A lightning alert hit the Tulane campus about 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning, but it did not affect the football team’s preparation for its game against 17th-ranked Kansas State on Saturday (11 a.m., ESPN).
The Green Wave already was practicing at the Saints' indoor facility by the time the bad weather arrived.
While the school waits for the construction of an on-campus practice bubble near Yulman Stadium, the Saints' facility and the Caesars Superdome continue to be a lifeline for the program. Wednesday was the last full-scale practice for a Saturday game in coach Jon Sumrall’s schedule.
“I cannot thank them (the Saints) enough,” Sumrall said as rain pounded the Wilson Center upon the Wave's return. “I actually just texted Dennis Allen and Jay Romig and said thanks for allowing us to be there. We would have lost more than half of our practice today.”
With heavy thunderstorms expected Thursday morning, the Wave plans to conduct its typical walk-through practice in the Superdome.
“We don’t want to wear out our welcome at either place,” Sumrall said. “But it’s nice to be able to have that resource and slide over there, for sure.”
The indoor workout also provided a break from the heat. Although a “cool” front is expected to lower the high temperature to just above 80 degrees by Saturday, that was not the case on Tuesday morning, when the Wave practiced in sweltering conditions at Yulman Stadium.
“(Tuesday) we had a heat index of 135 on the field,” Sumrall said. “We had more cramps yesterday in practice than we had all training camp, so it was kind of nice to get that work (Tuesday) with the heat and then to be able to go inside today and it’s 77 degrees. It felt pretty cold at times in there.”
Excitable coach
Sumrall’s voice has returned this week after he sounded very hoarse after last Thursday’s opener against Southeastern Louisiana.
His personality, particularly in pre-game, is quite the contrast from predecessor Willie Fritz, who at age 64 is 22 years older than Sumrall.
“He (Sumrall) gets up in front of us and gets us ready to play like he’s ready to play,” running back Shaadie Clayton-Johnson said. “You can see in his eyes that he wishes he was on the field. You can tell when he goes to talk and loses his voice, it’s about to be crazy. Just having him getting us ready like that is a scary sight. The head coach getting you pumped up, it’s just different than last year.”
Over and over
When Tulane linebacker Tyler Grubbs complimented the blocking on cornerback Rayshawn Pleasant’s record-tying 100-yard interception return after the Southeastern game, he refrained to mention he made the key block.
He leveled offensive lineman Corin Boudreaux, an Edna Karr product, allowing Pleasant to cut back near the sideline and race into open field.
Pleasant certainly noticed. By now, he knows every detail of the touchdown that earned him American Athletic Conference defensive player of the week honors.
“I’m not going to lie, I watched it a lot,” he said. “When Tyler got that block, I knew it was over. All I saw was green grass.”
Coverage changes
Southeastern’s Brandon Hayes’ 46-yard return on Ethan Head’s second kickoff was the longest Tulane had allowed since 2021, and his 39-yard effort on the next one was longer than any since 2021, too.
Coverage was the Wave’s most glaring deficiency in the 52-0 shutout victory, and Sumrall did not gloss over the shortcomings. After making personnel changes in the game — the Lions’ longest return the rest of the way was 25 yards — he and special teams coach Greg McMahon have tinkered some more in practice this week.
“There are two or three things we talked about,” Sumrall said. “A couple of guys played positions last year that they didn’t play last week, and we’re going back to where they were last year because they were comfortable there. Anytime something doesn’t go right, you are always re-calibrating and assessing. We’re clearly got to be better there, looking at personnel and scheme.”
Sumrall’s Troy team finished 77th out of 130 in the FBS in kickoff coverage last season, but the Trojans were 27th in 2022 — one spot ahead of Tulane.