Tulane is only two days into spring practice, but here are two things you can expect to see next fall that you have not seen during the Willie Fritz era: a tight end making big plays down the middle of the field and running backs actively involved in the passing game.
Sophomore Tyrick James was the star of the day, getting open down the middle for two long touchdown passes from Keon Howard in 11-on-11 drills. The second one was against the No. 2 defense, but James gives the Wave an explosiveness at the position it has lacked, and it has an offensive coordinator in Will Hall who appears willing to take advantage of that asset. He was open another time, but Justin McMillan missed on his throw.
"Tyrick James had a super practice. He had four or five catches and is playing with confidence and is is really doing a good job. It means we're able to line up in all sorts of different formations. It helps you with mismatches on the perimeter blocking. When you have a guy that can do a lot of stuff, they may play a dime type defense for your power formation or it puts them at a disadvantage where they have to play vanilla. It helps your offense when you have a tight end who can make big plays."
Fritz was high on James when he first started recruiting him. He played high school football for Brian Bell, the starting quarterback for Fritz in all four years of his stint at Sam Houston State, and Bell gave James rave reviews.
"Brian told me he's the smartest kid he's coached," Fritz said. "He can do a lot of stuff. I would watch him playing basketball when we were recruiting him. He's got great body control. He's only about 6-2, but he's almost 250, runs well and is just a really good athlete. He's got good movement. He played quarterback in high school, he played back, he played wide receiver and he ended up playing tight end, so he's still learning."
Amare Jones, a revelation as a kickoff returner last fall in his true freshman year, appears ready to become the full package even in a backfield loaded with talent. Tulane finally has a swing pass in its repertoire--still have not seen a screen--and Jones took one and sprinted down the sideline for a long gain against the first-team defense. He has big play written all over him.
"There are a lot of things he can do for us," Fritz said. "Obviously he's great in the return game but he's also excellent in catching the ball. He's got natural hands and he runs super routes. If you didn't know any better, you'd think he was a wide receiver. Then he's good back there as a running back and he played quarterback in high school and throws a pretty ball. He needs to touch the ball between returns, catches and running the ball 15 times a game."
The running backs combined to catch 35 passes in Fritz's first three years, and that's if you count Devin's Glenn's few grabs when he split time between running back and receiver. The most by a back in a single season was Dontrell Hilliard's eight in 2017. The plan is for those numbers to go up significantly, and it was born out by the plays the Wave worked on this morning.
"The backs are going to be catching the ball for us," Fritz said. "We're lucky all those guys have pretty good hands. Darius Bradwell's got soft hands. Cam Carroll made a nice catch over here and turned it into a run afterwards. Huderson can catch the ball. We've got a bunch of backs who can catch it."
Aside from his two long passes to James, Howard struggled for the most part. He missed a running back on a simple swing pass, throwing it into the ground, overthrew walk-on wide receiver Ryan Thompson and threw an interception on a misdirection play where he tried to throw to a receiver behind the line of scrimmage and nickelback Will Harper grabbed it. His next pass, an off target throw to Ytevio Booker, almost was intercepted, too.
McMillan was sharp at the start, completing the pass to Jones that went for a big gain and connecting with Jalen McCleskey on a post, although that was a better decision than throw. McCleskey had to adjust and go to the ground to catch it, making it look easy although I doubt any receiver would have made that play last year. A little later, McCleskey should have hauled in a deep ball in the end zone McMillan threw, but he dropped it in traffic.
McMillan dipped a bit during later reps, including throwing a horrendous deep ball to McCleskey that would have been a long completion if it been to the inside shoulder. Instead it was about five yards to the outside shoulder and McCleskey had to contort his body before diving and failing to catch it.
Christian Daniels and walk-on Josh Holl got some reps, too. Daniels did not do anything special. Holl threw a deep pass with a lot of velocity that ended up being intercepted when it looked like it would be a reception (I could not see the number of either player involved). Holl has a nice arm.
Jamiran James did not play last year because of his hand injury, and he appears to want to make up for lost time. He leveled Stephon Huderson on a running play, a no-no in contact drills. He had nice form on the tackle.
The depth chart remained unchanged from yesterday, except that newcomer Nick Anderson got some reps with the first unit at linebacker. He's short (5-10), but he plays with intensity, focus and athleticism.
"He's got tremendous strength." Fritz said. "He's a 400-pound bench presser, he's a 600-pound-plus squatter, he's a 300 and some odd pound power cleaner. He's got good linebacker movement. We have a really difficult time getting junior college guys in here. They've got to have great academics from high school and he's one of the few guys that we were able to recruit from the junior college level.
"I went into his JC and told him you're the only guy I'm recruiting here and he thought I was bluffing, but I said no, it's because you're the only guy I can get. He's a great student. He was a 4.2 GPA in high school, 4.0 in junior college, had a very high test score and was also an All-American player. That's what we're looking for. He fits in at our school and our program perfectly."
Fritz said Tulane did not recruit Hall out of his Mississippi high school, when he only had FCS offers because of his height, but once Tulane latched on to him in junior college, it was an immediate match. He is the rare JC guy who stayed only one year, giving him three years of eligibility.
"It really is rare," Fritz said. I was a junior college coach and it only happened one or two times the whole time I was in JC."
Tulane will practice Saturday morning at the Saints indoor facility. I plan to be there.
We talked to Fritz. Anderson, Jones and Thakarius Keyes after practice today. I do not have time today, but look for full transcripts of their interviews tomorrow.
Sophomore Tyrick James was the star of the day, getting open down the middle for two long touchdown passes from Keon Howard in 11-on-11 drills. The second one was against the No. 2 defense, but James gives the Wave an explosiveness at the position it has lacked, and it has an offensive coordinator in Will Hall who appears willing to take advantage of that asset. He was open another time, but Justin McMillan missed on his throw.
"Tyrick James had a super practice. He had four or five catches and is playing with confidence and is is really doing a good job. It means we're able to line up in all sorts of different formations. It helps you with mismatches on the perimeter blocking. When you have a guy that can do a lot of stuff, they may play a dime type defense for your power formation or it puts them at a disadvantage where they have to play vanilla. It helps your offense when you have a tight end who can make big plays."
Fritz was high on James when he first started recruiting him. He played high school football for Brian Bell, the starting quarterback for Fritz in all four years of his stint at Sam Houston State, and Bell gave James rave reviews.
"Brian told me he's the smartest kid he's coached," Fritz said. "He can do a lot of stuff. I would watch him playing basketball when we were recruiting him. He's got great body control. He's only about 6-2, but he's almost 250, runs well and is just a really good athlete. He's got good movement. He played quarterback in high school, he played back, he played wide receiver and he ended up playing tight end, so he's still learning."
Amare Jones, a revelation as a kickoff returner last fall in his true freshman year, appears ready to become the full package even in a backfield loaded with talent. Tulane finally has a swing pass in its repertoire--still have not seen a screen--and Jones took one and sprinted down the sideline for a long gain against the first-team defense. He has big play written all over him.
"There are a lot of things he can do for us," Fritz said. "Obviously he's great in the return game but he's also excellent in catching the ball. He's got natural hands and he runs super routes. If you didn't know any better, you'd think he was a wide receiver. Then he's good back there as a running back and he played quarterback in high school and throws a pretty ball. He needs to touch the ball between returns, catches and running the ball 15 times a game."
The running backs combined to catch 35 passes in Fritz's first three years, and that's if you count Devin's Glenn's few grabs when he split time between running back and receiver. The most by a back in a single season was Dontrell Hilliard's eight in 2017. The plan is for those numbers to go up significantly, and it was born out by the plays the Wave worked on this morning.
"The backs are going to be catching the ball for us," Fritz said. "We're lucky all those guys have pretty good hands. Darius Bradwell's got soft hands. Cam Carroll made a nice catch over here and turned it into a run afterwards. Huderson can catch the ball. We've got a bunch of backs who can catch it."
Aside from his two long passes to James, Howard struggled for the most part. He missed a running back on a simple swing pass, throwing it into the ground, overthrew walk-on wide receiver Ryan Thompson and threw an interception on a misdirection play where he tried to throw to a receiver behind the line of scrimmage and nickelback Will Harper grabbed it. His next pass, an off target throw to Ytevio Booker, almost was intercepted, too.
McMillan was sharp at the start, completing the pass to Jones that went for a big gain and connecting with Jalen McCleskey on a post, although that was a better decision than throw. McCleskey had to adjust and go to the ground to catch it, making it look easy although I doubt any receiver would have made that play last year. A little later, McCleskey should have hauled in a deep ball in the end zone McMillan threw, but he dropped it in traffic.
McMillan dipped a bit during later reps, including throwing a horrendous deep ball to McCleskey that would have been a long completion if it been to the inside shoulder. Instead it was about five yards to the outside shoulder and McCleskey had to contort his body before diving and failing to catch it.
Christian Daniels and walk-on Josh Holl got some reps, too. Daniels did not do anything special. Holl threw a deep pass with a lot of velocity that ended up being intercepted when it looked like it would be a reception (I could not see the number of either player involved). Holl has a nice arm.
Jamiran James did not play last year because of his hand injury, and he appears to want to make up for lost time. He leveled Stephon Huderson on a running play, a no-no in contact drills. He had nice form on the tackle.
The depth chart remained unchanged from yesterday, except that newcomer Nick Anderson got some reps with the first unit at linebacker. He's short (5-10), but he plays with intensity, focus and athleticism.
"He's got tremendous strength." Fritz said. "He's a 400-pound bench presser, he's a 600-pound-plus squatter, he's a 300 and some odd pound power cleaner. He's got good linebacker movement. We have a really difficult time getting junior college guys in here. They've got to have great academics from high school and he's one of the few guys that we were able to recruit from the junior college level.
"I went into his JC and told him you're the only guy I'm recruiting here and he thought I was bluffing, but I said no, it's because you're the only guy I can get. He's a great student. He was a 4.2 GPA in high school, 4.0 in junior college, had a very high test score and was also an All-American player. That's what we're looking for. He fits in at our school and our program perfectly."
Fritz said Tulane did not recruit Hall out of his Mississippi high school, when he only had FCS offers because of his height, but once Tulane latched on to him in junior college, it was an immediate match. He is the rare JC guy who stayed only one year, giving him three years of eligibility.
"It really is rare," Fritz said. I was a junior college coach and it only happened one or two times the whole time I was in JC."
Tulane will practice Saturday morning at the Saints indoor facility. I plan to be there.
We talked to Fritz. Anderson, Jones and Thakarius Keyes after practice today. I do not have time today, but look for full transcripts of their interviews tomorrow.
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