Tulane Football Dives Into Creativity on Offense With New Receiver Roles

The Tulane Green Wave introduced wide receivers to new positions on the field as they build an offensive identity in spring camp.

Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

NEW ORLEANS, La. — The Tulane Green Wave football team is finding a new offensive identity as they hit the midway point of spring practice.

As Tulane football searches for their next signal caller at quarterback, they are also looking for the pieces that make the offense click ahead of the 2025 college football season.

Not only does head coach Jon Sumrall have to replace departing starters in the transfer portal—quarterback Darian Mensah, running back Makhi Hughes, and tight end Alex Bauman—he also has a tall task finding production at wide receiver.

Mario Williams, Dontae Fleming, and Yulkeith Brown are all heading to the NFL draft. Of the 209 receptions last season, the trio accounted for 126 of them.

Williams, Fleming, and Brown scored 11 of the team’s 25 receiving touchdowns last season. Bauman recorded seven alone.

Sumrall spoke with reporters following Tuesday’s practice and shared that he was thinking the other day about how many touchdowns they have on the team in returning players.

Despite missing most of the season due to injury, receiver Shazz Preston scored two of the three touchdowns by returning players in limited snaps.

SHAZZ PRESTON DID THAT!#AmericanWay x @GreenWaveFB pic.twitter.com/pQOcCADVTJ

— The American (@American_Conf) November 9, 2024

Jimmy Calloway and Anthony-Brown Stephens, as newcomers with strong traits, bring a lot of potential to the table. 

Calloway has stood out as a player stacking days, and that may be reflected in a larger role on offense as he took snaps lined up at X on Tuesday.

That switched Preston over to Z for the first time in his career. Preston embracing different spots on the offense coincides with increased confidence Sumrall has seen in the now-healthy player. 

“Last year he was trying to find his confidence,” Sumrall said. “It kind of felt like he was a little lost in his development. Shazz has great ball skills, and he’s almost like a running back sometimes with the ball in his hands, trying to tackle him. You noticed that last Friday, and when we did tackle. He's been predominantly playing X through training camp."

"Jimmy [Calloway] has been playing to the field," Sumrall continued. "We flipped them some today just to kind of cross-train. Shazz is a hard tackle, and for him, it's about making the routine plays and turning them into something special because you may make a guy miss you. He may run through an arm tackle because he's a hard guy to get down.”

Preston also spoke following the seventh practice and was enthusiastic about the switch.

“I have to expand my horizon with the game of football,” Preston said. “Coach Sumrall, Coach Hall, and Coach Sheridan all said, moving to Z, this could help you in the long run with my draft stock, getting on the board, and just knowing concepts and more about the game of football, the whole system. He said, You've been at X the whole last season, so now let's advance you; let's challenge you to learn some Z now so that we can move you around the field."

"Honestly, I felt good moving around today at Z," Preston continued. "That all goes to show you how much they have confidence in me. I appreciate them putting that challenge onto me, and I embrace it with full force. Just seeing how open and versatile this offense could be and where we could go from there.”

While production is invaluable, so is versatility, and the Green Wave are creating opportunities for players to grow and truly put their best traits to use on the field.