The Tulane Green Wave will reportedly need to replace talent on their defensive line for the 2026 season.
The Tulane Green Wave are hoping to sustain success and do so through continuity, as evidence by the football team’s next head coach hire, Will Hall. A lot of the idea behind the hire to replace Jon Sumrall was that Hall was best positioned to keep the momentum rolling of a championship-caliber program that is heading to its first-ever College Football Playoff appearance. That hopefully means roster retention of the team’s core. It doesn’t mean that he’ll be able to keep everyone.
While the transfer portal doesn’t open until Jan. 2 of 2026 with the new portal rules, players will often declare their intent in advance. That helps programs know that they’ll be available come the opportunity to sign them. It undoubtedly leads to some tampering, or is precluded by some, but schools also have to know that a player is interested in potentially joining their roster before they fill it up. So, while unofficial still, the Green Wave reportedly stand to lose one of their best pass rushers. Per Chris Hummer and Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports, Tulane first-team All-Conference defensive lineman Santana Hopper plans to enter the transfer portal following the conclusion of the season.
Hopper transferred to Tulane from Appalachian State in the spring window this past offseason. Over three years of college football, he has a career 100 tackles, 25.5 tackles for loss, and 13 sacks. In 13 games this season, Hopper posted 16 solo tackles, 30 total tackles, 9.5 TFLs, 4.5 sacks, four quarterback hits, and a fumble recovery.
In the player movement era of NIL and the transfer portal, there aren’t many players who stick with the same college team through all their years of eligibility. Unfortunately for Group of Five programs, they lose a lot of talent to the Power Four level that can offer NIL deals they can’t yet match. Now, the Green Wave are well-positioned with an $8.1 million purse from their CFP berth to remain competitive with P4 programs, but that won’t account for the entire roster. It just about matches the two-year deal that former quarterback Darian Mensah signed with Duke.
Tulane had 60 new players on the roster this season as a result of losing players to the portal and graduating on. That is simply the state of the sport nowadays. It’s not clear why Hopper is entering the portal, but he may be looking to jump to the P4 level to test his skill against higher competition – though the Green Wave offer plenty of opportunity with their tough scheduling, especially this season.