2007 Tulane Football Officially Opens With First Practice, Media Day

Head Coach Bob Toledo Address Media, New Uniforms Unveiled

Aug. 11, 2007

NEW ORLEANS - On the day of the first practice of the 2007 Tulane football season, the Green Wave showed off its new look. Prior to the new offense installed under new head coach Bob Toledo, being showcased on the field, the new Tulane uniforms were on display as the players posed for team pictures and met with the media Saturday at the James W. Wilson Center.

"It's an exciting time for all of us," Toledo said during his address to the media in the Hall of Fame room. "We've so much fun since we've been here in January. We are very anxious to get started. We start this afternoon, we took pictures this morning. I think if you talk to our players they're anxious to get started as well."

Toledo was named Tulane's head coach on December 11, 2006. After coaching for New Mexico in the inaugural New Mexico Bowl, Toledo set about implementing his system in spring practice.

"We're going to try to get back to where we were for spring. We felt we had a great spring practice," Toledo added. "We threw an awful lot at our players; they learned an awful lot about us and we learned an awful lot about them. After spring what we did was we went back in and after evaluating all the players, we tweaked some things offensively and defensively to fit our personnel."

"That's music to my ears," senior running back Matt Forté said, "hearing that we're going to run the ball a lot more."

Dressed in Tulane's new dark green home jersey, outfitted by Nike, Forté and senior safety Joe Goosby fielder questions from the press hours before the first practice.

"We're running a 4-3 defense," Goosby explained. "Once every gets on the same page, the defense is pretty easy to pick up. We'll be ready to make plays."

Tulane's first practice begins Saturday at 3:35. Check back at TulaneGreenWave.com for further updates.