Sadly that has been the refrain of Tulane fans for most of the past 65 years since Rufus Harris announced the de-emphasis of athletics at Tulane. Of course Tulane was the preseason #1 football team in the country at the time. Only at Tulane.
So will this finally be next year?
In football we have many who say it's all on Tanner Lee. I'll post here what I posted elsewhere recently when some one said that was the case. This isn't on Tanner Lee. It is on CJ,the Price's ,McDonell and Sheridan. There is no question he has all the physical tools. He's got height, strong arm,great throwing motion and is more than mobile enough. CJ has to learn his place and stay the hell out of the way. The Price's need to coach him up mentally. McDonell needs to put an offensive line together. So what that many are returning. The line has let three straight QB's get hurt bad enough to miss multiple games. As to the receivers we like to say they look good but the truth is many noted they couldn't get any separation. Sheridan has his work cut out for him.
It is about so much more than Tanner Lee.
The play calling and game management have been horrific the last 3 seasons. It has to show dramatic improvement in both if we are to have a successful season this year.
It all starts up front on the field. Our offensive line at times last year looked like a unit. But far too often they had breakdowns that killed the offense. There's ample size and experience for the unit to be good but is the coaching there? So far it hasn't been. KSM has been a disappointment to this point . He'll have his shot this year to live up to expectations.
At TE we finally got a couple last year that showed promise in Jones and Scott. Ardoin started to show some life in the spring game. This position had been upgraded and is clearly now an asset to the offense.
At WR we have a couple of players who got lots of experience last year. Losing James hurts our depth. So once again we will need some true freshman to step up. Fortunately it looks like we got at least a couple in this class. This position has bewildered us all as we all expected it to be major strength considering CJ's background.
We have a lot of talent at RB. A good coaching staff would take full advantage of Badie's explosiveness. Our lack of numbers at WR might force them into utilizing him on the perimeter which would be a great benefit to the offense.Badie and Thompson tend to get hurt a lot so thank goodness for Hilliard. He is the best all around back on the team. Having Kelley back also helps a good unit be that much better.
I already talked about Lee above. Behind him is Powell who still hasn't seemed to grasp the playbook yet. As for Cuilette he showed he could execute the read option n the spring. Problem is this staff won't know how to utilize that. Otherwise he seems a bit mechanical. With good coaching he could be developed but this staff hasn't shown an ability to do that.
Defensively we have some talent up front. We need more depth. Calvin Thomas showed real promise as a freshman. He then suffered a foot injury and hasn't done anything since. We need him to bounce back. Fortunately Redwine came back. LaFrance has been up and down. It's his senior year so you have to hope the light finally goes on and he tears it up for 13 games. We also need Aruna to finally reach his potential.
At LB we have the modern day version of Mark Oliveri in Marley. Despite his lack of size he just keeps getting after it and delivers game in and game out. Edward Wiliams is like LaFrance. You can see the ability but it just shows up when he's in the mood. If he finally stepped up every week it would be a major boost to this unit. Zach Harris and Eric thomas provide good depth. The return of Jarrod Franklin at the hybrid LB/Safety spot will help.
The DB's will shine. Nickerson finally got the knee fixed and lived up to expectations and then some. He's a real joy to watch. Richard Allen had a good spring and it will be interesting to see if that carries over. Lewis and Lofton provide solid depth. At safety Scofield will be greatly missed. He was our leading tackler the last two years and more importantly got his teammates lined up in the right spots. Monroe is solid but it would be great for him to look like the 4 star recruit we signed.
ST's starts w/the snapper and there was no design in the spring that that has been addressed. The kickers were still inconsistent. With all of the athletes we have signed there is hope that we'll finally have a return game.
With a good coaching staff we should get 8 or more wins against this schedule. We open w/a Duke team that will be starting a new QB and a host of other newbies on offense. This is very winnable game and if this is to be next year we need to win it. GT on the road is the only game that I think most everyone would agree would be a loss. Other than that every team on the rest of the schedule is beatable.
If I believed in the staff I would believe this will finally be next year. Unfortunately they have done nothing to merit such faith. Four wins or less seems to be more likely than 8. Hopefully they prove themselves this year and make us happy.
In basketball we will have 8 new players. As has been noted we have our highest rated class in a long time.
As to the newcomers two come w/a lot of experience in Morgan and Jarreau. Neither has lived up to their star rankings coming out of HS. Plus both have been injured. Can coming home make it all come together for both? We can hope.
We lost both PG's. I am highest on Kain Harris among our recruits and I think you'll see him starting at PG. Julien will provide depth. He lacks size like our departed PG's. That spells trouble in this league where a lot of the guards have good length. Hopefully he can figure out a way for that not to be a problem . Kajon Mack can be a factor defensively here for us.
At SG we have Dabney. This is Harris' natural position and so he will play at this spot also. We also have Morgan and Reynolds. Good depth here.
At SF we will have Frazier and Nichols. Two talented players that hopefully live up to their press clippings.
At PF we will likely start Jarreau. He has been injury ridden his whole career. He has the size to really help us if he can finally stay healthy. Blake Paul will play here too. Good depth. Some have noted that Paul is a head case. We have to hope that turns out not to be the case.
At center we have Osetkowski coming back. Oliver will back him up.
This is year 6 and so the least expectation is making the NIT and then winning at least a couple of games there. Is the talent what we have been led to believe? Many come w/question marks on the offensive end. Will the staff let the team run as promised? He has said it before and then failed to deliver. It's way past time for him to deliver and make this next year.
Just like in football a lack of faith in the HC makes it more likely that this is not next year.
As they say though that's why they play the games.
Here's to hoping everything falls into place and this is finally next year in the Big 2.
So will this finally be next year?
In football we have many who say it's all on Tanner Lee. I'll post here what I posted elsewhere recently when some one said that was the case. This isn't on Tanner Lee. It is on CJ,the Price's ,McDonell and Sheridan. There is no question he has all the physical tools. He's got height, strong arm,great throwing motion and is more than mobile enough. CJ has to learn his place and stay the hell out of the way. The Price's need to coach him up mentally. McDonell needs to put an offensive line together. So what that many are returning. The line has let three straight QB's get hurt bad enough to miss multiple games. As to the receivers we like to say they look good but the truth is many noted they couldn't get any separation. Sheridan has his work cut out for him.
It is about so much more than Tanner Lee.
The play calling and game management have been horrific the last 3 seasons. It has to show dramatic improvement in both if we are to have a successful season this year.
It all starts up front on the field. Our offensive line at times last year looked like a unit. But far too often they had breakdowns that killed the offense. There's ample size and experience for the unit to be good but is the coaching there? So far it hasn't been. KSM has been a disappointment to this point . He'll have his shot this year to live up to expectations.
At TE we finally got a couple last year that showed promise in Jones and Scott. Ardoin started to show some life in the spring game. This position had been upgraded and is clearly now an asset to the offense.
At WR we have a couple of players who got lots of experience last year. Losing James hurts our depth. So once again we will need some true freshman to step up. Fortunately it looks like we got at least a couple in this class. This position has bewildered us all as we all expected it to be major strength considering CJ's background.
We have a lot of talent at RB. A good coaching staff would take full advantage of Badie's explosiveness. Our lack of numbers at WR might force them into utilizing him on the perimeter which would be a great benefit to the offense.Badie and Thompson tend to get hurt a lot so thank goodness for Hilliard. He is the best all around back on the team. Having Kelley back also helps a good unit be that much better.
I already talked about Lee above. Behind him is Powell who still hasn't seemed to grasp the playbook yet. As for Cuilette he showed he could execute the read option n the spring. Problem is this staff won't know how to utilize that. Otherwise he seems a bit mechanical. With good coaching he could be developed but this staff hasn't shown an ability to do that.
Defensively we have some talent up front. We need more depth. Calvin Thomas showed real promise as a freshman. He then suffered a foot injury and hasn't done anything since. We need him to bounce back. Fortunately Redwine came back. LaFrance has been up and down. It's his senior year so you have to hope the light finally goes on and he tears it up for 13 games. We also need Aruna to finally reach his potential.
At LB we have the modern day version of Mark Oliveri in Marley. Despite his lack of size he just keeps getting after it and delivers game in and game out. Edward Wiliams is like LaFrance. You can see the ability but it just shows up when he's in the mood. If he finally stepped up every week it would be a major boost to this unit. Zach Harris and Eric thomas provide good depth. The return of Jarrod Franklin at the hybrid LB/Safety spot will help.
The DB's will shine. Nickerson finally got the knee fixed and lived up to expectations and then some. He's a real joy to watch. Richard Allen had a good spring and it will be interesting to see if that carries over. Lewis and Lofton provide solid depth. At safety Scofield will be greatly missed. He was our leading tackler the last two years and more importantly got his teammates lined up in the right spots. Monroe is solid but it would be great for him to look like the 4 star recruit we signed.
ST's starts w/the snapper and there was no design in the spring that that has been addressed. The kickers were still inconsistent. With all of the athletes we have signed there is hope that we'll finally have a return game.
With a good coaching staff we should get 8 or more wins against this schedule. We open w/a Duke team that will be starting a new QB and a host of other newbies on offense. This is very winnable game and if this is to be next year we need to win it. GT on the road is the only game that I think most everyone would agree would be a loss. Other than that every team on the rest of the schedule is beatable.
If I believed in the staff I would believe this will finally be next year. Unfortunately they have done nothing to merit such faith. Four wins or less seems to be more likely than 8. Hopefully they prove themselves this year and make us happy.
In basketball we will have 8 new players. As has been noted we have our highest rated class in a long time.
As to the newcomers two come w/a lot of experience in Morgan and Jarreau. Neither has lived up to their star rankings coming out of HS. Plus both have been injured. Can coming home make it all come together for both? We can hope.
We lost both PG's. I am highest on Kain Harris among our recruits and I think you'll see him starting at PG. Julien will provide depth. He lacks size like our departed PG's. That spells trouble in this league where a lot of the guards have good length. Hopefully he can figure out a way for that not to be a problem . Kajon Mack can be a factor defensively here for us.
At SG we have Dabney. This is Harris' natural position and so he will play at this spot also. We also have Morgan and Reynolds. Good depth here.
At SF we will have Frazier and Nichols. Two talented players that hopefully live up to their press clippings.
At PF we will likely start Jarreau. He has been injury ridden his whole career. He has the size to really help us if he can finally stay healthy. Blake Paul will play here too. Good depth. Some have noted that Paul is a head case. We have to hope that turns out not to be the case.
At center we have Osetkowski coming back. Oliver will back him up.
This is year 6 and so the least expectation is making the NIT and then winning at least a couple of games there. Is the talent what we have been led to believe? Many come w/question marks on the offensive end. Will the staff let the team run as promised? He has said it before and then failed to deliver. It's way past time for him to deliver and make this next year.
Just like in football a lack of faith in the HC makes it more likely that this is not next year.
As they say though that's why they play the games.
Here's to hoping everything falls into place and this is finally next year in the Big 2.
