I tested negative for COVID this morning, so I was back at Yulman Stadium after missing two consecutive practices for the first time since I began covering the team during the fall of 2010. My third bout with COVID was a little worse than the first two, with fever, a headache and a real cold rather than the sore throat and not much else I had on the first two occasions, but it really lasted only four days (Wednesday night until last night).
An offensive line without three of its starters was the first thing I noticed when I arrived. The good news is none of the injuries appear significant, although Rashad Green's might turn out to be worrisome. He, right guard Josh Remetich and center Vincent Murphy all watched practice from the side, with Murphy wearing a boot on his right leg. Caleb Thomas replaced Murphy on the first unit, with Landry Cannon and Dominic Steward on the left side. Here's Jon Sumrall on their injuries:
"Nothing serious. Vinnie is like maybe a turf toe type thing. We got it imaged, nothing major. We want to give him a little rest, We kind of know who he is. It's not bad to get CT in there with the first group at center. The beautiful thing with Caleb is he's played over a thousand collegiate snaps, so he's got some experience. Rem (Remetich) is just lingering stuff. He's played a long time in college football. He got looked back yesterday and he's fine. And then Ra (Green), same thing. Ra's coming off both labrums (having surgery, which caused him to miss all of spring drills), and he's practiced up until Saturday. We pulled him a little bit Saturday and then took him out of today. Vinnie's deal, we might see him (miss) a week, maybe, just to kind of let it calm down. We'll see how it goes. Maybe sooner than that, maybe a little longer than that. I don't see any reason he's not available. Ra, same deal. We'll get more information today to know maybe what he's feeling. He played last year with two torn labrums that happened during training camp (that's the first I've heard about this). He's probably going to play. We just want to get a good idea of what are we dealing with so we know how to manage him and treat him. We're making sure it's not significant, but he should be fine. It's college football, playing O-line. A lot of bangs on the body. We're talking about five guys that have played a lot of football. Vinnie, Rem and Ra have played a lot of football. It's kind of good to see the young guys get in. They screwed up some. It's hard playing quarterback sometimes when you've got that going on in front of you, but not a bad deal to experiment and move some guys around and see what we've got."
The second-team line was Tristen Fortenberry, Elijah Baker, Gabe Fortson, Jayce Mitchell and Darion Reed from left to right--three true freshmen and two redshirt freshmen. The only other scholarship linemen available is Reese Baker.
With the three starters out, I did not think any of the quarterbacks had a good day, but I got there around 8:50 and Sumrall said he liked what he saw in the earlier part of practice. The best play I saw was a pass from Ty Thompson to Dontae Fleming over the middle for a big gain. Darian Mensah appeared to be getting more reps with the first unit than last week, but he overthrew Makhi Hughes on a simple pass to the flat on the first rep I watched. Thompson then underthrew Sidney Mbanasor deep when he had a step on everyone, with the ball landed a few yards away from him.
Zycarl Lewis made two nice catches today, one as he slid to the ground and another when he dove to latch on to a pass from Kai Horton. The freshman from Florida bears more watching.
The quarterbacks definitely struggled at the end. Horton overshot a receiver. Mensah slipped to the turf as he tried to scramble. Thompson hit linebacker Chris Rodgers in the numbers for an interception when he was under pressure.
"I thought Ty and Kai the first part of practice had a really good day," Sumrall said. "The end, the third-down period, we went third-and-10, 8, 6 and 4, and now all of a sudden the defense changes the picture at the line of scrimmage. We're not playing a base defense. We're playing some six-up mug looks, some goofy, exotic things that is confusing as hell for an offensive linemen to figure out and really a running back (in pass protection). Everybody puts it on the O-line. Probably three or four of those pressures you saw in that last period were on the back. The back's got some things to pick up that maybe are off the line that he didn't see a couple of times. That last period it was hard to play quarterback. Really the first part of practice both quarterbacks looked a lot better than they had to be honest."
Micah Robinson and Johnathan Edwards continue to work as the first-team cornerbacks. Robinson (6-0, 184), from Furman, is a ball hawk who had five interceptions over the last two years. Edwards, who had zero interceptions (but a lot of breakups) in his Indiana State career, is bigger (6-1, 200). Barring injury, they will start on opening night against Southeastern Louisiana, with Rayshawn Pleasant, Rishi Rattan, Jaheim Johnson, Lu Tillery, E'Zaiah Shine and Armani Cargo battling for the top backup spots.
When they returned from the cold truck break, they did a short kickoff drill--walk-on Patrick Durkin sent the first one into the end zone--and then other special teams work on coverage, with 6-4, 260-pound long snapper Thomas Peterson serving as the dummy returner (no kick). I had to check the roster to see who that big man was. T
DE Adin Huntington had a brace on his left leg and did not practice today.
"He had a scope at his last school (ULM) back in the offseason," Sumrall said. "Same type deal. Just like the other guys. Out of an abundance of precaution, we imaged it yesterday. Everything's good. We just thought a day of rest wouldn't hurt."
Shaadie Clayton-Johnson did not practice today as far as I could tell. I did not ask about him afterward, so I will check on him tomorrow.
The schedule for the rest of the week is this:
--full pads for the first time Tuesday in a 90-minute practice with a live short-yardage segment for eight to 10 plays according to Sumrall.
--Back to shells on Wednesday with a practice at the Saints indoor facility.
--Thursday off
---Friday spider pads with a light scrimmage prep
--Saturday first scrimmage
An offensive line without three of its starters was the first thing I noticed when I arrived. The good news is none of the injuries appear significant, although Rashad Green's might turn out to be worrisome. He, right guard Josh Remetich and center Vincent Murphy all watched practice from the side, with Murphy wearing a boot on his right leg. Caleb Thomas replaced Murphy on the first unit, with Landry Cannon and Dominic Steward on the left side. Here's Jon Sumrall on their injuries:
"Nothing serious. Vinnie is like maybe a turf toe type thing. We got it imaged, nothing major. We want to give him a little rest, We kind of know who he is. It's not bad to get CT in there with the first group at center. The beautiful thing with Caleb is he's played over a thousand collegiate snaps, so he's got some experience. Rem (Remetich) is just lingering stuff. He's played a long time in college football. He got looked back yesterday and he's fine. And then Ra (Green), same thing. Ra's coming off both labrums (having surgery, which caused him to miss all of spring drills), and he's practiced up until Saturday. We pulled him a little bit Saturday and then took him out of today. Vinnie's deal, we might see him (miss) a week, maybe, just to kind of let it calm down. We'll see how it goes. Maybe sooner than that, maybe a little longer than that. I don't see any reason he's not available. Ra, same deal. We'll get more information today to know maybe what he's feeling. He played last year with two torn labrums that happened during training camp (that's the first I've heard about this). He's probably going to play. We just want to get a good idea of what are we dealing with so we know how to manage him and treat him. We're making sure it's not significant, but he should be fine. It's college football, playing O-line. A lot of bangs on the body. We're talking about five guys that have played a lot of football. Vinnie, Rem and Ra have played a lot of football. It's kind of good to see the young guys get in. They screwed up some. It's hard playing quarterback sometimes when you've got that going on in front of you, but not a bad deal to experiment and move some guys around and see what we've got."
The second-team line was Tristen Fortenberry, Elijah Baker, Gabe Fortson, Jayce Mitchell and Darion Reed from left to right--three true freshmen and two redshirt freshmen. The only other scholarship linemen available is Reese Baker.
With the three starters out, I did not think any of the quarterbacks had a good day, but I got there around 8:50 and Sumrall said he liked what he saw in the earlier part of practice. The best play I saw was a pass from Ty Thompson to Dontae Fleming over the middle for a big gain. Darian Mensah appeared to be getting more reps with the first unit than last week, but he overthrew Makhi Hughes on a simple pass to the flat on the first rep I watched. Thompson then underthrew Sidney Mbanasor deep when he had a step on everyone, with the ball landed a few yards away from him.
Zycarl Lewis made two nice catches today, one as he slid to the ground and another when he dove to latch on to a pass from Kai Horton. The freshman from Florida bears more watching.
The quarterbacks definitely struggled at the end. Horton overshot a receiver. Mensah slipped to the turf as he tried to scramble. Thompson hit linebacker Chris Rodgers in the numbers for an interception when he was under pressure.
"I thought Ty and Kai the first part of practice had a really good day," Sumrall said. "The end, the third-down period, we went third-and-10, 8, 6 and 4, and now all of a sudden the defense changes the picture at the line of scrimmage. We're not playing a base defense. We're playing some six-up mug looks, some goofy, exotic things that is confusing as hell for an offensive linemen to figure out and really a running back (in pass protection). Everybody puts it on the O-line. Probably three or four of those pressures you saw in that last period were on the back. The back's got some things to pick up that maybe are off the line that he didn't see a couple of times. That last period it was hard to play quarterback. Really the first part of practice both quarterbacks looked a lot better than they had to be honest."
Micah Robinson and Johnathan Edwards continue to work as the first-team cornerbacks. Robinson (6-0, 184), from Furman, is a ball hawk who had five interceptions over the last two years. Edwards, who had zero interceptions (but a lot of breakups) in his Indiana State career, is bigger (6-1, 200). Barring injury, they will start on opening night against Southeastern Louisiana, with Rayshawn Pleasant, Rishi Rattan, Jaheim Johnson, Lu Tillery, E'Zaiah Shine and Armani Cargo battling for the top backup spots.
When they returned from the cold truck break, they did a short kickoff drill--walk-on Patrick Durkin sent the first one into the end zone--and then other special teams work on coverage, with 6-4, 260-pound long snapper Thomas Peterson serving as the dummy returner (no kick). I had to check the roster to see who that big man was. T
DE Adin Huntington had a brace on his left leg and did not practice today.
"He had a scope at his last school (ULM) back in the offseason," Sumrall said. "Same type deal. Just like the other guys. Out of an abundance of precaution, we imaged it yesterday. Everything's good. We just thought a day of rest wouldn't hurt."
Shaadie Clayton-Johnson did not practice today as far as I could tell. I did not ask about him afterward, so I will check on him tomorrow.
The schedule for the rest of the week is this:
--full pads for the first time Tuesday in a 90-minute practice with a live short-yardage segment for eight to 10 plays according to Sumrall.
--Back to shells on Wednesday with a practice at the Saints indoor facility.
--Thursday off
---Friday spider pads with a light scrimmage prep
--Saturday first scrimmage
