On what might have the last sweltering morning of the year, Tulane practiced at Yulman Stadium for the first time since 24 days on Tuesday to begin preparing for Saturday's home opener against UAB. Reporters were not allowed to attend because of a school policy banning visitors from campus until Tulane re-opens Monday (an exception will be made, of course, for the game), but Willie Fritz, Cameron Carroll, Macon Clark and Michael Pratt spoke on Zoom afterward. Pratt speaking is a good sign. Nothing is certain, but if he had not practiced today after landing hard on his shoulder on his final play against Ole Miss, it is doubtful he would have spoken.
FRITZ
"We just got done with our first practice of the week. We didn't practice yesterday. We didn't get from Oxford (to Birmingham) until 5 in the morning. We got up early and drove back here to NOLA and got back here about 3 p.m. on Sunday, so we had a little bit of a different day yesterday than we normally did. I wanted the guys to get a little bit of rest and sleep, get off their feet a little bit, so we're going to go Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday in practice and obviously playing a game on Saturday night. It will be a little different week for us, but we're glad to be back home."
On being back at Yulman Stadium:
"Last week was a long week. There were probably a couple of mistakes I made with the team. I brought everybody (from Birmingham) and unfortunately we had a real small locker room and then we had an extra two hours (when the game was delayed by lightning amid a torrential downpour) that we were over there. It was really kind of hard during that time period. We didn't play very well on Saturday. I think the guys were looking forward to the game, and I didn't time that out as well as I needed to. You never know when you have a situation like that occur what is the best thing to do. One thing I'm going to do a better job of is check locker room size before we go and understand you can't bring 115 guys to an away game in most places. The guys were very excited about being back in town. I know I am. Twenty-two days we were gone, and it's good to be back in New Orleans. It looks like the city is picking everything up and getting back to normal."
On if it feels normal yet:
"No. It won't. It was kind of a strange first practice today. It really was. The guys were very excited about lifting yesterday because we were going to kind of a health club that didn't have bar bells and racks and things like that, so that's what we had to go to for the last week. It was a little bit different lifting, so they were excited about getting in the weight room where we could get back to our regular routine."
On if both of his QBs would be available this week:
"Yes."
On if they sustained any injuries in the Ole Miss game:
"No. Justin (Ibieta) got banged up the week before, but he we got him in there a little bit towards the end of the game. We took Michael out because we were a little concerned about the score of the game at that point in time and didn't want him to take any more hits."
On Dorian Williams' targeting ejection:
"I think so. It's a good rule. We have to have something. I agree with the powers that be. You know, they have some guidelines for what is a proper hit, and I've been very fortunate that guys have stayed safe over 29 years as a head coach and 13 years as an assistant coach. We really teach those guys. The thing that's tough in my opinion is I see a lot of times the offensive player lowering his head or his target at the last moment because these are split-second decisions. Sometimes they don't take that into consideration. All be honest with you. I looked at it on the sideline and I thought they were ruling whether the guy had gone out of bounds (that is what they said they were looking at, but officials are allowed to look for targeting even when the stoppage is for something else). I looked at it, and by the letter of the law, it was targeting. We tried to get a look at the one with Jha'Quan (Jackson, which wasn't ruled targeting because the defender, though trying to smash him with his helmet, missed, and intent is not part of the rule) and it's hard for us to see with our game film. I have not watched the TV copy. I'm not going to subject myself to that quite yet, but I guess it wasn't. It was more hitting him in the shoulder, is what I've heard. There are split-second decisions that occur, and we talk all the tine about strike zone. We talk about arm pits and below, not neck and below, just to make sure. You have to practice it all the time, and bang-bang it happens, especially when the runner lowers his target at the last moment. That's difficult for a defensive guy or a tackler on special teams to adjust."
On significance of losing Williams:
"He's a great player for us. That was unfortunate. We would have loved to have him in there. We had a little bit of momentum going at that point in time, but obviously any time you lose a really good player, that hurts you."
On Macon Clark performance:
"He's practicing much, much harder and is more consistent on a daily basis with his practice habits. He played really well the first half. He had an excellent first half. Sometimes you look at it and our defense didn't play very well. Give credit to Ole Miss. That's a great offense without question, and we tackled very poorly. They were top five in the country last year in total offense and I believe they're number 1 now maybe. They do a great job getting the ball to their studs in space and make you miss. We really tackled poorly. Some of that was us and some of that was them, and they have a great quarterback and a good offensive line. It was definitely a tough night for the defense. We didn't play real well, but also Ole Miss has a tremendous offense."
On what said to guys to keep their heads up:
"We talked about it after the game and talked about it Monday. After this game Saturday night the season is going to be a third complete. Some of these guys don't realize that. It happens fast, and we need in-season heroes. Some guys are really good January through August. They light it up on social media, they lift the weights, they get personal trainers, they do all sorts of stuff. This is when we need the tough-guy stuff. It's going to be done before you know it. It happens fast. We've got three games in the book and there will be four games in the book after Saturday night. That's when we need it."
On what learned from past month:
"I'm really proud of our players and proud of our coaches and proud of our support staff. I had very few issues over there. I'd put our 18- to 22-year olds up against anybody. if some teams were over there for 22 days, they'd have probably sent 22 guys home. There's a lot of things that occur. And right now we're still doing it. Our freshmen are down in a hotel on Canal Street. They can't get into their residence halls under Friday, so it's still not back to normal, but we're creeping in that direction. It was a unique experience. I can go ahead and put this as a chapter in the book when I retire in about 15 years."
On it travel took toll on team at end of three weeks:
"I don't know. It's disappointing, there wasn't anything to do about it, but we got to the game and all of a sudden it was delayed for two hours. Like God Almighty, one more thing. I don't want to act like that's the reason why we got our butts kicked--Ole MIss played really, really well--but it was one more thing we had to deal with, and that's kind of how it's been. Hopefully after this week we'll have a retrn to nornality and get it going, but I know we're all excited to be back in New Orleans."
FRITZ
"We just got done with our first practice of the week. We didn't practice yesterday. We didn't get from Oxford (to Birmingham) until 5 in the morning. We got up early and drove back here to NOLA and got back here about 3 p.m. on Sunday, so we had a little bit of a different day yesterday than we normally did. I wanted the guys to get a little bit of rest and sleep, get off their feet a little bit, so we're going to go Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday in practice and obviously playing a game on Saturday night. It will be a little different week for us, but we're glad to be back home."
On being back at Yulman Stadium:
"Last week was a long week. There were probably a couple of mistakes I made with the team. I brought everybody (from Birmingham) and unfortunately we had a real small locker room and then we had an extra two hours (when the game was delayed by lightning amid a torrential downpour) that we were over there. It was really kind of hard during that time period. We didn't play very well on Saturday. I think the guys were looking forward to the game, and I didn't time that out as well as I needed to. You never know when you have a situation like that occur what is the best thing to do. One thing I'm going to do a better job of is check locker room size before we go and understand you can't bring 115 guys to an away game in most places. The guys were very excited about being back in town. I know I am. Twenty-two days we were gone, and it's good to be back in New Orleans. It looks like the city is picking everything up and getting back to normal."
On if it feels normal yet:
"No. It won't. It was kind of a strange first practice today. It really was. The guys were very excited about lifting yesterday because we were going to kind of a health club that didn't have bar bells and racks and things like that, so that's what we had to go to for the last week. It was a little bit different lifting, so they were excited about getting in the weight room where we could get back to our regular routine."
On if both of his QBs would be available this week:
"Yes."
On if they sustained any injuries in the Ole Miss game:
"No. Justin (Ibieta) got banged up the week before, but he we got him in there a little bit towards the end of the game. We took Michael out because we were a little concerned about the score of the game at that point in time and didn't want him to take any more hits."
On Dorian Williams' targeting ejection:
"I think so. It's a good rule. We have to have something. I agree with the powers that be. You know, they have some guidelines for what is a proper hit, and I've been very fortunate that guys have stayed safe over 29 years as a head coach and 13 years as an assistant coach. We really teach those guys. The thing that's tough in my opinion is I see a lot of times the offensive player lowering his head or his target at the last moment because these are split-second decisions. Sometimes they don't take that into consideration. All be honest with you. I looked at it on the sideline and I thought they were ruling whether the guy had gone out of bounds (that is what they said they were looking at, but officials are allowed to look for targeting even when the stoppage is for something else). I looked at it, and by the letter of the law, it was targeting. We tried to get a look at the one with Jha'Quan (Jackson, which wasn't ruled targeting because the defender, though trying to smash him with his helmet, missed, and intent is not part of the rule) and it's hard for us to see with our game film. I have not watched the TV copy. I'm not going to subject myself to that quite yet, but I guess it wasn't. It was more hitting him in the shoulder, is what I've heard. There are split-second decisions that occur, and we talk all the tine about strike zone. We talk about arm pits and below, not neck and below, just to make sure. You have to practice it all the time, and bang-bang it happens, especially when the runner lowers his target at the last moment. That's difficult for a defensive guy or a tackler on special teams to adjust."
On significance of losing Williams:
"He's a great player for us. That was unfortunate. We would have loved to have him in there. We had a little bit of momentum going at that point in time, but obviously any time you lose a really good player, that hurts you."
On Macon Clark performance:
"He's practicing much, much harder and is more consistent on a daily basis with his practice habits. He played really well the first half. He had an excellent first half. Sometimes you look at it and our defense didn't play very well. Give credit to Ole Miss. That's a great offense without question, and we tackled very poorly. They were top five in the country last year in total offense and I believe they're number 1 now maybe. They do a great job getting the ball to their studs in space and make you miss. We really tackled poorly. Some of that was us and some of that was them, and they have a great quarterback and a good offensive line. It was definitely a tough night for the defense. We didn't play real well, but also Ole Miss has a tremendous offense."
On what said to guys to keep their heads up:
"We talked about it after the game and talked about it Monday. After this game Saturday night the season is going to be a third complete. Some of these guys don't realize that. It happens fast, and we need in-season heroes. Some guys are really good January through August. They light it up on social media, they lift the weights, they get personal trainers, they do all sorts of stuff. This is when we need the tough-guy stuff. It's going to be done before you know it. It happens fast. We've got three games in the book and there will be four games in the book after Saturday night. That's when we need it."
On what learned from past month:
"I'm really proud of our players and proud of our coaches and proud of our support staff. I had very few issues over there. I'd put our 18- to 22-year olds up against anybody. if some teams were over there for 22 days, they'd have probably sent 22 guys home. There's a lot of things that occur. And right now we're still doing it. Our freshmen are down in a hotel on Canal Street. They can't get into their residence halls under Friday, so it's still not back to normal, but we're creeping in that direction. It was a unique experience. I can go ahead and put this as a chapter in the book when I retire in about 15 years."
On it travel took toll on team at end of three weeks:
"I don't know. It's disappointing, there wasn't anything to do about it, but we got to the game and all of a sudden it was delayed for two hours. Like God Almighty, one more thing. I don't want to act like that's the reason why we got our butts kicked--Ole MIss played really, really well--but it was one more thing we had to deal with, and that's kind of how it's been. Hopefully after this week we'll have a retrn to nornality and get it going, but I know we're all excited to be back in New Orleans."
