Tulane Green Wave Turns Focus On Hometown Talent in Strong Recruiting Class
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For the past few seasons, the Tulane Green Wave have used their location in New Orleans to their advantage when acquiring talent in the transfer portal.
Under head coach Jon Sumrall, that focus has centered on the young prospects in the 2025 Tulane football recruiting class.
Six of the 15 incoming freshmen are from Louisiana, and three are from schools in the New Orleans area.
It shows a strong foothold for Sumrall and his staff. As reported by Guerry Smith of NOLA.com, wide receiver Oliver Mitchell was Tulane’s first signing of a player from Edna Karr High School since 2011.
Two of the players from New Orleans come from St. Augustine High School; bandit Warren Roberts Jr. and offensive tackle Juelz Baptiste.
While the 2024 signing class had five commits from the state, none were in New Orleans. Teams in college football today are recruiting their own roster, in addition to incoming transfers, all the while trying to finalize their incoming high school prospects.
Many programs are finding the conditions unsurvivable, particularly at the Group of 5 level with the NIL landscape as it stands.
Not only has the Green Wave put together a strong group in the transfer portal, but Sumrall's staff understands the core comes from the high school pipeline as much as the players already on the team.
Under Willie Fritz, the program struggled to gain traction at a comparable pace to making inroads at the local high schools. However, the transfer portal's ability to allow players to return to their hometown was a significant draw.
Ultimately, that might not matter as much anymore with NIL dominating a lot of decisions.
Only two of the 27 transfers are from Louisiana. Quarterback TJ Finley went to the same high school as Tyjae Spears in Ponchatoula, and guard Robbie Pizzolato hails from John Curtis High School in Metairie.
Equally important is the ability to develop and find one's way onto the field. Sumrall's staff has shown confidence in playing true freshmen throughout last season.
That must resonate with the incoming young guys who comprise the first real recruiting class for Sumrall as head coach, given the timing of his hire in late December of 2023.
New Orleans is brimming with talent across the local schools, and Tulane is now a destination for homegrown prospects looking for playing time and a path to conference championships and the college football playoffs.
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