Inside Tulane’s football roster: How Jon Sumrall built 2025 College Football Playoff underdog originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Tulane Green Wave, out of the American Athletic Conference, are one of two non-power-conference schools in the 2025 College Football Playoff. As the No. 11 seed, Tulane will go on the road to take on the No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels in the first round on Dec. 20.
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There is a lot of familiarity between both of these teams. The Rebels actually played the Green Wave earlier this season winning handily 45-10 on Sept. 20.
Let’s take a deeper look at Tulane’s roster, and how head coach outgoing Jon Sumrall, who will lead the Florida GAtors next season, built his team into a playoff program.
MORE: College football picks for 2025 CFP first-round games
Tulane football roster 2025
Offense
|
Position |
Player |
Class |
|
QB |
Jake Retzclass |
Redshirt Senior |
|
WR |
Shazz Preston |
Junior |
|
WR |
Anthony Brown-Stephens |
Redshirt Junior |
|
WR |
Bryce Bohanon |
Redshirt Senior |
|
TE |
Johnny Pascuzzi |
Redshirt Senor |
|
RB |
Javin Gordon |
Freshman |
|
RB |
Jamauri McClure |
Redshirt Freshman |
Defense
|
Position |
Player |
Class |
|
DE |
Kameron Hamilton |
Senior |
|
NT |
Tre’Von McAlpine |
Redshirt Junior |
|
DT |
Santana Hopper |
Redshirt Junior |
|
BAN |
Harvey Dyson |
Redshirt Junior |
|
WLB |
Chris Rodgers |
Junior |
|
MLB |
Sam Howard |
Senor |
|
SPEAR |
Javion White |
Sophomore |
|
LCB |
Jaheim Johnson |
Redshirt Sophomore |
|
SS |
Bailey Despanie |
Redshirt Senior |
|
FS |
Jack Tchienchou |
Redshirt Sophomore |
|
RCB |
Shine E’Zaiah |
Redshirt Freshman |
Tulane recruiting classes
Sumrall put together a few solid recruiting classes at Tulane. His 2023 class, which he can partially claim given his hiring in Dec. of that year, finished 71st.
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The Green Wave’s 2024 class ranked 67th overall per the 247Sports Composite. His 2025 class ranked slightly lower, finishing 70th overall in the country. But it included a pair of true freshman in Javin Gordon and Jamauri McClure, who lead Tulane in rushing.
MORE: The Sporting News 2025 College Football All-America Team
Key Tulane transfers
Tulane has successfully used the portal for several key players on its roster. The biggest name is quarterback Jake Retzclaff, who transferred in from BYU. He finished in the top-five in the AAC in passing with 2,862 yards with 14 touchdowns and six interceptions. H is also Tulane’s leading rusher, with 610 yards and 16 scores on the ground.
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Two of Retzclaff’s leading receivers in Anthony Brown-Stephens and Omari Hays transferred over from Kentucky and Florida Atlantic, respectively. The two have combined for 929 yards receiving with three touchdowns. Running backs Zuberi Mobley and Maurice Turner also transferred from FAU and Louisville.
On defense, leading tackler safety Jack Tchiencho transferred over from Troy with Sumrall in 2024. Tchiencho has 77 total tackles with two interceptions and a forced fumble on the season. Linebacker Chris Rodgers also transferred from Troy. He has 75 tackles on the season. Tulane’s sack leader in linebacker Harvey Dyson transferred from Texas Tech.
Defensive lineman Santana Hopper, who has 4.5 sacks on the year, transferred from App State last offseason. Linebacker Jordan Norman, who has six sacks so far, transferred from South Alabama.
MORE: College Football Playoff bracket and predictions for every game
Who is Tulane’s quarterback?
Tulane’s quarterback is BYU transfer Jake Retzclaff. He has thrown for 2,862 yards with 14 touchdowns and six interceptions so far this season. He’s added
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After spending 2023 and 2024 with the Cougars, he transferred to Tulane in the summer of 2025. His transfer to Tulane came after a women filed a civil suit against Retzclaff accusing him of sexual assault and battery from an alleged incident occurring in Nov. 2023 The the case was dismissed in late June, as both parties jointly agreed to dismiss with prejudice.
He withdrew from BYU and entered the transfer portal, set to face a multi-game suspension from the school as a result of the allegations. He accepted a spot at Tulane as a walk-on on Aug. 1.
Retzlaff, 22, spent seasons at community colleges Golden West and Riverside before transferring to BYU in 2023. He started 13 games in 2024, tallying 2,947 yards, 20 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions as the Cougars went 11-2 and fell just short of the College Football Playoff.
MORE: A look at Jon Sumrall’s Florida contract
Who is Tulane’s coach?
Tulane’s head coach is Jon Sumrall, who is coaching at Tulane for his second season. The Green Wave finished 9-5 last season under Sumrall, reaching the AAC title game. His 2025 season has been the best season yet with Tulane, going 11-2 and winning the AAC. He accepted the head coach job at Florida last month, and is navigating both jobs during Tulane’s playoff run.
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Prior to arriving at Tulane, he spent two seasons at Troy. He went a combined 23-4 over two seasons, and the Trojans won back-to-back Sun Belt titles in each of this two seasons there.
