BY JAKE WEINSTOCK
Welcome to Part 6 of our 10-part series recapping the additions and subtractions to Tulane football's roster, now that the December transfer portal has closed and the spring semester uptown has begun. If you missed our articles breaking down the December signees from the high school class of 2025, or Parts 1-5 of our series, scroll back through our Blog section and check that out. Be on the lookout for the forthcoming installments to this series, as detailed, below:
Part 1: Quarterbacks (released on January 16, 2025)
Part 2: Running Backs (released January 20, 2025)
Part 3: Wide Receivers (released January 23, 2025)
Part 4: Tight Ends (released January 28, 2025)
Part 5: Offensive Line (released February 27, 2025)
Part 7: Linebackers
Part 8: Cornerbacks
Part 9: Safeties
Part 10: Specialists
WHO'S OUT?
Three to the portal (3): Matthew Fobbs-White, Michael Lunz, Parker Peterson
Five to graduation (5): Patrick Jenkins, Adin Huntington, Terrell Allen, Eric Hicks, Javon Carter
On opening night 2024, Tulane started Adin Huntington, Patrick Jenkins, Eric Hicks, and Terrell Allen on their defensive line (a loose term by which I describe the Green Wave's standard four-down front, including the "Bandit" position, which is a hybrid between defensive end and outside linebacker). By the end of September, Matthew Fobbs-White had become a starter at the Bandit position, having overtaken Allen. For one reason or another all five of those players have departed the program. Patrick Jenkins' historic three-year run was so much more than the game-changing safety he delivered in the Cotton Bowl, but surely that moment will define his time at Tulane, for decades to come. Jenkins was a second-team All-AAC selection in 2022, but was then a first-team selection in each of 2023 and 2024. After coming over from ULM, Huntington got off to a slow start in 2024, but rallied to become a third-team All-AAC selection. Huntington, Jenkins, and Fobbs-White paced the Green Wave in pressures last season, with 31, 26, and 24, respectively, as the unit really came alive after a slow start through the first several games. Unfortunately, after posting 20 pressures across 7 games throughout the middle of the season (ULL, USF, UAB, Rice, North Texas, Charlotte, Temple), he was only able to generate a total of 3 across his final 3 games of the year (Navy, Memphis, Army).
An interesting transfer from the spring portal, in 2024, Terrell Allen joined the Green Wave after spending 2022-2023 at Tennessee State, and almost immediately established himself as the leader in the clubhouse to start at Bandit. His effectiveness as a pass rusher grew tremendously over the second half of the season, when he was given the opportunity to rush from the interior defensive line. Eric Hicks, Jr. played 2,281 snaps during his six (!) years at Tulane, from 2019-2024. He did much of the dirty work of attracting double-teams at the nose tackle position, and was an asset in the run game, though he certainly was never nor was he supposed to be a flashy pass rusher. Michael Lunz has transferred to South Carolina State after only seeing 63 snaps, last season. Javon Carter, who played 122 snaps and generated 7 pressures, is out of eligibility, much like Jenkins, Huntington, et al. Parker Peterson was a surprise find for this Green Wave staff, after just playing 17 and 38 snaps in 2022 and 2023, he was called on for 276 snaps in 2024. He was at his best at the end of September, producing 2 pressures against ULL and 4 the following week against UAB. He managed just 4 more, over the course of his final 8 games, uptown.
WHO'S BACK?
This is a conversation that's difficult to begin without leading with Kam Hamilton, who has quietly been one of the best performers on both Tulane's 2023 and 2024 defenses. Among players with at least 350 snaps, Hamilton was the Wave's 4th highest graded defender in 2024 by ProFootballFocus, behind only Micah Robinson, Adin Huntington, and Sam Howard. Hamilton tallied 18 pressures, 4 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles, last season. Even with some impressive additions to this group (see below) expect him to take another leap in playing time, in 2025. Deshaun Batiste made a positive impression over the course of his 207 snaps, in 2024, generating 11 pressures on 122 pass rushing opportunities, a respectable 9% pressure rate. Batiste, remember, graduated from John F. Kennedy High School in Gentilly, originally enrolling at Troy for the 2023 season, before following Jon Sumrall and Greg Gasparato to Tulane. There was notable disappointment in the voices of Green Wave sources that I spoke to in 2024, when they discussed what could have been for edge Jah'rie Garner, who suffered a season-ending injury last spring. A holdover from the Fritz era, Garner spent 2023 buried behind veterans like Devean Deal, Keith Cooper, and Darius Hodges, and could have found himself squarely in the mix for reps in 2024, but for the injury. He will be an interesting player to monitor as the season approaches.
Adonis Friloux returns for his 6th season uptown, this fall. Friloux was one of Tulane's better defensive linemen in 2020, and arguably their best in 2021, before suffering a season-ending injury during camp in 2022, and playing only 141 snaps in 2023 before yet another season-ending injury. In 2024, he returned to a rotational role, logging 275 snaps, including 3 of his 4 highest totals of the season over the team's final 3 games (Memphis, Army, Florida). Entering 2024, Gerrod Henderson had not played more than 3 snaps in a season, and he found himself making 2 starts (North Texas, Florida), playing in all 14 games, totaling 267 snaps, 8 pressures and 2 sacks. Redshirt freshman Geordan Guidry returns as well, and will look to build on his 3 appearances from 2024. Redshirt senior Elijah Champaigne returns for a 5th and final season at Tulane. Champaigne saw a career high 145 snaps in 2024, and some strong play during the middle of the season, posting 3 pressures against USF, 2 against UAB and 2 against Charlotte.
General Manager Cole Heard and his staff were busy during the early signing period, inking high schoolers Nik Alston from Alabaster, AL, PaLanding Drammeh from Hoover, AL, Warren Roberts, Jr. from St. Augustine, and Joshua Lewis from Dutchtown.
WHO'S IN?
Joining the Green Wave from UTEP is edge Maurice "Mo" Westmoreland, a 6'2", 250 pound redshirt senior who tallied 38 pressures, 8 sacks, 6 hits and 24 hurries in 2024, while delivering a 12.7% pressure rate. Against Nebraska, in particular, he posted 4 pressures. Westmoreland should be fresher as the season goes along at Tulane than he was at UTEP (though he did total 11 pressures in the Miners' season finale), as with very little depth in El Paso, he rarely left the field, topping 60 snaps 7 times, and finishing the season with over 700. For his efforts, Westmoreland was named to the Conference USA All-Conference First-Team.
Santana Hopper, a 6'2, 265 pound edge from Appalachian State, heads uptown for his redshirt junior season. His 89.8 grade by ProFootballFocus would have been the highest on the Green Wave. He finished the year with 28 pressures and 7 sacks on 210 pass rushing opportunities (13.3% pressure rate), while earning All-Sun Belt First Team honors, as Westmoreland did in the C-USA
Interior defensive lineman Derrick Shepard, Jr. comes to Tulane from AAC foe UAB, where he played 470 snaps and clogged the middle quite nicely for the Blazers. His versatility on the interior allowed him to see snaps at nose tackle and three-technique, both. He was the 19th highest ranked player in the class of 2022, in the state of Ohio, per 247Sports, and held offers from Florida State, Duke, Cincinnati (where he began his collegiate career), Boston College, and Cal, among others. Shepard, who is 6'3", 310 pounds, will be a redshirt sophomore in 2025. Redshirt senior edge rusher Ty Cooper, 6'4", 245 pounds, joins the Wave from Mississippi State, where he played 515 snaps over the first 4 years of his career (most notably 305 in 2024). He will try to carve out a role at bandit, one would expect.
Jordan Norman, 6'4, 249 pounds, could be one of the better pickups of this class, as he comes uptown from South Alabama, who interestingly find themselves on Tulane's schedule, this September. Norman finished the 2024 season with 25 pressures on 252 pass rushing snaps (9.9% pressure rate), amidst his total of 393 snaps. He was playing as lights out as any edge rusher in the country in October, following up a 6 pressure game against Arkansas State with a 7 pressure game against Troy. Eliyt Nairne, a 6'1", 305 pound interior defensive lineman from Liberty also comes in off of a healthy amount of playing time, last season. In 297 snaps for Liberty, he was an effective pocket pusher up the middle. Nairne will be a redshirt sophomore, this season. Last but certainly not least, redshirt junior Tre'Von McAlpine comes to Tulane from Texas Tech, where he built on his 124 snaps in 2023 and finished 2024 with a total of 284. More of a three-technique defensive tackle than a nose tackle, MaAlpine could build on his strong finish to 2024 in Lubbock, with the Green Wave. The 4 games in which he saw the most playing time were the Red Raiders' final 4 of the season, against Iowa State, Colorado, Oklahoma State, and West Virginia.
Be on the lookout for Part 7 in our series, the linebackers. Roll Wave!
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