C-USA Sports Fans

CUSA Fans Home
C-USA Sports Blog

Conference USA Apparel

Columnists

Site Map

Contact

2006 Tulane Offense

Returning Starters: 6

Tulane Quarterbacks: Tulane had been a national leader in offensive statistics in each of the eight seasons preceding last season. Perhaps the most perplexing part of the 2005 season was the fall off in the numbers of quarterback Lester Ricard. Ricard ranked 11th in passing efficiency in 2004 with over 1,800 yards and a 62% completion rate in just 8 1/2 games. Last year he fell off with a 52% completion percentage. A young receiving corps and the fact that Ricard missed 2005 spring practice recovering from a broken wrist were factors in the fall off in production. A senior, Ricard is a former high school All-American and at 6'5" with a rocket arm he is still a strong pro prospect. After having his best spring practice, Ricard seems poised for a big senior season. He is backed by sophomore Scott Elliott who started two games last season and will ready to step in at any moment.

Tulane Running Backs: Returning junior starter Matt Forte gives Tulane a big boost. Forte, a freshman all conference player in 2004, is an excellent receiver as well as a slashing runner with 1,279 career rushing yards as he shared playing time with the departed Jovon Jackson. Forte will be backed initially by Ray Boudreaux, also a junior. Boudreaux is more of a darter than Jackson. Look for incoming freshman Andre Anderson, who committed to UCF before signing with Tulane, to make an impression as well. Tulane rarely uses a true fullback, but junior Ade Tuyo usually comes in when quickness is needed. An extra tight end is used on short yardage and goal line plays.

Tulane Wide Receivers: Last year Tulane was very young at wide receiver, which can be crucial to a team that uses four and five receiver sets. The loss of three seniors was bad enough but when Fred Smith went out with a knee injury in August practice it left only two players with real playing experience. This year Smith returns along with four players who played extensively last season. The best of these was Preston Brown, a combination of good speed and a 6'4" frame. Brown, a senior, had 47 receptions in his first year at wide receiver in 2005. Senior Demarcus Davis had 28 catches last season, and the speedy Smith can take the ball deep on every play. Kenneth Guidroz, 13 catches, also returns after starting in nine games and Brian King had 15 catches as a true freshman. The receiving corps looked vastly improve in the spring. As a result, this should be a strong area in the fall campaign.

Tulane Tight ends: 2006 starting TE Bobby Hoover is gone but will be amply replaced by 6'4" 262 senior Jerome Landry who started the entire 2003 season before going down with a knee injury. Landry missed all of 2004 but played extensively behind Hoover last season. He is backed by junior Gabe Ratcliff, 6'2" 231 an excellent receiver and sophomore Justin Kessler 6'3" 230, the better blocker of the three.

Tulane Offensive Line: The 2005 offensive line was a tremendous disappointment. With three seniors starting their third and fourth years the unit was supposed to be one of the best in CUSA. The line neither provided protection for the passing game nor opened holes for the running game. Replacing three starters with that much experienced is viewed as a great loss by most observers, however, this will be the largest offensive line since 1996 and the most athletic since at least 2000. Leading the line will be senior guard Donald Madlock, 6'4" 295, a two year starter at the position who missed all of 2005 with shoulder surgeries, and senior tackle Derek Rogers, 6' 309, a full time starter last season after being a spot starter in the two previous seasons. Michael Parenton, 6'3" 292, who started at guard last year as a freshman, will move to center. The other tackle spot will be filled by sophomore Troy Kropog, 6'5" 295, who played extensively last year. The remaining guard position will be filled by either junior Aryan Barto 6'4" 262 or redshirt freshman, John Landa, 6'3" 295.

Tulane Offensive Outlook: With the talent and experience at all the skill positions, if the offensive line can play at a reasonably high level, the offense could return to the high scoring machine that has been its trademark for the past decade.

2006 Tulane Defense

Returning Starters: 5

Tulane Defensive Line: This should be the strong point of the Green Wave defense with the top eight players having logged every minute of playing time in the past two seasons. The leader at defensive end is junior Antonio Harris, 6'2" 271, a two year starter and CUSA freshman of the year in 2004. Sophomore Sean Carney, 6'3" 240, moved ahead of senior Craig Morris, 6'2" 240, a returning starter at the end of spring practice. Both sides are backed up by seniors Billy Harrison, 6'4" 243 and Michael Purcell, 6'1" 275 who have both been starters and big play makers. One of the tackles will be manned by juniors Alvin Johnson and Frank Morton, both 6'3" and over 300 pounds. The other tackle positing will be quicker quicker senior Taurean Brown, 6'6" 280, and junior Avery Williams, 6' 282. All have shared starting experience and playing time over the past two seasons.

Tulane Linebackers: Here is the youngest area of the entire Tulane team for 2006 as the Green Wave lost all three starters from 2005. All-CUSA and seventh round draft pick Anthony Cannon took over 400 career tackles with him. One senior, strong side linebacker Terrance Peterson, will man a starting position. While Peterson is a senior, he has seen playing time mainly on special teams in the past. Sophomores Jordan Ellis, 6' 235, in the middle and James Dillard, 6'1" 220, did some duty as true freshman last year with Ellis getting one start, but both have a minimum number of stops. The reserves will come from redshirt and true freshman. The group was said to have had a very good spring and may not be the handicap that was expected.

Tulane Defensive Backs: The lone backfield starter from last year is corner back Izzy Route, 5'9" 185. Route is an exceptional athlete and a big hitter and should be the leader of this group. Joining him at the other corner is 6'2" 172 senior Jeremy Foreman. Foreman has seen extensive time starting over the past three years and should be more than up to the task. The backups at corner are very athletic in sophomores Josh Lumar and Matt Harding, the fastest player on the team. The strong safety is the capable hands of junior Joe Goosby, 6' 203. Another big hitter, Goosby played behind Tray Boger and Sean Lucas who both signed free agent pro contracts. The free safety position will be filled by 6’ 178 junior Carlis Jackson who is another excellent athlete. The defensive backfield could prove to be a strength of the defense.

Tulane Defensive Outlook: The Tulane defense was ranked in the top five in the country after three games in 2005. By the end of the season they were ranked #54, falling to 101st rushing and 99th in scoring defense. This was the real telling point of the stress that the Katrina disaster had on the 2005 Green Wave team. If the linebacking corps plays reasonably well this team could again rank in the better half of collegiate football in all categories.

 

2006 Tulane Special Teams

As if nothing else could go wrong last season, Punter Chris Beckman was wounded in a hunting accident and missed the latter part of 2005. He has completely recovered and with a 40.9 yard average the punting is in excellent hands. Punt returning is also in excellent hands as Route did an excellent job filling in for the injured Smith. Both have punt returns for TDs to their credit. These also form the nucleus for an outstanding kickoff return team. Unfortunately, the kicking game is not as solid. Returning junior Barret Pepper was only 3-7 on field goals and 43-47 on PATs in 2005. He rarely puts his kickoffs in the ends zone and the KO coverage teams have been spotty, at best, for the past three years. Incoming freshman Ross Theviot is very highly regarded and was selected to play in two all-star games. Expect Theviot to get a long look in August.

 

2006 Tulane Bottom Line

Tulane is a team with talent at every position. As with most teams, how well the offensive line comes together will determine how good the offense will be. Likewise, on defense, the linebacking corps could make this unit very difficult to dent. The schedule is very difficult as the Green Wave plays all five of the top rated teams in CUSA with Houston, UTEP, and Tulsa all being on the road. Add to that an out of conference schedule that has visits to Auburn and LSU and you have a difficult schedule for anyone. But all of that aside, the most important factor in whether Tulane is a two win team or a bowl team is how they come back from the disaster of 2005.