The Quarterback Shuffle
For at least 40 years, quarterbacks have transferred from one Division 1 school to another looking for more playing time, a different coach, a different system, what-have-you. Over time, Tulane has seen its share of this movement. Many of us remember Bubby Brister transferring to ULM (it was then called Northeastern Louisiana) back during the Wally English error (spelling intentional). A couple years later Ken Karcher transferred to Tulane from Notre Dame. On the more national level, Troy Aikman left Oklahoma to attend UCLA in the mid-80’s and, more recently, Baker Mayfield transferred from Texas Tech to Oklahoma. Many other such transfers proved less successful.
Over the past year or so, Tulane has witnessed more turbulence at the position than I’ve ever seen. Last fall, Tulane had five QB’s on scholarship, and a sixth, Darius Bradwell, had moved to running back late the previous year. Glen Cuillette was the returning starter, though he quickly moved down the depth chart, eventually being relegated to holder on field goals and extra points. The new starter, Jonathan Banks, was with his fourth team in four years with two junior college seasons sandwiched around an injury-plagued year at Kansas State. Johnathon Brantley, an elusive runner who was a less-than-capable passer, inherited the back-up roll. The very athletic Khalil McLain looked to many as the future QB at Tulane and another athletic QB, Dane Ledford was eventually moved to WR.
As the year progressed, neither Brantley nor McLain appeared to be the “answer” to future QB needs and Coach Fritz scoured the junior college ranks for a backup to Banks for 2018, who could then inherit the starting roll. Our coach focused for the longest time on a Louisiana native, who had spurned his offers the year before to sign with LSU, where, due to lack of a future, he enrolled at East Mississippi Community College and led his team to the JC national championship. As this, eventually futile, recruiting effort was being played out, Cuillette, Brantley, and McLain all decided to transfer, the first two to Texas Southern and Eastern Illinois respectively, and the latter to Hutchison Junior College.
In December, Coach Fritz signed a very athletic QB, Christian Daniels, who would be an early enrollee (important under the circumstances) who had not played top-flight competition in high school and would need time to develop. Still, we were very short at the position, so he moved Ledford back to QB and offered preferred walk-on slots to a couple more QB’s who had been solid high school players and would at least provide arms to “work out” our receivers.
It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that the “big” changes occurred. First, we signed Keon Howard from Southern Miss who has all the physical tools (size, speed, arm strength) to excel in the Fritz offense. He even has two years of solid experience at the Division 1 level including a number of starts. But, he would have to “redshirt” this season. The final (I think) piece to the puzzle was the signing of Justin McMillan, a graduate transfer from LSU who is eligible immediately and has two years of eligibility remaining. With luck he’ll fill the backup roll and compete with Howard and anyone else for the starting position in 2019.
Looking to the future should everyone return in 2019, we’d have a redshirt senior (McMIllan), a redshirt junior (Howard), a redshirt sophomore (Ledford), and a likely redshirt freshman (Daniels) to go with what I anticipate to be a true freshman yet to be signed. Will Ledford and/or Daniels continue at QB or, for that matter, stay with Tulane? We probably won’t know until many months down the line. But, I think we can continue to expect a lot of turbulence at this position in the future.
Roll Wave!
For at least 40 years, quarterbacks have transferred from one Division 1 school to another looking for more playing time, a different coach, a different system, what-have-you. Over time, Tulane has seen its share of this movement. Many of us remember Bubby Brister transferring to ULM (it was then called Northeastern Louisiana) back during the Wally English error (spelling intentional). A couple years later Ken Karcher transferred to Tulane from Notre Dame. On the more national level, Troy Aikman left Oklahoma to attend UCLA in the mid-80’s and, more recently, Baker Mayfield transferred from Texas Tech to Oklahoma. Many other such transfers proved less successful.
Over the past year or so, Tulane has witnessed more turbulence at the position than I’ve ever seen. Last fall, Tulane had five QB’s on scholarship, and a sixth, Darius Bradwell, had moved to running back late the previous year. Glen Cuillette was the returning starter, though he quickly moved down the depth chart, eventually being relegated to holder on field goals and extra points. The new starter, Jonathan Banks, was with his fourth team in four years with two junior college seasons sandwiched around an injury-plagued year at Kansas State. Johnathon Brantley, an elusive runner who was a less-than-capable passer, inherited the back-up roll. The very athletic Khalil McLain looked to many as the future QB at Tulane and another athletic QB, Dane Ledford was eventually moved to WR.
As the year progressed, neither Brantley nor McLain appeared to be the “answer” to future QB needs and Coach Fritz scoured the junior college ranks for a backup to Banks for 2018, who could then inherit the starting roll. Our coach focused for the longest time on a Louisiana native, who had spurned his offers the year before to sign with LSU, where, due to lack of a future, he enrolled at East Mississippi Community College and led his team to the JC national championship. As this, eventually futile, recruiting effort was being played out, Cuillette, Brantley, and McLain all decided to transfer, the first two to Texas Southern and Eastern Illinois respectively, and the latter to Hutchison Junior College.
In December, Coach Fritz signed a very athletic QB, Christian Daniels, who would be an early enrollee (important under the circumstances) who had not played top-flight competition in high school and would need time to develop. Still, we were very short at the position, so he moved Ledford back to QB and offered preferred walk-on slots to a couple more QB’s who had been solid high school players and would at least provide arms to “work out” our receivers.
It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that the “big” changes occurred. First, we signed Keon Howard from Southern Miss who has all the physical tools (size, speed, arm strength) to excel in the Fritz offense. He even has two years of solid experience at the Division 1 level including a number of starts. But, he would have to “redshirt” this season. The final (I think) piece to the puzzle was the signing of Justin McMillan, a graduate transfer from LSU who is eligible immediately and has two years of eligibility remaining. With luck he’ll fill the backup roll and compete with Howard and anyone else for the starting position in 2019.
Looking to the future should everyone return in 2019, we’d have a redshirt senior (McMIllan), a redshirt junior (Howard), a redshirt sophomore (Ledford), and a likely redshirt freshman (Daniels) to go with what I anticipate to be a true freshman yet to be signed. Will Ledford and/or Daniels continue at QB or, for that matter, stay with Tulane? We probably won’t know until many months down the line. But, I think we can continue to expect a lot of turbulence at this position in the future.
Roll Wave!
