Under previous head coach Willie Fritz, the Tulane football program went from afterthought to AAC powerhouse in the blink of an eye. In their 117 year history, Tulane had never completed back to back seasons with double-digit wins until Fritz showed up, and that very success is what ultimately lured Fritz away to the University of Houston, where he signed a lucrative five-year deal back in December. But new head coach Jon Sumrall, a former co-defensive coordinator for Tulane who was on the staff when the school made the transition from Conference USA to the AAC, is seemingly picking up right where Fritz had left off, securing a big prize in the transfer portal.

When Ty Thompson committed to the University of Oregon in 2021, he did so as the highest-rated quarterback recruit in school history. Thompson, the former Arizona Gatorade Football Player of the Year, was a five-star recruit who battled Anthony Brown for the starting job in 2021. Brown edged Thompson out, and the freshman took a redshirt season. The next two years, Thompson served as a backup to Bo Nix, and now, Thompson will likely have his best chance to be a day one starter, as he's off to Tulane, a move first reported by ESPN's Pete Thamel, and then confirmed by Thompson himself.

As Thamel stated, Ty Thompson still has two years of eligibility remaining. Whether he stays in New Orleans for two seasons will remain to be seen, but right now, the assumption is Thompson will walk in to the starter's job and get the chance to prove he was worth such hype as a high school recruit. This comes after Thompson was the presumptive starter in Eugene until Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel committed to Oregon. The fact that Tulane was Thompson's choice comes as a bit of a surprise, given the fact that Thompson was pursued by both Arizona and Arizona State, the two major programs in his home state.

In Thompson, Tulane is getting a high pedigree, duel-threat quarterback who rushed for over 1,000 yards and had 120 total touchdowns in his high school career.