Jon Sumrall did not have much time to talk as he rushed off to some event after Thursday morning's practice, but he confirmed Jacob Barnes would be available Saturday after missing the two previous games with a groin injury he aggravated against Oklahoma. Note he said "available," not that he definitely would take over from Ethan Head. I'm guessing it will come down to a Saturday decision on who would be more effective.
In other injury news, Adin Huntington still is not 100 percent and may not play against UAB. That's why Tulane experimented with Gerrod Henderson at end and Kam Hamilton at tackle during Wednesday's practice. As I wrote yesterday, they still are searching for their best combination on a deep defensive front that did not gotten consistent production until the South Florida game. Huntington played a few downs at bandit in his limited action against the Bulls because they have not found anyone who can get to the quarterback at that spot. My best bet is they will stick with the starting four they used against South Florida, with Hamilton at end, Parker Peterson at the nose, Patrick Jenkins at tackle and Matthew Fobbs-White at end, but they won't hesitate to shift Hamilton inside and go with Henderson at end.
Sumrall also gave a promising update on Shazz Preston, who has not played or practiced since aggravating a hamstring injury in a conditioning drill before preseason practice started. Preston does not like he is walking without a hitch to me, but Sumrall said he was on schedule to return after the open date and play against Rice on Oct. 19. I'm skeptical about that, but Sumrall has been a straight shooter about injuries all year, so that definitely is the plan.
"He had an appointment yesterday," Sumrall said. "He should be able to run some next week and I think he's going to be available after the bye."
Thursdays are light workouts with no helmets on--what Sumrall calls a walkthrough. The most notable thing to me today was the bucket hat Yulkeith Brown wore during practice. It clearly made him stand out.
I am doing a feature on Tyler Grubbs and Josh Remetich to run in Saturday's paper, so I asked Sumrall about their similarities.
"Man, they are both passionate, they are both true New Orleanians, guys that take pride in what they are doing, they care, they give great effort, they hold others accountable, they don't have a problem stepping up being vocal, they play to the echo of the whistle, they strain. I love being around them. I love having them on this team. They are what you want."
I talked to Remetich yesterday. Here's the interview:
REMETICH
On what he remembers about PAC ball:
"I remember me and him first met playing baseball, and then we actually went to middle school together in the fifth grade. Me and him didn't really get along. It was pretty funny. Me and him were always going back and forth, especially at recess. We started some fights, but it was fun."
On who won the fights:
"It went back and forth. I wasn't as big back then. Kind of like getting into high school I started getting a growth spurt."
On when got closer:
"Probably around seventh grade year. In fifth and sixth we'd go back and forth, and then in seventh grade when we started playing football together, we were in seventh grade playing eighth grade football, and then when we started eighth grade we started playing J.V., so it was fun getting closer with him instead of fighting."
On personalities:
"I'd say pretty similar. On the field we're aggressive, but off the field we're kind and nice. We have two different personalities on the field and off the field."
On dynamics when Tulane recruited Remetich but not Grubbs:
"I tried telling them this guy's a hell of a player, he can run sideline to sideline and he's big. He's not a light guy, but he always gives high effort. We always talked about him here at Tulane, and I always put in a good word for him."
On mosquitos at Pac ball:
"Oh my gosh. We were out in the woods. It was bad."
On how close they lived to each other growing up:
"Yeah, we actually used a carpool together going into high school, and then we probably lived five minutes, 10 minutes away from each other. We were always together, always hanging out."
On Grubbs transferring to Tulane from La Tech:
"I first heard he hit the portal, and then JJ (McCleskey) came up to me and said we need to get him here. I was like, all right, get him on an official and I'll hang out with him, so I was actually his host on the official visit. His uncle that he's really close with and I'm really close with came here with us and was up there taking pictures. It was really exciting times. I was like, dude, it doesn't get much better than this. You're playing big-time ball in front of your family and everything like that. He's close with his grandparents and his uncle, so it was a dumb decision if he didn't come here to be honest with you."
On entering fifth year:
It's just really exciting. Seeing everything from 2-10 to 12-2 Cotton Bowl. Seeing what it takes to be 12-2 and what happens when you're kind of messing around and you're 2-10. Seeing the team grow from spring to fall camp, the talent that coach Sumrall was able to bring in from spring to fall camp was really special. I said this a long time ago. I think we have more talent everywhere on the field than the Cotton Bowl team. Absolutely."
On needing time to jell:
"We're finally starting to come together and playing together. The first couple of games it's hard to get a feel for how someone plays--different coverages, different how the wide receiver breaks and everything like that, and once you all start playing together, you saw this past game we were lighting up the scoreboard and stopping them on defense."
On being banged up last week:
"I had to take a little time, but I"m good."
On pulling guard:
"That's one of my strengths is being able to get out there in space. One thing that coach Roushar always says is don't break down whenever you're out there in space, just run through them. They are far more athletic than you."
On O-line play:
"There are still a couple of things we need to improve. We've got to get rid of the TFLs and the negative plays, but it was a couple of little missed assignments that we're going to clean up for this week and then we'll be good."
On what team needs to do:
"We need to come out with the same mentality that we come out with every week. If you control the line of scrimmage and control the box, you can have fun playing the game."
On all O-line coaches he has had at Tulane:
"All right. I had Cody Kennedy, and then that year I had Ben Thomas for the bowl game. Then I had George Barnett for a little bit. Then I had Chris Watt, and then it was Geep Wade and then it was Eman Naghavi and now coach Roushar. It's good to see the same face in here for two years."
On what he will remember from Tulane career:
"We all get together, the little things we do outside of football. Obviously football brings us all together, but it's better to know the person outside of football and stay together with them. I'm making lifelong friends being here."
On blocking for Makhi Hughes:
"It's easy. He's a great running back. He communicates really well with us like what's he seeing and what he needs us to do, so just having that constant communication and that chemistry with him is really easy."
In other injury news, Adin Huntington still is not 100 percent and may not play against UAB. That's why Tulane experimented with Gerrod Henderson at end and Kam Hamilton at tackle during Wednesday's practice. As I wrote yesterday, they still are searching for their best combination on a deep defensive front that did not gotten consistent production until the South Florida game. Huntington played a few downs at bandit in his limited action against the Bulls because they have not found anyone who can get to the quarterback at that spot. My best bet is they will stick with the starting four they used against South Florida, with Hamilton at end, Parker Peterson at the nose, Patrick Jenkins at tackle and Matthew Fobbs-White at end, but they won't hesitate to shift Hamilton inside and go with Henderson at end.
Sumrall also gave a promising update on Shazz Preston, who has not played or practiced since aggravating a hamstring injury in a conditioning drill before preseason practice started. Preston does not like he is walking without a hitch to me, but Sumrall said he was on schedule to return after the open date and play against Rice on Oct. 19. I'm skeptical about that, but Sumrall has been a straight shooter about injuries all year, so that definitely is the plan.
"He had an appointment yesterday," Sumrall said. "He should be able to run some next week and I think he's going to be available after the bye."
Thursdays are light workouts with no helmets on--what Sumrall calls a walkthrough. The most notable thing to me today was the bucket hat Yulkeith Brown wore during practice. It clearly made him stand out.
I am doing a feature on Tyler Grubbs and Josh Remetich to run in Saturday's paper, so I asked Sumrall about their similarities.
"Man, they are both passionate, they are both true New Orleanians, guys that take pride in what they are doing, they care, they give great effort, they hold others accountable, they don't have a problem stepping up being vocal, they play to the echo of the whistle, they strain. I love being around them. I love having them on this team. They are what you want."
I talked to Remetich yesterday. Here's the interview:
REMETICH
On what he remembers about PAC ball:
"I remember me and him first met playing baseball, and then we actually went to middle school together in the fifth grade. Me and him didn't really get along. It was pretty funny. Me and him were always going back and forth, especially at recess. We started some fights, but it was fun."
On who won the fights:
"It went back and forth. I wasn't as big back then. Kind of like getting into high school I started getting a growth spurt."
On when got closer:
"Probably around seventh grade year. In fifth and sixth we'd go back and forth, and then in seventh grade when we started playing football together, we were in seventh grade playing eighth grade football, and then when we started eighth grade we started playing J.V., so it was fun getting closer with him instead of fighting."
On personalities:
"I'd say pretty similar. On the field we're aggressive, but off the field we're kind and nice. We have two different personalities on the field and off the field."
On dynamics when Tulane recruited Remetich but not Grubbs:
"I tried telling them this guy's a hell of a player, he can run sideline to sideline and he's big. He's not a light guy, but he always gives high effort. We always talked about him here at Tulane, and I always put in a good word for him."
On mosquitos at Pac ball:
"Oh my gosh. We were out in the woods. It was bad."
On how close they lived to each other growing up:
"Yeah, we actually used a carpool together going into high school, and then we probably lived five minutes, 10 minutes away from each other. We were always together, always hanging out."
On Grubbs transferring to Tulane from La Tech:
"I first heard he hit the portal, and then JJ (McCleskey) came up to me and said we need to get him here. I was like, all right, get him on an official and I'll hang out with him, so I was actually his host on the official visit. His uncle that he's really close with and I'm really close with came here with us and was up there taking pictures. It was really exciting times. I was like, dude, it doesn't get much better than this. You're playing big-time ball in front of your family and everything like that. He's close with his grandparents and his uncle, so it was a dumb decision if he didn't come here to be honest with you."
On entering fifth year:
It's just really exciting. Seeing everything from 2-10 to 12-2 Cotton Bowl. Seeing what it takes to be 12-2 and what happens when you're kind of messing around and you're 2-10. Seeing the team grow from spring to fall camp, the talent that coach Sumrall was able to bring in from spring to fall camp was really special. I said this a long time ago. I think we have more talent everywhere on the field than the Cotton Bowl team. Absolutely."
On needing time to jell:
"We're finally starting to come together and playing together. The first couple of games it's hard to get a feel for how someone plays--different coverages, different how the wide receiver breaks and everything like that, and once you all start playing together, you saw this past game we were lighting up the scoreboard and stopping them on defense."
On being banged up last week:
"I had to take a little time, but I"m good."
On pulling guard:
"That's one of my strengths is being able to get out there in space. One thing that coach Roushar always says is don't break down whenever you're out there in space, just run through them. They are far more athletic than you."
On O-line play:
"There are still a couple of things we need to improve. We've got to get rid of the TFLs and the negative plays, but it was a couple of little missed assignments that we're going to clean up for this week and then we'll be good."
On what team needs to do:
"We need to come out with the same mentality that we come out with every week. If you control the line of scrimmage and control the box, you can have fun playing the game."
On all O-line coaches he has had at Tulane:
"All right. I had Cody Kennedy, and then that year I had Ben Thomas for the bowl game. Then I had George Barnett for a little bit. Then I had Chris Watt, and then it was Geep Wade and then it was Eman Naghavi and now coach Roushar. It's good to see the same face in here for two years."
On what he will remember from Tulane career:
"We all get together, the little things we do outside of football. Obviously football brings us all together, but it's better to know the person outside of football and stay together with them. I'm making lifelong friends being here."
On blocking for Makhi Hughes:
"It's easy. He's a great running back. He communicates really well with us like what's he seeing and what he needs us to do, so just having that constant communication and that chemistry with him is really easy."