Teams all over college football are gearing up for spring practices and many, like the Tulane Green Wave, will do so with a fair share of question marks. In fact, this roller coaster of an offseason has all but ensured that the only thing for certain is uncertainty.
To some degree, Tulane coaches (some of which are fresh faces themselves) will be looking on as fans will when the team begins the first of its 15 spring practices on March 14, hoping to gain some sort of clarity on how this new-look Green Wave team will appear come fall.
Starting from the head coach on down, the Wave have been completely revamped since their last game in November. Since arriving in New Orleans, head coach Willie Fritz has brought in a fresh class of young men who have all but uprooted Tulane’s previous roster and will, in the hopes of Green Wave fans, give the team a much-needed improved look.
What exactly will we see, though, when the Green Wave take the field again? The departure of quarterback Tanner Lee left Tulane facing one of football’s largest personnel issues. Coach Fritz, however, has attempted to provide some clarity in this department.
In January, quarterback Darius Bradwell signed with the Green Wave and has since enrolled at the university. While Bradwell is by no means a concrete answer at this junction of the year, he is at least a body that will be taking snaps for a Tulane team currently without clarification for one of the game’s most important positions.
Bradwell, or whomever will be under center for the Wave, will face a series of challenges as quarterback as well. Many of Tulane’s top-tier receivers from a year ago have left the team for a variety of reasons.
This means that newcomers like Jacob Robinson Jr. and D.J. Owens will most likely be thrust into starting rolls at some point in the coming year. This could pose quite a challenge to these young receivers and will be one area of Tulane football that will be under the microscope for the foreseeable future.
One position that should also be inspected closely in the coming months that can take some pressure off these receivers and the quarterback, despite its relatively flying under the radar for the Green Wave, is the running back. Tulane’s backfield could very easily be the key factor that makes or breaks this upcoming 2016 campaign.
Signees A.J. Walker and Miles Strickland will add depth in this position and look to compliment talented juniors Dontrell Hilliard and Sherman Badie. Hilliard led the Wave with 646 yards and six touchdowns in 2015, while Badie contributed 310 yards and two scores of his own. If Tulane can find a well-balanced running attack, then the young offense as a whole will see improvements.
Fans and coaches will be looking at these names throughout the remainder of the spring, but perhaps most on April 16 when Tulane plays its spring game. With this many new faces, again, the only thing for certain with this Green Wave team is that it will not look like the product of recent years.
Whether that be for better or worse, the Wave will rely on numerous 2016 recruits to answer these nagging questions.
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