Tulane Monday Practice Sees Strong Quarterback Play, Solid & Loud Defense
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The last practice On SI Tulane saw consisted of an entertaining scrimmage and some promising improvements.
Today’s practice saw the first hour at Yulman Stadium before switching to the much smaller and much cooler Claiborne Bubble. The temperature might’ve felt cooler, but the level of play was doing everything but cooling down.
Each weekday, On SI Tulane will break down each and every TU opponent, with a Kansas State preview on the site today.
QB Competition Not Getting Easier
With what seems like tradition at this point, we’ll start with the quarterback play. Kadin Semonza took the floor first with some sharp throws, including a beautiful over-the-shoulder throw to Anthony Brown-Stephens on a corner route. The ball fell perfectly into his hands, and ABS made sure to get both feet in before falling out of bounds.
The other top QB candidate, Zeon Chriss-Gremillion, wouldn’t let this go unanswered though. Zeon followed with two touchdowns of his own, including an over-the-top ball over two defenders that would drop directly into, ironically, Cash Semonza’s hands. It’s worth noting that Zeon was under some serious pressure when he made this throw, including throwing off of his back foot, but the throw was perfect regardless.
Coach Will Hall credited Zeon and Semonza’s improvement to the reps they’ve gotten with their skill position players. “I think their command of the system may be a little better, but probably not. They really know the system, I think it’s just more reps with all their skill players,” Hall said.
He continued: “Knowing when ABS and how he bends his routes, how Fat (Hill) bends his routes… I think their ability to recognize body language and the weight distribution of our receivers is picking up and they’ve put the time in.”
Both quarterbacks displayed sharp throws and impressive progressions through their plays. Both QBs missed some throws, but they’re not bad misses, you just hope that they’ll be able to hit these throws come week one.
Trace Johnson is a wild card QB that we believe we’ll see a lot more of in the future. As the man of the future, Johnson has shown great potential with a real hunger to learn.
”He’s got it, whatever it is,” Hall described Johnson. “At 5am this morning I was making a cup of coffee in the offices, and (Johnson) was in there watching film.”
There’s a serious future with Trace Johnson, who’s already been touted as the next Michael Pratt or Darian Mensah, and it’s reassuring that we’re not the only ones excited about him, that the coaches are, too.
What Might Be a Better Defense Than Last Year
Although we’re plenty excited for what this offense has in store for us, especially with things starting to heat up, it’s the defense that really gets our adrenaline pumping when looking forward to this season.
The DB room saw a couple of transfers and several retentions that strengthen its secondary to easily one of the best in the American Conference. The linebacker room is probably the deepest room on defense, and that’s saying a lot. But if any defensive group had questions coming into this year, it’d be the defensive line room.
However, those questions proved to be for naught, as that group has shown us time and time again, that they’re going to be just fine.
As a matter of fact, they spent the majority of today winning 1-on-1 reps against the o-line (although the o-line play has continued to improve) and absolutely stuffing the run.
A running back would get an occasional seam or break out a nice run, but that’s most likely due to the sheer talent that the Wave has at that position. When, all in all, the defensive line was like a brick wall that the backs could not break through for the majority of practice.
Working in tandem with the run defense was their pass rush on blitzes. There were a couple of plays where you’d think the defensive player lined up in the backfield with how quick they were able to get to the QB.
This line truly believes in themselves, and they have no shortage of confidence that they are a complete unit.
Confidence is Key
We had the pleasure of speaking to Bandit Jah’rie Garner, who’s a lifelong Greenie looking forward to his contributions this year.
Although he didn’t play much last year, Garner has not let that time go to waste, and he’s been using that time to continue to better his craft, learning from veteran guys like Mo Westmoreland and Kam Hamilton last year.
”(It helped) tremendously,” Garner said in response to being asked about learning behind those aforementioned linemen.
When speaking to the confidence Garner has in this year’s group, he replied, “I feel confident in our guys man. I’d go to war with those guys any day, any time. We could play on concrete (and) I’ll still go to war with those guys.”
Another voice in the defensive line room, Josh Lewis, reaffirmed those thoughts immediately after speaking to Garner. “I’m extremely confident actually… We see what we have going on and we've got confidence in our guys, the (defensive line) room is in great spirits… We’re bringing a lot of unseen talent to the field, it’s going to be a real shock when we actually do play and line it up.”
That unwasted time and help is starting to pay off, as this group gains more and more confidence as the practices are going on. The confidence is only a part of that killer mindset, as the strength found in resilience is not something that comes easy.
The Wave practice again Tuesday before taking the day off Wednesday.
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Colin has been following football for over a decade. Growing up supporting LSU naturally led him to be a massive Saints fan. He is a regular guest on the Ball Don’t Lie podcast on WBOK-AM in New Orleans as well as Apple Podcasts, where they discuss the NFL, College Football, and the NBA.