The Monday Night Football theme music blaring at Yulman Stadium minutes after Tulane's practice on Saturday morning meant one thing--this is a Monday in Jon Sumrall's parlance since the opener is next Thursday and everything has moved up two days--and that means 10 minutes of live reps for the freshmen and scout-team players. I wrote about this last Monday when they did it for the first time, but it is Sumrall's idea to keep the guys who are not slated for playing time excited and eager while giving them some experience if they end up playing later in the year. Javion White, who is competing with Jayden Lewis for the top backup spot at nickelback (spear), was the most notable guy getting extra action. The offensive line from left to right was Tristen Fortenberry, walk-on Collin O'Carroll, Gabe Fortson, Jayce Mitchell and walk-on Leo Wulfratt. Elijah Baker and Reese Baker and Dominic Steward were not involved because they are in the mix for playing time.
During the regular practice, Darian Mensah continued to get the first-team reps, with Kai Horton and Ty Thompson flip-flopping from Wednesday and Horton getting the second-team reps before Thompson. Sumrall has not changed his stance on announcing a pecking order at the position, but he was forthcoming about the injury status of guys who did not practice today. Obviously guys like Trey Tuggle (out for the year) and J'ahrie Garner and Jesus Machado with long-term injuries will not be available, and wide receiver Shazz Preston is "very doubtful to out," and Sumrall admitted it was not certain when he would return because hamstring injuries are tricky. He discarded the crutches for the first time today but is not close to being able to practice. Outside of that, Sumrall was not ready to say anyone was definitely out.
"I would say a lot of questionables like (Jack) Tchienchou, Phat (Watts) and Reggie (Brown). I'm not going to push, but if they are ready, they're ready, and if they're not, they're not. Those are the three that have a chance to play but may not play. Don't know yet, and I'm not just saying that. That's the truth. Shazz is the most unique one in that he could be game 2, game 3, game 4, game 5. He's off crutches, which is good. The crutches were not necessarily a function of him needing to use them to be able to walk. The crutches were to protect the overuse of the hamstring, but I saw him in our building last week with the crutches over his head walking around, like why do you carry them? He's been fine to walk. Just trying to limit the amount of usage."
Tulane's official depth chart has no real surprises. I listed the safeties at the wrong spots in my depth chart the other day--Bailey Despanie is at strong safety and Jalen Geiger is at free safety--but the rest was accurate. The quarterbacks are listed as Mensah OR Thompson OR Horton in that order. Bryce Bohanon is behind Yulkeith Brown at wideout, with Sidney Mbanasor OR Shaun Nicholas backing up Dontae Fleming and Watts listed as Mario Williams' backup. With Watts unlikely to play in my opinion, the guy getting the most reps is Garrett Mmahat. We'll see if he actually goes in to replace Williams or not. I talked to Carter Sheridan about all of the healthy wideouts today and will have the full interview later, but he indicated Khai Prean and Zycarl Lewis were behind the others in knowledge of the offense although he likes their skill set. At running back, it is Shaadie Clayton-Johnson OR Arnold Barnes behind Makhi Hughes with no mention of Jamauri McClure.
On defense, four guys are listed as such: Terrell Allen OR Matthew Fobbs-White OR Michael Lunz OR Shi'Keem Laister. I'm kicking myself about Laister because I wrote up a practice report with him playing bandit a couple weeks ago, then edited it out a couple hours later because I didn't trust I was wright and figured someone else had worn his jersey number. He is listed at 207 pounds, but they clearly like his pass rushing ability. Chris Rodgers is listed as Tyler Grubbs' backup at Will, with Sam Howard OR Dickson Agu the starter at Mike. Makai Williams is third at Mike. It's Jayden Lewis OR Javion White backing up Caleb Ransaw at nickel. Johnathan Edwards' backup is Rayshawn Pleasant. Micah Robinson's backup is Jaheim Johnson OR Lu Tillery, with no mention at either spot for Rishi Rattan. Kevin Adams backs up Despanie at strong safety, with Joshua Moore OR Tchienchou backing up Geiger at free safety.
The kickoff return guys are Clayton-Johnsnon, who I believe can score Thursday, and Pleasant instead of Fleming. Fleming is the punt returner, with Bohanon behind him.
Sumrall is pleased overall five days before his debut:
"I like where we are in a lot of things," he said. "I'm in a lot better headspace because we did this last week (preparing as if they were playing last Thursday). We worked out the kinds. We have 56 new plays and maybe 58 since we added two walk-ons when school started to be look-team guys. The staff has meshed really well. There's a lot of holdovers and a good number of new guys, and then there are some things we've adapted here that I didn't do at Troy. When your location changes, there are some processes that are mandatory that I believe in deep down, but there are some processes that fit locationally. Morning practice is one of them. I hadn't done that until now (other than his three years as an assistant to Curtis Johnson)., so we're getting used to that. You have to frontload so the night before, when you leave, the whole practice plan has got to be in the safe to pull out the next day. When you're an afternoon practice, you come in in the morning and you're still putting that day together. The other thing I'm trying to make sure we do is going into game one I'm always worried about us as coaches (teaching) no more football than our team can execute. Let's have enough bullets in the gun, but let's not let the gun malfunction because it's just got too many things in it. Let's be smart there, and the morning practice deal, staff-wise, player-wise, because we're all here, I got in late this morning and it was 5:45. That was late for me. Because you're so early on the front end, I'm trying to remind our staff on the back end when the work's done, don't sit here. Coaches have a tendency to want to be here to midnight or 1 a.m., and I'm like, guys, if you do that all year and you're here at 5 and leaving at 1, you're going to end up falling apart and not being very good. It's just making sure we understand the flow. That's why last week was so good, too, to kind of work some of that out.
"But I like our team's mindset. There was a different energy this morning in the team room. You beat up on yourselves and you run around and the bar is get better every day. Now the bar is like, hey, there's going to be a scoreboard on Thursday night and we gotta go play and line up."
Javon Carter was back today but practiced with the scout-team defense along with Elijah Champaigne. I'd say those two guys were the most notable players working with the scouts. On offense, Blake Gunter took advantage of a busted coverage for a long catch with no one near him. Other than that, the scout team offense did not have any significant gains, but they can't afford to have a breakdown like that in the game.
During the regular practice, Darian Mensah continued to get the first-team reps, with Kai Horton and Ty Thompson flip-flopping from Wednesday and Horton getting the second-team reps before Thompson. Sumrall has not changed his stance on announcing a pecking order at the position, but he was forthcoming about the injury status of guys who did not practice today. Obviously guys like Trey Tuggle (out for the year) and J'ahrie Garner and Jesus Machado with long-term injuries will not be available, and wide receiver Shazz Preston is "very doubtful to out," and Sumrall admitted it was not certain when he would return because hamstring injuries are tricky. He discarded the crutches for the first time today but is not close to being able to practice. Outside of that, Sumrall was not ready to say anyone was definitely out.
"I would say a lot of questionables like (Jack) Tchienchou, Phat (Watts) and Reggie (Brown). I'm not going to push, but if they are ready, they're ready, and if they're not, they're not. Those are the three that have a chance to play but may not play. Don't know yet, and I'm not just saying that. That's the truth. Shazz is the most unique one in that he could be game 2, game 3, game 4, game 5. He's off crutches, which is good. The crutches were not necessarily a function of him needing to use them to be able to walk. The crutches were to protect the overuse of the hamstring, but I saw him in our building last week with the crutches over his head walking around, like why do you carry them? He's been fine to walk. Just trying to limit the amount of usage."
Tulane's official depth chart has no real surprises. I listed the safeties at the wrong spots in my depth chart the other day--Bailey Despanie is at strong safety and Jalen Geiger is at free safety--but the rest was accurate. The quarterbacks are listed as Mensah OR Thompson OR Horton in that order. Bryce Bohanon is behind Yulkeith Brown at wideout, with Sidney Mbanasor OR Shaun Nicholas backing up Dontae Fleming and Watts listed as Mario Williams' backup. With Watts unlikely to play in my opinion, the guy getting the most reps is Garrett Mmahat. We'll see if he actually goes in to replace Williams or not. I talked to Carter Sheridan about all of the healthy wideouts today and will have the full interview later, but he indicated Khai Prean and Zycarl Lewis were behind the others in knowledge of the offense although he likes their skill set. At running back, it is Shaadie Clayton-Johnson OR Arnold Barnes behind Makhi Hughes with no mention of Jamauri McClure.
On defense, four guys are listed as such: Terrell Allen OR Matthew Fobbs-White OR Michael Lunz OR Shi'Keem Laister. I'm kicking myself about Laister because I wrote up a practice report with him playing bandit a couple weeks ago, then edited it out a couple hours later because I didn't trust I was wright and figured someone else had worn his jersey number. He is listed at 207 pounds, but they clearly like his pass rushing ability. Chris Rodgers is listed as Tyler Grubbs' backup at Will, with Sam Howard OR Dickson Agu the starter at Mike. Makai Williams is third at Mike. It's Jayden Lewis OR Javion White backing up Caleb Ransaw at nickel. Johnathan Edwards' backup is Rayshawn Pleasant. Micah Robinson's backup is Jaheim Johnson OR Lu Tillery, with no mention at either spot for Rishi Rattan. Kevin Adams backs up Despanie at strong safety, with Joshua Moore OR Tchienchou backing up Geiger at free safety.
The kickoff return guys are Clayton-Johnsnon, who I believe can score Thursday, and Pleasant instead of Fleming. Fleming is the punt returner, with Bohanon behind him.
Sumrall is pleased overall five days before his debut:
"I like where we are in a lot of things," he said. "I'm in a lot better headspace because we did this last week (preparing as if they were playing last Thursday). We worked out the kinds. We have 56 new plays and maybe 58 since we added two walk-ons when school started to be look-team guys. The staff has meshed really well. There's a lot of holdovers and a good number of new guys, and then there are some things we've adapted here that I didn't do at Troy. When your location changes, there are some processes that are mandatory that I believe in deep down, but there are some processes that fit locationally. Morning practice is one of them. I hadn't done that until now (other than his three years as an assistant to Curtis Johnson)., so we're getting used to that. You have to frontload so the night before, when you leave, the whole practice plan has got to be in the safe to pull out the next day. When you're an afternoon practice, you come in in the morning and you're still putting that day together. The other thing I'm trying to make sure we do is going into game one I'm always worried about us as coaches (teaching) no more football than our team can execute. Let's have enough bullets in the gun, but let's not let the gun malfunction because it's just got too many things in it. Let's be smart there, and the morning practice deal, staff-wise, player-wise, because we're all here, I got in late this morning and it was 5:45. That was late for me. Because you're so early on the front end, I'm trying to remind our staff on the back end when the work's done, don't sit here. Coaches have a tendency to want to be here to midnight or 1 a.m., and I'm like, guys, if you do that all year and you're here at 5 and leaving at 1, you're going to end up falling apart and not being very good. It's just making sure we understand the flow. That's why last week was so good, too, to kind of work some of that out.
"But I like our team's mindset. There was a different energy this morning in the team room. You beat up on yourselves and you run around and the bar is get better every day. Now the bar is like, hey, there's going to be a scoreboard on Thursday night and we gotta go play and line up."
Javon Carter was back today but practiced with the scout-team defense along with Elijah Champaigne. I'd say those two guys were the most notable players working with the scouts. On offense, Blake Gunter took advantage of a busted coverage for a long catch with no one near him. Other than that, the scout team offense did not have any significant gains, but they can't afford to have a breakdown like that in the game.
