Wave Football Enjoys Another Solid Practice Friday

NEW ORLEANS, La.–With eight short days between now and the Tulane University football team’s season-opening game, the Green Wave enjoyed another solid day of practice Friday morning at the Westfeldt Facility.

The Green Wave worked hard during a two-plus hour, 18-period session in shots, helmets and shoulder pads. The practice was extremely intense and filled with several highlight-reel plays as well as solid execution of the fundamentals.

“Things have been going well, but I think we’re to a point now where we’re tired of playing against each other,” head coach Chris Scelfo said. “They’re ready to see some outside competition, and they better be since we open the season against Southern Miss, who is the preseason conference favorite.”

The team went through the usual positional drills to open the session and full 11-on-11 intrasquad to close it out, and in the middle portion of practice, the offense and defense broke into running and passing drills. The running drills featured the offensive line, quarterbacks and backfield matching up with the defensive line, linebackers and safeties. The passing drills, meanwhile, featured quarterbacks throwing to wideouts and corners in one-on-one competition.

While the offense and defense battled to essentially a stalemate as each made their fair share of plays, the wide receivers made the biggest plays of the day with several big grabs.

Freshman wideout Cary Koch made a nice adjustment on a ball thrown by redshirt-freshman Scott Elliot for a long touchdown, and junior slot receiver Preston Brown made several sure-handed grabs across the middle and in the seams. The highlight of the day, however, came from rookie Brian King on a pass from fellow freshman Anthony Scelfo.

With the ball already in the air and good defense applied by the secondary, King began to stumble. He never lost sight of the ball, however, and while almost planted on the seat of his pants, King reached up with one hand for the catch that drew cheers from both the offensive and defensive players alike.

Tulane opens the 2005 season on Sunday, Sept. 4, in a nationally-televised (ESPN2) game versus Conference USA foe Southern Miss in Hattiesburg, Miss. The Green Wave open their 2005 home schedule on Saturday, Sept. 17, in the Louisiana Superdome versus Mississippi State. Season tickets for the entire 2005 home schedule are on sale now at the Tulane Athletics Ticket Office in the James W. Wilson Center, on-line at www.tulanegreenwave.com and by calling 504-861-WAVE.