Nothing earth-shattering happened on the first day of full pads in what was only an hour-long workout from a little after 8:30 until 9:36. The three starting offensive linemen remained out along with Adin Huntington, Patrick Jenkins (rest day), Johnathan Edwards (I'm writing a feature on him today, and I assume it's nothing serious), Phat Watts and Reese Baker. The absence of Baker, who watched from the side and probably did not practice yesterday, leaves Tulane with 10 healthy scholarship offensive linemen, the minimum needed for a practice on a very hot day.
Ty Thompson threw an interception on the first play of 11-on-11 work, with Bailey Despanie undercutting a ball over the middle, but he bounced back to throw a touchdown pass down the seam to Sidney Mbanasor, who has impressed me in camp. The offense had some big gainers, including a strike from Kai Horton to Alex Bauman down the field. Bauman, who never looked fully healthy a year ago, has been excellent in camp. Horton also hit the reliable Bryce Bohanon for a 4-yard score in a goal line drill, throwing inside of Despanie, who was late to react.
The biggest hit of the day came from Adonis Friloux, who crushed freshman running Jamauri McClure for a 4-yard loss in the live goal-line drill. Friloux regaining his 2021 form would be huge for this defense.
For the most part, though, they did not tackle to the ground. It was more of a thud practice.
Makhi Hughes fumbled on the first play of the 11-on-11 session. How rare is that? He fumbled exactly zero times on 269 touches last year, another separator between him and the other running backs.
Shaadie Clayton-Johnson has not practiced the past two days. I will find out what his issue is when they get back from the Saints facility today.
With Jenkins being held out of the 11-on-11, Kam Hamilton got some reps with the first unit. He had a big first half of 2023 but did not do as much as in the second half of the season, and I have wondered how he would handle the transition in coaching staffs as a deaf player. He appears to be right in the mix at a position with five guys who will get playing time, with Friloux and Elijah Champaigne the other backups to Jenkins and Hicks. Parker Peterson would be the sixth inside guy.
Safety Joshua Moore defended a deep ball from Horton to Yulkeith Brown perfectly, getting right in position and knocking the ball away with no separation. '
Walk-on wideout Luke Besh dropped a pass from Horton.
With the ball at the 4-yard line in a 7-on-7 goal-line drill, Thompson threw a touchdown pass to Mbanasor, hit Bryce Bohanon short of the goal line and found Dontae Fleming for another score.
With the ball just outside the 20 in a red-zone drill, Horton hit Mario Williams inside the 5 on a slant.Arnold Barnes then got stopped short of the goal line before Friloux's big stuff of McClure, who has looked good in camp and has been more productive than Trey Cornist to this point. Cornist dropped an easy pass in the flat from Thompson. One of those two will have a role this season if Clayton-Johnson plays receiver because there are no other scholarship running backs behind Hughes and Barnes, and that position always gets dinged up. McClure had a nice catch and run on a throw from Thompson.
Walk-on Lucas Desjardins made a diving catch of a throw by Darian Mensah. Although Desjardins is not fast enough to become a factor, he has skills.
Williams could not hall in a deep ball from Thompson, with Jahiem Johnson providing very tight coverage. The day ended with Thompson running for a touchdown on first-and-goal from the 5. As Sumrall has pointed out, Thompson's speed is a big asset. He can do damage with legs.
SUMRALL
On first day in full pads:
"I thought it was good. Our guys came out the right way and we had some physicality when we were supposed to. A couple of times--the period was just a thud period--they have to understand they have to stay on their feet and not leave your feet to make a tackle. Sometimes the bad habits of dropping your eyes, lunging, widening your feet, some things that show up tackling wise when you do try to all of a sudden tackle. But I liked the physicality for the most part. There were a couple of situations I thought we could have brought it a little more, but it was a lot better than the first full pad day of spring, that's for sure."
On practicing once a day instead of the two-a-day practices when he was a player:
"When I played 25 years ago, there was no summer with a ball. Your summer workouts were strength coach, push a little weight, run some hills, see you in August from a football perspective. You call it two-a-days but it felt like it was three-a-days. A morning practice, an afternoon walkthrough that you ran and then an evening practice, and the freshmen showed up like three or four days before everybody else and did it by themselves for a while. Now we're so much better at player safety and recognizing what's good for your body and what's not good for your body. This summer we were able to get roughly 14 days with a ball for about an hour a day where we're coaching our guys, and then they are able to get four to six more with player-led practices. Reallly I felt like practice 1 was practice 20 or 17 or whatever. It didn't feel like practice 1. It helps you in that regard and it definitely helps you from an installation standpoint. We've done more red zone, third down already in today's practice than normal, which is really nice. It was practice 7 and we're way ahead in that regard."
Ty Thompson threw an interception on the first play of 11-on-11 work, with Bailey Despanie undercutting a ball over the middle, but he bounced back to throw a touchdown pass down the seam to Sidney Mbanasor, who has impressed me in camp. The offense had some big gainers, including a strike from Kai Horton to Alex Bauman down the field. Bauman, who never looked fully healthy a year ago, has been excellent in camp. Horton also hit the reliable Bryce Bohanon for a 4-yard score in a goal line drill, throwing inside of Despanie, who was late to react.
The biggest hit of the day came from Adonis Friloux, who crushed freshman running Jamauri McClure for a 4-yard loss in the live goal-line drill. Friloux regaining his 2021 form would be huge for this defense.
For the most part, though, they did not tackle to the ground. It was more of a thud practice.
Makhi Hughes fumbled on the first play of the 11-on-11 session. How rare is that? He fumbled exactly zero times on 269 touches last year, another separator between him and the other running backs.
Shaadie Clayton-Johnson has not practiced the past two days. I will find out what his issue is when they get back from the Saints facility today.
With Jenkins being held out of the 11-on-11, Kam Hamilton got some reps with the first unit. He had a big first half of 2023 but did not do as much as in the second half of the season, and I have wondered how he would handle the transition in coaching staffs as a deaf player. He appears to be right in the mix at a position with five guys who will get playing time, with Friloux and Elijah Champaigne the other backups to Jenkins and Hicks. Parker Peterson would be the sixth inside guy.
Safety Joshua Moore defended a deep ball from Horton to Yulkeith Brown perfectly, getting right in position and knocking the ball away with no separation. '
Walk-on wideout Luke Besh dropped a pass from Horton.
With the ball at the 4-yard line in a 7-on-7 goal-line drill, Thompson threw a touchdown pass to Mbanasor, hit Bryce Bohanon short of the goal line and found Dontae Fleming for another score.
With the ball just outside the 20 in a red-zone drill, Horton hit Mario Williams inside the 5 on a slant.Arnold Barnes then got stopped short of the goal line before Friloux's big stuff of McClure, who has looked good in camp and has been more productive than Trey Cornist to this point. Cornist dropped an easy pass in the flat from Thompson. One of those two will have a role this season if Clayton-Johnson plays receiver because there are no other scholarship running backs behind Hughes and Barnes, and that position always gets dinged up. McClure had a nice catch and run on a throw from Thompson.
Walk-on Lucas Desjardins made a diving catch of a throw by Darian Mensah. Although Desjardins is not fast enough to become a factor, he has skills.
Williams could not hall in a deep ball from Thompson, with Jahiem Johnson providing very tight coverage. The day ended with Thompson running for a touchdown on first-and-goal from the 5. As Sumrall has pointed out, Thompson's speed is a big asset. He can do damage with legs.
SUMRALL
On first day in full pads:
"I thought it was good. Our guys came out the right way and we had some physicality when we were supposed to. A couple of times--the period was just a thud period--they have to understand they have to stay on their feet and not leave your feet to make a tackle. Sometimes the bad habits of dropping your eyes, lunging, widening your feet, some things that show up tackling wise when you do try to all of a sudden tackle. But I liked the physicality for the most part. There were a couple of situations I thought we could have brought it a little more, but it was a lot better than the first full pad day of spring, that's for sure."
On practicing once a day instead of the two-a-day practices when he was a player:
"When I played 25 years ago, there was no summer with a ball. Your summer workouts were strength coach, push a little weight, run some hills, see you in August from a football perspective. You call it two-a-days but it felt like it was three-a-days. A morning practice, an afternoon walkthrough that you ran and then an evening practice, and the freshmen showed up like three or four days before everybody else and did it by themselves for a while. Now we're so much better at player safety and recognizing what's good for your body and what's not good for your body. This summer we were able to get roughly 14 days with a ball for about an hour a day where we're coaching our guys, and then they are able to get four to six more with player-led practices. Reallly I felt like practice 1 was practice 20 or 17 or whatever. It didn't feel like practice 1. It helps you in that regard and it definitely helps you from an installation standpoint. We've done more red zone, third down already in today's practice than normal, which is really nice. It was practice 7 and we're way ahead in that regard."
