For Tulane's only afternoon practice of the spring, I got there at 4:30 and they already had finished early, but Willie Fritz was still on the field. He yelled at Jonathan Banks to finish his extra post-practice work because a local TV crew was waiting to interview him. At that point, Banks was pretty much the only player left on the field.
I talked to Fritz for a couple minutes, and for part of it I did not have my tape recorder running. He said Coby Neenan in the frontrunner to be the placekicker and was pretty good Monday after having, in his words, a terrific performance last week (I have missed every field goal drill this spring because they do it at the beginning of practice). Randy Harvey is next in line but is significantly behind Neenan at this point.
Here is what Fritz said after I turned the recorder on:
How was practice today?
"We had good work today. We had officials out here. We did a lot of down and distance, we did two-minute and got a couple of sets on that and then we went 56 plays. We worked on some kicking game, a little bit of punt block, kickoff, kickoff return and did some field goal versus block team as well, so we got a lot of work in."
What are your thoughts on Banks since you named him the frontrunner?
"He did a good job. He's obviously getting pressed by Glen and Johnathan Brantley. Those two have picked it up as well. Part of that is we're better in the offensive line, we're better at the receiver position, we're better at the backs. We all know what we're doing. All three of them, we want to close this out. I talked to them about just finishing."
How impressed are you with the receivers as a group?
"I've been very impressed with Terren (Encalade). He's really taken a leadership role. The thing I like about him is he's just really competitive, and that's in all facets of the game. The other thing I talked to our guys about today is being unselfish, doing things that aren't glamorous. A lot of that is with the receivers blocking, and Terren is a tough, hard-nosed competitor. I've been impressed with that."
Do you know what you're going to do in the spring game?
"We're going to be scripting it. We're down to seven offensive linemen and we might be at six. I'm going to have to find out, so it's not conducive to really going all out."
Daren Williams got hurt in practice last week. Is he OK?
"Yeah, he's going to be all right, but he's going to probably miss the rest of the spring. He sprained his ankle really good."
One other note: Deion Rainey is not hurt. He has been excused from practice to deal with a personal issue and everyone expects him to return in the fall. I did not get that from Fritz, who is guarded about any personal information, but from a very reliable source. Rainey definitely was not at practice last Friday, and I assumed it was due to a minor injury he had entering spring drills, but my assumption was wrong. He is healthy.
I am headed out to practice shortly and will check to see which offensive linemen are available. With Webb out and Leglue getting hurt last week, I know they were down to Diaz, Knighton, Briggs, Tyler Johnson, Devon Johnson, Brown and McLeod, and come to think of it, I did not see McLeod practicing Friday, either. If he got hurt, that would fit Fritz' definition of having six available linemen, although he seemed to indicate someone had gotten hurt yesterday.
I talked to Fritz for a couple minutes, and for part of it I did not have my tape recorder running. He said Coby Neenan in the frontrunner to be the placekicker and was pretty good Monday after having, in his words, a terrific performance last week (I have missed every field goal drill this spring because they do it at the beginning of practice). Randy Harvey is next in line but is significantly behind Neenan at this point.
Here is what Fritz said after I turned the recorder on:
How was practice today?
"We had good work today. We had officials out here. We did a lot of down and distance, we did two-minute and got a couple of sets on that and then we went 56 plays. We worked on some kicking game, a little bit of punt block, kickoff, kickoff return and did some field goal versus block team as well, so we got a lot of work in."
What are your thoughts on Banks since you named him the frontrunner?
"He did a good job. He's obviously getting pressed by Glen and Johnathan Brantley. Those two have picked it up as well. Part of that is we're better in the offensive line, we're better at the receiver position, we're better at the backs. We all know what we're doing. All three of them, we want to close this out. I talked to them about just finishing."
How impressed are you with the receivers as a group?
"I've been very impressed with Terren (Encalade). He's really taken a leadership role. The thing I like about him is he's just really competitive, and that's in all facets of the game. The other thing I talked to our guys about today is being unselfish, doing things that aren't glamorous. A lot of that is with the receivers blocking, and Terren is a tough, hard-nosed competitor. I've been impressed with that."
Do you know what you're going to do in the spring game?
"We're going to be scripting it. We're down to seven offensive linemen and we might be at six. I'm going to have to find out, so it's not conducive to really going all out."
Daren Williams got hurt in practice last week. Is he OK?
"Yeah, he's going to be all right, but he's going to probably miss the rest of the spring. He sprained his ankle really good."
One other note: Deion Rainey is not hurt. He has been excused from practice to deal with a personal issue and everyone expects him to return in the fall. I did not get that from Fritz, who is guarded about any personal information, but from a very reliable source. Rainey definitely was not at practice last Friday, and I assumed it was due to a minor injury he had entering spring drills, but my assumption was wrong. He is healthy.
I am headed out to practice shortly and will check to see which offensive linemen are available. With Webb out and Leglue getting hurt last week, I know they were down to Diaz, Knighton, Briggs, Tyler Johnson, Devon Johnson, Brown and McLeod, and come to think of it, I did not see McLeod practicing Friday, either. If he got hurt, that would fit Fritz' definition of having six available linemen, although he seemed to indicate someone had gotten hurt yesterday.
