1998 Season Outlook
Jun 21, 1999 | Football
Offense
Quarterback
Tulane returns the Conference USA offensive player of the year, senior Shaun King, who led the Green Wave to a record-setting offensive season in 1997. King passed for 2,567 yards and a school-record 24 touchdowns last year.
King's backup last year, Xavier Salazar, has graduated. Senior Jeff Curtis, who saw limited time behind center last season, and redshirt freshman Patrick Ramsey will battle for the backup role.
Running Backs
Both of Tulane's tailbacks, sophomore Toney Converse and senior Jamaican Dartez, earned All-Conference USA honors last season.
Converse, who rushed for a Tulane freshman-record 777 yards in 1997, was a first-team all-league selection by the coaches and media, but wasn't the freshman of the year (he did, however, earn that honor from the Houston Chronicle). Dartez played in only six games because of injury, yet rushed for 506 yards; he was a second-team all-conference selection by the Houston Chronicle.
Tulane's starter at fullback last year, Daryl Jackson, is gone, but junior O'Kie Woods, who played both spots in the backfield and scored six touchdowns in 1997, returns. He will be joined at fullback by redshirt freshman Barry Smith.
Wide Receivers
This time last year, Tulane did not have a receiver who had more than 20 catches in a season.
Now, the Green Wave has five returning players with at least 20 receptions, paced by the wideout duo of senior P.J. Franklin, who caught 58 passes for 703 yards and eight touchdowns, and junior JaJuan Dawson, who had 52 catches for 839 yards and 10 touchdowns before his season ended three games prematurely because of a broken right ankle.
Dawson was a first-team all-conference selection, Franklin a second-team pick. They are the first duo in school history to have 50 catches apiece in the same season.
Tulane also leaned heavily on freshmen receivers last year, and now, John Wilson, Kerwin Cook and Adrian Burnette all are sophomores. They combined for 52 catches last year. Wilson was third on the club in receptions with 23.
Also back is redshirt freshman Zander Robinson, who may have been part of the receiver rotation last year but was sidelined by a broken ankle in August.
Tight End
Tulane went into last August with only one tight end, Mike Turner. The Green Wave signed Mike Truax just before the start of preseason drills and had Joseph Akin join the squad as a non-scholarship player. All three return.
Turner, a junior, was the only tight end with a reception last season, making five catches for 48 yards and a touchdown.
Offensive Line
The biggest question mark heading into the 1997 season turned into the biggest surprise of the season. Without a returning starter, the line allowed only 11 sacks and blocked for an offense that set 26 school records.
Four starters return on the line, though the one who's gone, left tackle Cory Geason, was an all-conference selection. The only senior of that group is right guard Mike Gumiela. Junior left guard Jerry Godfrey, junior center Kapua Conley and sophomore right tackle Bernard Robertson also return.
Sophomore Charles Caldwell, who along with Robertson was named to C-USA's all-freshman team in 1997, will likely step into Geason's spot.
Quoting Coach Bowden
"We have 10 starters and a bunch of backups returning, so the biggest positive is that those experienced guys won't go into the season confused. Our goal is to take our offensive package from last year and execute it better. The key will be whether our quarterback, Shaun King, can stay healthy. He stayed healthy last year, and if we can keep injuries to a minimum, then we have a chance to be as productive as we were last year. But we still don't have the depth built up to overcome injuries at certain positions.
"(Senior running back) Jamaican Dartez was our biggest surprise of the spring. He's gained about 15 or 18 pounds and gotten stronger, but he's also maintained his quickness.
"Our biggest question mark on offense is replacing (left tackle) Cory Geason, who is the only starter we lost off of last year's offense. We'll move Bernard Robertson from right tackle to left tackle, so we'll need to find a right tackle. Bryson Westbrook came out of spring ball as our starter at right tackle, and he'll battle Charles Caldwell along with some of our incoming freshman for that spot."
Defense
Defensive Line
Most teams would struggle with the loss of three-fourths of their starting defensive line. However, in Tulane's 12-man line rotation, the Green Wave returns eight players with game experience.
Gone are tackle Terence Cook and ends Keaton Cromartie and Shane Marshall. Cook and Cromartie were second-team all-league choices in 1997.
The lone returning starter is left tackle Dennis O'Sullivan, who led all linemen with 55 tackles a year ago. Four other tackles - Tom Latos, Phil Henderson, Mitch Mouton and Matthew Glapion - and three ends - Kevin Reavis, Manny Cuellar and Brent Hamilton - were part of the rotation in 1997.
Latos will move to end this spring, and Domonick Crockett, who played offensive guard last year, is switching to defensive tackle.
Four other redshirt freshmen - ends Ryan Brewer, Derrick Elzy and Glenn Lemoine and tackle Mark Tyler - round out the mix.
Linebackers
Tulane lost a pair of veterans in strong-side linebacker Derrick Singleton and middle linebacker Brian Williams, but weak-side linebacker Brett Timmons returns.
Timmons, a junior, had 84 tackles last season - most among the Green Wave returnees on defense. Junior Derrick Perry, who did not start a game while backing up Singleton, had 63 tackles, second among returnees.
Also back are juniors Wayne Blair and Sedric Clemons and sophomores Cory Green (who also played fullback in 1997) and Jerry Phillips.
Additions to the mix this spring are Noel Ellis, a sophomore who redshirted last year while moving from safety; Kevin Dukes, a part-time starter at strong safety last year who makes the same shift as Ellis this spring, and a pair of redshirts in 1997, David Dorsey and Jon-Robert Mouton, who add speed and athleticism to the linebacking corps.
Defensive Backs
Tulane led the nation in interceptions in 1997 with 26, and all four starters in the secondary return, led by senior cornerback Michael Jordan, who had a team-high five pickoffs last year and earned second-team all-conference honors.
Senior free safety Alphonso Roundtree was second to Jordan with four interceptions and had a secondary-high 61 tackles in 1997. Also back is senior Tellius Carr, who will shift from cornerback to strong safety this spring, and sophomores Corey Jones and Sam Knight, each of whom started at strong safety last year.
Most of the reserves in the defensive backfield return as well - sophomores Ky Joseph and Allen Phillips at corner and sophomore Warren St. Junious at free safety. Additionally, Tim Carter, who played in the secondary in 1996, returns there this spring.
Quoting Coach Bowden
"Defense is where we have most of our question marks. We lost five of our front seven starters along with some of their backups. Three of our first four defensive ends from last year are gone, along with a key tackle and some good linebackers. Fortunately, all of our defensive backs return, and they led the nation in interceptions. Now whether or not they are going to be as productive, I don't know. A lot of times the success of the secondary depends on the amount of pressure the front seven can apply, and since we lost so much up front, it will really test our secondary. It's possible our secondary could be improved, but the results might not be as good.
"(Senior defensive tackle) Dennis O'Sullivan needs to have a good year. Right now he weighs 290, so he'll be an adequate run-stopper. Our defensive ends, Kevin Reavis and Manny Cueller, will have to play more than they did last year. Last year we had four ends we could rotate, and we're thinner at that position this year.
"At linebacker, I feel we've replaced our departed starters with more athleticism, but they won't have the experience, which could hurt us early.
"(Sophomore defensive back) Tim Carter was probably the most pleasant surprise defensively during the spring, along with (redshirt freshman defensive end) Glenn Lemoine. Glenn was able to add about 20 pounds."
Special Teams
Simply the best. That's the easiest way to describe the kicking tandem of seniors Brad Palazzo and Brad Hill.
Palazzo, a third-team All-America selection by AP and The Sporting News, led the nation in field goals (23) and kick scoring (109 points), setting a handful of Tulane and Conference USA records in the process. Hill ranked fourth nationally in punting and set a school record for season average (46.2). Both were first-team all-conference selections last year.
P.J. Franklin returned both punts and kickoffs last year, and figures to again be the leading candidate for both jobs in 1998. Jeff Curtis returns for his fourth season as the holder, and Dennis O'Sullivan is an experienced long snapper.
Quoting Coach Bowden
"Our kickers, (senior placekicker) Brad Palazzo and (senior punter) Brad Hill, will be keys to our success this fall. Anytime your concerned about your defense, having a great punter like Brad Hill, who was among the top punters in the nation last year, can really help your field position. And a kicker like Brad Palazzo can really help out an offense that may bog down on occasion because he's almost automatic. If we can get turnovers on the opponents' side of the field, we usually only need about one first down before we're in Brad's range. That's what we did last year."
"(Senior wide receiver) P.J. Franklin will be our number one returner on both punts and kickoffs."
Bowden on the Impact of Newcomers:
"We have seven offensive signees, and everyone of them will have to play this year, which is not good. You'd like to be able to redshirt all of them. We do hope to be able to redshirt the quarterback we signed (Derrick Joseph).
"Defensively, we will probably be able to redshirt most of our signees.If one of those young defensive linemen come through, we may use them in a backup role."
Bowden on the Impact of 1997's Season:
"Last year's success has helped in a lot of areas. Number one, it helped in recruiting and gave us credibility with the high school coaches and players in the state. Tulane has a great product to offer, but the one missing ingredient had been winning. So when you add winning to that product, then it made us very appealing from a recruting standpoint.
"It also improved our players' confidence and helped them to buy into a system sooner. They've learned how to work harder and what it takes to win."
Bowden on Tulane's Future:
"Initially, our plan for last year was to teach our team how to play hard for 60 minutes and shoot for three wins, which was one more than Tulane had had the year before. But by winning seven, it put us ahead of schedule.
"There's no doubt that the longer I'm here the more I'm convinced we can be successful at Tulane. The major building blocks are in place with the Superdome, our facilities and the commitment we receive from (athletic director) Sandy Barbour and (new president) Dr. Scott Cowen.
"There are several steps we need to take to get to the next level - such as a top 25 ranking and a bowl appearance."
