Tulane’s Head Coach Jon Sumrall Speaks on the Quarterback Competition
Tulane Head Coach Jon Sumrall was asked about the quarterback competition between Kai Horton and Oregon transfer quarterback Ty Thompson. Here’s Coach Sumrall’s complete response on Friday.
“Nobody has the expectation for the other guy, for somebody to want to lose the job. I want competitive people in this program, so both of 'em want to be the starting quarterback. If they don't, then we have a really big problem. But also, while you're competing for that job, you're not competing against the other guy. You're competing with each other, and really, like we've talked about iron sharpens irons; one man sharpens another. Rising tide raises all ships. Neither one of them wants to get the job because the other guy just performs poorly and they do average. That doesn't help our team or help either one of them. They've done a great job of competing with each other, and one guy will start game one. I've told 'em both this. Somebody's going to start game one. That doesn't mean you've been anointed as the forever starter of Tulane either.
You have to go out and earn it every week, every game, every day, and how you bring it. You're not just trying to win a job for one week and then not do very well. And so those guys are doing a nice job of encouraging each other in the back. You'll hear 'em say, Hey, good ball, nice throw, whatever. That's what it's about. I mean, it's not about pushing another guy down. It's about lifting each other up, and one guy will go take the first snap of the game against Southeastern, and we'll see how it goes. But I like how they're handling the competition with each other.”
Coach Sumrall was also asked how intangibles, such as leadership, would affect his decision to name a starting quarterback.
“Yeah, I think they've both done a nice job. I think I hit on, Kai was here previously, so knew the locker room that was already intact, but I think Ty did a really good job through the summer. Through the spring semester, Ty was just trying to make sure he knew where to be and when to be there and learn the offense and get just sort of his bearings and surroundings underneath him. I think in the summer you saw Ty really kind of take a step up in regards to being more connected to his teammates and getting to know the guys better and getting maybe more comfortable with everybody in the building. And so the relationship piece matters. The intangibles matter. You can't just be a robot and play the position. You got to be able to affect others.”
The nice thing about having two quality options at quarterback is that during the season, if whoever is named the starter is forced to miss time, the drop-off shouldn’t be that steep. Hopefully, Tulane can avoid all injuries, but that’s just part of the game. We saw Pratt miss time last season, and it’s possible that it could happen again. Tulane fans should trust Coach Sumrall to make the right decision once he has all the information. Sumrall is a proven winner, which will be no different at Tulane.
JOHN BURROWS