Scrimmage and practice info.

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Swell
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A friend had these e-mailed to him from someone who can attend some practices. I know everyone is looking for info. from spring practice and since the T-P hasn't covered either scrimmage I thought I'd share these w/you. The first one is apparently from a friday practice two weeks ago:

On a beautiful spring morning for practice Ryan Griffin went to the ground during a simple pass drill w/receivers. He grabbed his left ankle and took off his shoe. He then took the scissors from a trainer and cut the tape off. He went to the lockerroom for about 10 minutes and returned after apparently getting re-taped. He appeared fine after that.

Practice started w/kick-off drills focused on the kickers getting it into the end zone between two cones about 10 yards apart. Rome seemed to kick better than Santos. A little later they kicked FG's. There were several that had problems w/the snap and hold. A 42 yarder by Santos was blocked but for the most part both kickers were accurate.

The starting offense had from right to left- Jones, Aluko, Ray,Howard, and Husain. TE varied w/Marfisi and Burris. (Sanders was suited up but I saw him doing some warm up drills on the sideline and I don't think he participated.) Griffin, Darkwa and Stelly in the backfield. Grant and Figaro at WR.

Back-ups were from right to left- Donnelly, Mares, Morgan, Skidmore, Henry. TE was Drum/Suchy. Ponder,Williams/Thomas were the backfield. Kemp and Comardelle at WR. Van Hooser worked w/both units at times.

First D- Left to right- Moses, Wilson, Asumnu,Jacks. LB'- Mackey and Farley w/ Robertson. Sullen and Travis at CB w/Echols and Shak at safety.

Second D- Williams, Warmsley, Delery, Smith. LB's alternated a good bit. Z. Davis, Hamilton, and Robinson were followed by Oppman, Byrd, and Ryhmes.Kendrell Washington and Lauricella at CB , Kyle Davis and Devon Walker at safety. Stozier, Funderburke and Parker got some time in the defensive backfield. Strozier broke up a couple of passes against back-ups.

There were 3 different brief periods of scrimmaging. Each one would stop by design for some group work.

Initially there was some red zone focused strictly on running. The offense seemed to have the advantage anytime they ran off tackle on either side. Williams out ran Robertson to the goal line early on.

That was followed by punting drills. Both Ginsburg and Santos punted. Both did ok. No blocks but no booming kicks.

The other two times we scrimmaged were pretty mundane. The highlight for the offense was a 42 yard TD pass from Griffin to Van Hooser who worked himself wide open. Overall our D-line got the best of the O-line for the most part. If the QB's would have been live there would have been some sacks. Before the last set of scrimmaging Hendricks screamed at the D that it was going to be live and he wanted them to be live and in living color. They responded and proceeded to light up the offensive line in that segment even more so than the others.

During one part of scrimmaging Mackey laid a lick on Figaro on a short pass but got the worst of it. He immediately went to the sideline and got on one knee briefly before sprawling out completely. A trainer worked on his right knee for the most part for several minutes. He then him do some running drills on the sideline before he went back in. He appeared to be fine and finished practice.

Ponder did practice but there wasn't a lot of throwing going on today. Practice ended at 11:15 and the bus for the baseball team was loaded w/ the players and equipment. They were waiting for him to leave at 11:30.


RWR
Swell
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This appears to be from yesterday's scrimmage:

It was a warm and humid morning in nola w/a slight south breeze. After stretching the team broke into groups. On the sideline Rhymes and Welcome were dressed out and working w/a trainer doing lunges- step forward w/one leg and bend to the knee w/the other. Rhymes wore a brace and tennis shoes. He eventually did some light jogging. Based on what I saw he must have a sprain and not a tear of the acl and hopefully will not require surgery. Welcome did some short sprints later but after just a few he came up very winded and slightly limping.He is no longer in the walking boot or any type of visible brace. He was a key recruit at a key position and appears that he has a long way to go in many aspects. We need him to get it together.

Among the various drills going on the DL's worked on a strip drill. As one would go forward w/the ball another would come from behind and wrap an arm around their waist and attempt to strip the ball on the other side. Stanard kept encouraging them to strip it violently.The db's then did the same drill.

QB's and RB's worked at the south end on hand-offs. There were no problems w/the exchanges. THe lb's worked an interception drill where they ran toward a staff member who would throw the ball. A lot of catches made on the north end.

During passing drills w/just qb's and wr's grant had several drops. Later the wr's went against the db's and Kemp threw some there since Ponder is with the baseball team.

Another drill had the rb's running routes against the lb's. Albert williams caught every ball his way whether he was wide open, covered or the ball was a this feet. His last catch was of one thrown at his feet and he made a diving grab. Greg Davis yelled out "nice catch". If we are going to make the scoreboard hum and win some MEANINGFUL games he will have to become an integral part of the offense. HIs quickness and speed just jump out. He has filled out. No one who knows talent could question that he should be utilized just like Bush. A defense would have to account for him and create openings for others. If we put Grant, Fig, WVH and Williams out there other defenses would be hard pressed to match-up. It would be very intimidating. A good staff would figure out how to use him rather than continue to waist such a talent. To think what an RR could do w/him is exciting. This staff needs to open their eyes and finally utilize this massive talent.

The scrimmage started at 10:15. It was 1's v. 1's. All series started at the 30 on the south end. The emphasis was on the passing game w/the 1's today. It started w/a deep ball to Kemp who was open down the middle but Sullen and Shak recovered to break it up. A 12 yd. pass to Grant got a 1st down. Farley sacked Griffin. On 3rd and 12 the offense benefited from a terrible interference call to stay alive. WVH then got 6 on an end around followed by a 16 yarder to Grant who caught the ball well during the scrimmage. Griffin threw a 13 yd. TD to Grant who was wide open in the middle of the end zone.

The 1's went again . An incomplete pass to Grant was followed by a 6yd. Barnett run. Fig. caught a 25 yarder. Barnett was then stuffed and then he ran agin for a couple. Fig. then dropped a pass that would have resulted in a 1st down. Santos hit a 48 yarder from the right hash.

On their next possession Grant went for 50 yds. . Shak hit Stelly in the flat and knocked the ball loose for an incomplete pass.Van Hooser then caught a 19 yard strike in the middle of the end zone for a TD. The 2's then went and Suchy caught a 1st down. They then stalled and after an offsides were told to go back to the 30 and start over. Bullock then fumbled while scrambling under pressure and Funderburke ran it in for a TD.

We then did punting drills live. Ginsburgh bobbled both snaps that went right where they should. On the 1st punt he shanked a 25 yarder. He then shanked a 30 yarder. Thomas and Strozier alternated returns which weren't much due to the shanks.

Kick-offs were next. Santos kicked to the corner near the goal-line. Strozier should have let it go out but he fielded it and returned it to the 20. Rome then kicked down the middle to the goal line and Strozier returned it to the 20 again. The coverage from the punt and kick-off units looked good.

The 1's came back out w/WVH catching a 1st down. Pressure by Travis caused an incomplete, followed by another pressured incompletion. Then went deep to Kemp and again Sullen broke it up. He looks good. On the next series Fig. caught a 1st down. There was then a miscommunication between Griffin and Fig as Fig went outside but the throw was inside. An end around to WVH went nowhere. Sullen then broke up a pass to Kemp.

The 2's came back out. They went 3 and out. On their next series they pitched to Barnett for no gain, which was followed by a Beckwith sack. It ended w/another 3 and out.

The 2's continued and Thomas went for 5 and Barnett for 2. An incomplete pass led to a 3 and out.

The 1's came back and Grant made a nice sideline catch. Darkwa then got a first down. Griffin then threw incomplete off his back foot under pressure. He followed w/a throw to Grant under pressure. Shak then broke up a pass. Kemp then made a catch for a 1st down. That was followed by an illegal block. Shak then broke up a pass to Grant and Griffin scrambled for 15 but short of a 1st to end the scrimmage.

There was some work from the 5 yard line. Darkwa ran to the goal line. Marifisi then caught a TD as he was open in the corner of the end zone. Moses was in as a TE as these groupings were mixed and matched. Mackey was at FB and led Darkwa in on a pitch out. Barnett was then hit in the backfield and bounced off and ran it in for a TD.

As I said it was hot. Kendrick and Rhymes took off their pads as they held the yard markers on one end w/ Sanders holding the other end. Kendrick was not wearing a brace. Late in practice a ball was overthrown to Grant . After the play he was taking his sweet time to get the ball. I called out to him to hustle and he then jogged to get it. On the way back he looked up and I said he was a key player and we needed him to go 100% at a all times.

Logan Hamilton and Andre Robinson worked at LB w/the 2's along w/Funderburke. Hamilton worked w/the 1's late in the scrimmage. Byrd worked at LB w/the 1's. Lauricella would come in at CB when we went 4-2-5 w/Travis at the nickel.
RWR
Swell
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BTW, this is info. they are dying for on another site. Hope you all enjoyed it.
ExileWave
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BMT has proclaimed this to be our BEST defense in 100 years and predicts 15-0 on the other board. :o

We have all been victims of irrational exhuberance on Tulane football- our defense always looks great against our offense in the spring.50 years following Tulane has left me numb and in the "Show Me" Club. ;)
RWR
Swell
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That site is down to him and the other sunshine pumper bs'ing the rest about the team.
golfnut69
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while I to am in the "show me club"...I think this will be the fastest D in several years..not sure about how good the interior D line will play, we look very light at those positions...I do not think the O will be muck improved over last year and I state that because of the O line...looks like a little more depth, but not much experience or Physical strenght
Be a Hero Today.... Adopt a Shelter Pet... The Beatles once sang "Can't Buy Me Love"... I disagree, unconditional Love can be bought, for the nominal adoption fee at your local Pet Shelter !
Dupergreenie
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golfnut69 wrote:while I to am in the "show me club"...I think this will be the fastest D in several years..not sure about how good the interior D line will play, we look very light at those positions...I do not think the O will be muck improved over last year and I state that because of the O line...looks like a little more depth, but not much experience or Physical strenght

when you say light do you mean number wise or pounds wise? what they are looking to do on the D-line is to use more D-ends as D-tackles to try and get more speed on the front line. not sure how that will work on stopping the run. i do agree with you on the o line, seems to be kinda EH.
golfnut69
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DuperGreenie...I meant "weight" wise...but you bring up point...we do have many bodies there either !!!!...
Be a Hero Today.... Adopt a Shelter Pet... The Beatles once sang "Can't Buy Me Love"... I disagree, unconditional Love can be bought, for the nominal adoption fee at your local Pet Shelter !
RWR
Swell
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This is from the spring game from the same source-

The temp. was in the low 70's w/low humidity and a strong breeze blew across the field from east to west. It actually felt chilly when the wind would gust for long periods.

Warm-up drills started w/Ginsburgh punting. HIs kicks were not impressive as they had no hang time and wobbled. Santos made all of his kicks which he finished off w/one from 40 and one from 47. They were all from the middle of the field. The defense then ran a gang tackle drill where a coach would throw a pass in the flat and all 11 players would run to the ball carrier and wrap him up.

Much has been made about our WR's being tired but as usual there were at least 10 players lining up to catch passes. It was a combination of WR's,TE"s and walk-ons. Eventually they broke into two groups . On the north end Bullock threw to rb's,v.lb's and safeties. On the south end Griffin threw to wr's v. CB's. 7 on 7 followed.

The scrimmage started at 11:00. It was our standard format w/all drives starting on the south end from the 30. It was 1's v.1s and 2's v. 2's. There were refs and plenty of them as a clinic was being put on.

On the 1st drive Darkwa ran for 12. A deep pass to Grant was thrown incomplete into triple coverage. WVH then caught a 10 yarder for a 1st down. Darkwa was stuffed. Griffin then threw an interception to I believe Sullen. . He initially had time , then got pressure and threw a duck off his back foot.

The 2's came on. Bullock hit walk-on Keith Harvey for 25. Barnett ran for 8. The drive resulted in a 45 yard field goal by Santos from the right hash that was good.

The 1's came back. There was a pass to Marfisi for a 1st down. Griffin then threw a 55 yarder to Figaro on the right sideline. Fig was wide open but had to wait for the ball and Sullen almost recovered to make a play. Williams then ran 5 yards off tackle and followed w/a 4 yd. TD catch.

The 2's came on Thomas got a 1st down. They were then stopped.

The 1's came back out and Stelly caught a pass for no gain. Griffin then scrambled and overthrew Fig. Fig the caught a 5 yarder for a three and out series.

The 1's were given another series which started w/ an incomplete pass to Marfisi who was double covered by Echols and Mackey. Darkwa ran for 8. WVH then gained 40 yards on a pas down the middle. Darkwa was stuffed. An end around to WVH lost a couple. We then pitched to Darkwa who threw a lob back to Griffin that got 5. Santos then made a 49 yd. field goal from the left hash. The team then took a break.

Play resumed w/the 2's. There was an 18 yd. pass to Suchy.. Thomas then got 5 on a nice run where he reversed field but it was called back for holding. The ball was stripped from Bullock on the next play and the defense recovered.

On the next series Griffin threw into the ground on a pass to a wide open WVH. It would have good for 20. He then threw to Marfisi and it bounced off of him into Shak's arms. ending the series.

Griffin started the next series w/a pass to Grant that went for 36. Griffin had to scramble and many around me felt that in a game it would have been a sack. WVH then caught a pass for 8 yards. There was a false start penalty. Williams then ran for 12 where he ran out of a crowd and broke a tackle at the end to stretch it out a couple of yards. He then ran for 1 yard. Interference was called on a pass to Kemp. It was a bad call on Shak and the fans let the ref know. Stelly then caught a 4 yd. TD pass where Sullen was holding on from behind and got dragged the last 3 yards into the end zone.

Barnett got no yards on two carries and then the D was called for offsides. Barnett ran for the 1st. Bullock then threw 30 yards to walk-on Jacob Davis. They picked up another 1st down . A few plays later Barnett ran 4 yds. for a 1st down. Thomas ran twice for a couple of yards before Bullock missed a wide open Suchy in the back of the end zone. It ended w/a 21 yard field goal that was good from the middle of the field.

At the end of the spring I would say the offense has a long way to go. At QB we need Ponder to pick his game up. Bullock has a long way to go. The O-Line is a real weak spot. With Griffins inability to feel pressure he could be headed for multiple surgeries again. We need to have a quality back-up and we don't at this time. As for RB's Darkwa and Williams stand out. They are head and shoulders above the rest. The TE position has been decimated by injuries and will be manned by freshman. That doesn't bode well. Our WR's show great potential but there is too much inconsistency at this point,i.e., dropped passes , running the wrong routes,etc.. For a team that has been in the same offense for 5 years and has a lot of returning players it was a very disappointing spring to say the least.

The defense looked good at times. Moses and Mackey continue to stand out. Our 1st team D-line looked really good but you have to factor in how bad out O-line is. The back-ups at DT are converted DE's and have a long way to go to make a meaningful contribution. The LB position was hit hard by injuries but they looked solid. Our defensive backfield has some athletes and they look good most of the time. But like our WR's they have too many break downs where people are wide open. That won't cut it.
Santos looked real good. Ginsburgh has a lot of work to do. Our coverage teams look improved. There is some hope here for a noticeable difference next season.

Fortunately it's only the spring. They have the summer to hit the weights and play together. Then fall practice w/the incoming class. But make no mistake this team needs to accomplish a lot in that time to win any meaningful games this coming season.
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