Tulane Fine Tunes the Details in Their Final Stages of Training Camp
The Tulane Green Wave are nine days out from their season opener, and as they turn the page to a new chapter under coach Sumrall, the team is focused on the little details as they chase their season goals.
In Sumrall’s introductory press conference, he talked about the difference between his time at Tulane as co-defensive coordinator from 2012-14 and taking the head coaching job. It was the little things.
He referenced the inaugural season at Yulman Stadium where the team took the sideline opposite the fans. It’s not the end all be all, but the now-focused vision is compatible with what he sought in a program.
“As I found out more about the vision and the plan for the future here, and the commitment to sustained excellence, that became clearer to me that this could become a good fit,” Sumrall said back in December.
Little details matter, and a coach tuned in to that has a psychological edge with his team. The last few days of practice, Tulane players have been hard to chart – they’ve been wearing the wrong numbers since Monday. On Tuesday, it was even more noticeable, as the colors dictating offense and defense switched.
That was deliberate by coach Sumrall in preparing them for the season opener.
“It’s been something I’ve been wanting to do,” he told reporters Tuesday. “Game one, we'll wear a dark color, not white, being the home team. If you watch practice, you noticed some guys weren't in the right number offensively. That's why we haven't done it yet.”
Confusing as it may be initially, it’s a thoughtful approach to something fans might not think of outright. Especially amid a quarterback competition, Sumrall wants to aid the guys under center in their game preparation.
“I don’t want to practice with the quarterback throwing to a white jersey all week, and then we go play and not wear white. I don't know if it really has an effect on you, but you might as well throw to the color you're going to wear in the game. If we're going to wear dark in a game, our offense will wear dark at practice that week. If we're going to wear white in a game, our offense will wear white that week.”
It reminds me a lot of environmental simulation for SAT and standardized test preparation. A recommended strategy is to take the practice test at a location outside your home, as it will be on test day, at the same time the test will start.
Our brains and rhythms are all different; a morning person needs less time to acclimate to an early call time. There’s not much value in a practice test at your desk that you know at a time that you feel like doing it.
There are psychological studies that focus on our memory and color, but without getting in the weeds, association matters. It may seem like a throwaway detail, but with the quarterback room having not too much in-game experience, it undeniably helps their preparation.
While the final installations of the game plan are implemented, the team is leaving no stone unturned as they chase their goals this season. Every detail in practice that simulates the game stacks the competitive edge for the Green Wave.
MADDY HUDAK