Exclusive: Tulane Football Coach Aims To Bring a Blue-Collar Mentality
Tulane coach Jon Sumrall wants his team to be humble and have a blue-collar mentality entering the new football era. In a college football landscape with a lot of flash, the Green Wave remain grounded.
At American Conference media days, Sumrall told reporters he was fired up to bring linemen. His decision reflects the mentality he wants the team to have, and his process of doing so demonstrates his concern for the players as human beings.
Jon Sumrall sat down with Tulane on Sports Illustrated in Arlington, Texas, to talk about the factors that went into choosing Patrick Jenkins and Vincent Murphy to represent the Wave, as well as how it reflects the culture and mentality he strives for.
“I thought deeply about, alright, why are we bringing who?” Sumrall told me. “Offensively, I got it down to bringing an offensive lineman. I thought, Rashad Green, who's played a lot at right tackle, thought about Rem (Josh Remetich). He's played a lot at right guard. I thought about Vinny Murphy, who's likely our starting center. Vinny got a ton of votes to be on our leadership council by his peers. He's made a significant impact on our team since January.”
“Every offensive play starts with the center,” he continued. “And I thought it was a nice way of acknowledging how we have to become one team. The guys that have been on this team prior and the guys that are new have to become one.”
Sumrall spoke with the players he mentioned, emphasizing their qualifications and capabilities, but also explaining his decision to include both a veteran and a newcomer. Either way, they were coming from the trenches.
“Everybody wants to talk to the quarterback or maybe the potential quarterback,” Sumrall acknowledges. “Everybody wants to talk to the receiver that makes the highlight reel catch. Not many people are like, Hey, what about the O lineman? What about the D linemen? Especially an interior D lineman like Pat. A lot of guys want to talk to maybe an edge rusher.”
“I think it speaks to what we want to reinforce with our team of being humble, being blue collar, being tough minded. That's what we're trying to highlight. I'm not trying to highlight necessarily flashy all the time.”
Tulane has had a notable amount of portal acquisitions in both windows – in addition to the retention of current players. There’s a delicate balance between forming chemistry with a new team and being fair and mindful of the different perspectives.
For what seems like it could be a throwaway decision on its face, Sumrall thought deeply about the reasons why he chose Jenkins and Murphy over others.
“You’d like to bring guys that are exhausting eligibility sometimes, because this is their last shot to do something like this,” Sumrall explained. “Defensively, I was like, alright, we're bringing Pat. That was kind of a no brainer. Going back on offense, here’s what I looked at. Someone like Makhi Hughes, he’s proven. But he’s a youngster, so he'll have plenty more opportunities to come if he wants to come. Our receiver room is really new. Alex Bauman has another year of eligibility, so he can come at some point.”
As he listed the numerous reasons, it was clear Sumrall takes every moment as Tulane’s head coach as seriously as the next. Sumrall dedicates all his thoughts to the players he will guide this year.
By carefully choosing people who are new, are on their last year of college football, and come from the trenches, Sumrall picked the perfect representatives for this year’s team.
MADDY HUDAK