Tulane Head Coach Discussed Addition Of Former BYU QB Jake Retzlaff
Jul 25, 2025, 4:22 PM | Updated: Jul 29, 2025, 10:48 am
SALT LAKE CITY – Former BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff is gearing up to be part of the Tulane Green Wave in the 2025 season.
Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall addressed the addition of Retzlaff publicly for the first time on Friday at The American Conference Media Days in Charlotte, North Carolina. Days after Retzlaff committed to Tulane earlier this week.
Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall at The American Media Days on the addition of former BYU QB Jake Retzlaff:
"The situation with Jake presented after doing our due diligence on the university side of things, with everything around Jake. We got the green light to move forward. Then…
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) July 25, 2025
Tulane did its “due diligence” before pursuing Jake Retzlaff
“The situation with Jake (Retzlaff) presented after doing our due diligence on the university side of things, with everything around Jake. We got the green light to move forward,” Sumrall said on Friday. “Then you check to make sure that academically, things are a fit. That worked. Then the football component, you have to make a decision on.”
Sumrall later added, “When it was presented, we vetted every angle of it. Like I said, the entire scope of adding a new player. Then, as we went through that process, he checked all the boxes to where we’re, ‘let’s do this.'”
Retzlaff withdrew from BYU after facing a suspension for violating the school’s Honor Code. He moves on with one season of eligibility remaining in his collegiate career.
Retzlaff joins a Tulane program that finished 9-5 last year in Sumrall’s first season in New Orleans. The Green Wave program has won 32 games over the previous three seasons, including a victory in the Cotton Bowl over USC in 2022.
After losing last year’s starter quarterback, Darian Mensah, who transferred to Duke, Tulane needs a quarterback for the 2025 season. Retzlaff joins a Tulane quarterback unit that includes Iowa transfer Brendan Sullivan, Ball State transfer Kadin Semonza, and Illinois transfer Donovan Leary.
Jake Retzlaff has a connection to the Tulane head coach
The question many are wondering is, why Tulane?
Sumrall went into detail about how he previously recruited Retzlaff when the former BYU starter was a junior college prospect.
“The unique thing with Jake is that I recruited Jake when I was the head coach at Troy in 2022,” said Sumrall. “Jake had one offer out of Riverside Community College for a really long time, and it was from Troy. Then, late in the process, BYU came in.
“We won our conference championship at Troy that year, we played a game against Coastal Carolina, and two days later, I’m on a flight to go see Jake. He was the guy that we wanted to add to our program as a transfer quarterback out of the junior college ranks. BYU came in, proximity to home, several other factors came into play, he ended up going to BYU.”
From Provo, Utah, to New Orleans
With that previous connection to his new coach at Tulane, will Retzlaff be promised the starting job when the Green Wave opens the season on August 30 against Northwestern in New Orleans?
“The best man is going to win the job. Nobody has been promised anything,” Sumrall said. “They all in the recruiting process were told, ‘you will get what you earn, and the best man will start the game.'”
Retzlaff passed for 2,947 yards, completing 57.9% of his passes, and tossed 20 touchdowns to 12 interceptions a year ago, guiding BYU to an 11-2 season in 2024.
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.
