I will post a story on the front page, but I decided to put the entire Q&A here first. The Shaw defensive back, who spent two years at Newman before transferring, is a good interview.

JACKSON WILLIAMS

On choosing Tulane:

"Some of the main factors were in my visit going into Tulane were the coaching staff just showing me like lots of love, welcoming me into the school and putting a lot of time and effort into the recruiting process. The also instilled in me that this isn’t just about football. They are trying to mold me as a young man outside of school, in school, just to better me in all aspects of like, so I feel like that was a big reason why I chose Tulane."

On if it was easy decision:

"It was kind of a tough decision from a couple of other schools that were also showing me a lot of love, but at the end of the day I had to go with my heart, and it was Tulane."

On culture change at Tulane:

"With coach Sumrall being there, the coach Sumrall era is what they call it now. It’s true. Everything about it is real. The culture, the intensity at the practices is high. The meeting room the intensity is high. The kids have bought into the program, and to see that the kids buy into the program with coach Sumrall being there, and him coming in and making a stamp and leaving his mark automatically shows a lot about his presence as a head coach and what his presence can do leading the team to great things."

On visiting Florida State in January:

"Florida State, they were interested in me a lot. It was my first offer. It was kind of really between Tulane and Florida State. Florida State, their culture is nice and everything about the campus is nice, but I just feel like Tulane outdid them."

On Tulane winning battle with a school like Florida State:

"Coach JJ (McCleskey) was a big part in that. His resume speaks for itself. He’s put three cornerbacks that play my position in the league, so you really can’t beat that. It shows that you can get to the NFL from playing with coach JJ. One thing he harped about is his technique, and that’s something I feel like I need to improve on, so going to the school to help me improve and develop me and take time with me and make sure I’m ready from day 1 as soon as I get on campus. I feel like I can be the best of both worlds."

On switching to cornerback from safety in senior year:

"Last year I came in to play safety. They needed me there, so I took on that role to play safety, so I’ve been playing that since my junior year. This year I’m converting over to corner. There’s a package where I will play safety as well, but my main position this year will be playing cornerback."

On being three-time state champion:

"Two times in basketball and one in football and another one coming this year. I started my high school career at Newman. My 10th grade year I was at Newman. I moved to Shaw to get the opportunity to play both sports. I didn’t really get the opportunity to play both. I was kind of being held back, so Shaw was a great opportunity to go there and show all my talents."

On if he will play basketball as a senior:

"As of right now it’s in question, but probably not. I’m going to say probably not. I played point guard and shooting guard."

On key to having huge year at cornerback:

"The key to me having a huge year is just learning so the game can slow down for me because if you know what the offense is fixing to do before they even do it, then you’re already 10 steps ahead of them, just like reading formations and just getting smarter at the game because I have all the physical attributes. Just me getting smarter and learning the game more."

On how good Shaw can be this year:

"I feel like my team can definitely make it back to the Dome and I feel like we definitely can win it. We have a lot of young pieces on offense, but we are getting a lot of guys back on defense. Our defense is going to hold teams to zero or seven points every game to give our offense a chance to put some points on the board. We have the chemistry. All of us played together last year, so there won’t be any problem with the defense coming back. It’s just the offense preparing and getting ready, but after their showing in the spring game, they can have as much of an impact as last year’s offense."

On Shaw culture:

"The coaching is great. I really feel like it starts off with our head coach, Hank Tierney. He puts a lot of time and effort into our team, instilling in us discipline, discipline, discipline. It’s the key thing, and then everybody on the team buys in because he has a resume, so you can’t beat that, The proof is in the pudding, so the team as a whole, we’re all like a brotherhood and on the same accord. We are all trying to fight for the same thing."

On staying local:

"I would say it was more 50-50 for me to stay in state or go out of state, but me staying in state, I had a talk and sat down with my family and my trainers and we all felt it was the best decision to stay in state just because I’m closer to my trainer at school. Everything was more conducive at home to keep me grounded and focused."

On where he grew up:

"I grew up in Louisiana in Plaquemine Parish. I moved to the New Orleans area around five or six years ago."

It's Gary Hadley, a wide receiver from Florida who visited over the weekend and had offers from UCLA and Arkansas among others. He's the fifth 3-star prospect among the six commitments listed.

Latest commitment

He joins Shaw defensive back Jackson Wiliams, a state champion in track who visited FSU in January.

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Tulane retained six scholarship, players, lost seven to the potral and brought in five, so it will go into the season with 11, which is plenty considering Ron Hunter's tight rotations.

The returnees are Rowan Brumbaugh, Gregg Glenn, Asher Woods, KJ Greene, Percy Daniels and Tyler Ringgold. Greene elected to stay even thugh he was a top 100 national recruit according to ESPN's ratings and played sparingly down the stretch. Brumbaugh, Glenn and Woods were three of Tulane's top four scorers. Daniels is an effective defender off the bench with little to no offensive game. Ringgold has talent but was very raw and needs to make significant strides in the offseason.

The departures were Kam Williams (Kentucky), Kaleb Banks (DePaul) and Mari Jordan (Radford) along with seldom-used backups Michael Eley, Spencer Elliott, Stefan Cicic and Logan Stephens. Williams and Banks got criticized by fans for some no-show offensive performances, but they were perfect for Hunter's system as long, athletic defenders who could challenge 3-point shooters in the matchup zone. Williams also is an outstanding shooter who will need to develop off the dribble to be a big factor at Kentucky. I was told Radford actually outpaid Tulane slightly, somewhat explaining his strange decision to transfer down. Tulane considered him an important role player. Radford considered him a marquee guy.

The newcomers are Scotty Middleton, a 6-7 junior forward transfer from Seton Hall who played at Michigan before then, Curtis Williams, a 6-6 junior guard who transferred from Georgetown after spending a year at Louisville, JoJo Moore, a 6-4 sophomore guard transfer from Oral Roberts, Davion Bradford, a 7-0 senior center who played two years at Kansas State, then one year at Wake Forest and one year at East Tennessee State, and Robert Moore, a 6-6 freshman guard who played for the same recruiting high school (Legacy Early College in South Carolina) as Ringgold had earlier.

It remains to be seen whether this will be a better team than a year ago, but it would need to make a huge jump to get into contention for an at-large NCAA tournament bid as Hunter hopes. The key is having Middleton and Williams fit in as well as Banks and Williams did. Both of them are in the 6-6 to 6-7 range of guys who do best for Hunter as versatile players with length, and they were highly recruited coming out of high school, but Hunter has been hit and miss with transfers.

Middleton, whom ESPN ranked the No. 34 national prospect coming out of high school, averaged 5.8 points in 21 minutes with four starts for a Seton Hall team that was dysfunctional as the Georgetown team Brumbaugh played for in 2023-24. He shot 38.4 percent from 3-point range and had 25 steals with 15 blocked shots.

Williams averaged 15.4 minutes and 4.7 points with three starts last year for Georgetown after getting four starts while averaging 17.7 minutes and 5.3 points for a dysfunctional Louisville team in 2022-23. Rivals rated him the No. 73 overall prospect coming out of high school.

My projected starting lineup is Brumbaugh, Glenn, Woods, Middleton and Williams, with Greene (guard), Daniels (post) and Ringgold (swing) the likely top guys off the bench.

The wild card is JoJo Moore, a 6-4 guard who averaged 10.9 points as a freshman at Oral Roberts this year. If he turns out to be good, the rotation could change.

I have my doubts about the other two newcomers. Bradford, a 4-star recruit out of high school, started 25 times in a promising debut as a freshman at Kansas State in 2020-21, averaging 7.7 points, but it has been all downhill from there. He started 12 times as a sophomore but averaged only 3.3 points, then transferred to Wake Forest and averaged 2.5 points and 10.0 minutes in 2023-24 before moving down to East Tennessee State and putting up almost the exact same numbers (10.9 minutes, 2.5 points). Hunter and really big men have not meshed well in the past, but maybe Bradford will be the exception.

Robert Moore, who signed in early May, was a deadeye shooter in high school and the No. 138 overall recruit according to Rivals, but freshmen and Hunter don't usually mix well either. Williams excelled, but he was an exception. Greene was ranked No. 92 by ESPN and struggled for most of his freshman year.

If you go by high school recruiting rankings, this is the most talented team since the heyday of Perry Clark, but obviously if things had worked out for these guys, they would not left their original schools.

Glenn, Brumbaugh, Greene, Middleton and Williams were all top-100 prospects from at least one website. Williams and Robert Moore were in the top 150.