BY JAKE WEINSTOCK
Welcome to Part 5 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 1-4 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 6: Defensive Line
Part 7: Linebackers
Part 8: Cornerbacks
Part 9: Safeties
Part 10: Specialists
WHO'S OUT?
Zero to the portal (0)
Five to graduation/Retirement (5): Vincent Murphy, Josh Remetich, Rashad Green, Trey Tuggle, and Caleb Thomas
While it's ideal to not lose any of their promising offensive lineman (who have remaining eligibility) to the transfer portal, having three starters run out of eligibility (Murphy, Remetich and Green) is far from perfect. Rashad Green started 52 games from 2021-2024, and developed into a quality AAC right tackle, improving his ProFootballFocus grade each and every season. He played through injuries on more than one occasion, and will be missed. He ends his Tulane career with 3,306 snaps played. Of his 1,700 pass blocking snaps, he allowed just 45 pressures, and never more than 3 sacks in a season. After a 2023 season that he'd probably like to forget, right guard Josh Remetich had a really nice bounce-back year in 2024 to close out his career, uptown. He posted career highs in both pass blocking and run blocking grades from ProFootballFocus, with marks of 80.2 and 70.4, respectively. He is another player with a wealth of experience leaving the program, after he notched 36 starts between 2020-2024.
Replacing Sincere Haynesworth at center was never going to be an easy challenge, for anyone, and yet newcomer Vincent Murphy did an excellent job, this pas season. Not only did he start all 14 of Tulane's games, but he finished with a pass-blocking grade of 85.7 and a run-blocking grade of 76.3, again, per ProFootballFocus. He allowed just 1 sack across 400 pass blocking snaps, this season, and even more amazingly, that 1 sack was the only pressure he surrendered all season. Veteran Trey Tuggle was looking like the leader in the clubhouse to replace Cam Wire at left tackle, during the early days of last year's spring practices, before suffering a season-ending injury, a full five months before the season even began. Prior to that, Tuggle had been a quality depth option for the Wave for several years, and performed admirably when he was asked to step in and start at right guard against ECU in 2023, and then at right tackle in the two weeks that followed, against Tulsa and FAU. Caleb Thomas is yet another physically mature, veteran depth presence that you never want to lose. There was an argument to be made that he was the Green Wave's best option off the bench at all five spots, among the offensive line. Recall he even saw snaps at tight end in Annapolis in November, when Alex Bauman and Reggie Brown were both hobbled by knee injuries. It feels wrong that Thomas only started one game (Temple, 2024) after starting ten in 2021, but that's what happens, sometimes, in life.
As far as returners go, the headline here is that both Derrick Graham and Shadre Hurst are back in the fold. It cannot be overstated how deserving each of them were for their first-team all-AAC honors in 2024, at left tackle and left guard, respectively. It's never easy to rebuild 60% of an offensive line, but it helps to have two anchors in your back pocket, when you head over to the drawing board. In addition, Tristen Fortenberry, Dominic Steward, Gabe Fortsen, Jayce Mitchell, Reese Baker, Elijah Baker, Landry Cannon, and Darion Reed all return, with several spots up for grabs. Remember, however, Derrick Graham was not on the team at this time, last year -- he was gearing up for spring practices at Texas A&M. Spring is about finding out who can play at this level, and perhaps more importantly, who cannot.
WHO'S IN?
Jack Hollifield (6'4", 300 pounds), a rising redshirt senior, is slated to allow the Green Wave to continue a half-decade long stretch of top notch play from the center position, following Vincent Murphy who himself followed Sincere Haynesworth. Hollifield comes to Tulane from Appalachian State and had opportunities to play for P4 programs with inducement offers that were significant. He was one of the country's best G5 offensive linemen in 2024, ProFootballFocus, and should fit in Joe Craddock's scheme quite perfectly. He started all 11 games in which he played, last season, tallying 819 snaps, notably holding his own even against CFP participant and ACC Champion Clemson, when the programs met in September. Prior to getting those opportunities at App State, Hollified was a reserve at Virginia Tech from 2021-2023. His quickness and shiftiness jump off the screen on tape, but it certainly makes sense when you realize that he was originally recruited out of high school as a tight end.
My personal pre-spring practice pick for the eventual starter at right tackle is rising junior Jude McCoskey (6'8", 300 pounds), who made 20 starts at tackle over the last 2 seasons at Indiana State. He was the Sycamores 2023 starter at right tackle before having to kick over to left tackle for the entirety of the 2024 season. His length should allow him to get ahold of edge rushers, especially important given that he's clearly bumping up a few classes in competition, by moving from the FCS to the AAC. This acquisition has the potential to be a really strong one, both in the short and long term, as McCoskey was much better as a sophomore in 2024 relative to how he performed making 9 starts as a true freshman in 2023. Any time you can add ascending, growing players with multiple years of eligibility left, you'd be doing your program a disservice by passing.
Robbie Pizzolato (6'4", 320 pounds), a redshirt junior, will look to get himself in the mix to replace Josh Remetich at right guard. Pizzolato comes to Tulane from Nicholls State, where he made 18 starts over the past 2 seasons at right guard (2023-2024). A New Orleans native, Robbie played his high school ball locally at John Curtis. Like McCoskey, his performance was significantly better as a redshirt sophomore in 2024 than it had been as a redshirt freshman in 2023. The Green Wave will hope to capitalize on his momentum and ascension, as well. Pizzolato targeted Tulane very early in the cycle, and committed to play uptown on December 18, 2024.
Offensive tackle Jordan Hall (6'4", 345 pounds) comes to Tulane for his sixth season of eligibility, fitting that clear mold from this portal class of a lot of players who have a lot of experience playing college football. After spending 2020-2023 at Monmouth, Hall played for the G5 power Liberty Flames in 2024, and saw a total of 374 snaps, all of which came at left tackle. While no one would expect Hall to challenge Derrick Graham for first-team reps at left tackle, he could be a valuable swing player/reserve, or work his way into the mix at right tackle. In 2024, ProFootballFocus graded out as a very strong run blocker (80.0 season grade). After losing veterans Trey Tuggle and Caleb Thomas, having veteran, experienced backup options (1,211 career snaps) could serve the Green Wave well in unexpected ways, through what will hopefully be at least a 14 game 2025 season.
Last but certainly not least, John Bock (6'3", 288 pounds) joins this Tulane squad after playing for Florida International for the past 3 seasons (2022-2024). Over that time, he made a combined 22 starts in the interior of the offensive line, seeing time at each of left guard, center, and right guard. In a best-case scenario, he ends up as a starter, potentially at right guard. In a worst-case scenario, on the heels of losing Caleb Thomas, the Green Wave have a redshirt junior who has made 22 careers starts on the interior of the offensive line at the FBS level, and has accumulated over 1,500 career snaps. After a suspension that lasted a full calendar year, Bock was only able to play in (and start) 3 games for the Golden Panthers, last season, performing quite well in each.
Be on the lookout for Part 6 in our series, the defensive line, next week. Roll Wave!