Tulane Green Wave Revisit Challenge to Secure Quarterback of Future
In the transfer portal era of college football, the Tulane Green Wave have learned that continuity or a second season are not guarantees.
Despite finding quarterback Michael Pratt's successor in Darian Mensah, the team is in the same position of having to replace their starter under center after Mensah transferred to Duke.
The Tulane football team under coach Jon Sumrall will do so with knowledge from last season's quarterback competition and a strong culture they've tangibly built.
Currently, two key transfers and young players lead the quarterback room. Returning for the Green Wave are redshirt freshmen Kellen Tasby and Dagan Bruno, with a high school recruit and true freshman in Jay Beamon joining the room.
Headlining the signings in the portal were redshirt senior TJ Finley from Western Kentucky and redshirt junior Donovan Leary from Illinois. Their college football journeys to Tulane are significantly different from each other.
Since signing at LSU, Finley has spent time at Auburn, Texas State, and finally Western Kentucky. The Ponchatoula, La., native, who went to the same high school as running back Tyjae Spears, offers experience but no true sense of stability.
However, he has real game experience and was the starter for the Hilltoppers until an injury last September. Since 2020, Finley has completed 63% of his passes for over 6,000 yards and 37 passing touchdowns to 20 interceptions. He also has eight career rushing touchdowns.
Leary has been a Fighting Illini since he signed as a freshman in 2022 and didn't play a game until the 2024 season. He played in two and completed two passes on five attempts.
The team elected to go with talent and potential over experience last season in Mensah. They weren't alone in that decision, as several freshmen across the country started over star-studded transfers.
Little was known about the prospects and the Tulane team under Sumrall at the time of that call. Mensah was entirely under the radar with no other FBS offers out of high school.
Ty Thompson joined the team in January with the expectation of competing alongside Kai Horton. Between the three quarterbacks, they had a combined three starts. Yet, the sentiment was largely positive due to Thompson's potential and pedigree out of high school.
While not many first-year head coaches with a program may have made the call to start Mensah, it may have endeared future quarterbacks to want to compete under Sumrall's philosophy.
It's one that doesn't offer false promises or guarantees outside of play on the field. Many teams and coaches might purport that mentality, but Tulane has tangible proof.
That may lead to quarterbacks like Finley wanting to heal their wounds uptown. Sometimes, it's as simple as the right fit. As many fans learned with the surprise start of Mensah, coaches know their players much more intricately than outside observers.
Finley has what Thompson lacked — true game experience, including several SEC starts. Donovan Leary may very well be the next Darian Mensah lying in wait.
Landing a sure-fire, accomplished starter in the portal is easier said than done, with several prospects electing to take backup roles at Power 4 programs for NIL money and increased competition.
Either way, the team is exponentially better positioned to make this next decision at leader. Looking back to Pratt's time at Tulane, he never had continuity in coaching with a different offensive coordinator every season.
Not only did the Green Wave retain Sumrall at the top, but they also kept both coordinators to stabilize each side of the ball. The body of work offensive coordinator Joe Craddock has for Mensah's debut season is attractive.
That's a rarity in the college football landscape. As several teams learned this past December, losing one's starting quarterback to the transfer portal is not one of them.
Maddy Hudak is the deputy editor for Tulane on Sports Illustrated and the radio sideline reporter for their football team. Maddy is an alumnus of Tulane University, and graduated in 2016 with a degree in psychology. She went on to obtain a Master of Legal Studies while working as a research coordinator at the VA Hospital, and in jury consulting. During this time, Maddy began covering the New Orleans Saints with SB Nation, and USA Today. She moved to New Orleans in 2021 to pursue a career in sports and became Tulane's sideline reporter that season. She enters her fourth year with the team now covering the program on Sports Illustrated, and will use insights from features and interviews in the live radio broadcast. You can follow her on X at @MaddyHudak_94, or if you have any questions or comments, she can be reached via email at maddy.hudak1@gmail.com