The Tulane Green Wave football team is strengthening their defense, as evidenced by a noticeable trend in the transfer portal.
Head coach Jon Sumrall has shown an impressive ability to find players in the portal who fit the vision for Tulane football at the FCS level.
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It was a strategy the team employed last season to find coverage players in the second portal window.
Starting linebacker Sam Howard and cornerbacks Micah Robinson and Johnathan Edwards all joined in August from FCS programs.
In this year’s spring camp, linebacker Dallas Winner-Johnson and cornerbacks Isaiah Wadsworth and KC Eziomume have all made their presence known, following the same trajectory as the trio that joined in the 2024 season.
After Saturday’s scrimmage, which saw the defense win the day, Sumrall acknowledged his intent to find transfer portal players who are ready to jump up from the FCS to FBS level and join the Green Wave.
“There’s no substitute for time on task and having production,” Sumrall said. “I don’t care what level it’s at. A lot of times those guys who come up from a smaller school to here, you’ve seen with Jarius Monroe and other guys that they come up and they just know how to play the game. Sometimes you get a guy who maybe drops down, and they’re having to rebuild confidence, regain who they are. Those guys that move up, a lot of times they hop in, and they learn how to compete fast.”
Sumrall pointed to Eziomume and Wadsworth as two who have flashed in his comments. It’s clear that the coaching staff has a knack for finding diamonds in the rough who were perhaps overlooked in the recruiting process.
“Those guys in the DB room that move up usually translate,” Sumrall said. “They might be guarding a little bit bigger receiver, a little bit faster receiver, but the game is the game.”
Sumrall’s observations about the game are accurate. It sheds light on high school recruitment and the ease with which one can be overlooked.
Players might come from an under-recruited area, have a growth spurt late into their senior year, or simply have a disappointing season. There have been just as many examples of high star rated prospects who don’t pan out or rise to the level of their rankings.
As a lot of attention is paid towards the attrition in the portal from Power Four programs poaching from the Group of Five level, Tulane stands out as a team that is recouping those losses with proven talent and traits that will translate up.
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Maddy Hudak is the deputy editor for Tulane on Sports Illustrated and the radio sideline reporter for their football team. Maddy is an alumnus of Tulane University, and graduated in 2016 with a degree in psychology. She went on to obtain a Master of Legal Studies while working as a research coordinator at the VA Hospital, and in jury consulting. During this time, Maddy began covering the New Orleans Saints with SB Nation, and USA Today. She moved to New Orleans in 2021 to pursue a career in sports and became Tulane’s sideline reporter that season. She enters her fourth year with the team now covering the program on Sports Illustrated, and will use insights from features and interviews in the live radio broadcast. You can follow her on X at @MaddyHudak_94, or if you have any questions or comments, she can be reached via email at [email protected]
