The Tulane Green Wave football program is facing some big changes this year and will have to convince some critics with its new team.
When Jon Sumrall took over as Green Wave manager, it was expected that it would take a while to get used to everything. How much of the program’s reputation needed to be restored was another question.
Chris Vannini from The athlete recently released the last major preseason rankings: The Athletic 134. In this list, Vannini rates all 134 teams in the country.
After finishing last season in the top 25, Tulane has now dropped to 42nd place at the start of the new season.
Teams like the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Auburn Tigers, Boise State Broncos and Virginia Tech Hokies have all jumped ahead of the Green Wave between the offseason and the hype surrounding fall camp.
Tulane is the second highest ranked team in the AAC, ranked 41st behind the Memphis Tigers.
An important reason for the Green Wave’s downfall could be that, despite the new coaching staff, there is still no clear starting quarterback just two weeks before the first game of the season.
It started as a competition between Ty Thompson and Kai Horton.
Thompson is a former top-ranked recruit coming from the Oregon Ducks after missing a few seasons in the starting lineup. He should have the talent but is relatively unknown.
Horton is the guy who has been around for a while. He was Michael Pratt’s backup, but looked less than serviceable most of the time when he was given the chance.
The situation became even crazier a few weeks ago when newcomer Darian Mensah became the clear third competitor.
Upheavals are to be expected, especially when new coaches are hired, but the fact that no quarterback can assert himself after a few weeks in a room full of untested players is certainly a cause for concern.
Many of the players they will be passing to have similar stories to Thompson.
While the running game and Makhi Hughes are cause for celebration, pretty much everything else on offense is a question mark.
There are also some changes coming on defense, but they will go much more smoothly due to Sumrall’s track record and the signing of some impressive talent to complement what they already had.
On paper, they should be competitive, but they have some work to do to get back into the top 25.
