Who will be battling to be the next starting quarterback in spring football for the Tulane Green Wave?
The transfer portal in college football is now closed and barring any shocking oddities like the situation that landed Jake Retzlaff, the Tulane Green Wave quarterback room is pretty much set for the 2026 season. With no spring portal window, that makes the quarterbacks who take the field in spring camp the ones who will be battling it out for the starting job in the fall. Last spring, the Green Wave went into it with three competitors, lost one, and added two over the summer – one of whom was Retzlaff. In 2026, it appears that Kadin Semoza, transfer Zeon Chriss, and the three younger guys in the room will compete to be Tulane’s next starting quarterback.
New head coach Will Hall spoke with Fox 8 Sports’ Garland Gillen about the team’s quarterback competition, and essentially announced that Semonza, Cade Scott, Jay Beamon, and Trace Johnson will all be returning. Semonza transferred in from Ball State, where he was the MAC Freshman of the Year, and was in the competition last season to the end. He also has a year now under his belt in the Green Wave’s offensive system. Semonza will likely headline the competition alongside Chriss, who came in from the Houston Cougars – who are coached by Willie Fritz. That relationship between Fritz and Hall likely came in handy when Hall was looking for guys in the portal.
“You bring in a guy like Zeon, who obviously was electric at Louisiana Lafayette,” Hall said. “And then he went to Houston and was integral in getting that program turned around for Coach Fritz and those guys there. So, two great young men that have won at the Group of Five level and have played a lot of games. They have high character, they're tough.”
After Semonza and Chriss comes the young guns in Scott, Beamon, and Johnson, who was a true freshman early enrollee. Hall and the staff feel they have “three young guys that we really believe in.”
“We've got three young guys that we really think we can develop and grow, and they can be that next Darian Mensah, that next Michael Pratt. The guy that signed with Tulane out of high school and developed. But with the two older transfers, we think we've got guys that have played and have that experience and have proven to have the talent to win.”
It’s a fair point to mention Mensah and Pratt, the latter of whom Hall recruited over to Tulane when he was the team’s offensive coordinator. When former coach Jon Sumrall looked to the portal his first year as head coach, he ended up going with the unproven guy on the roster already in Mensah. Perhaps that’s a trend that will continue for the Green Wave. But a year learning the system can’t be discounted for Semonza – nor can it be for the three young returnees. At the same time, with Hall having such close ties with Fritz, and likely knowledge of that system, he may see how Chriss’ skill set can translate here.
It will be one of the more intriguing battles to watch once spring football kicks off, scheduled for March 9, with the spring game on April 18. The spring game didn’t illuminate much last season. But the year prior, Mensah started to show some real talent. And with all the turnover, leadership will be as critical to watch in the five competitors as they try to make this 2026 team their own.