Tulane 2014 spring football wrap up.

Strengths & question marks coming out of spring

Tulane’s strength is in its secondary. Lead by sophomore cornerback Lorenzo Doss, the ball hawking shutdown corner who had 7 interceptions last season, tied for second in the nation, the Green Wave will remain one of the better defensive teams when defending through the air. Freshman Nico Marley, though undersized, makes the linebacking group formidable. The defense should improve based on the young core the program has recruited recently.

The offense raises the most eyebrows. Senior receiver Ryan Grant, 77 receptions for 1039 yards and 9 touchdowns last season, will be gone and no other receiver on the current roster gained the trust of either quarterback Nick Montana or Devin Powell. Junior receiver Justin Shackleford caught 36 passes for 419 yards, but no other receiver generated more than 200 yards.

Name a few breakout players to keep an eye on in 2014

Head coach Curtis Johnson has eluded to changing the offense to a more tight end friendly one, claiming that there is a Jimmy Graham amongst this group of incoming freshmen. Of this group, one is bound to breakout to have a big season. The four incoming freshmen include Kendall Ardoin, Trey Scott, Deondre Skinner and Charles Jones. In my opinion, Ardoin has the biggest upside based on his 6-6, 215 pound build.

Grade each position group

Tulane QB Nick Montana

QBs:  C+   Nick Montana and Devin Powell, who split time with each other, looked scared in both Montana and Powell’s first season getting time to start. Both had trouble finding open receivers and seemed locked onto Grant when pressure came. Johnson will have an open competition in the fall and redshirt freshman Tanner Lee might see some action if he’s progressed well.

RB: B-   Returning running back Rob Kelley rushed 98 times for 420 yards (4.3 average) backing up senior Orleans Darkwa. Kelley hasn’t proven if he can take on the workload of a 3 down back, but has showed promise.

WR:  C   Shackleford is the only returner over 200 yards, but the new tight-end group could be a huge bonus for the quarterbacks who will need a security blanket after Grant’s departure.

OL:  C+   The line struggled immensely last season, seeming disorganized when picking up blitzes and struggled against speedy defensive ends.

DL:  B   Solid group throughout. Needs to find a pass rusher, but mostly a run heavy group. Last year’s blitzing scheme had a lot of corner blitzes and the smart line understood where they needed to be in the blitzing scheme and should improve this season.

LB:  B+   Led by Conference USA freshman of the year, Nico Marley, this bunch can hold their own against speedy running backs and understands pass coverage very well. As Marley and the rest of the linebacking core are undersized, the team might struggle against stronger running backs in the new conference.

CB:  A   Tulane’s strongest position group by far. Lead by two All Conference candidates in Lorenzo Doss and Sam Scofield, this group is good at understanding their respective roles. Doss is a great shutdown corner who should see playing time on Sunday in the future, and Scofield mans the field, letting no one past him. Scofield led the team with 104 total tackles and always came up with a big play in the fourth quarter when the team really needed it.

ST:  ?   It’s going to be a weird year for the special teams. Beloved kicker Cairo Santos is gone and his freshman replacement Andrew DiRocco has a lot to live up to. The return game was safe. The Wave have no big play return man. It’ll be interesting to see how everything shapes up.

What can we expect from Tulane in 2014?

Odds are against Tulane getting back to a bowl game this year. The AAC will be much tougher than C-USA and the Wave will probably struggle to score on offense. On paper, I don’t see the Wave beating more than 6 opponents this year, but if the offense comes out firing on all cylinders (something I don’t expect), Tulane could see its second straight bowl appearance.

Jonathan Harvey is the Sports Editor for The Tulane Hullabaloo provided the information for our Tulane Football 2014 Spring Wrap Up. For more Green Wave football information, commentary and analysis, you can follow Jonny on Twitter @HullSports.