Leadership, not just talent, will separate contenders in Tulane's quarterback competition this fall.
When talking about college football in today’s day and age, the term development is almost obsolete, but it’s what keeps a program running. The Tulane Green Wave are hyperaware of that.
NIL and the transfer portal have completely taken over the strategy of building and sustaining a football team, but without strong recruiting, there’s no foundation or baseline.
There’s probably no position where that matters more than quarterback.
For the Green Wave, head coach Will Hall seems to be looking at that position from both a short-term and long-term perspective ahead of fall camp.
Speaking with Tulane on SI, Hall echoed that sentiment about not wanting to go too heavily in one direction or the other and why that would make the program suffer.
“We didn't want to over-sign transfers and squish the development of those kids, but at same time, we've got to be good right now,” Hall explained.
“Those kids” is referring to quarterbacks Jay Beamon, Cade Scott, and true freshman Trace Johnson who was an early enrollee back in the spring.
Hall wanted an older and established signal caller to come in and compete with Kadin Semonza, which is what led to bringing in Houston Cougars transfer Zeon Chriss-Gremillion. Dagan Bruno, a solid veteran at this point, will also look to compete with them as well alongside young Johnson.
However, looking at Tulane’s track record, success has come from homegrown products.
Michael Pratt was recruited to the Wave and never went elsewhere. Darian Mensah did, but his success at Tulane is theirs to claim with no program prior who developed or recruited him for that matter.
And Hall thinks the next one in that mold of quarterback is in their room with the three younger guys.
The leader in that pack is undeniably Johnson, who is the only younger guy who will be a part of this year’s quarterback competition.
But you also need a signal caller who can operate at a high level immediately and be good now versus down the developmental line.
For that reason, bringing in Chriss-Gremillion to compete alongside Semonza was wise.
Past those traits that helped both of those veterans win games on the field for their prior programs, the intangibles will also matter a lot come fall camp.
Now that they’ve gone through summer workouts and have had more of an opportunity to gain chemistry and comfortability with their guys, the next important step will be seeing who can take those qualities on the field alongside leadership.
Mensah and Pratt were both undeniable leaders. That trait will matter most of all when assessing who’s winning that race.
