Tulane took a chance in July with the addition of QB Jake Retzlaff. Now, just around a month since his arrival in New Orleans, the Green Wave are going with him as their starting quarterback.

Retzlaff has been officially named as Tulane’s starter. He, despite his short time on the roster, has won the job going into the fall over several options in the competition at the position like Brendan Sullivan, Donovan Leary, and Kadin Semonza.

Retzlaff was available late this summer following his departure from BYU. He was the Cougars’ starter last fall where he posted 57.9% completion for 2,947 yards, 20 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions, while also rushing for 417 yards and six more scores, in helping to lead a team that went 11-2 overall that contended out of the Big 12. However, due to a now-dismissed civil case against him of sexual assault that played out through the spring and into the summer, Retzlaff, who, per the details of said case, would have broken the honor code at Brigham Young, wouldn’t return to Provo as he originally planned to transfer before just fully withdrawing from the school.

With that, Tulane spoke with general counsel in looking into Retzlaff’s situation. Once they received approval, the Green Wave took his commitment as a walk-on for this upcoming season.

This comes as Tulane took several transfers this offseason to play for the job as their starting quarterback after the portal departure of Darian Mensah(Duke). Sullivan (Iowa, Northwestern), Leary (Illinois), and Semonza (Ball State) also arrived at different points of the portal cycles in the winter and spring to be part of this position battle. The Green Wave also have four other underclassmen listed as options at quarterback on the roster.

While being there for the shortest time, though, Retzlaff has won out to be their starter coming out of fall camp. He’ll now look to put what happened with him off the field behind him as he takes it again first in their opener against Northwestern on August 30th.

Sumrall details Tulane’s ‘due diligence’ in adding Retzlaff

Tulane was the team that former BYU QB Jake Retzlaff committed to after leaving the Cougars. Because of how his time ended in Provo, Jon Sumrall had to address what led his program to add Retzlaff to the roster.

At the American Conference Media Day in Charlotte, Sumrall discussed the Green Wave’s addition of Retzlaff from earlier this week. He said, once the opportunity came about, the school and the team took the steps necessary to look into it and, once approved, they were good with bringing him in to Tulane.

“The situation with Jake presented,” Sumrall said. “After doing our due diligence on the university’s side of things with everything around Jake, we got the green light to move forward. Then you check to make sure that, academically, things are, you know, a fit and that worked. And then, the football component, you have to make a decision on.

“Felt like, you know, when it presented, we vetted every angle of it. Like I said, the entire scope of adding a new player. And, as we went through that process, it checked all the boxes so, let’s do this.”

As Sumrall explained, their prior relationship also made it an easier transition. He had recruited Retzlaff from his prior junior college while he was at his last job at Troy, which gave them a history that came into play once he withdrew from Brigham Young two weeks ago.

“The unique thing with Jake? I recruited Jake when I was the head coach at Troy in 2022. Jake had one offer out of Riverside Community College for a really long time and it was Troy. And then, late in the process, BYU came in,” Sumrall recalled. “We won our conference championship game at Troy that year, played a game against Coastal Carolina, and, two days later, I went on a flight to go see Jake and he was the guy we wanted to come add to our program as a transfer quarterback out of the junior college ranks. And then, BYU came in. Proximity to home, several other factors came to play, ended up going to BYU.”

With that, Sumrall couldn’t ignore the chance to add a quality player like Retzlaff. That’s how he feels, regardless of how a room already filled with transfer quarterbacks may have initially received it.

“You know, I’ve said this a few times, like the old adage, a lot of people like to say is less is more. I don’t prescribe to that theory. I think more is more,” Sumrall stated. “Like, I want more good players on our team all the time. And, if we have an opportunity to add a capable player that can help us win, we’re going to do it.

“There is some things, you know, as you go through that process, we had to handle that in our quarterback room, so I made sure those guys understood the situation, the why. Having more good players is a good thing, not a bad thing.”