MEET THE PRESS: Fritz Previews Oklahoma at Weekly News Conference

NEW ORLEANS – Listed below is the complete transcript from Green Wave head coach Willie Fritz's weekly press conference leading up to Tulane's matchup vs. Oklahoma on Saturday.

Opening Statement
"We just got back from the University of Alabama and we practiced indoors there since it's raining pretty hard here in Birmingham. We really appreciate the people here in the city of Birmingham and they are treating us unbelievably well. We appreciate Alabama football for allowing us to come over and use their facility, we made one phone call and boom they had it all set up. We're also practicing at Legion Field right now but because of the rain it is going to be difficult to get a practice in. We're just working on our preparation for the (Oklahoma) Sooners."

What have the last five days or so has been like from your perspective? Going to Birmingham and the uncertainty of what was going to happen in New Orleans and what's happened over the last 48 hours back home?
"We decided to leave on Saturday evening which obviously was a great call by our people on campus. We drove over here to Birmingham and weren't sure what to expect, we got enough clothes for a few days and told the guys to pack up enough through Tuesday. Obviously, that was wishful thinking, we're going to be over here quite a bit longer than that. It's a very unfortunate situation, we feel for the people in New Orleans. We've all got family, friends, fellow students, student athletes that are there and we have a lot of people that lost their homes. We got guys on our team that weren't able to hear from their people back home for a few days since cell service wasn't functioning in New Orleans. It sounds like everyone is doing ok as far as our team and their families are concerned."

Was there any thought to not play in this game?
"We weren't quite sure what was going to happen. We were hoping we would be back in New Orleans in a couple of days and that didn't occur. I think our athletic director worked with the athletic director in Oklahoma and they came up with going ahead and moving the game to Norman."

On Mykel Jones' leadership impact on the team and the discussion with him to end his career…
"That was difficult. Mykel is a fine young man and really wanted to play. Unfortunately, he got injured at the very end of last year in our final regular season ball game. He worked his tail off to try to come back and wasn't able to. He's going to be very successful. He's an excellent student, he's got a good head on his shoulders and I look forward to watching all of his success over the next few years."

On how Mykel Jones' time in Oklahoma shaped him...
"I think Mike enjoyed his time at Oklahoma and he was excited about the opportunity to come back home and play for the Green Wave. I only hear great things from Mike about his time in Norman Oklahoma. He's a very mature young man and it's just unfortunate, but he'll bounce back. He's going to work a little bit in our athletic department and he's looking to become an agent. We've hooked him up with some people and a few internships and I know he will do well.

On preparing for Oklahoma this week and his on quarterback Spencer Rattler…
"They're ranked No. 2 in the country for a reason. They've got great players across the board, offense, defense, the kicking game. They've got an interesting kicking game it looks like they're playing a lot of starters, sometimes teams don't do that. They've really improved defensively over the last few years and they have an extremely potent offense. I don't know if their offensive line gets enough credit for the tremendous protection they give their quarterback. They've got a lot of long developing routes in their arsenal and the reason they're able to do that is because of the fantastic protection that the offensive line gives.

What kind of a platform does this game give your football program?
"It's national TV, people are going to be watching football and a majority of them are going to be watching the Green Wave play the sooners. It's a great opportunity for our program without question, the guys are competitors, and they want to play against the very best and Oklahoma has proven that they are (the best) throughout the years.

Hospitality in Birmingham, where you would play UAB?
"Number one, everybody has been awesome in the city of Birmingham. As I said before, the hotel is great, the downtown area here is fabulous they've put a lot of money into it. Our guys have been going down there and eating at different places and I hear them coming back saying this place was excellent or that place was excellent, so we appreciate everyone in the city of Birmingham has done for us. We've got a couple more home games; we play a week from Saturday against Morgan State and the following week we go up and play at Ole Miss and then our last game in September is going to be against UAB. I'm not sure what these people making the decisions with the power are deciding or what they are going to decide. We're like the Terminator you've got to just point us in the right direction, and we will go there. I think we'll find out as the damage is being accessed on campus and in the city of New Orleans when we will go back. Right know we went in and picked up some extra equipment. Our staff was lucky enough to get on campus and get some stuff. We didn't have our uniforms or our cleats. There are a lot of things we don't have and hopefully we will be able to get that all back here. I think we will find out here in the next couple of days what our plan will be for the next couple of ball games. Legion field has just been awesome to us in opening their stadium, locker room and everything else. If we need to we will go over there and play, it's a historic stadium they've played some big time games there so if we need to we will play over there."

How does this Oklahoma team compare to when you last played them?
"There are a lot of similarities - the sets and formations – defensively they are totally different but there are some things that are similar with the offense. Coach (Lincoln) Riley is calling it all now so there are a lot of similarities, but each year everybody evolves a little bit and they add things to their offense, their defense and their kicking game. This is the 2021 Sooners we will be playing, so there's not a whole lot to take from playing them back a few years ago."

On whether some players that were there a few years ago, can account for what it was like to play in that stadium or is that a little overrated…
"It's a little overrated. That's one of those things you've got to do as a football player, or a coach is go out there and block everything out externally and concentrate on what's going on the field in those 120 yards and just play the very best you can. Coaching the players is tough when they are worried about all the other stuff off going on."

MEET THE PRESS: Fritz Previews Oklahoma at Weekly News Conference

Players Mentioned

Mykel Jones

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