MEET THE PRESS: Fritz Previews Memphis at Weekly News Conference
Sep 25, 2018 | Football
Listed below is the complete transcript from Green Wave head coach Willie Fritz's weekly press conference leading up to Tulane's matchup with Memphis on Friday.
Opening statement:
"Obviously, wrapping up Ohio State, they're an excellent ballclub. Tall, long, strong. I thought they played extremely hard. Sometimes you don't see that out of some of the elite teams, but they certainly did. They're going to compete for a national championship this year. We had some opportunities in the first half, and we didn't capitalize on them. A couple times we let them loose and didn't make them work for it. The second half, they were playing their 2s and for the most part we were playing our 1s, we had a pretty even matchup with them. There's a lot to learn from an experience like that in my opinion, testing yourself against the very best and see how you match up. Obviously, we've got a ways to go, but there are some guys I was really proud of with their effort and competitiveness and their skill level. There are 5-10 who would be a 1 or a 2 playing for them. That was good. We've got a short week. We told the guys we've got to turn, flip the script, move on. We can't sit there and worry about the last ball game. We're playing a top-20 school in Memphis. Coach (Justin) Fuente a few years back took a little while to get it going, but he got that program going and turned it over to Coach (Mike) Norvell, and he has really even done better things there as the head football coach. I've been very impressed with Mike, his staff, recruiting, coaching, very creative offense. They do a good job manufacturing offense, getting the ball in space to fast guys. Defensively, they're very opportunistic. They've been one of the best special teams in the country the last three or four years. I'm very impressed."
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On who he was proud of against Ohio State:
"All the guys. The guys who I thought went out there and showed – I thought Rod Teamer played extremely well. I thought Cam Sample had a heck of a game. He really did a good job maintaining the line of scrimmage, making plays, playing hard. Those kind of different things. I thought [Darnell] Mooney again had another good week, [Terren] Encalade did some good things. We had 6, 7, 8 guys who really I thought stood out and really stressed them (Ohio State) offensively and defensively.
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On needing motivation to get the team going:
"I go about my preparation the same every week and my coaches do as well, and most of the players do also. You've got to make sure these guys understand this is a long season. I've got some stuff up there on the [Yulman Stadium video] board. One, do your job. Quit worrying about what other people are doing, just do what you're supposed to do to the best of your ability. I also have "In-season heroes" up there to have them look at. Some guys play their best football in January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, they really do a good job of talking about it. And then you get in the meat of the season and they don't play quite as well. This is when you need the great effort, this is when you need the great focus, this is when we need the tough guys. So we've talked about that quite a bit."
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On whether he is using the messages on the video board because the team is discouraged to be 1-3:
"No, it's just a natural human reaction sometimes. You work hard at something and not getting the outcome you want to have…this is what we need right now. We've got plenty of guys that are doing it. I don't see a difference in these guys you're going to be talking to here in a moment (Darius Bradwell, John Leglue, Donnie Lewis Jr.) I don't see a difference in their preparation or their effort, their physicalist from the first day of practice until now. But we want to do it now. We don't want to talk about things after the season gets over. We want to do it every single day."
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On the offensive line's pass protection:
"Well last week we were playing some big-time, big-time players. No question about it. Whenever we talk about this with the quarterbacks, sometimes they blame the quarterback on a particular pass play and it was really the offensive line or the back or the tight ends or the receivers not running the correct route. It's the same thing with the offensive line. Sometimes he's staying in the pocket, sometimes there's a guy not getting loose so the quarterback can throw it on time. Sometimes it's not the offensive line that's not doing a good job of protection, it's the other guys. It's the tight ends, it's the running backs. So there's a lot of pieces involved."
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On senior tight ends coming back:
"Oh, they can help a bunch. Charles [Jones III], you know, is a guy that's playing some good football. The tough part for him is staying healthy. If he's staying healthy he's a really good football player. And then Kendall [Ardoin], the great thing about Kendall is you know what you're going to get out of him every single day in practice, every game he's going to give you a workmanlike effort. He doesn't bust very often, and that's what you're looking for."
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On getting to a bowl game being used as motivation still:
"We're focused on one game. We talked about [bowl games] in the off-season, we talked about that in preseason camp. Once we get into the season, you're just worried about the task at hand. We need a win. That's what we need. That's what we're working towards."
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On Memphis running back Darrell Henderson:
"I don't get a chance to watch everybody, but he'd start for Ohio State. He's one of the top running backs in the country. He does a great job catching the ball. He's great in the kicking game. He plays in a lot of phases in the kicking game. And he runs with fury outside, inside. There's a particular play I kind of showed my coaches where he stepped up and stoned a linebacker blitzing in the gap. So he's a complete package, no question about it."
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On whether QB Jonathan Banks is still 'your guy' right now:
"Yeah. Jonathan has done some good things. Some of the problems he's had have been self-inflicted, but a lot have been from other positions. So we've got to get everything cleaned up. We're happy that we got Justin [McMillan] in a game, that was great to get him his first meaningful playing experience in quite some time. I thought he handled himself really well."
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On Memphis quarterback Brady White:
"They're doing a good job. You know they lost a great player last year. This guy really seems to make good decisions, he gets the ball out of his hand quick. He knows where he's going with it. He's been very impressive."
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Opening statement:
"Obviously, wrapping up Ohio State, they're an excellent ballclub. Tall, long, strong. I thought they played extremely hard. Sometimes you don't see that out of some of the elite teams, but they certainly did. They're going to compete for a national championship this year. We had some opportunities in the first half, and we didn't capitalize on them. A couple times we let them loose and didn't make them work for it. The second half, they were playing their 2s and for the most part we were playing our 1s, we had a pretty even matchup with them. There's a lot to learn from an experience like that in my opinion, testing yourself against the very best and see how you match up. Obviously, we've got a ways to go, but there are some guys I was really proud of with their effort and competitiveness and their skill level. There are 5-10 who would be a 1 or a 2 playing for them. That was good. We've got a short week. We told the guys we've got to turn, flip the script, move on. We can't sit there and worry about the last ball game. We're playing a top-20 school in Memphis. Coach (Justin) Fuente a few years back took a little while to get it going, but he got that program going and turned it over to Coach (Mike) Norvell, and he has really even done better things there as the head football coach. I've been very impressed with Mike, his staff, recruiting, coaching, very creative offense. They do a good job manufacturing offense, getting the ball in space to fast guys. Defensively, they're very opportunistic. They've been one of the best special teams in the country the last three or four years. I'm very impressed."
Â
On who he was proud of against Ohio State:
"All the guys. The guys who I thought went out there and showed – I thought Rod Teamer played extremely well. I thought Cam Sample had a heck of a game. He really did a good job maintaining the line of scrimmage, making plays, playing hard. Those kind of different things. I thought [Darnell] Mooney again had another good week, [Terren] Encalade did some good things. We had 6, 7, 8 guys who really I thought stood out and really stressed them (Ohio State) offensively and defensively.
Â
On needing motivation to get the team going:
"I go about my preparation the same every week and my coaches do as well, and most of the players do also. You've got to make sure these guys understand this is a long season. I've got some stuff up there on the [Yulman Stadium video] board. One, do your job. Quit worrying about what other people are doing, just do what you're supposed to do to the best of your ability. I also have "In-season heroes" up there to have them look at. Some guys play their best football in January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, they really do a good job of talking about it. And then you get in the meat of the season and they don't play quite as well. This is when you need the great effort, this is when you need the great focus, this is when we need the tough guys. So we've talked about that quite a bit."
Â
On whether he is using the messages on the video board because the team is discouraged to be 1-3:
"No, it's just a natural human reaction sometimes. You work hard at something and not getting the outcome you want to have…this is what we need right now. We've got plenty of guys that are doing it. I don't see a difference in these guys you're going to be talking to here in a moment (Darius Bradwell, John Leglue, Donnie Lewis Jr.) I don't see a difference in their preparation or their effort, their physicalist from the first day of practice until now. But we want to do it now. We don't want to talk about things after the season gets over. We want to do it every single day."
Â
On the offensive line's pass protection:
"Well last week we were playing some big-time, big-time players. No question about it. Whenever we talk about this with the quarterbacks, sometimes they blame the quarterback on a particular pass play and it was really the offensive line or the back or the tight ends or the receivers not running the correct route. It's the same thing with the offensive line. Sometimes he's staying in the pocket, sometimes there's a guy not getting loose so the quarterback can throw it on time. Sometimes it's not the offensive line that's not doing a good job of protection, it's the other guys. It's the tight ends, it's the running backs. So there's a lot of pieces involved."
Â
On senior tight ends coming back:
"Oh, they can help a bunch. Charles [Jones III], you know, is a guy that's playing some good football. The tough part for him is staying healthy. If he's staying healthy he's a really good football player. And then Kendall [Ardoin], the great thing about Kendall is you know what you're going to get out of him every single day in practice, every game he's going to give you a workmanlike effort. He doesn't bust very often, and that's what you're looking for."
Â
On getting to a bowl game being used as motivation still:
"We're focused on one game. We talked about [bowl games] in the off-season, we talked about that in preseason camp. Once we get into the season, you're just worried about the task at hand. We need a win. That's what we need. That's what we're working towards."
Â
On Memphis running back Darrell Henderson:
"I don't get a chance to watch everybody, but he'd start for Ohio State. He's one of the top running backs in the country. He does a great job catching the ball. He's great in the kicking game. He plays in a lot of phases in the kicking game. And he runs with fury outside, inside. There's a particular play I kind of showed my coaches where he stepped up and stoned a linebacker blitzing in the gap. So he's a complete package, no question about it."
Â
On whether QB Jonathan Banks is still 'your guy' right now:
"Yeah. Jonathan has done some good things. Some of the problems he's had have been self-inflicted, but a lot have been from other positions. So we've got to get everything cleaned up. We're happy that we got Justin [McMillan] in a game, that was great to get him his first meaningful playing experience in quite some time. I thought he handled himself really well."
Â
On Memphis quarterback Brady White:
"They're doing a good job. You know they lost a great player last year. This guy really seems to make good decisions, he gets the ball out of his hand quick. He knows where he's going with it. He's been very impressive."
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Players Mentioned
QB
/ Football
RB
/ Football
OL
/ Football
CB
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Tulane Tuesday: BAN Jah'rie Garner - 10/14/25
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Tulane Tuesday: HC Jon Sumrall - 10/14/25
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Postgame: QB Jake Retzlaff - 10/9/25
Friday, October 10
