Tulane Fall Drills Move to Metairie, Defense Owns the Day
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Just seventeen days of Fall Ball remain for the Tulane football team, as the Green Wave prepare for their season opener on September 5th in North Carolina against Duke.
The team moved their Thursday morning practice in shells to the Saints Facility in Metairie, and the enthusiasm was palpable, with players running and jumping before, during, and after drills. The defense seemed to own the day from start to finish.
"Defense had a lot of juice and energy," head coach Will Hall said after the practice session. "They were stopping drives. I thought our offense had another good short yardage day. I thought our defense had a lot of energy, especially early, compared to a lot of practices where the offense wins early, then the defense late. It's been a good back-and-forth, pretty much all camp."
Of particular note for Hall were cornerback CJ Agu, the older brother of Dickson Agu, and tight end Dawson Johnson, two portal transfers who have caught his eye.
"Those two guys have really shown up the last two days," Hall bragged. "Dawson has always been really good at point-of-attack blocking, but he's improved his route running. And CJ has made several plays over the last few days. Both of them are important on our special teams as well."
Both Johnson and Vance Bolyard are considered in the running for the starting tight end spot.
"Them and Gabe Lovorn, who came back from injury this week, and Ty Thompson who'll be back next week, (are all in competition for the starting role)," Hall said.
For the first time in a few weeks, we got to see Lovorn running around, making plays, catches, and blocking.
What We Saw
In the 7-on-7 drills
- Quarterback Kaden Semonza hit Fat hill on a deep route
- QB Zeon Chriss-Gremillion was rocking the curl routes, hitting them perfectly. A deep corner he threw was a little off, though. The Houston/Louisiana transfer is getting better and better checking off in his progressions.
- QB Trace Johnson hit tight end Dawson Johnson on a tweener between the corner and safety for a touchdown.
- Zeon hit one of our young favorites from the Fall, Seth Gale in the flat for a nice gainer. It was both a good throw and a good route.
In 11-on-11 drills,
- As we said earlier, the defense owned the day, for the most part, shutting down any big gains from the Wave runners and not allowing receivers to get into their routes.
- As we have pointed out before, every quarterback has run the option play at one time or another, not just Zeon.
- Zeon and Semonza are getting the lion's share of the snaps as this week has worn on.
What Hall Wants to See over the Next Two Weeks
We asked Hall for a checklist of the things he's pleased with and things he wants his team to work on.
"Our punters are punting better than we thought they would," Hall answered. The team brought in two freshmen punters, John Allen out of Florida and Georgia's Brooks Moore, to join junior New Orleanian out of Jesuit, William Hudlow. "That's a positive. I think situationally, we've worked a ton of situations this Summer and throughout Fall camp, so I feel good. We've improved in pass protection. I always felt like we were going to be able to run the football, just because of the type of kids we have, the type of program, and from what I've always done. I've been pleased with the growth of our receivers."
On the other side, "I want us to hit more deep balls, that's something we put a ton of emphasis on. At defensive back, I want us to continue to improve at not panicking in conversion downs. Like 3rd-and-9 or 4th-and-5, do or die conversion downs, to trust in your technique, not get so "handsy" that (the official will) throw a flag. (Instead) make the quarterback throw a good throw. Make the receiver make a catch. Then, to continue to develop depth. These are the things over the next week, as we transition into (getting prepared for) Duke."
Last Scrimmage of the Fall Saturday
Saturday's practice will be another "soft" scrimmage, with only two weeks remaining before the season opener.
"Our proven guys, who've played a ton of college football, they probably won't get much," Hall said about his lettermen. "It's going to be a big scrimmage for a lot of our young guys, people who really need more live work."
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Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.