Tulane’s Quarterback Competition is Reaching a Crescendo
The Tulane Green Wave have started to fill out key starting roles on the depth chart, but the most important job under center is still in reach for the battling quarterbacks. Coach Jon Sumrall went into the team’s Thursday night scrimmage wanting to narrow the scope of who will be named starter.
The previous two-man race of Ty Thompson and Kai Horton was expanded this week to include redshirt freshman Darian Mensah.
On Monday, Mensah took considerable snaps with the ones and threw some impressive balls to Dontae Fleming, who’s quickly becoming the top receiver for the Green Wave. It was the first time Mensah was a live quarterback and handled the pressure well.
He led the majority of the drills on Wednesday as the first quarterback out there. It’s important to note that he hasn’t been in the race for most of fall camp and is likely seeing an inflated number of reps accordingly. But he’s made the most of each one, and frankly is beginning to stack days.
Thursday’s scrimmage was meant to emulate a night game in anticipation of their Thursday night season opener on Aug. 29. It was delayed several hours for weather, but when Tulane eventually took the field at Yulman Stadium, the team was led by Darian Mensah to start the scrimmage.
If the scrimmage was decided by one drive, his opening series made quite the case. Mensah hit Makhi Hughes in the flat for a short gain, followed by a run by Hughes that made me utter, “put him in the bubble now.” His most impressive throw followed. The defensive line tore down the interior and pressured him in seconds. Mensah spun out of pressure, rolled out to his left and threw what we all thought was a throwaway out of bounds on the run.
No one saw Mario Williams standing with his feet firmly in bounds, and the ball went right to him as he fell for his best catch of camp. Mensah moved the ball down the field for what Sumrall surmised to be a 13-play drive without having his notes on him. He threw a great ball to Williams in the end zone who unfortunately dropped it, and the drive stalled on fourth down.
That was the best drive of the night for any of the quarterbacks. But Mensah showed the ability to handle a pass rush and pressure in a way that redshirt freshman just shouldn’t. The poise, moxie and “California Cool” that has been used to describe Mensah was apparent.
One scrimmage does not decide a competition, and no quarterback was perfect on the night. No one was lights out. But Mensah made the most of his opportunity with the starters and showed why he played his way back into the race.
Thompson and Horton both had their moments, but not enough to shut this competition back down to a two-man race.
Is it a comfortable position for a team and coaching staff to be two weeks out without a named starter? Only for those afraid of competition. Fans hoping for an answer following the scrimmage will be disappointed. But ultimately, there’s no competitive advantage to divulging who the starter will be.
We’ve heard Sumrall use the phrase, iron sharpens iron. The competition across the board for the team has made every position group better. It would make sense that it applies just as much at quarterback.
If Mensah makes the two initial competitors dig deeper, that’s a win. If Mensah emerges as the dark horse candidate that takes the reins, that’s the epitome of a quarterback competition done right.
MADDY HUDAK