Highest Graded Tulane Green Wave Players From Easy Win Over USF
After a couple of weeks of disappointment and stress, the Tulane Green Wave finally put together another smooth performance as they took the USF Bulls down on Saturday.
Pro Football Focus released their weekly grades for the most recent Saturday slate and a few Green Wave stars received rave reviews for their roles in the beatdown.
One of the two players who had a grade in the nineties was defensive end Gerrod Henderson. Though he wasn't a starter, he finally had his breakout game as a rotational piece.
Henderson picked up his first two career sacks against the Bulls in just 20 snaps played on the day as well along with forcing his first fumble.
A redshirt sophomore, this was really the first game in is career that he was able to produce some actual positive results.
The second-highest assessment was handed out to a receiver that had a career day in Dontae Fleming with an elite 90.3 grade.
Fleming came over to Tulane last season after three seasons with the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns but failed to make much of a mark on the offense during his first campaign in New Orleans. That happened to be the same case with the Ragin Cajuns, so he was really looking for a breakout season this year.
He had a 97-yard game against the Kansas State Wildcats, but has had a couple of moments this year where it had felt really close to having an incredible day.
The fifth-year senior had 128 yards and a touchdown on seven catches. It was the first time that he reached the century mark for his career and first touchdown since coming to the Green Wave.
Rounding out the top three for Tulane was linebacker Tyler Grubbs, who had a well-rounded 85.1 grade performance.
Grubbs had six tackles and a forced fumble on Saturday, also making the offensive side of the ball a nightmare for USF.
He's broken out as a pass rusher this season as he has already matched a career-high with three sacks. He has logged one in each of the last three games.
The senior linebacker was considered one of the most important players on defense heading into the year for Green Wave and has more than lived up to those expectations.
He broke out of a small slump to start the campaign with a massive interception returned for a touchdown against the Oklahoma Sooners, a first for the defender.
Tulane had as good of a start to American Athletic Conference play as they could have imagine.
