Much of early New Orleans history is wrapped in voodoo magic that mystified the Crescent City with legends of wild incantations, snake worship, animal sacrifices, and even zombies walking from the grave.
The voodoo legend finally reached brand-new Yulman Stadium when Tulane running backs Sherman Badie and Lazedrick Thompson went down with injuries against Cincinnati on Halloween night.
To say that the Green Wave haven’t been slightly cursed with injuries would be an understatement.
Badie re-injured an ankle he first inured against UCF; Thompson injured his left foot and was seen in a walking boot at Tuesday’s practice.
Tulane’s one-two punch at running back that has accounted for 943 of the team’s 1,153 rushing yards in 2014 might be the one-two sideline show against Houston on Saturday. True freshman back Dontrell Hilliard stepped in for the injured ball carriers against the Bearcats and impressed coaches with a 123-yard performance on 11 carries.
“It is a challenge but next guy up, that’s what we talk about in our room,” Tulane runningbacks coach David Johnson told NOLA.com. “The kids are prepared and they are ready to go—just like Dontrell (Hilliard). He’s been sitting back, waiting his to have his opportunity and he took full advantage of it…that was big for a true freshman.”
Redshirt freshman Badie mystified coaches in his Green Wave debut, hammering the ball down Tulsa’s throat for 215 yards (including a 90-yard touchdown scamper) in Tulane’s Week 1 loss. Hilliard’s debut wasn’t a mirror image of Badie’s introduction, but it was a solid performance that proves the Green Wave have depth in the backfield — when everyone is healthy that is.
With Badie and Lazedrick’s availability against the Cougars in question, sophomore linebacker Sergio Medina is taking snaps at running back in this week’s practices to aid depth at the position, encase one or both of the top running backs are unavailable for Saturday.
Medina has yet to take any gameday snaps on offense, but Johnson said that he moved Medina to offense a few weeks ago to aid with the depth depletion.
“We have a few things to kind of went down south, that were unexpected, it’s just the next man up,” Medina said. “We are always in the film room, who’s ever sign gets called up — whoever’s number gets called up you got to get ready to play.”
Houston is ranked second in the American Athletic Conference in total defense and shouldn’t overlook Tulane with an AAC championship still in its reach.
The new backfield must step up if Badie and Lazedrick are sidelined against the Cougars. Medina believes Tulane’s top backs have set a strong example for whomever runs the ball on Saturday to emulate.
“We have great backs all around and especially with Sherman and Lazedrick,” Medina said. “They just set the example and on how to practice and how to play full speed with all your heart and everything so is that great examples for the whole team and individually as a running back group.”
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