After notching the 13th losing season in the last 17 years in 2014, Tulane football is once again back to the drawing board as it enters the fourth year of the Curtis Johnson era in uptown New Orleans.
And although we stand a month away from “Christmas in February,” otherwise known as National Signing Day, it’s never too early to make a to-do list of what the Green Wave need to work on before fall practice begins.
1) Tanner Lee has to get better
When Tanner Lee was tabbed as the starting quarterback heading into the 2014 season, it was to be expected that Lee was going to go through some growing pains in his first year as a starter. And while he had a monster debut against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane as well as a 300-yard showing against East Carolina, Lee proved to be more of a work in project than anything else.
That being said in order for Tulane to improve on their record in 2015, an improved Tanner Lee is key, which should be no problem if he remains healthy in ’15.
2. Lighting the scoreboard up
Make no mistake Yulman Stadium was a major success in its first season, however the troubling fact of the matter is that in 2014, Tulane was among one of the worst scoring teams in the country, averaging 16 points per game, good for ninth in the AAC.
So what does this have to do with Yulman?
Despite the fact that Yulman is a nice stadium, offense sells tickets. In six games this year at Yulman, Tulane only scored more than 20 points twice, 21 against Georgia Tech and 35 against Southeastern Louisiana. What needs to happen in the offseason for Tulane is finding ways to open up the offense and using guys like Teddy Veal to their skillet.
To quote a coach, no one comes to see a team score six points.
3. The little things
With any young team there’s always going to be a wealth of mistakes, which was the case with Tulane in 2014. Finishing next to last in the AAC in most penalized with 90 flags for an average of 70.1 yards per game, paying close attention to the little things should be a huge priority now than in September.
4. Continue to “win” New Orleans
Make no mistake Tulane football will never capture the hearts of New Orleans like it did generations ago. However, since Curtis Johnson arrived in Uptown, he has made local recruiting important, grabbing guys such as Parry Nickerson, who proved to be a key contributor to the Tulane defense in 2014.
In 2015, Curtis Johnson is once again banking on local talent as we inch closer to National Signing Day. Of the 14 commits in this year’s class, 12 of them are hard commits (translation: they are expected to sign) and more importantly are local guys. Included in this group is Nigel Anderson from East St. John Parish, who committed to the Green Wave in October after being pursued by schools like Southern Miss and Texas. A three-star running back, Anderson is the latest in a line of talented prep underrated running backs to don the Olive Green and Blue.
“After talking to my family about playing close to home, I decided to make my decision today and commit to Tulane,” Anderson said to the Times Picayune October. “I’ve been talking to them (Tulane) the most out of all the schools.
“I talked to Coach (Curtis) Johnson and told him I wanted to commit. He was excited. He told me I was number one on their board. He didn’t know I was going to commit today and he was real excited about me being able to come in and make an impact for the team.”
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