. Therefore it's kind of hard to tell exactly what's going on. Even this Saturday when we scrimmage, it's not going to be a real game. The quarterback's not going to be live. They've got to be able to carry that over into games, but we're working on a whole lot of fundamentals in between the end of the play and the beginning of the play."
