Michael Pratt threw some today against the scout team, although Justin Ibieta continued to serve as his ghost for most of it. Actually, they both threw on some of the reps, with Pratt throwing an underneath route and Ibieata throwing the deeper route as he stood behind the play. Pratt appeared to have no issue getting the ball to the sideline on short out routes and appears to be fine.
Tulane's starters on the offensive line will be the same as last week, with Tim Shafter holding on to his spot at right guard despite getting two holding calls against Army and being benched immediately after the second one. It is interesting that the two true freshmen who started the opener no longer are starting. In Josh Remetich's case, recovering from mono is a difficult process and he likely is not 100 percent yet. Trey Tuggle simply got beaten out by Ben Knutson, who has been terrific as a starter at left tackle and right tackle in the past five weeks, much to my surprise. Check out his block on Amare Jones' 50-yard touchdown run against Army. He just cleared his guy out of the way to help create a gigantic hole, and he has not allowed a sack since his opening series as a starter against SMU. He is the only significant lineman Tulane presumably will lose next year--I'm not even sure Jaylen Miller played against Army--and he is doing a heck of a job. This line is better than any at Tulane in a long time, but how much better will be shown Thursday against Tulsa's tough defense. The Green Wave is going to have to pass well early to open up the running game.
Although Cornelius Dyson got some reps with the first unit today, Chase Kuerschen is going to start with all of the same guys as usual except for Kevin Henry, who did not practice and is extremely unlikely to be available. It looks like they will go with Marvin Moody and Dorian Williams as the starters and Nick Anderson rotating in as the third guy. Jeffery Johnson practiced today with no cast or brace anywhere, so he is fine. Eric Hicks will start at defensive tackle next to Johnson ahead of De'Andre Williams for the fourth consecutive week, although Williams had six tackles off the bench against Army and was very active. Moody is wearing a cast on his right hand, but he said he missed the Temple and East Carolina games due to an ankle injury.
Dorian Williams and Willie Langham had back-to-back interceptions against the scout-team offense. That could happen in the game, too, because Tulsa quarterback Zach Smith is an erratic passer. He has thrown at least one pick in all five games this year, although he did not have any against Tulane last year.
Again today, I did not see Davon Wright get any reps even though he was in uniform. I did not see Alfred Thomas get any, either. The second-team D-line was Armoni Dixon, De'Andre Williams, Noah Seiden and Angelo Anderson.
Ajani Kerr got some reps with the first-team defense at nickel because Macon Clark spent most of his time at free safety with the second unit. I still expect Clark to start at nickel. Neither of them started against Army because Tulane had an extra defensive lineman on the field, but Clark started the previous six games. He had six tackles at safety against Army, and Kerr has gone three straight games without a tackle.
Willie Fritz is 3-3 when his teams play a game on a Thursday following a game on the previous Saturday, with all three wins coming at home and all three losses coming on the road, so he will want to reverse that trend. Georgia Southern lost to Appalachian State 31-13 in 2015, Tulane lost to Houston 48-17 in 2018 and Tulane lost to Houston 49-31 this year. All three were ugly losses. His wins were 34-14 over Appalachian State in 2014, 42-10 over Troy in 2014 and last year's wild 38-31 victory against Houston. He never had a Thursday game following a Saturday game at Sam Houston State.
,
WILLIE FRITZ
It's a quick week of preparation. How do you feel about where you are by the end of a Tuesday practice?
"Good. I've had quite a few times where I've had to do the Saturday to Thursday turnaround. We do a little bit more probably on the mental part of it. We extend our meetings a little bit and cut back a little bit on practice. You want to be prepared but you also don't want to be worn out, so I think we've had a good week up until now. Tomorrow will be a little bit more walkthrough than normal. The good thing for us is we won't have class on Thursday. Guys will be able to sleep in and take a little nap in the early afternoon and play the game, so they will be off their feet most of the day up until Thursday's game."
Has the bowl situation been clarified to you this year or is that still kind of to be determined?
"I don't know. I'd be B.S.ing you if I gave you an answer. I don't really know exactly what's happening with it."
Are you concerned? Do you want a reward if you've earned it at the end of the year?
"You always want that. This is a different year. We'll see what happens, but I'm not sure what they are going to end up doing. I really haven't dove into it to be honest with you. They don't want my opinion anyway, so it doesn't matter. They could care less about my opinion."
Is Kevin Henry going to be a game-time decision?
'I hope."
He got hurt when a lineman dove right into his knee. Is that normal football or is that something you're not a big fan of?
"This is not anything on Army or any of the teams like that. I don't want you to think this is, but one of the thing that's really tough is we've got all this protocol for concussions and then when a guy gets hit low in the knees, for a concussion he's out for a week, 10 days. If something happens on a low block when a guy is planted and it's in the core and it's at an angle, now he's out for a year. I was on the rules committee one time and that's one of the things we just talked about. Those are severe injuries or they're big-time ankle sprains. I just think that's something we're looking at. All they talk about is safety, safety, safety. I think you've got to continue looking at that. We've really cleaned up a lot of the game in terms of low blocking, but sometimes when you are on the core area, there are some rules that allow it. You get a hit where a guy doesn't see it and it's low and at a bad angle, and the guy is out for a year at least. That's always been the way I've looked at it, but it's part of the game so you've got to play it right now. You've got to learn how to defeat those kind of blocks and all those kind of things, get in the weight room and build yourself up."
Josh Coltrin got a couple of carries at the end of the Navy game. Was he the fourth-string guy with only three scholarship running backs, or was he rewarded for something specific? I know he arrived as a walk-on quarterback and was moved to wide receiver in preseason drills.
"We've moved him over to running back full time. I'll tell you, the kid's something else. He has an unbelievable attitude. I've told my guys they need to hang around with old Josh because he'll hire them in two years (he is a sophomore majoring in engineering physics). He's going to be unbelievably successful. We wanted to get him some runs. He's a good player, too. He played at one of the top high school programs in the state of Texas, Manvel High School and started at quarterback for them. He's going to expand his role. It's a little bit too late this season, but he can help us in the kicking game and is a tough, hardnose player. Coach Hall calls him a swiss utility knife because he can do a lot of stuff. You can throw him out there at receiver. He knows how to run the correct route. You can put him at running back and he can do it. You can throw him out there at tight end, play him at quarterback. He's just a really smart guy."
You have five fourth-year seniors starting on defense in Cam Sample, Patrick Johnson, Marvin Moody, Chase Kuerschen and Jaylon Monroe. Could you tell you had a special group when you got those guys in camp in 2017?
"Yeah, we knew those guys were going to play a bunch. Obviously you don't want to have to go out and start or play a bunch of freshmen if at all possible, but that's where we were. They've done a super job of developing. Those guys have logged a lot of minutes for Tulane and played a lot of football. We're proud of the fact that a bunch of those guys have already graduated and all of them will graduate by December. They've been very, very positive for our program."
Tulane's starters on the offensive line will be the same as last week, with Tim Shafter holding on to his spot at right guard despite getting two holding calls against Army and being benched immediately after the second one. It is interesting that the two true freshmen who started the opener no longer are starting. In Josh Remetich's case, recovering from mono is a difficult process and he likely is not 100 percent yet. Trey Tuggle simply got beaten out by Ben Knutson, who has been terrific as a starter at left tackle and right tackle in the past five weeks, much to my surprise. Check out his block on Amare Jones' 50-yard touchdown run against Army. He just cleared his guy out of the way to help create a gigantic hole, and he has not allowed a sack since his opening series as a starter against SMU. He is the only significant lineman Tulane presumably will lose next year--I'm not even sure Jaylen Miller played against Army--and he is doing a heck of a job. This line is better than any at Tulane in a long time, but how much better will be shown Thursday against Tulsa's tough defense. The Green Wave is going to have to pass well early to open up the running game.
Although Cornelius Dyson got some reps with the first unit today, Chase Kuerschen is going to start with all of the same guys as usual except for Kevin Henry, who did not practice and is extremely unlikely to be available. It looks like they will go with Marvin Moody and Dorian Williams as the starters and Nick Anderson rotating in as the third guy. Jeffery Johnson practiced today with no cast or brace anywhere, so he is fine. Eric Hicks will start at defensive tackle next to Johnson ahead of De'Andre Williams for the fourth consecutive week, although Williams had six tackles off the bench against Army and was very active. Moody is wearing a cast on his right hand, but he said he missed the Temple and East Carolina games due to an ankle injury.
Dorian Williams and Willie Langham had back-to-back interceptions against the scout-team offense. That could happen in the game, too, because Tulsa quarterback Zach Smith is an erratic passer. He has thrown at least one pick in all five games this year, although he did not have any against Tulane last year.
Again today, I did not see Davon Wright get any reps even though he was in uniform. I did not see Alfred Thomas get any, either. The second-team D-line was Armoni Dixon, De'Andre Williams, Noah Seiden and Angelo Anderson.
Ajani Kerr got some reps with the first-team defense at nickel because Macon Clark spent most of his time at free safety with the second unit. I still expect Clark to start at nickel. Neither of them started against Army because Tulane had an extra defensive lineman on the field, but Clark started the previous six games. He had six tackles at safety against Army, and Kerr has gone three straight games without a tackle.
Willie Fritz is 3-3 when his teams play a game on a Thursday following a game on the previous Saturday, with all three wins coming at home and all three losses coming on the road, so he will want to reverse that trend. Georgia Southern lost to Appalachian State 31-13 in 2015, Tulane lost to Houston 48-17 in 2018 and Tulane lost to Houston 49-31 this year. All three were ugly losses. His wins were 34-14 over Appalachian State in 2014, 42-10 over Troy in 2014 and last year's wild 38-31 victory against Houston. He never had a Thursday game following a Saturday game at Sam Houston State.
,
WILLIE FRITZ
It's a quick week of preparation. How do you feel about where you are by the end of a Tuesday practice?
"Good. I've had quite a few times where I've had to do the Saturday to Thursday turnaround. We do a little bit more probably on the mental part of it. We extend our meetings a little bit and cut back a little bit on practice. You want to be prepared but you also don't want to be worn out, so I think we've had a good week up until now. Tomorrow will be a little bit more walkthrough than normal. The good thing for us is we won't have class on Thursday. Guys will be able to sleep in and take a little nap in the early afternoon and play the game, so they will be off their feet most of the day up until Thursday's game."
Has the bowl situation been clarified to you this year or is that still kind of to be determined?
"I don't know. I'd be B.S.ing you if I gave you an answer. I don't really know exactly what's happening with it."
Are you concerned? Do you want a reward if you've earned it at the end of the year?
"You always want that. This is a different year. We'll see what happens, but I'm not sure what they are going to end up doing. I really haven't dove into it to be honest with you. They don't want my opinion anyway, so it doesn't matter. They could care less about my opinion."
Is Kevin Henry going to be a game-time decision?
'I hope."
He got hurt when a lineman dove right into his knee. Is that normal football or is that something you're not a big fan of?
"This is not anything on Army or any of the teams like that. I don't want you to think this is, but one of the thing that's really tough is we've got all this protocol for concussions and then when a guy gets hit low in the knees, for a concussion he's out for a week, 10 days. If something happens on a low block when a guy is planted and it's in the core and it's at an angle, now he's out for a year. I was on the rules committee one time and that's one of the things we just talked about. Those are severe injuries or they're big-time ankle sprains. I just think that's something we're looking at. All they talk about is safety, safety, safety. I think you've got to continue looking at that. We've really cleaned up a lot of the game in terms of low blocking, but sometimes when you are on the core area, there are some rules that allow it. You get a hit where a guy doesn't see it and it's low and at a bad angle, and the guy is out for a year at least. That's always been the way I've looked at it, but it's part of the game so you've got to play it right now. You've got to learn how to defeat those kind of blocks and all those kind of things, get in the weight room and build yourself up."
Josh Coltrin got a couple of carries at the end of the Navy game. Was he the fourth-string guy with only three scholarship running backs, or was he rewarded for something specific? I know he arrived as a walk-on quarterback and was moved to wide receiver in preseason drills.
"We've moved him over to running back full time. I'll tell you, the kid's something else. He has an unbelievable attitude. I've told my guys they need to hang around with old Josh because he'll hire them in two years (he is a sophomore majoring in engineering physics). He's going to be unbelievably successful. We wanted to get him some runs. He's a good player, too. He played at one of the top high school programs in the state of Texas, Manvel High School and started at quarterback for them. He's going to expand his role. It's a little bit too late this season, but he can help us in the kicking game and is a tough, hardnose player. Coach Hall calls him a swiss utility knife because he can do a lot of stuff. You can throw him out there at receiver. He knows how to run the correct route. You can put him at running back and he can do it. You can throw him out there at tight end, play him at quarterback. He's just a really smart guy."
You have five fourth-year seniors starting on defense in Cam Sample, Patrick Johnson, Marvin Moody, Chase Kuerschen and Jaylon Monroe. Could you tell you had a special group when you got those guys in camp in 2017?
"Yeah, we knew those guys were going to play a bunch. Obviously you don't want to have to go out and start or play a bunch of freshmen if at all possible, but that's where we were. They've done a super job of developing. Those guys have logged a lot of minutes for Tulane and played a lot of football. We're proud of the fact that a bunch of those guys have already graduated and all of them will graduate by December. They've been very, very positive for our program."