Top QB in Tulane History: On SI Makes Its Pick

In this, the 100th anniversary of the opening of old Tulane Stadium in Uptown, we are beginning a series of looking back at who we, at On SI Tulane believe was the best to perform there or other venues for the Greenbacks. From running back to linebacker to wide receiver to quarterback, we will look back at who shined the most for the Green Wave in its storied history.

We are not afraid to take this journey. We have seen a lot of Tulane football and believe we are just as qualified as those who have attempted to do this in the past.

So without further ado, we present...

The Candidates for the Greatest Tulane Quarterback

All Everything: Lester Lautenschlager

Tulane QB Lester Lautenschlager | College Football Hall of Fame

No best Tulane quarterback conversation can be had without looking back before there was even a Tulane Stadium. Native New Orleanian Lester Lautenschlager led the Green Wave to an undefeated season in 1925. It was the first in the history of the program, and one of only three in the 100-plus years of Tulane football. The others came in 1929 and 1998.

As part of the Southern Conference, the Wave went 9-0-1 under coach Clark Shaughnessy. The Little Dutchman, as Lautenschlager was nicknamed, was more than just a signal caller in those days. As was typical of football players in the early 1900s, the team captain and quarterback showed off his prowess from more than just the QB position. He was the first Tulane player to score four touchdowns in a single game, a 77-0 rout of Louisiana College in the opener that season, two of which were on punt returns. Over his final two seasons, 1924 and 1925, Tulane compiled a 17-1-1 record, his only loss coming against Mississippi State in 1924.

Oh, by the way, Lautenschlager was also captain of the Tulane baseball team.

Though exact career passing and rushing statistics for Lautenschlager aren't unavailable because formal individual play-by-play statistics were not consistently recorded during his era, we do know that he was the first Tulane athlete voted an All-American (1925), was feted by the College Football Hall of Fame in 1975, became a Tulane Hall of Famer in 1977, lauded by The Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame 1980, then, in 1983, the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame would induct him.

Overcoming All Odds, Steve Foley

Denver Broncos Safety Steve Foley | Denver Broncos Ring of Hono

He was a long shot to even make his high school football team. Eventually, as a senior, Steve Foley would lead Jesuit High School to a district championship. As a 5' 10" 160-pound, 17-year-old walk-on at Tulane, he was given a snowball's chance in hell to follow his older brothers both of whom had earned athletic scholarships onto the Green Wave roster.

In his junior year, Foley would lead Tulane to one of its most memorable victories, as the Green Wave shut down the then 8th ranked LSU Tigers, 14-0 in front of a packed house at old Tulane Stadium. In his three-year career in Uptown, he would pass for 2,174-yards while rushing for another 1,308.

In a vote by Tulane fans in the 1980s of their all-time Tulane football team, Foley was chosen as the top quarterback in the previous 60-plus years. He would go on to star as an NFL safety for the Denver Broncos for 11-years going to a pair of Super Bowls in his career.

Prolific, Electric: Shaun King

Shaun King was a part of Buddy Teevens recruiting class in 1995. During his career at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg, Florida, King passed for 4,600 yards and 52 touchdowns with just 18 interceptions, leading the state of Florida in passing in both his junior and senior seasons.

He would play immediately in 1995 for Teevens, showing up in the stat book in eight games. King's passing numbers blossomed as he did:

- Frosh, 1995: 1,046 yds passing, -10 yds rushing

- Sophomore, 1996: 1,574 yds passing, 16 yds rushing

In his last two season, the Tommy Bowden era, King truly shone:
- Junior, 1997: 2,567 yds passing, 511 yds rushing
- Senior, 1998: 3,232 yds passing, 532 yds rushing

To say King was prolific would be an understatement. He led Tulane to one of its three undefeated seasons in history in 1998, then a win over BYU in the Liberty Bowl. In the process he set the then single-season NCAA Division I-A record for passing efficiency in 1998 of 183.3. In the same year he became the first player in NCAA history to both pass for 300 yards and rush for 100 yards in the same game against Army.

King got to go back home as a professional. He was drafted in the second round of the NFL draft in 1999 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Thrust into a starting role as a rookie because of injuries to both the starter Trent Dilfer, and his backup Eric Zeier, he claimed victory in four of his five starts as the Buccaneers won the NFC Central title and secured a first-round bye. In the Divisional Round, they defeated the Washington Redskins, with King becoming the first rookie quarterback to start a postseason game since Todd Marinovich in 1991.

In addition to being the first rookie quarterback to win a playoff game since Pat Haden in 1976, King became the first rookie quarterback in the Super Bowl era to start a Conference Championship game, when the Bucs lost in the NFC trophy game to the St. Louis Rams. King would end up playing for three other NFL teams, an Arena Football League squad, and two Canadian Football League teams before retiring from the game.

Statistically Copious, Huge Turn Around: Michael Pratt

The Tampa, Florida pipeline continued in the person of Michael Pratt. After being home-schooled almost his entire educational life, Pratt started his career at Boca Raton High School as a freshman, never having played a down of football. In his junior year at Boca, Pratt passed for 1,208 yards and 12 touchdowns with 9 interceptions, while adding 447 rushing yards and 3 rushing touchdowns. He transferred 13-miles south for his senior season to Deerfield Beach High where Pratt threw for 1,380 yards and 16 touchdowns over a Covid-shortened season.

Coach Willie Fritz saw something special in Pratt, recruiting him to Uptown and handing him the reins to the Tulane program three games into Pratt's freshman year. The Wave regressed over his first two seasons, going 6-6 overall in 2020, Pratt's first season at the helm, then 2-9 in his sophomore season.

Then, there was 2022.

With now-junior quarterback Pratt at the helm in the 2022 season, the Tulane football team achieved the biggest turnaround in NCAA football history, flipping the 2-9, 2019 season to an 11-2 year culminating with what may have been the biggest bowl victory since the 1999 undefeated season, as the Green Wave came back to outscore heavily favored Southern California and Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams in the 2023 Cotton Bowl.

Pratt started slow, but built up drastically as his career grew:

- Freshman, 2020: 1,806 yds passing, 229 yds rushing

- Sophomore, 2021: 2,390 yds passing, 154 yds rushing

In the turnaround year,

- Junior, 2022: 3,009 yds passing, 478 yds rushing

- Senior, 2023: 2,406 yds passing, 286 yds rushing

Pratt set the record for passing for a Tulane quarterback with 9,611-yards in his Tulane career, outdistancing him from the second most in a Greenie uniform, Patrick Ramsey, who piled up 9,205-yards through the air. He was named the American Conference player of the year in his senior season.

Pratt's professional career has been short. He was drafted in the 7th round by the Green Bay Packers in 2024, playing a year in Wisconsin, then another year at Tampa Bay before moving on to the UFL where he was released this year.

First Ever Playoff: Jake Retzlaff

Jake Retzlaff was more of an "look who fell into our lap" addition to the 2025 Tulane roster when he left BYU and came to Uptown. His numbers are impressive, but not historic: 3,168-yards passing and 634-yards rushing. However, he did something no other quarterback in Tulane history has ever been able to do: take the Green Wave to the College Football Playoffs. They say timing is everything.

He is not officially on our list, but we wanted to at least make a mention of him.

The On SI Tulane Greatest Quarterback: Shaun King

This could have been a four-way tie:

- Lautenschlager for his Collegiate Hall of Fame status and so many first times in the Tulane program. Tulane was considered a truly powerhouse collegiate program in 1925, but taking on the likes of Sewanee, Centenary, and Louisiana College, who won 11-games collectively that year makes for a sketchy unbeaten year.

- Foley led the Wave to its first victory over LSU in a quarter of a century and overcame all odds to be where he was. He is the underdog everyone rooted for. However, his most prolific years were as a safety in Denver.

- Pratt loaded up the numbers, leading all Tulane quarterbacks in passing yardage, led the biggest NCAA turnaround record in its history, and to what many Tulane fans believe is the greatest victory in the modern era: the 2023 Cotton Bowl. However, his professional career has been short-lived.

But for us, Shaun King is the greatest Tulane quarterback in the century-plus that football has been played by the Greenies. King led the Green Wave to one of its three undefeated seasons. He grew statistically every year he was in Uptown. His 1999 squad ended up the year ranked 7th in the nation after obliterating BYU in the Liberty Bowl. King's numbers were impressive, putting him near the top of the Tulane quarterback rankings. His firsts as a Greenie and an NFL QB, as mentioned above, speak for themselves.

However, his most important stat wouldn't even be considered a statistic. King helped lead Tulane out of the 1900s and into the 2000s as the first quarterback in a line of QBs, making Tulane a sort of Quarterback U:

- Patrick Ramsey

- J.P. Losman

- Lester Ricard

- Ryan Griffin

- Michael Pratt

- Darian Mensah

- Jake Retzlaff

just to mention a few.

King was the first in what has become a very long line of quarterbacks who have made their mark on Tulane athletics and elsewhere.

That is why Shaun King is the On SI Tulane Greatest Quarterback in Tulane history.

Next week, we'll take a look at the running back slot in the 100-plus years of Tulane football.

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