Tulane Green Wave Defensive Star Earns First AAC Honor of Season
The Tulane Green Wave weren’t happy about losing a second straight game, but one defensive star came out of it with his name on the American Athletic Conference (AAC) weekly honor roll.
Senior linebacker Tyler Grubbs made the honor roll for his performance against the Oklahoma Sooners, making him the third different Tulane player to make either the AAC honor roll or earn an AAC top weekly award for the third time in as many weeks.
In Tulane’s 34-19 loss to the Sooners, Grubbs had six tackles, a sack and a 22-yard interception return for a touchdown. His return helped cut OU’s lead to five points early in the fourth quarter, before Oklahoma was able to regain control of the game and pull away.
In three games Grubbs has 15 tackles, 1.5 stops for loss, a sack and an interception.
Grubbs follows quarterback Darian Mensah, who made the AAC honor roll after the Green Wave’s 34-27 loss to Kansas State.
Cornerback Rayshawn Pleasant, who returned an interception 100 yards for a touchdown in the opener against Southeastern Louisiana, was the AAC Defensive Player of the Week for Sept. 2.
Many publications listed Grubbs as a preseason all-conference player, including Phil Steele’s preseason magazine.
The New Orleans native transferred to Tulane from LA Tech before the 2023 season.
He was a Third-Team All-AAC selection after he finished with 77 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, three sacks and a fumble recovery. Grubbs was one of the team’s top three returning tacklers from a year ago, joining Jesus Machado and Bailey Despanie.
Before he joined the Green Wave, he was a three-time All-Conference USA, two-time All-Louisiana and Freshman All-America selection for the Bulldogs.
Grubbs was part of the Green Wave’s 11-3 team last year, one that went undefeated in AAC action but lost to SMU in the conference championship game. The season before that the Green Wave won the AAC and claimed the at-large berth given to Group of 5 conference champions in the New Year’s Six bowls. Tulane defeated USC in the Cotton Bowl.
In the offseason coach Willie Fritz left for Houston and Troy’s Jon Surmall, a former Green Wave defensive coordinator, took over.
While the Green Wave are hoping to reach the AAC title game for a third straight season, realignment may allow Tulane to make a move, as the Pac-12 Conference just added four new members and is reportedly interested in other schools, including Tulane.
The AAC is also rumored to be interested in luring Air Force away from the Mountain West Conference.
MATTHEW POSTINS