With the college and high school football seasons only a week or so away, the early signing period is roughly 4 months from now. Tulane has nine recognized commitments toward a likely 25 signees. So where do we stand? To this point, none looks like a “sure fire” freshman contributor to my eye. And, so far, none of them has been highly recruited, though that could change once their senior year starts to take shape. Regardless, we clearly have needs at a number of positions.
Quarterback: As every Tulane fan knows, we are woefully thin at this position and Banks is in his final year of eligibility. I’ve thought for a while that we would sign three QB’s for 2019 and, counting Keon Howard, I still think so. From my perspective, I’d hope to sign a true freshman with tremendous potential and a graduate transfer with the immediate skill set we need. The latter would probably not be known until after the season at the earliest so a JC kid could also be a possibility for December signing. To date I have us offering 17 high school QB’s with only two, Lance Legendre and Travis Mumphrey, from Louisiana. They have committed to Kansas and UNLV respectively. I’d really like to see us turn Legendre though there are several out of state options I’d also be happy with.
Offensive Line: We’re losing five guys after this season who are currently listed in our two deep (Fisher, Briggs, LeGlue, Knighton, and Devon Johnson). The little used Brian Webb will also be completing his fourth year at Tulane and his return may be doubtful. Therefore it should be no surprise that we have already gotten five commitments to the OLine and I would expect one more—again, most likely a late announced Graduate Transfer. Coach Fritz has gotten one each of the past two years along with a JC, so I doubt that “pipeline” will be closed down. If we go for another high school kid, we’ve offered at least 22 for the line including five from in state. Of those who have shown an interest Tulane, the best is probably Dylan Rathcke from University High. I think he’d be a good “get.”
Tight End: With Jones and Ardoin graduating this year, we’ll be down to only two scholarship tight ends and probably need at least two, and probably, three more. We’ve got a single commitment thusfar and have, to the best of my knowledge, offered another dozen or so with none from Louisiana and most of whom have already committed. They’re out there, but may be hard to find. One I like is Konner Fox from San Antonio who has a number of solid offers but is uncommitted.
Wide Receiver: A position that was very deep has suddenly become short. Encalade, Clewis, and Newman are all seniors and Canteen may or may not be back next year. We probably need at least three wide receivers for 2019 with one possibly coming from the JUCO/graduate student ranks. So far we’ve got one commitment and have (or had) offers out to at least 50 others including several from Louisiana. It’s hard to pick out a favorite since the "top tier" within the state appear to be going elsewhere. Some who might look good at Tulane are Kash Foley (Riverside), Jacob Bernard (Lakeshore) or Kyle Maxwell (Amite).
Running Back: We seem to be pretty well set at running back with only Glenn departing and his value has yet to be determined. We’ve got one commitment so far and barring attrition or position changes, I’d expect only one more for 2019. To date we’ve offered 40+ high school kids and many look pretty good. Tyrese Jackson (New Iberia) could be the best available to us at this point but quite a few backs could move to the fore as the season progresses.
Defensive Line: Our only two seniors, Robert Kennedy and Peter Woullard, will be departing after this season with everyone else on the line either a freshman or sophomore. Though I doubt we’d sign more than 3 or 4, we have offers out to around 60 DE’s/DT’s. I would hope we’d hold out for kids with the same kind of potential we signed this past year. Who that might be, I’m not willing to guess at this time.
Linebackers: Of our seven current linebackers, only one, Harris, is a senior, so we don’t need a lot of help here. Still, we’ve offered about 40 kids with most having multiple P5 offers. I’ll guess we sign two this year but the requirement is so small and the prospects so many that I don’t have a clue who we might get. Best guess they will be from out of state because the best “in state” kids are pretty much spoken for or have shown no interest in the Wave.
Defensive Backs: Some of our most experience players, Teamer, Donnie Lewis, and Taris Shennall will complete their eligibility this year, so we’ll need to sign at least three DB’s to get ready for the future. We’ve offered upwards of 80 (who knows how many are still operable?) but at least 20 of those have made verbal commitments. One uncommitted back who I really like is Tyrone Lewis (Hammond) who has visited the Wave on several occasions. He has a number of P5 offers and would, in my opinion, be quite the catch.
Special Teams: Block, Glover, and Eatherly are our incumbents at punter/kickoffs, Field goals, and snapper positions respectively with Block being the only senior. If Ryan Wright proves to be satisfactory as a punter and Glover/Eatherly do the job, we may not sign any specialists this year. I hope that’s the case. Glover and Eatherly will both be seniors in 2019 and we’ll have to replace them in 2020 regardless, so Coach Fritz might be willing to sign a particularly spectacular player a year early. That seldom happens at these positions, however.
Obviously, both our needs and opportunities will change over the next four months prior to the early signing period, but I’ve always liked to follow recruiting from the beginning to the (all too often: “bitter” end.
Roll Wave!!!
Quarterback: As every Tulane fan knows, we are woefully thin at this position and Banks is in his final year of eligibility. I’ve thought for a while that we would sign three QB’s for 2019 and, counting Keon Howard, I still think so. From my perspective, I’d hope to sign a true freshman with tremendous potential and a graduate transfer with the immediate skill set we need. The latter would probably not be known until after the season at the earliest so a JC kid could also be a possibility for December signing. To date I have us offering 17 high school QB’s with only two, Lance Legendre and Travis Mumphrey, from Louisiana. They have committed to Kansas and UNLV respectively. I’d really like to see us turn Legendre though there are several out of state options I’d also be happy with.
Offensive Line: We’re losing five guys after this season who are currently listed in our two deep (Fisher, Briggs, LeGlue, Knighton, and Devon Johnson). The little used Brian Webb will also be completing his fourth year at Tulane and his return may be doubtful. Therefore it should be no surprise that we have already gotten five commitments to the OLine and I would expect one more—again, most likely a late announced Graduate Transfer. Coach Fritz has gotten one each of the past two years along with a JC, so I doubt that “pipeline” will be closed down. If we go for another high school kid, we’ve offered at least 22 for the line including five from in state. Of those who have shown an interest Tulane, the best is probably Dylan Rathcke from University High. I think he’d be a good “get.”
Tight End: With Jones and Ardoin graduating this year, we’ll be down to only two scholarship tight ends and probably need at least two, and probably, three more. We’ve got a single commitment thusfar and have, to the best of my knowledge, offered another dozen or so with none from Louisiana and most of whom have already committed. They’re out there, but may be hard to find. One I like is Konner Fox from San Antonio who has a number of solid offers but is uncommitted.
Wide Receiver: A position that was very deep has suddenly become short. Encalade, Clewis, and Newman are all seniors and Canteen may or may not be back next year. We probably need at least three wide receivers for 2019 with one possibly coming from the JUCO/graduate student ranks. So far we’ve got one commitment and have (or had) offers out to at least 50 others including several from Louisiana. It’s hard to pick out a favorite since the "top tier" within the state appear to be going elsewhere. Some who might look good at Tulane are Kash Foley (Riverside), Jacob Bernard (Lakeshore) or Kyle Maxwell (Amite).
Running Back: We seem to be pretty well set at running back with only Glenn departing and his value has yet to be determined. We’ve got one commitment so far and barring attrition or position changes, I’d expect only one more for 2019. To date we’ve offered 40+ high school kids and many look pretty good. Tyrese Jackson (New Iberia) could be the best available to us at this point but quite a few backs could move to the fore as the season progresses.
Defensive Line: Our only two seniors, Robert Kennedy and Peter Woullard, will be departing after this season with everyone else on the line either a freshman or sophomore. Though I doubt we’d sign more than 3 or 4, we have offers out to around 60 DE’s/DT’s. I would hope we’d hold out for kids with the same kind of potential we signed this past year. Who that might be, I’m not willing to guess at this time.
Linebackers: Of our seven current linebackers, only one, Harris, is a senior, so we don’t need a lot of help here. Still, we’ve offered about 40 kids with most having multiple P5 offers. I’ll guess we sign two this year but the requirement is so small and the prospects so many that I don’t have a clue who we might get. Best guess they will be from out of state because the best “in state” kids are pretty much spoken for or have shown no interest in the Wave.
Defensive Backs: Some of our most experience players, Teamer, Donnie Lewis, and Taris Shennall will complete their eligibility this year, so we’ll need to sign at least three DB’s to get ready for the future. We’ve offered upwards of 80 (who knows how many are still operable?) but at least 20 of those have made verbal commitments. One uncommitted back who I really like is Tyrone Lewis (Hammond) who has visited the Wave on several occasions. He has a number of P5 offers and would, in my opinion, be quite the catch.
Special Teams: Block, Glover, and Eatherly are our incumbents at punter/kickoffs, Field goals, and snapper positions respectively with Block being the only senior. If Ryan Wright proves to be satisfactory as a punter and Glover/Eatherly do the job, we may not sign any specialists this year. I hope that’s the case. Glover and Eatherly will both be seniors in 2019 and we’ll have to replace them in 2020 regardless, so Coach Fritz might be willing to sign a particularly spectacular player a year early. That seldom happens at these positions, however.
Obviously, both our needs and opportunities will change over the next four months prior to the early signing period, but I’ve always liked to follow recruiting from the beginning to the (all too often: “bitter” end.
Roll Wave!!!
