Tulane Football Coach Hits on Needs in Transfer Portal With Star Receiver

Tulane Green Wave football head coach Jon Sumrall was candid about the team's needs in the transfer portal to complete the roster ahead of the 2025 college football season.

Wide receiver Tre Shackelford, who transferred to the program last week from the Washington State Cougars, was a necessary addition that finalized that list of positional needs from the portal.

In the final week of spring practice, Sumrall named a group of priority positions to pick up out of the portal in the second window.

"We're trying to see maybe what are our most critical needs," Sumrall said. "We think we know what we have to address in the portal. We're probably going to have to go out and add a punter. We need to go get a corner. That's not optional. That's mandatory. A receiver is likely in the fold. A quarterback is potentially in the fold here, and then maybe an offensive lineman. Those guys are hard to find in the spring portal window, but it's just solidifying what our gaps are in our roster and where we have to go fix."

Punter is an atypical roster hole, but the unexpected departure of former punter Will Karoll led Sumrall to shake up his portal strategy, and he brought in Alec Clark from the Southern Miss Golden Eagles.

Sumrall brought in a former player with experience at cornerback in LJ Green, who started all 12 games last year for the Troy Trojans.

There's been some attrition in depth along the offensive line, but they picked up TCU Horned Frogs offensive lineman Mitch Hodgett to compete on the right side of the line if he develops quickly enough.

Sumrall rounded out his quarterback room with the addition of Iowa Hawkeyes backup Brendan Sullivan, who brings potential as a dual threat under center.

Shackelford caps off the list of positional needs in a strong portal haul.

Shackelford began his career at the FCS level at Austin Peay, where he had 62 receptions for 883 yards and six touchdowns for the Governors.

He only recorded 10 catches for 114 yards and one touchdown at Washington State last year but brings some proven ability to a room seeking options to supplement players with upside but aren't really tested.

More teams spent more NIL funds on retaining their roster outside of starters this offseason than ever, leaving a smaller group of spring prospects.

In a limited second portal window, Tulane did considerably well at addressing roster holes.