Jon Sumrall details Tulane's 'due diligence' on adding Jake Retzlaff to roster after leaving BYU

Tulane was the team that former BYU QB Jake Retzlaff committed to after leaving the Cougars. Because of how his time ended in Provo, Jon Sumrall had to address what led his program to add Retzlaff to the roster.

At the American Conference Media Day on Friday in Charlotte, Sumrall discussed the Green Wave’s addition of Retzlaff from earlier this week. He said, once the opportunity came about, the school and the team took the steps necessary to look into it and, once approved, they were good with bringing him in to Tulane.

“The situation with Jake presented,” Sumrall said. “After doing our due diligence on the university’s side of things with everything around Jake, we got the green light to move forward. Then you check to make sure that, academically, things are, you know, a fit and that worked. And then, the football component, you have to make a decision on.

“Felt like, you know, when it presented, we vetted every angle of it. Like I said, the entire scope of adding a new player. And, as we went through that process, it checked all the boxes so, let’s do this.”

As Sumrall explained, their prior relationship also made it an easier transition. He had recruited Retzlaff from his prior junior college while he was at his last job at Troy, which gave them a history that came into play once he withdrew from Brigham Young two weeks ago.

“The unique thing with Jake? I recruited Jake when I was the head coach at Troy in 2022. Jake had one offer out of Riverside Community College for a really long time and it was Troy. And then, late in the process, BYU came in,” Sumrall recalled. “We won our conference championship game at Troy that year, played a game against Coastal Carolina, and, two days later, I went on a flight to go see Jake and he was the guy we wanted to come add to our program as a transfer quarterback out of the junior college ranks. And then, BYU came in. Proximity to home, several other factors came to play, ended up going to BYU.”

Retzlaff was coming off a great season last fall at BYU, where he posted 57.9% completion for 2,947 yards, 20 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions as the Cougars’ starter, helping to lead them to one of their better records in school history at 11-2. However, in the spring, Retzlaff was accused of sexual assault, a civil case that was later withdrawn but with the details of said incident breaking the honor code at Brigham Young.

Reports initially were that he would be transferring from the school. But he would instead just withdraw from the school on July 11th. Retzlaff then committed to Tulane on July 21st.

With that, Sumrall couldn’t ignore the chance to add a quality player like Retzlaff. That’s how he feels, regardless of how a room already filled with transfer quarterbacks may have initially received it.

“You know, I’ve said this a few times, like the old adage, a lot of people like to say is less is more. I don’t prescribe to that theory. I think more is more,” Sumrall stated. “Like, I want more good players on our team all the time. And, if we have an opportunity to add a capable player that can help us win, we’re going to do it.

“There is some things, you know, as you go through that process, we had to handle that in our quarterback room, so I made sure those guys understood the situation, the why. Having more good players is a good thing, not a bad thing.”

Retzlaff now joins a quarterback competition at Tulane that features Brendan Sullivan (Iowa, Northwestern), Donovan Leary (Illinois), and Kadin Semonza (Ball State). Sumrall made it very clear that, although they all arrived at different times, they’re all going to be in contention to be the Green Wave’s starter against Northwestern on August 30th.

“Yeah, the quarterback situation? You know, I reflect back to a year ago this time and we didn’t have a starter and went through a training camp battle. We’re back in the same scenario again. You know, a lot has been made recently of the addition of Jake Retzlaff…but, even prior to adding Jake, I feel really confident in the room we already had in place. So, there’s a room, a group of guys have been working the last several months to have an opportunity to win that job or be our starter and to develop within our program, that I have a lot of belief in, alright,” Sumrall said. “Donovan and Kaiden went through spring practice and then Brendan was added post-spring. And really wasn’t necessarily like, man, we’re not in a good spot, we have to go get another one. We were very content with — we can win with any of those guys. I believe all three of those guys, we can put a game plan in around them to help Tulane win football games. It may look a little different with any of them.

“That’s the quarterback situation. The best man’s going to win the job. Nobody’s been promised anything. They all, in the recruiting process, were told you will get what you earn and the best man will start the game, game on whoever that is. And, if he plays well, he’ll start game two, alright.”

Tulane had to ensure everything was on the up and up as far as recruiting Retzlaff. Since it was, the Green Wave now have another option to consider at quarterback over the next five weeks coming into the kickoff of their season.