Tulane's Quarterbacks Face Extra Challenge in Other Position Group Battles
NEW ORLEANS, La. — The Tulane Green Wave football team is searching for their next starting quarterback, but the position doesn’t come in a vacuum.
Tulane football must replace three starters on the offensive line, and one with the most intricate relationship with the quarterback — starting center.
When quarterback Michael Pratt led the Green Wave, he did so with center Sincere Haynesworth snapping him the ball all four seasons of college football.
Haynesworth never missed a game in his career at Tulane.
It was an important position for head coach Jon Sumrall to pick up during the first transfer portal window in his first season, grabbing Vincent Murphy, who played an important role in last year's competition.
Ty Thompson and Kai Horton, and eventually Darian Mensah, were able to enjoy some stability under center with Murphy.
This season's situation is more in flux for competitors Kadin Semonza and Donovan Leary.
Throughout the first half of spring camp, the Green Wave have rotated transfers John Bock and Jack Hollifield and redshirt freshman Elijah Baker at center.
Not only do they not have an answer there, in addition to right guard and right tackle, but Leary shared an important distinction between the competitors snapping him the football following Saturday’s scrimmage.
“You just have to roll with it,” Leary said. “Once we’re on the sideline, you have to assess who’s going in and just go. If it's Jack, John, or EB [Baker], I'm comfortable with all those guys. John's a left-handed center, so it's a little bit different. But I constantly tell them, as long as I get the snap in my hands, then the rest is on me. I know they have to get the ball back there fast. As a center, you're losing one of your hands from the beginning, so they're trying to get it back. The more we work on it, we're out here getting extra work so we can avoid those bad snaps or loose balls, whatever the case may be.”
Bock was one of the first players Sumrall picked up in the December portal window. He’s spent time at center and guard.
Hollifield was a starting center last season. Baker is a player the team developed on the roster last year.
However, the team will likely want to go with a proven player at one of the most mentally demanding positions on the field.
Should the battle for center remain between Bock and Hollifield, it’s crucial knowledge that Bock is a left-handed center.
The Green Wave had to switch holders for kicking last season when they switched to a left-footed kicker, and punter Will Karoll struggled with the hold on that side.
Spring camp is the time to mix things up and find answers, and the only way to do that is by testing out different players.
But the center-quarterback exchange will be a key to the team’s success. It makes for harder practices when switching from the ones to the twos and needing to focus on which side the ball will be snapped from.
Those challenges also help players grow, and Semonza and Leary have already shown that ability after a solid bounce back from an imperfect scrimmage.
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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