Two Tulane Green Wave Targets Sign Massive NIL Deals That Shows Team Is Behind
The search for the next Tulane Green Wave quarterback room is seemingly over, but it looks like they struck out a couple of times along the way.
Over the last few years, the Green Wave have finally become a competitive program. With them still a growing brand in the sport, some growing pains along the way can be expected.
The most obvious just so happen to be with recruiting resources.
Tulane was able to keep head coach Jon Sumrall in town, but lost their star quarterback to the transfer portal for potentially record-breaking money.
Darian Mensah came out of nowhere to win the starting job before this past season, and he was a large part of the success that Sumrall found in his first year.
Mensah completed 65.9% of his passes for 2,723 yards with 22 touchdowns and six interceptions. It was a great place to start his career with plenty of room to grow.
In somewhat of a shocking move, though, he entered the portal and left despite Sumrall sticking around.
After his NIL deal was leaked, though, it is clear the Green Wave had no chance to bring him back.
Though it is near-impossible to confirm, the supposed $4 million annual NIL agreement, up to $8 million, he found with the Duke Blue Devils makes him the highest earning college football player in history.
While looking to replace Mensah, Fletcher Mackel of WDSU reported that Tulane was interested in Penn State Nittany Lions transfer Beau Pribula.
The current backup quarterback committed to the Missouri Tigers, and once again, had an absurd NIL deal that would be hard to imagine the Green Wave being able to match.
The former Nittany Lion has attempted less than 100 passes since coming to college in 2022. He was a three-star recruit out of high school and a three-star transfer.
Still, Pete Nakos of On3Sports reported the Tigers are giving him an NIL package worth $1.5 million.
That makes two players this offseason that show some troubles Tulane is staring down the next few years as they try to continue building up their brand and NIL resource bank.
The Green Wave were able to pivot and bring in T.J. Finley and Donovan Leary to run the quarterback room next season.
Both are solid players with potential, but clearly a step behind the other two options who were being considered.
