The Tulane Green Wave are returning a massive impact player in their secondary.
The Tulane Green Wave have to fill a lot of holes on their team, but so does every college football program at this point. The Green Wave also aren’t that far off from their position last season from a starter perspective. They are returning the same number of starters on offense in running back Jamauri McClure and right tackle Reese Baker.
The defense has their two presumed starting linebackers in Dickson Agu and Chris Rodgers returning and a strong third in Makai Williams. Last season, they returned a total of five. If that starting linebacker duo takes form, then the team officially has their fifth starter returning on the defensive side – last season’s solo and total leading tackler.
Safety Jack Tchienchou announced that he was officially returning for the 2026 season, and it’s a massive returner for Tulane. Tchienchou came over with former coach Jon Sumrall from Troy. The then-redshirt freshman caught the eye of several media members in camp, but an injury put him in the background a little until he played credible time against Kansas State and performed considerably well against the Power Four Wildcats. He and Kevin Adams had an incredibly increased role the next week against Oklahoma when safety Bailey Despanie was ejected for targeting. After missing the season opener, Tchienchou played in all 13 games for the Green Wave.
He became the starting free safety opposite Despanie at strong safety in the 2025 season. Despite only being 5-foot-10 and 181 pounds, Tchienchou is one of the stronger, fundamentally sound tacklers on the defense. He started all 14 games last year, posting a team-high 55 solo tackles and 83 total, two tackles for loss, one sack, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, two interceptions, and three pass breakups.
Three of his four turnover plays came in the American Conference championship game. Tchienchou became the first player in a conference title game since 2017 to record an interception, forced fumble, and fumble recovery. He fittingly was awarded the American Conference game MVP in Tulane’s win over North Texas. He also led the team with nine tackles. It was an electric performance from a player Green Wave fans really hoped would return.
Now, Tulane officially has two starters from last year who followed Sumrall from Troy that decided to stick with the program in Rodgers and Tchienchou. That’s a strong sign that there is a degree of continuity under new coach Will Hall, and an endorsement of the promotion of Tayler Polk from linebackers coach to defensive coordinator.