The Tulane Green Wave is looking to bounce back from a season-opening loss to the Duke Blue Devils, and that begins in its first home game of the year against the South Alabama Jaguars.

While the Green Wave's style should be elite, as the team will showcase its King of Mardi Gras City Edition uniforms, let's hope that the team's defense will look just as good. The unit was slightly better than the offense against Duke, but it still didn't play to the Tulane standard. 

The Olive Green and Sky Blue can't afford to look as sloppy, undisciplined and lacking in fundamentals as it did last weekend. It's up to some of the team's veteran student-athletes to step up and prove that the matchup against the Blue Devils was just a fluke.

Here's a look at which defensive players could take charge heading into the game against the Jaguars. 

Smith was a fixture on the defensive line that gave up a whopping 250 rushing yards to Duke. Though he finished the day with seven tackles, he didn't make any noise behind the line of scrimmage and seemed to be playing catch-up more often than not. 

As a redshirt senior, Smith has plenty of experience... even if this is his first season in New Orleans. He spent the previous six years with South Alabama, so there's going to be a bit of extra motivation to show that he left for what he considers a better program. Expect him to be ready to prove himself and make some more noise on the gridiron. 

Rodgers is one of the best players in Uptown, and his program needs him now more than ever.

The linebacker picked up nine total tackles against Duke, but like his teammates, he struggled to cause havoc behind the line of scrimmage and looked a bit "off" at times. This is a bit uncharacteristic of Rodgers, as he finished with 80 tackles, seven tackles-for-loss and 2.5 sacks in 2025. 

At some point, the highly-touted player that we saw last season will have to reemerge. The demoralizing loss to open the season might've been the wake-up call he needed. 

Shine played in almost every defensive snap for the Green Wave against the Blue Devils, finishing the day with one tackle and one pass breakup. Though he's only a redshirt sophomore, he's quickly taken on a major role as a leader in the secondary. 

He did about as good of a job as any defensive back on the field, but there's still much to improve. Considering the fact that the secondary was arguably one of the strongest parts of Tulane's defense last year, it's tough to see it struggling some to open up the season. 

South Alabama quarterback Bishop Davenport was accurate in his team's most recent matchup against the Southeastern Louisiana Lions, completing 18 of 27 passes, but he totaled just 154 yards. If Shine and his fellow defensive backs can keep up with his receivers from the jump, then it's going to be tough for the visiting squad to keep drives alive downfield.