Tulane Football Coach Jon Sumrall’s Best Trait Highlighted in Landing Jake Retzlaff
The Tulane Green Wave football team now has a fourth quarterback in their room: former BYU Cougars starter Jake Retzlaff.
The timing of Retzlaff's transfer and the circumstances surrounding his joining the Green Wave represent a rare case in college football.
With the 2025 season beginning for Tulane football on Aug. 30 and fall camp set to begin next week, Retzlaff will be unconventionally walking on to the team.
While head coach Jon Sumrall was initially unsuccessful in trying to recruit Retzlaff as head coach of the Troy Trojans, that process is exactly how the Green Wave were able to land a potential starter of Retzlaff’s caliber.
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Several high school recruits who have joined the program have pointed to the love they felt from the coaching staff, in addition to a sense of directness and honesty about their trajectory for development and path to a starting role at the program.
With how little time there is until the season starts, it is an overwhelming situation Retzlaff finds himself in, and having a prior established relationship with a coach—one who has conducted a quarterback competition the right way—is an unparalleled edge for both sides.
While he must learn a playbook and an entire new set of teammates, he’s not unfamiliar with Tulane’s coaching staff thanks to his official visit to the Trojans, which ESPN cited as a factor aiding his decision.
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In addition, there are likely little to no programs outside of the Green Wave that both had a void in their quarterback room for a potential starter and an established process for putting the best player on the field.
That’s a rare combination that exists at this point in the process.
There were plenty of programs that would covet a starter-caliber quarterback suddenly made available at this stage in the process.
Did any of them have established prior relationships with Retzlaff? He wasn’t recruited by other programs outside of Troy and BYU.
Did any of them conduct a previous quarterback competition that saw a redshirt freshman take the role over in the final weeks of fall camp over two favorites?
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It’s difficult to imagine so, either at the Power Four or Group of Five level.
Tulane may still see Kadin Semonza, Brendan Sullivan, or Donovan Leary take the field for Week 1 of the college football season.
However, they’re one of the few programs where Retzlaff can actually come in this late and have a shot.
His decision to transfer following a seven-game suspension shows he wants to find a path onto the field, and he couldn’t be better positioned than he is with the Green Wave.
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Maddy Hudak is the deputy editor for Tulane on Sports Illustrated and the radio sideline reporter for their football team. Maddy is an alumnus of Tulane University, and graduated in 2016 with a degree in psychology. She went on to obtain a Master of Legal Studies while working as a research coordinator at the VA Hospital, and in jury consulting. During this time, Maddy began covering the New Orleans Saints with SB Nation, and USA Today. She moved to New Orleans in 2021 to pursue a career in sports and became Tulane's sideline reporter that season. She enters her fourth year with the team now covering the program on Sports Illustrated, and will use insights from features and interviews in the live radio broadcast. You can follow her on X at @MaddyHudak_94, or if you have any questions or comments, she can be reached via email at maddy.hudak1@gmail.com