Tulane Targets in the Transfer Portal
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The two-week college football transfer portal opens on January 2, 2026. Though no official names have been mentioned, we know there will be movement on the Tulane side of things, so this list is not meant to be exhaustive. Instead, it is what we know the Wave will be losing via graduation or needing more depth of talent from this past year in certain positions. Yes, the Green Wave will need to be looking for linemen on both sides of the ball and new running backs, but these are the areas we feel Tulane must concentrate to be successful for the 5th year running.
Quarterback, of course...
Tulane lucked out for 2025. Getting Jake Retzlaff from BYU was absolutely good fortune and timing. We have nothing against Brendan Sullivan, but we cannot fathom where Tulane would have been without the former Brigham Young Cougar. No, Retzlaff was not the most accurate of passers. His decision-making needed some refinement. However, the mustachioed one had that certain swagger and leadership trait you dream of having.
As of this writing, the Green Wave have five quarterbacks remaining on their roster: three freshmen and two sophomores. The one left with any real college experience is redshirt sophomore Kadin Semonza. The Ball State transfer piled up almost 3-thousand yards as the MAC Freshman of the Year in 2024.
The Wave must find their Darian Mensah of the future to continue their four-year upward trend. In the portal, we like Harvard's Jaden Craig. He's good sized at 6' 3" 230 and threw for over 5-thousand yards in the last two years for the Crimson. Though not as much of a running threat, Craig is a thrower. And he's smart, so transferring from Harvard to Tulane would be a match.
Wide Receiver
Tulane wide outs could not get separation against the more physical teams. See either of the Ole Miss games.
As of this writing, the Wave have fourteen wide receivers on the roster. None of them have that trait we are asking for.
The Wave wide receivers need more size and the physicality to be able to muscle through those larger SEC-type defensive backs.
From the portal, we like Northern Colorado's Carver Cheeks. He's 6' 2" 210 and had almost a thousand yards on over 70 receptions last season for the Bears.
Linebacker
As much as we loved Sam Howard, there is a real need for stronger, faster linebackers at Tulane. Too many times there were holes for opposing running backs where linebackers should have been.
As of this writing, there are seven linebackers returning on the Wave roster, including Chris Rodgers and the injured Dickson Agu. Redshirt sophomore Dallas Winner-Johnson was an FCS All-American at Missouri State before transferring to Tulane this past year. At 6' 5" 230, he has potential.
From a transfer possibility, we like Penn's John Lista. At 6' 2" 220, he has good size, and over a two-year span accounted for almost 200-tackles and seven sacks. Plus he can defend the pass, breaking up eight of them.
Defensive Back
Yes, the Tulane secondary was young this year, but, next to the Green Wave linebacking corps, it was the weakest link in the defense. Too many wide open opposition receivers, not enough passes defended.
There are sixteen returning defensive backs on the TU roster as of this writing. The star would still be Jack Tchienchou, who was the American Conference championship game MVP. But at 5' 10" 180, more size is needed.
A possible transfer we like is Tyran Chappell out of Houston Baptist. He stands 6' 3" and at 170 needs to put on some weight, but the Huskies DB had seven pass breakups and four INTs on the year.
We'll see how things play out over the next two weeks, as players come and go at their respective college campuses.
Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.