2008 Tulane Football Predictions & Season Preview
August 25, 2008
Bob Toledo and his Tulane football team won 2 of their final three games last season to build some momentum heading into the 2008 season. Toledo enters his second year at Tulane and 15th year as a head coach overall with 18 returning starters to work with this year. Let’s see if they can make some more progress this season as the Info Plays team gives their 2008 Tulane Green Wave football predictions and season preview below.
Offense:
Tulane has to find itself a quarterback. Senior Scott Elliott opened last season as the starter, but gave way to junior Anthony Scelfo and sophomore Kevin Moore. Scelfo missed the spring to play baseball for the Green Wave, allowing Moore to take the upper hand but the race clearly isn’t over yet. Scelfo will compete as will red shirt freshman Joe Kemp. California prep signee Ryan Griffin should get his shot this August as well. Junior Jeremy Williams is the team’s go-to receiver. Tulane managed solid production in the running game last season, and a lot of that came from Matt Forte. He was second in the nation with 2,127 rushing yards and 23 scores.
Now the Green Wave hopes for good production from Andre Anderson, a 6-0, 210-pound junior tailback. Redshirt freshman Andre Agers was suspended midway through the spring, giving Anderson the bulk of the carries. Tulane returns four starting lineman from last year’s group. The only opening is at center, where the Green Wave tried five different players there in the spring. Guards Andrew Nierman and Michael Parenton were the two best options.
Defense:
The defense will start over up the middle with two new tackles and two new faces at safety. David Skehan moved from strong safety to outside linebacker, but the switch should make the Green Wave more solid in the front seven. The strength of new coordinator O’Neill Gilbert’s defense starts up front with two quick ends returning. Senior Reggie Scott and junior Adam Kwentua show promise as pass rusher, but both weigh no more than 250 lbs. and need to get bigger to stop the run.
Linebacker should be a solid spot for Tulane with the return of three players with starting experience. Seniors Evan Lee and James Dillard along with junior David Kirksey will have to battle it out for starting jobs considering Skehan has been thrown into the mix, and the rise of juniors David Kirskey and Travis Burks will make it a great competition. Skehan will start somewhere at linebacker, giving the Green Wave more flexibility as a potential nickel back against the C-USA’s wide-open offenses. Junior free safety Chinonso Echebelem and senior corner Josh Lumar can be counted on to lead the secondary. The other spots are up for grabs, and one answer may be sophomore Alex Wacha, who sat out last season due to injury.
Tulane Predictions at Info Plays: 4th Conference USA West Division
Toledo and his coaches had the program moving the right direction in his first season at Tulane last season. The running game has a chance to still be productive, even with the loss of Matt Forte. Now the passing game must develop for the Green Wave to be an effective, balanced offense. Tulane must start strong because the second half of their schedule is very rugged. Four of their first five games are at home.
The tempo is picking up this fall for Tulane Football as you can see in this article.
Conference USA Wins Expected in ‘08: SMU, RICE, UAB
Potential Scares/Losses: EAST CAROLINA, at UTEP, at Houston, at Tulsa, at Memphis