Tulane Football's Defense Steals Show With Formidable Pass Rush in Spring Game

NEW ORLEANS, La. — The Tulane Green Wave football team has strong reason to feel confident on the defensive side of the ball after Saturday’s spring game.

Unfortunately, that meant no definitive answers at quarterback as the team looks for its next starter, either in the college football transfer portal or more promise shown by Kadin Semonza or Donovan Leary.

There has yet to be a spring practice that has favored the quarterback at Tulane, and even Michael Pratt never looked close to what he did in a game setting.

Head coach Jon Sumrall didn’t disclose that much about his evaluation of the two quarterbacks but doesn’t see enough separation at this point. As he told reporters Saturday, that’s not much different than the position he was in last season.

“I like both guys,” Sumrall said. “They're both great teammates. They both can throw it well enough. They both work incredibly hard. But we're not where we need to be yet there. Who the starter is? I have no idea. We're really no different than we were a year ago, this time.

Sumrall acknowledged that the team is likely to bring in another quarterback to fill out the room, not as a shot at the competitors he has, but because he’d like to have four on scholarship heading into the season.

Part of that comes from Kellen Tasby showing enough flash at receiver to want to develop him in that role with some specialized quarterback packages.

“We have to go get a quarterback just to make the room right,” Sumrall said. “And also to add competition to see who our starter will be.”

Neither threw a touchdown, and both threw interceptions—Leary to linebacker Dallas Winner-Johnson and safety Kevin Adams, and Semonza to linebacker Sam Howard—but they showed a bit more chemistry with the offense than the quarterbacks did last year.

As was the case in the last scrimmage, left tackle Derrick Graham and left guard Shadre Hurst only played limited snaps, maybe a series each per quarterback.

Much to the displeasure of the quarterbacks, the starters on the defensive line were in a bit longer and made their presence felt.

Frankly, running back Jamauri McClure was the reason Semonza and Leary began to find success, as he began to break through for the first first downs of the game and involved him in the passing game.

The wide receiver group produced as few answers as the quarterback room did.

A critical thing to remember in the context of spring games is that the team is playing against one another after multiple practice sessions.

The defense can usually sniff out plays better than the offense can prognosticate. As Sumrall pointed out, rotations can be hidden a bit better on that side of the ball, whereas the wrong substitution on offense can break down the entire game plan.

Those hoping to come away with steadfast confidence in the team’s next starting quarterback will be disappointed. They’ll do well to remember that Darian Mensah didn’t look close to how he did in the fall when he eventually ran away with the job.