Wave To Hold First Practice Friday Afternoon

The 2006 Tulane football team is scheduled to take the field for the first time Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. at the Barney Mintz Practice Field located within the Westfeldt Practice and Competition Facility on the campus. The Green Wave's 62 returning players will be joined by 25 freshman in the shorts-and-helmets only workout.

The squad did conduct testing Friday morning in shorts and without footballs on the practice field's Sportexe Omnigrass (r) surface.

Sportexe Omnigrass (r) is a synthetic-type turf considered safer and with greater traction, shock absorption, and durability than earlier generation rubber in-fill replacements for the earlier AstroTurf generation of synthetic surfaces.

The Green Wave Tulane opens the 2006 season on Saturday, Sept. 9 in Houston versus the Houston Cougars. The Green Wave will play three straight road games to start the season before opening its five-game home schedule "Back Home in the Dome" on Saturday, Sept. 30th versus SMU. That game has been selected for CSTV national telecast and will kick off at 6 p.m. CDT.

Forty lettermen, including twelve accounted as starters, return from the 2005 team, which struggled to a 2-9 record in the wake of Hurricane Katrina which forced the team to play each of it's 11 games in different locations, including Dallas, Houston, Lafayette, Ruston, and Baton Rouge.

Tulane head coach Chris Scelfo enters his eighth season with a won-loss record of 33-49 Tentatively, Tulane's first scrimmage is scheduled to be held at the Mintz Practice Field for Saturday, Aug. 19.