The Tulane Green Wave football team conducted a mini scrimmage that showed the potential for an explosive offense.
The Tulane Green Wave football team is on hiatus as they have Tulane University’s spring break for the next week. After a mini scrimmage on Thursday, they’ll be off until March 31, leaving plenty of time to go over the insights learned in that scrimmage period. As we broke down yesterday, the offense decidedly won the first scrimmage with four touchdowns scored on the day. One element of the offensive attack that really stuck out was the employment of multiple running backs in 20 personnel sets, often employing the backs in the slot as pass catchers.
With star running back Jamauri McClure out recovering from offseason surgery, it’s given a considerable glimpse into the talent of that room and expansion of the backs’ role in new head coach Will Hall’s offense. McClure is one of two backs returning in that room from last season, joining Maurice Turner who had one of the four touchdowns on Thursday. Turner was the team’s starting running back in the opening win over Northwestern and impressed with 14 carries for 87 yards and an average 6.1 yards per carry in the team’s 23-3 win. Then he suffered a high ankle sprain and never got back to that level of effectiveness.
However, it certainly excites for this season, with Hall referring to Turner as the “forgotten thing” by fans and that he was the team’s most dynamic playmaker through fall camp. He is also joined by a trio of newcomers who all showed off their versatile skill sets in Jaylin Lucas, Johnnie Daniels, and DJ Dugar.
Lucas was a top 50 portal running back and appeared in 12 games last year for the Florida State Seminoles, with 27 carries for 160 yards along with 11 catches for 88 yards. He spent his first two seasons with the Indiana Hoosiers. Dugar has yet to make a splash at the collegiate level, but set single-season and career rush records and his high school as the No. 30 running back out of Texas and a multi-sport athlete competing in track, baseball and basketball. The Green Wave were very adept at developing true freshman Javin Gordon last season, who is now with the Tennessee Volunteers. Daniels spent two seasons with the Mississippi State Bulldogs and recorded 58 carries for 411 yards and four touchdowns. All show the ability to line up in the backfield and impress as pass catchers.
Tulane had to replace Gordon, Zuberi Mobley, and Arnold Barnes in the transfer portal. None of those players seemed to have as versatile a skillset as the newcomers have flashed.