Tulane Football Finally Sees Offense Take Lead With Promising Practice

The Tulane Green Wave football team is finding some potential on offense at the midway point of spring practice.

Credit: Tulane Athletics - Football

NEW ORLEANS, La. — The Tulane Green Wave football team has seen the defense win a lot of the practice sessions throughout spring camp.

As Tulane football wrapped up the 12th one on Thursday, the offense made a breakthrough and was the victor of the day after beginning to click on Tuesday.

Quarterbacks Kadin Semonza and Donovan Leary have frankly played quite confidently since faltering in the Saturday scrimmage that featured a two-man race for the first time in spring. 

Head coach Jon Sumrall was encouraged by the efforts he saw on the field.

“Much better energy by the offense, especially starting off the goal-line period,” Sumrall said. “The defense won the day Saturday. The offense probably won the day today. The offense wasn't perfect. They have some things to clean up, but all in all, you felt the offense making plays in the run game and the pass game. It's good to see. You want to see some back and forth. The offense responded. I'm excited about some things they did. Our running backs are running pretty well now. We're working on different O-line combinations, so that's not always the easiest thing to track.”

Sumrall was also impressed by some catches by quarterback-turned-wide receiver Kellen Tasby, who has shown natural ball skills in his position switch since last Thursday.

Go up and get it @KellenTasby! 💪#UptownFootball pic.twitter.com/LrjHFWV8jB

— Tulane Football (@GreenWaveFB) April 10, 2025

It was the first time the team ran the two-minute situational drill in spring practice, and they were working through the mechanics and choppiness of shortened communication, and that period was a bit hit-or-miss, as to be expected with the first install of things. 

More than anything, the bounce back on offense encouraged the need for patience while assessing such a new group of guys and overall team with truncated practices in spring. 

After 12 two-hour sessions, the team is coming together under the leadership of both quarterbacks, who Sumrall provided a midway evaluation of on Thursday.

"Both workers,” Sumrall said. “Both are bringing it every day, trying to give themselves the best opportunity to be successful. Donovan's got a big arm. He hasn't played as many snaps but has the arm talent and has looked better and better as the spring has gone. Early on he was trying to figure it out, and his week so far I'm like, OK, he looks pretty good. Kadin, you can tell he's played a lot. Early in training camp he missed a couple of layups he's got to execute. He's gotten a lot better as of late as well.” 

Leary and Semonza exuded a sense of poise that shows their development and growth.

“Both of them are building confidence in the system and playing at a much higher level than they were two weeks ago," Sumrall said. "Both still have a long way to go. Neither has arrived. We're not anointing a guy. They both have a lot of work to do, but the last week's been better, and I like the direction they're headed."