With the season just around the corner, the Tulane football team can be found hitting the practice fields hard.

Recording its fourth two-a-day practice of the preseason on Wednesday, the Green Wave is making every preparation for the season opener against Duke at 8:30 p.m. Sept. 3 at Yulman Stadium.

“We are practicing our butts off,” redshirt sophomore quarterback Tanner Lee said. “We are tired of hitting each other. We are ready for Duke to come in here and have somebody else to play against and get the season rolling. That is when the real fun starts.”

This preseason has proven beneficial in the evaluation of the freshmen. They are showing their potential and will hopefully have strong Tulane debuts.  

With the freshmen wide receivers’ size and physicality this year, both of which are certainly a tremendous aid, Lee will look to have easier targets down the field.  

The veteran leadership this season will help the freshmen develop quickly and make it difficult for the opposing team to keep up.

“They have some size, they are learning quickly and they have a great work ethic,” Lee said. “We still have the same guys from last year: Teddy Veal, Terren Encalade, Devon Breaux and Larry Dace. Those are just some veteran guys who are teaching them.”

The offense struggled last season due to a young roster, but after a year of player development and strong work ethic, a new level of maturity is anticipated. 

“Offensively, I thought Tanner looked outstanding and had good command of the offense. This was a great scrimmage for the offense,” head coach Curtis Johnson said.

After one year of experience for many of the key players, there is certainly an increased presence of leadership and confidence on the field.

“I believe confidence is one of the biggest things when playing quarterback,” Lee said. “So if you can keep your confidence up, it can help you play the position in a big way. It’s a good feeling.”

Discipline on the field was an issue last season. With a more controlled approach this season, the team will look to close out tight games. 

“In summer training we kind of focused on discipline a lot, doing everything the right way and being precise in all of our workouts, and it kind of carried over into fall camp and, you know, it is definitely showing,” Lee said.

With these improvements to the offense the Green Wave will look to establish a higher winning percentage than it was able to in the previous year, and hopefully even make it to a bowl game.