Four Tulane Football Stars Selected to AAC Preseason All-Conference Team
Four Tulane Green Wave football players were selected to the 2024 All- American Athletic Conference preseason football team, which was released as part of the league’s media days in Arlington.
The four players selected were running back Makhi Hughes, offensive tackle Derrick Graham, center Vincent Murphy and defensive lineman Patrick Jenkins.
Hughes and Jenkins both played for Tulane last season, as the Green Wave finished 11-3 overall, with an 8-0 record in AAC action, which led to a berth in the league title game for the second straight years. The Green Wave lost to SMU in last year’s title game, and then fell to Virginia Tech in the Military Bowl. That was Tulane’s fifth bowl appearance in six years.
Last season Hughes led the team and conference in rushing with 1,378 yards, averaging 5.3 yards per carry and scoring seven rushing touchdowns.
He was named the AAC’s Rookie of the Year and also earned First Team All-AAC honors.
Jenkins, one of the team’s top NFL prospects, started 14 games for the Green Wave and finished with 35 tackles, a team-leading 11.5 stops for loss and 5.5 sacks. He was named a First Team All-AAC performer.
Graham and Murphy are newcomers as they transferred to Tulane in the offseason. Graham played at Troy last season. Murphy is in his sixth year of college football after two seasons at Western Kentucky and three at South Carolina. He was an All-Conference USA Honorable Mention last season.
The AAC also released its preseason coaches’ poll and Tulane was chosen third with 362 points and two first-place votes. Memphis was first and UTSA was second.
Including the Green Wave’s AAC championships season in 2022, capped with a win over USC in the Cotton Bowl, Tulane is 23-5 the last two seasons.
Tulane is going through a coaching change. Willie Fritz, who went 54-47 in eight seasons at Tulane and led the program to back-to-back AAC conference title games, left to take the head-coaching job at Houston.
Former Troy coach Jon Sumrall replaced him. The former Tulane assistant coach under Curtis Johnson returns to the program having led the Trojans for two seasons in his first head-coaching job.
With Troy he went 23-4, leading the Trojans to a pair of Sun Belt Conference championships and two double-digit winning streaks. He was also named the SBC coach of the Year and is a two-time finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award.
The Green Wave opens the season at home on Aug. 29 against Southeastern Louisiana.
MATTHEW POSTINS