Tulane enjoys spring practice in cool, sunny weather at Yulman

Tulane Football holds practice No. 10 of spring camp
Strong competition has coaching staff excited

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane University football team wrapped up its 10th spring practice on a cool and sunny Thursday morning at Yulman Stadium.

The team continued to work through drills and in-game situations, as the team nears the end of the third week of spring camp.

“I think we’re in a pretty good place,” Fritz said. “We got some competition in some positions. It is not quite clear-cut who is No. 1 and who is No. 2 at a few positions and that’s good because guys are jockeying for position. It’s not a final test, but it’s a pretty important quiz to see who is going to be playing for us.”

In addition to the strong competition at each position, Fritz also has been pleased with the consistent improvement with the squad’s offense this spring.

“We’re way ahead,” Fritz said. “We have about 80 percent of our offense in right now and Jonathan (Banks) has great command of it right now. The thing I have been really impressed with is that he has really good mechanics when we are doing team stuff and that is where I have seen the progression. He knows where he is going with the ball and he has kind of picked up where he left off in those last three to four games of the season last season.”

Safety Roderic Teamer Jr. also stopped by to speak with reporters following Thursday morning’s practice. Through 10 practices, the New Orleans native is excited about his role heading into his senior season.

“It’s a point that you always look forward to, but you don’t want to go there because you know you are on your way out, but I embrace it,” Teamer said. “I like being able to teach some of the younger guys. I’ve always considered maybe being a coach one day, so I get to practice a little bit right now. I have a great coaching staff out here that I get to learn from. They teach me how to teach guys and how to be better leaders.”

Tulane returns to practice Saturday morning for its 11th practice of spring camp at the New Orleans Saints Indoor Facility.

The Green Wave open the 2018 season on Thursday, August 30 at home against Wake Forest.

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REMAINING SPRING PRACTICE SCHEDULE
Saturday, April 7, 8:30 a.m.
Monday, April 9, 8:30 a.m.
Wednesday, April 11, 8:30 a.m.
Friday, April 13, 8:30 a.m.

SPRING GAME
Date: Saturday, April 14
Time: 11 a.m.
Location: Yulman Stadium

POSTPRACTICE QUOTES
Head coach Willie Fritz
On where the team stands heading into the final week of spring camp…
“I think we’re in a pretty good place. We got some competition in some positions. It is not quite clear-cut who is No. 1 and who is No. 2 at a few positions and that is good because guys are jockeying for position. It’s not a final test, but it’s a pretty important quiz to see who is going to be playing for us.”

On where the offense stands now compared to last year…
“We’re way ahead. We have about 80 percent of our offense in right now and Jonathan (Banks) has great command of it right now. The thing I have been really impressed with is that he has really good mechanics when we are doing team stuff and that is where I have seen the progression. He knows where he is going with the ball and he has kind of picked up where he left off in those last three to four games of the season last season.”

On the offensive backfield…
“We feel we have the opportunity to be as good or better than last season. We’re losing some good players obviously in Dontrell (Hilliard) and Sherman (Badie), but (Darius) Bradwell has a chance to be a primetime back. Corey Dauphine and (Stephon) Huderson really had a great practice yesterday. I think we got three freshmen coming in that are going to be really good backs.”

On the play of Christian Daniels…
“We’re very excited about Christian Daniels. For a high school senior, he’s doing a nice job of picking things up. This is quite a bit of a different offense than what he ran in high school.”

Senior Safety Roderic Teamer Jr.
On the team’s experience…
“We had a lot of young guys that were forced to play last year. This is going to be my fourth year. I have a lot of experience and we have other guys in the secondary with a lot of experience so it is great to have guys who know what they are doing. It makes it easier to disguise things and work as a unit.”

On being a senior…
“It’s a point that you always look forward to, but you don’t want to go there because you know you are on your way out, but I embrace it. I like being able to teach some of the younger guys. I’ve always considered maybe being a coach one day, so I get to practice a little bit right now. I have a great coaching staff out here that I get to learn from. They teach me how to teach guys and how to be better leaders.”

On the offense…
“The offense has been explosive. I’m excited for those guys. They have a lot of people coming back – of course we lost Dontrell (Hilliard) and Sherman (Badie) – and that is a big loss, but Darius Bradwell, Stephon Huderson and Corey Dauphine are really coming along, are running the ball hard and they have been scoring on us so that means something.”

Senior quarterback Jonathan Banks
On his comfort level with the offense…
“I’m comfortable with the offense, I’m comfortable with the players and I’m being more comfortable as a leader, so year two is going off well so far in the spring.”

On how the offense is coming along…
“We have a lot of players back so it’s all about communication and just being able to be a sound football team. We all know each other and we all have the chemistry, so it’s just being able to put points on the board to help our young defense, which has come a long way. They play with a lot of energy, so we should have a pretty good team this year.”

On Tulane’s backfield…
“We got a lot of speed and we got strength, so we can do a lot of different things with the backs that we have. We’re just looking to improve in the run pass game and just overall as an offense.”