The Tulane Green Wave are tasked with replacing their star quarterback Darian Mensah as Duke went out and brought one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the Country to the ACC. As Jon Sumrall looks to replace Mensah he brought in plenty of options in the transfer portal including Iowa transfer Brendan Sullivan, Ball State transfer Kadin Semonza, and Illinois transfer Donovan Leary.
As the battle continued, Tulane ended up lucking out as BYU star Jake Retzlaff and the program jumped on the chance to land a potential plug and play starter. Despite joining the quarterback room later than everyone else, Jake Retzlaff will officially get the start for Tulane on Saturday.
Source: Tulane will start BYU transfer Jake Retzlaff against Northwestern in the opener on Saturday. Iowa transfer Brendan Sullivan will be dressed and available for Tulane, as he returns from a lower body injury that’s limited him in practice recently. pic.twitter.com/C7tHWLXg7f
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) August 30, 2025
Last season, Jake Retzlaff was impressive for BYU, completing 57.9% of his passes for 2,947 yards and 20 touchdowns with 12 interceptions while rushing for 417 yards and 6 touchdowns. Retzlaff was going to start once again at BYU until an off the field issue was going to cause him to miss nearly half the year as he violated the BYU Honor Code.
Darian Mensah was stellar for Tulane last season and if the Green Wave are going to push for a conference championship, Retzlaff is going to need to take his game to another level. The Green Wave are a veteran team which should help Jake Retzlaff in adjusting quickly to the offense.
Iowa transfer Brendan Sullivan was expected to push Retzlaff for the role but, he's been dealing with an ankle injury. This weekend, Sullivan will be dressed for the game and available but, it's unclear if he can or will play in this game.
The Tulane Green Wave kick off the season with a chance to earn a massive win over the Big Ten as they face off against Northwestern.
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