Tulane Head Coach Brings New Philosophy to Competition as QB Race Heats Up

As the NCAA football season draws near, the competition for Tulane's quarterback position is heating up.

Credit: Tulane Athletics / Football

The Tulane Green Wave are strengthening through competition, and are starting to form an identity that displays Coach Jon Sumrall’s core values: attitude, toughness, discipline, and love.

That mindset is best illustrated in their approach to the quarterback battle. Despite being less than two weeks from the opener, the team has operated with a sense of urgency, yet calmness.

Initially a two-man race, the competition expanded to include redshirt freshman Darian Mensah alongside Ty Thompson and Kai Horton.

Mensah continues to build his case and is the first quarterback to stack days in training camp. If he emerges as the best man for the job, then Sumrall has conducted an elite quarterback competition. That decision, however, comes with risk.

Inexperience of Mensah aside, the team went out to retain Kai Horton in the portal, and made a push to bring in Ty Thompson that included NIL.

Sumrall has pointed to the attitude of whoever loses the battle as crucial to the team’s overall mindset; that was when it was a two-man race. This decision requires a more delicate approach now.

If he’s the best man for the job, what message would it send to sit him because of the time and resources put towards the guys in front of him?

In the NFL, that’s often referred to as the sunk cost fallacy. Teams are never better off when they fall into that mindset. Look no further for an example of a quarterback situation done right than the 49ers getting rid of a bad draft choice in Trey Lance.

The reality is, Tulane can win with any of the three quarterbacks in competition. All have shown the ability to execute. But Mensah has done so the most consistently and with poise.

He told reporters after Saturday’s scrimmage that Michael Pratt went out of his way to mentor him last season. His biggest takeaway was emulating his leadership.

Pratt is the paramount example of switching mentalities as a leader in a backup role. Just as Mensah looked to Pratt on how to lead under center, the quarterbacks who don’t win the job can learn just as much from Pratt on how to do so from the sidelines.

The team likely won’t make the call until the season opener, at least publicly. But if they were going to implode over adding another man to the race, they would’ve done so by now.

Instead, all quarterbacks have been supportive and put the team first. Jon Sumrall’s culture is already making its mark in the battle to replace Michael Pratt.