Tulane Green Wave Make Strong Stand With NIL Collective to Secure Core Leaders
As the Tulane Green Wave felt the effects of the transfer portal opening, they immediately started working on securing a core foundation.
The invaluable continuity of retaining coach Jon Sumrall for Tulane football immediately took effect, in tandem with support from their NIL collective, Fear the Wave.
The success of a team largely depends on its trenches and leadership, and the four players who initially announced their return—offensive tackle Derrick Graham, offensive guard Shadre Hurst, defensive lineman Kam Hamilton, and linebacker Sam Howard—hit those marks.
Tulane on Sports Illustrated broke the news that cornerback and breakout return specialist, Rayshawn Pleasant, is returning, and can confirm commitment from the following players: linebacker Chris Rodgers, and safeties Bailey Despanie and Jack Tchienchou.
The team needs to search for a quarterback, with starter Darian Mensah entering the transfer portal. No matter how talented a player under center is, it doesn't matter if he lacks a pocket or enough time to throw. Graham and Hurst's return bolsters Sumrall's ability to recruit for that position.
Hurst has the versatility to play guard and center, and has slotted in at tackle in the past. He stepped in for left guard Prince Pines last season and was critical to the team's run for a championship. Graham was a crucial pickup in the portal from Texas A&M after previously being under Sumrall at Troy in the team's 9-4 season.
Graham will be a redshirt senior next season alongside junior Hurst, allowing stability to build the line back.
All positions on the team disappointed in the team's conference championship loss to the Army Black Knights. The Green Wave wouldn't have won eight straight in the AAC without their pass rush finally taking form.
Starting the season behind Patrick Jenkins at defensive tackle, Hamilton was so productive in non-conference play that they moved him to the starting position at defensive end. As they lose departing seniors Jenkins, Erick Hicks, and Adin Huntington, Hamilton is a crucial returnee.
Hamilton will be a senior alongside linebacker Sam Howard. Tulane has been able to sustain success in today's college football era through several factors—the right head coach, players, and culture being the most important.
Culture starts with the head coach, but only the players can instill it. That requires leaders, and Howard made an immediate impact when he transferred last July.
While Howard's off-field qualities don't eclipse his value on the field, they certainly rival them and make him invaluable to the Green Wave. This is especially true given that they are about to lose Tyler Grubbs, one of the best leaders of the last two seasons.
Grubbs and Howard have grown alongside their younger counterparts, and Chris Rodgers stepped up when Howard was unable to play against Temple.
Importantly, they have stability in coverage at the third level thanks to a strong combination of veteran experience and instinctive playmaking in Despanie and Tchienchou. Despanie will be a senior who didn't play in the 2-10 season but experienced the greatest single-season turnaround in college football history and played a role in the 12-2 campaign.
Despanie was responsible for one of the four fourth down stops against Kansas State in the 2022 win, during which multiple defensive starters were forced to miss a series to get IVs in the locker room due to the unexpected heat.
Tchienchou was a player who caught my eye in training camp. When he saw considerable time against, as chance would have it, Kansas State, the freshman safety didn't play like one. One week later, Despanie's early ejection for targeting against Oklahoma would make those snaps crucial.
The initial false report that Pleasant entered the portal serves as a cautionary tale in the era of breaking news and the race to be first.
Not only does he bolster an important position at cornerback that loses seniors Micah Robinson and Johnathan Edwards, but he was so dangerous as a return specialist that Army was the first team to kick in his direction in weeks.
In the age of college football and the Wild West transfer portal driven by NIL, the narrative for Group of 5 programs usually takes a morose tone. Tulane has proven to be the exception with a strong NIL collective from the start.
While they weren't able to retain Mensah, he was one of many quarterbacks who entered the portal for reasons none of us will truly know the intricacies of in any given case. Candidly, the football team's ability to compete with NIL directly affects their ability to retain Sumrall.
These players who have committed to next season have spent a year under the vibrant head coach that prioritizes humans over hardware, a theme they share with their Fear the Wave collective.
The two leaders, former Tulane players Michael Arata and Jimmy Ordeneaux, knew what it was like to lose a head coach, and their presence in Willie Fritz's departure held the team together while the school found and hired Sumrall.
It speaks to the symbiosis of the program and the NIL collective, and the leadership of the players who've declared to continue their journey with the Green Wave.
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