Tulane practiced for about two hours at Alabama's indoor facility in Tuscaloosa this morning due to rain in Birmingham, using that option for the second time since making Birmingham its home away from home due to Hurricane Ida.
Willie Fritz said tight end Will Wallace, who missed the Morgan State game with a concussion (I did not realize he was out until afterward), has been cleared to play against the Rebels. Tulane has pretty good depth at the position, but Wallace could make a difference going against a team from his native state.
After getting a boatload of quotes yesterday, today was much lighter, with Fritz and Joey Claybrook on Zoom and no other reporter asking questions.
FRITZ
On practice:
"It was spirited. I once again appreciate coach Saban and his crew allowing us to come over there and practice. Very nice of them. It was the second time we've done that and hopefully the last (Tulane is set to return to campus on Sunday)."
On extra motivation playing Ole Miss for Mississippi players on roster:
"I'm not sure. I'm sure some of it is probably a big deal for them, but we've got a lot of really good players from Mississippi. It's a great football state. That area from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Panhandle of Florida, we probably have over half of our team from that area (58 of 85 scholarship players by my count, including 11 from Mississippi--Nick Anderson, Jeffery Johnson, Cameron Carroll, Joey Claybrook, Duece and Phat Watts, Will Wallace, Trey Tuggle, Kiland Harrison, Nik Hogan and Haydan Shook), so we've got some really good players from the state of Mississippi.
On Jeffery Johnson, the one Tulane player who had a firm offer from Ole Miss during recruiting:
"He's really benefited from losing that weight. His movement is just excellent for a guy his size. Every time I walk by him in a meeting--we're out here kind of in the open with our meetings right now, so I don't have to walk in and out of doors--he's always taking notes. He's always learning football. He's always back up here (for) extra (time), so he's putting everything into it. He's going to have a fantastic year for us."
On Ole MIss D, which is now a base 3-2-6:
"In order to be able to run that style of defense, you've got to be real good up front because you only have three guys there. You have to have two excellent edge rushers on the outside, and certainly they've got that. It appears that there's openings, there's areas where maybe you can attack that area, but they do a good job of choreographing their movement and they'll bring a guy down from the third level and they'll bring a guy from the second level to make it a four-man front. Sometimes they'll just rush three and drop eight, and with those really good pass rushers on the edge, they can still provide pressure. A lot of teams have gone to this style of defense. The guy from Iowa State has had quite a people who have gone and run what he's running. I know their defensive coordinator has a lot of experience and has done a great job with this defense every place he's been, so they've made quite a radical change from what they were doing last year and it's really worked well for them their first two games."
JOEY CLAYBROOK
On if he grew up a Miss St. fan in Starkville and if Ole Miss recruited him at all:
"No, not really, they didn't. I got recruited by State a little bit, but my uncle played at Alabama so I grew up an Alabama fan and used to live in Tuscaloosa."
On if he wanted to stay in state if that had been real option:
"There was nothing specific for me. I wanted to go to the best school and football program (ULL, Georgia State and South Florida were his heaviest recruiters other than Tulane) that I possibly could. When Tulane came around, it was kind of official for me coming here. The football we get to play year in and year out matches the best in the country. We play in a great conference and play a great out-of-conference schedule as well, and it's also a great school, so it had everything I was looking for."
On not having extra on line against Ole Miss:
"There's a little bit, but it's just another game. I'm treating it like another game, like coach Long says, a faceless opponent. We just have to do everything that we can to be the best that we can be."
On what has clicked in for offense once season started:
"Just buying into this offense and coach Long and practicing as hard as we possibly can mentally and physically to get everything down and run the plays the best that we can."
On learning through failure in preseason under Long:
"Oh yeah. We were extremely motivated. You have to learn from your mistakes, and we've definitely done that throughout preseason and it's something that we've got to continue to do. Just not make mistakes twice."
On Ole Miss defensive ends:
"They are great players. It's going to be big on me at tackle this week. We're just doing everything we can to study them and get ready to beat them."
On big game:
"It's a big game, there's no doubt about that. We all know that, but we can't treat it like a big game. It's another game and we can't let that hype get to us. Everybody knows it's a big game, but we just have to keep working as hard as we can in practice every day and perfect what we're doing and not worry about anything that's going around this game."
On team excelling through distractions:
"We've come closer than we ever have been since I've been here, just playing for the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana and everybody that was affected. It's just a bond that we've all created in these hard times, it's really helped us do everything we can not to make an excuse. But yeah, we've come together and become a better team."
On grading his performance and O-line through two games:
"Pretty well. We want to be perfect in everything we do, so we just keep working to be perfect in every film study just trying to learn exactly what we can do on each play to perfect each play."
On pass-first offense in first two games but still confident in running game:
"We're very confident. We have a great running back room. We are very confident in those guys and are just doing everything we can to block for them and be perfect and give those guys a chance to make plays out in space."
On coming back to New Orleans:
"It's great just to get back home and be around the community and be back at Tulane. It's exciting. We've been treated amazing here in Birmingham. No complaints at all with that. It's been a real good experience. Even though it's a bad situation, we've definitely taken it positively."
Willie Fritz said tight end Will Wallace, who missed the Morgan State game with a concussion (I did not realize he was out until afterward), has been cleared to play against the Rebels. Tulane has pretty good depth at the position, but Wallace could make a difference going against a team from his native state.
After getting a boatload of quotes yesterday, today was much lighter, with Fritz and Joey Claybrook on Zoom and no other reporter asking questions.
FRITZ
On practice:
"It was spirited. I once again appreciate coach Saban and his crew allowing us to come over there and practice. Very nice of them. It was the second time we've done that and hopefully the last (Tulane is set to return to campus on Sunday)."
On extra motivation playing Ole Miss for Mississippi players on roster:
"I'm not sure. I'm sure some of it is probably a big deal for them, but we've got a lot of really good players from Mississippi. It's a great football state. That area from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Panhandle of Florida, we probably have over half of our team from that area (58 of 85 scholarship players by my count, including 11 from Mississippi--Nick Anderson, Jeffery Johnson, Cameron Carroll, Joey Claybrook, Duece and Phat Watts, Will Wallace, Trey Tuggle, Kiland Harrison, Nik Hogan and Haydan Shook), so we've got some really good players from the state of Mississippi.
On Jeffery Johnson, the one Tulane player who had a firm offer from Ole Miss during recruiting:
"He's really benefited from losing that weight. His movement is just excellent for a guy his size. Every time I walk by him in a meeting--we're out here kind of in the open with our meetings right now, so I don't have to walk in and out of doors--he's always taking notes. He's always learning football. He's always back up here (for) extra (time), so he's putting everything into it. He's going to have a fantastic year for us."
On Ole MIss D, which is now a base 3-2-6:
"In order to be able to run that style of defense, you've got to be real good up front because you only have three guys there. You have to have two excellent edge rushers on the outside, and certainly they've got that. It appears that there's openings, there's areas where maybe you can attack that area, but they do a good job of choreographing their movement and they'll bring a guy down from the third level and they'll bring a guy from the second level to make it a four-man front. Sometimes they'll just rush three and drop eight, and with those really good pass rushers on the edge, they can still provide pressure. A lot of teams have gone to this style of defense. The guy from Iowa State has had quite a people who have gone and run what he's running. I know their defensive coordinator has a lot of experience and has done a great job with this defense every place he's been, so they've made quite a radical change from what they were doing last year and it's really worked well for them their first two games."
JOEY CLAYBROOK
On if he grew up a Miss St. fan in Starkville and if Ole Miss recruited him at all:
"No, not really, they didn't. I got recruited by State a little bit, but my uncle played at Alabama so I grew up an Alabama fan and used to live in Tuscaloosa."
On if he wanted to stay in state if that had been real option:
"There was nothing specific for me. I wanted to go to the best school and football program (ULL, Georgia State and South Florida were his heaviest recruiters other than Tulane) that I possibly could. When Tulane came around, it was kind of official for me coming here. The football we get to play year in and year out matches the best in the country. We play in a great conference and play a great out-of-conference schedule as well, and it's also a great school, so it had everything I was looking for."
On not having extra on line against Ole Miss:
"There's a little bit, but it's just another game. I'm treating it like another game, like coach Long says, a faceless opponent. We just have to do everything that we can to be the best that we can be."
On what has clicked in for offense once season started:
"Just buying into this offense and coach Long and practicing as hard as we possibly can mentally and physically to get everything down and run the plays the best that we can."
On learning through failure in preseason under Long:
"Oh yeah. We were extremely motivated. You have to learn from your mistakes, and we've definitely done that throughout preseason and it's something that we've got to continue to do. Just not make mistakes twice."
On Ole Miss defensive ends:
"They are great players. It's going to be big on me at tackle this week. We're just doing everything we can to study them and get ready to beat them."
On big game:
"It's a big game, there's no doubt about that. We all know that, but we can't treat it like a big game. It's another game and we can't let that hype get to us. Everybody knows it's a big game, but we just have to keep working as hard as we can in practice every day and perfect what we're doing and not worry about anything that's going around this game."
On team excelling through distractions:
"We've come closer than we ever have been since I've been here, just playing for the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana and everybody that was affected. It's just a bond that we've all created in these hard times, it's really helped us do everything we can not to make an excuse. But yeah, we've come together and become a better team."
On grading his performance and O-line through two games:
"Pretty well. We want to be perfect in everything we do, so we just keep working to be perfect in every film study just trying to learn exactly what we can do on each play to perfect each play."
On pass-first offense in first two games but still confident in running game:
"We're very confident. We have a great running back room. We are very confident in those guys and are just doing everything we can to block for them and be perfect and give those guys a chance to make plays out in space."
On coming back to New Orleans:
"It's great just to get back home and be around the community and be back at Tulane. It's exciting. We've been treated amazing here in Birmingham. No complaints at all with that. It's been a real good experience. Even though it's a bad situation, we've definitely taken it positively."