Four quarterbacks remain in the mix for Tulane, but the real question is whether Hall will settle on one starter or a rotation.
The talk of the Tulane Green Wave offseason and fall camp will be centered around a common theme lately of who will win out in the quarterback competition.
Through spring camp, head coach Will Hall didn’t trim down the competition at all, letting all quarterbacks get a shot.
That was a crowded room led by Kadin Semonza and Zeon Chriss-Gremillion, with Dagan Bruno, Cade Scott, Jay Beamon, and Trace Johnson all in the mix.
At American Conference media days down in St. Petersburg, Fl., Hall gave important insight into a slimmer competition come fall.
Semonza, Chriss-Gremillion, Bruno and the impressive freshman Johnson will get the lion’s share of reps in fall camp after separating a bit this past spring.
That certainly makes the competition more manageable and says a lot about the freshman Johnson to be able to play his way into the competition.
Then comes a bit of coach speak, which is something former coach Jon Sumrall did a bit when speaking about his quarterback competitions.
Hall explained that he won’t explain how they plan to employ them, whether it will be just one or if they’ll play multiple QBs. He went on to say that he’s won conference titles playing both one and more than one, and that whatever it takes to win each week, that’ll dictate the play.
Now, that sometimes happens when a team has a really strong pocket passer who is less than mobile, and they try to make a bit of a dual threat by playing a better runner in certain downs.
Think Taysom Hill in the NFL or Ty Thompson for Tulane a few seasons back playing alongside and in certain reps for Darian Mensah.
But while Chriss-Gremillion seems to at least fit that bill, there isn’t a pure pocket passer who has separated himself enough to flesh that out yet. Chriss-Gremillion could easily end up being the best of both.
Bruno is an intriguing option there as well. He played at John Curtis High School locally and ran a split-back veer offense.
His experience there has been invaluable when they’ve faced off against triple-option opponents like Army and Navy.
But he also threw one of the prettiest touchdown passes of spring ball in the spring game to receiver Antwaun Parham.
Johnson is the dark horse pick, as he’s a true freshman that really left an impact with some grittier play than anticipated as he hails from an NFL family as son of former Florida and NFL quarterback Doug Johnson.
Paring it down to four competitors seems much feasible than six while also not seeming to cut off any legitimate battlers.
The question is how many will separate to see the field?
