Tulane Offensive Coordinator Has Valuable Edge With QB Competition Experience

NEW ORLEANS, La. — The Tulane Green Wave football team certainly wasn’t hoping to hold consecutive quarterback competitions through spring and fall camp as they look for a new signal caller.

However, that may be the lay of the land in the new college football landscape with the transfer portal, and Tulane offensive coordinator Joe Craddock may have an unanticipated advantage when looking at this year’s quarterbacks.

For one, Craddock has seen vast improvement in quarterbacks Kadin Semonza and Donovan Leary since learning the new offense, as he told reporters Thursday.

“When you come in as a new guy learning a new system in January, to get everything in the offense down in four months is pretty hard,” Craddock said. “We've had heavy installs, too. We really challenged them to learn a lot. We've gotten a lot of offense in, which is great. We wanted to look at some things and tinker with some things, and I think they've handled it really well. It's always going to be a struggle early on in a new offense, learning your receivers, learning everybody, but this last week and a half of practice has been really good for those guys."

That patience is perhaps something Craddock learned to employ after going through last year’s spring with not as many answers as desired from previous competitors Kai Horton and Ty Thompson, which paved the way for Darian Mensah.

"You bring Ty in, Kai was here, and Darian was here, and they are all learning a new offense, and we as coaches expect them to pick it up really quickly,” Craddock said. “There's a reason many rookies get drafted in the NFL and sit out a year, or if they do play, it's a struggle. Learning to be patient with those guys as they are learning a new offense, learning their receivers, learning timing — all that's important.”

Craddock went on to explain the offseason process, which includes a workout known as "The Gauntlet" that went on for a few more days than it did last year, and OTAs and more football came a bit later as well in the process.

“Last year we got into OTAs and more football earlier on, which we felt like we needed to learn a new scheme,” Craddock said. “This year, we really wanted to develop more mental toughness and physical toughness in that regard. So, we were a little bit behind in getting into OTAs, throwing, catching, and all those things that a quarterback needs. Just learning to be patient with those guys as they learn a new offense, especially me. I like to install a lot and look at a lot, so when the install in the first seven or eight practices is pretty heavy, you've got to be patient with those guys."

While the answer under center may not have been answered yet, it wasn’t even close at this time in the competition last season. Both quarterbacks are further along with comfort on offense and a sense of command.

Not only that, but Mensah didn’t begin to make the strides that won him the role until the beginning of fall camp, showing the importance of patience through the March and April practices.

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