Tulane's Transfer Quarterbacks All Impressing Early This Spring
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Tulane will have a new signal caller again this year.
That wasn't something anyone initially thought would happen after redshirt freshman Darian Mensah was tapped by head coach Jon Sumrall to be the starting quarterback out of camp last season, going with the best option instead of defaulting to experience.
It worked out.
The Green Wave were in the College Football Playoff picture after dominating conference play coming off their two losses to Power 4 schools, and if they hadn't lost to Memphis on Thanksgiving, then they would have put a ton of pressure on the committee if they had won the AAC title game.
But, things did not end the way anyone would have liked.
Not only did they lose to Memphis, but they also lost to Army in the championship, setting up the portal movement that took place ahead of their bowl game against Florida.
Mensah was at the forefront of that, shockingly putting his name into transfer consideration which resulted in him taking a lucrative NIL deal to become the next starting quarterback at Duke.
It was a tough blow for Tulane, leaving them without a signal caller who had taken a snap for the program following their matchup against Florida since the backups -- Ty Thompson and Kai Horton -- also entered their name into the portal.
Sumrall and his staff went to work, landing three transfers of their own -- TJ Finley, Donovan Leary and Kadin Semonza -- to compete for the starting job in New Orleans.
That new room took little time impressing this spring.
"Very impressive for the first day of spring ball," Thompson said, per Maddy Hudak of Tulane On SI. "There were not a lot of MAs (missed assignments) with the offense and with getting the ball out, doing things like that, running the offense, and they are very talented with their arms and with their legs and stuff like that, so you can tell all of them have pretty good experience. They've been around college football and coached in the right way, so I'm excited to catch the ball from them."
Thompson, notably, returned to the program and is switching to tight end.
That's given him a better perspective about what is taking place in the quarterback battle.
Spring practice has continued to progress with pads being put on across the board as they get ready for the summer.
Who emerges from this battle will be seen, but it sounds like the Green Wave will be in good hands during the upcoming season.
