Tulane Green Wave Football Faces Challenge of Replacing Key Leadership

Tulane Green Wave begins spring practice in preparation for the college football season and is searching for new leaders to guide the team.

Credit: Tulane Athletics / Football

The Tulane Green Wave football team faces the most roster turnover in four seasons, and the departing players had invaluable experience through adversity in college football.

Tulane football head coach Jon Sumrall spoke with reporters on Tuesday following the first practice of spring camp, and while he is only in his second year leading the Green Wave, acknowledged that the departure of leadership and veteran presence is significant.

"There's a lot of change,” Sumrall said. “It's exciting. It's fun. It's a little scary, a little bit of uncertainty, but it’s fun to watch the guys fly around. The offseason program, you get to the point about week seven or eight and think, when do we go practice football? I like what we've got here in a lot of areas. Long way to go, but a good start.”

On the field, Sumrall thinks the team is in a better spot, particularly the defensive personnel they picked up in the transfer portal. It’s a stark contrast to five starters on defense joining the team in June who started in the season opener.

However, the team is younger, and there aren’t many proven starters from the team last year.

Many of the seniors that departed after the 2024 season had been on the team since the 2-10 year. They saw what it takes to pull off the greatest-single season turnaround in college football history and see the light at the end of a two-win season tunnel.

One of the few who remains is wide receiver Bryce Bohanon, who Sumrall pointed to first in his comments on who he’s seen step up for his vision of a player-led team.

"Bryce Bohanon is a special leader,” Sumrall said. “Shadre Hurst is a special leader. Then you add some new guys in that are natural leaders. I'm thinking offensively first, Maurice Turner. He's a very mature person. I was kidding around with our staff the other day that Maurice might be more mature than half the coaches. He's a man. Defensively, Sam Howard, even though he was new and wasn’t through a lot of that, Slim Despanie who is still here, are two guys that really jump out as proven leaders. A guy that I feel has taken a step is Adonis Friloux. He's lost some weight. He's got to probably go a little further there, but he's had a really good offseason.”

The quarterback room will draw eyes as natural leaders tend to elevate at the role, but a team-wide presence would take pressure off the competitors.

It was clear that the culture instilled last season remains, and it’s part of the one that led to the success of the Green Wave program for four years. Now that the players have all bought in, it will be important to watch who leads the charge as the voices that will carry the team through hard times.