After a 3-9 season in 2014, Tulane head coach Curtis Johnson is attempting to lead his team back to the postseason.
A win against an up-and-coming Duke program would be a solid first step in transforming that aspiration into a reality.
The Green Wave will host the Blue Devils to open the 2015 slate for both teams Thursday night at 9:30 p.m. at Yulman Stadium. The venue only opened last season, bringing the program’s football games back on campus after a 39-year stint at the iconic Superdome in downtown New Orleans. Johnson and his club will look to avenge last year’s 47-13 blowout loss at Wallace Wade Stadium, in which Tulane committed five turnovers.
“Everyone around here has a heightened excitement,” Johnson said. “The one thing we have done with our team is stayed local.... Some of these younger guys are very excited about playing. Each year, we have gotten better and better. We feel like we have a chance to win and everyone is excited about us and the new stadium.”
A flurry of Louisiana natives populate the roster this season, including starting quarterback Tanner Lee, who has generated positive reviews in fall camp thus far. The Destrehan, La., product threw for 1,962 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, but also tossed 14 interceptions–including three in the early-season loss to Duke.
With a year of playing time under his belt, Lee took control of the quarterbacking duties early in fall camp, erasing questions surrounding his average performance last season. He even garnered praise from Blue Devil head coach David Cutcliffe and quarterback Thomas Sirk, especially after the way he threw the ball at this summer’s Manning Passing Academy.
“He's terrific, I think he's a big-arm guy, throws the ball downfield extremely well,” Cutcliffe said. “I know Thomas Sirk was with him at the Manning Passing Academy, and all the folks thought that he had the best arm of any college quarterback in that camp. He is an extremely talented football player. I think he'll shock a lot of people this season.”
Lee isn’t the only weapon the Green Wave returns on offense. Similar to Duke, the Tulane offense has a number of running backs to utilize out of the backfield. Sherman Badie is the leader of the bunch after rushing for 688 yards and three touchdowns on 121 touches last season, but Lazedrick Thompson and Dontrell Hillard will also see ample time in the backfield Thursday night.
The Blue Devils have taken notice of the Green Wave rushing attack, especially after it gashed them last season with 231 yards on the ground. Thompson—who led all backs in that contest with 124 yards and a touchdown—is poised to put up big numbers again in 2015.
“We're playing an experienced team—[Tulane's got] a returning quarterback, 10 starters back on offense, the bulk of the starters back on defense, depending on how you want to count it,” Cutcliffe said. “This will be a great challenge for us, which is what you want in openers. This will be an opportunity to find out a lot about our football team down in New Orleans.”
Defensively, there are a number of familiar faces returning this season. There is optimism about the defensive line, which returns three starters in Royce LaFrance, Tanzel Smart and Sean Wilson. The newcomer to the group–defensive end Ade Aruna–saw limited action as a redshirt freshman in 2014 and is expected to ease into his starting role.
However, if the Green Wave have any hope of improving on their performance as the No. 15 defense in the country last season, there is a good chance junior Nico Marley will lead the charge at linebacker. Although he was an unheralded recruit coming out of high school, Marley—the grandson of reggae superstar Bob Marley—enters the season as one of the AAC's best linebackers.
The Weston, Fla., native led the team last season with 82 tackles and 13.5 tackles for loss and is described as one of the leaders of the defense along with senior safety Darion Monroe, who has 37 career starts. Monroe is tasked with anchoring a secondary that will have to replace defensive backs Lorenzo Doss and Taurean Nixon, who were both drafted by the Denver Broncos back in April.
“Defensively, Darion Monroe is a vocal leader who plays well on the field all the time,” Johnson said. “He and Nico Marley are the two guys on our team that, defensively, we can look to. If you play well, that’s how you lead.”
The next two weeks will be crucial for Tulane, which will also travel to No. 16 Georgia Tech on Sept. 12 to face the Yellow Jackets. The Green Wave are heavy underdogs in each of their first two games, but an upset victory against either of the ACC heavyweights could be just the spark Tulane needs to turn the tables and achieve bowl eligibility for the first time since 2013.
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