Tulane is getting 11 defensive linemen ready to play against Navy because it is hard to go against that triple optional style without getting breathers to stay reasonably fresh. Two years ago, Tulane's defense wore down in the second half of the Navy game at Yulman Stadium, prompting Willie Fritz to go for 2 and the win at the end because he did not like his defense's chances in OT.
In today's light workout, the interior linemen getting reps were De'Andre Williams, Jeffery Johnson, Eric Hicks, Davon Wright, Adonis Friloux and Alfred Thomas, with Thomas getting the fewest. The outside guys getting reps were Patrick Johnson, Cam Sample, Darius Hodges, Carlos Hatcher and Noah Seiden. Eleven bodies should be enough, although backups like Seiden could be in over their heads when they play. Hicks figures to play a lot because he was sharp against South Alabama. The other backups represent a drop-off at this point, so they need to be used carefully.
Angelo Anderson, Noah Taliancich and Armoni Dixon are out hurt. Torri Singletary and Brandon Brown are practicing with the scout-team defense along with converted offfensive lineman Colby Orgeron, and I believe, Nik Hogan, who appears to have switched over from the offensive line, too.
Cameron Dartez has served as the Navy QB on the scout team this week.
Cornelius Dyson got reps today at safety. I'm sure the coaches did not put him in defensively against South Alabama because he had missed practice all week due to contact tracing, but look for him to get some snaps Saturday.
Will Hall continues to coach his guys very hard. He is the most emotional assistant on the field, doling out high praise and heavy criticism when warranted. He does not settle for sloppiness, and today he forced a simple pass to a running back to be rerun because the timing was off. "Run it again," he hollered. "Too fast." After one touchdown pass against the scout team, Hall ran around the field hollering and pointing to the empty stands, where they have put up the cardboard faces fans purchased in the lower seats on the press box side. He loves to scream "touchdown" on passes to the end zone.
Cameron Carroll dropped an easy pass near the end of practice. It was the only drop I saw, but those plays need to be cut out entirely in games. On the next play, Keon Howard overthrew Stephon Huderson. That needs to be cut out, too.
Here is Fritz.
On week's prep for Navy:
"We probably did a little bit more than we normally do on Monday because of our expectations of not being able to do anything on Tuesday, but we were able to practice on Tuesday, so we cut back a little bit toward the end of the week. We were very fortunate to get all the time that we got this week with everything going on."
On not knowing who Navy QB will be:
"Obviously some quarterbacks can do some things better than others, but for the most part it's kind of an unknown because these guys have not played a whole lot. But they are going to do what they do. We've been working a lot on the possibility of them getting into some gun. They've done that also, and we see that every day in practice. We did a bunch of good on good and had our offense work on some of their gun plays, but their bread and butter is going to be the under-center triple option. They run it like a machine."
On D-line depth:
"We've got a bunch of guys up there. We've got Cam and De'Andre and Jeffery. Eric Hicks had a good game last week. He didn't have any sacks, but he drew two holding penalties, which are like having a sack. Adonis. Noah Seiden. Davon Wright. Alfred Thomas. So we're pretty deep at those three spots with all those guys."
on taking tips from BYU offensively:
"Well there are some things in our package that they do and we do obviously. We'll run some of those plays. They just did a great job of getting bodies on bodies. The big thing is coach Niumatololo talked post game and during the week they were not scrimmaging a whole lot and not tackling a whole lot and not live blocking a whole lot. That hurt them, so as I've told our guys on a daily basis, we are going to see a completely different Navy team on Saturday than what they played against BYU."
In today's light workout, the interior linemen getting reps were De'Andre Williams, Jeffery Johnson, Eric Hicks, Davon Wright, Adonis Friloux and Alfred Thomas, with Thomas getting the fewest. The outside guys getting reps were Patrick Johnson, Cam Sample, Darius Hodges, Carlos Hatcher and Noah Seiden. Eleven bodies should be enough, although backups like Seiden could be in over their heads when they play. Hicks figures to play a lot because he was sharp against South Alabama. The other backups represent a drop-off at this point, so they need to be used carefully.
Angelo Anderson, Noah Taliancich and Armoni Dixon are out hurt. Torri Singletary and Brandon Brown are practicing with the scout-team defense along with converted offfensive lineman Colby Orgeron, and I believe, Nik Hogan, who appears to have switched over from the offensive line, too.
Cameron Dartez has served as the Navy QB on the scout team this week.
Cornelius Dyson got reps today at safety. I'm sure the coaches did not put him in defensively against South Alabama because he had missed practice all week due to contact tracing, but look for him to get some snaps Saturday.
Will Hall continues to coach his guys very hard. He is the most emotional assistant on the field, doling out high praise and heavy criticism when warranted. He does not settle for sloppiness, and today he forced a simple pass to a running back to be rerun because the timing was off. "Run it again," he hollered. "Too fast." After one touchdown pass against the scout team, Hall ran around the field hollering and pointing to the empty stands, where they have put up the cardboard faces fans purchased in the lower seats on the press box side. He loves to scream "touchdown" on passes to the end zone.
Cameron Carroll dropped an easy pass near the end of practice. It was the only drop I saw, but those plays need to be cut out entirely in games. On the next play, Keon Howard overthrew Stephon Huderson. That needs to be cut out, too.
Here is Fritz.
On week's prep for Navy:
"We probably did a little bit more than we normally do on Monday because of our expectations of not being able to do anything on Tuesday, but we were able to practice on Tuesday, so we cut back a little bit toward the end of the week. We were very fortunate to get all the time that we got this week with everything going on."
On not knowing who Navy QB will be:
"Obviously some quarterbacks can do some things better than others, but for the most part it's kind of an unknown because these guys have not played a whole lot. But they are going to do what they do. We've been working a lot on the possibility of them getting into some gun. They've done that also, and we see that every day in practice. We did a bunch of good on good and had our offense work on some of their gun plays, but their bread and butter is going to be the under-center triple option. They run it like a machine."
On D-line depth:
"We've got a bunch of guys up there. We've got Cam and De'Andre and Jeffery. Eric Hicks had a good game last week. He didn't have any sacks, but he drew two holding penalties, which are like having a sack. Adonis. Noah Seiden. Davon Wright. Alfred Thomas. So we're pretty deep at those three spots with all those guys."
on taking tips from BYU offensively:
"Well there are some things in our package that they do and we do obviously. We'll run some of those plays. They just did a great job of getting bodies on bodies. The big thing is coach Niumatololo talked post game and during the week they were not scrimmaging a whole lot and not tackling a whole lot and not live blocking a whole lot. That hurt them, so as I've told our guys on a daily basis, we are going to see a completely different Navy team on Saturday than what they played against BYU."