What to expect from Tulane when the Wildcats have the ball.
Base Defense
3-3-5
Defensive Line
Yellow Dots (From Top to Bottom)
Defensive Tackle
Nose Tackle
Defensive End
This should look familiar. Kansas State runs a nose tackle, and two defensive ends. Tulane goes with a bigger defensive tackle instead of two defensive ends, but the concept is the same. The defensive line needs to control blocks and keep the linebackers clean.
Defensive Lineman to Watch
DT – # 0 – Patrick Jenkins (Sr., 6’2, 293)
Jenkins returns after a disruptive junior season that saw him emerge as one of the best defensive linemen in the American Conference. He finished the season with 35 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, and 5.5 sacks. He’s active for a big guy and he could give the interior of the K-State line some issues. He’s good at getting skinny (as skinny as a 293-pound man can get) and slicing through the line to get to a running back behind the line.
He’s the star on the defense and Kansas State’s offensive line will need to account for him on every play if they intend to run the ball.
Linebacker
Pink Dots (From Top to Bottom)
Bandit (stand up defensive end/outside linebacker)
Mike Linebacker
Will Linebacker
Tulane is going to use a “bandit” on the end of the line next to the defensive tackle. Some downs he’ll function like a defense end and some downs he’ll function like an outside linebacker.
Tulane designates their linebackers as Mike and Will, but in reality, they often function like dual middle linebackers. Their first assignment is stuffing the run in the A gaps.
Linebacker to Watch
WLB – #13 – Tyler Grubbs (Sr. 6’2, 235)
Grubbs is in his 5th year of college football, and he’s one of those 2020 Covid guys that has legit going to have a 5-season career (although his 2022 season was cut to 5 games because of injury).
The veteran linebacker was all over the field last season, recording 85 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, and 3 sacks. As good as his 2023 was, it got off to a bit of a slow start as he knocked some injury rust off from the prior season. He was a tackling machine as a freshman at Lousisiana Tech, recording 99 tackles including 9.5 tackles for loss and 1.5. He followed that up with 97 tackles, including 9 tackles for loss and 2 sacks.
Corner (From Top to Bottom)
Corner
Spear
Corner
Nothing revolutionary. They utilize a bigger slot corner in their base defense and call it the spear position. He functions like a big corner in the pass game, often picking up the slot receiver in man coverage and a small safety in the run game.
Corner to Watch
Spear – #7 – Caleb Ransaw (Jr., 6’0”, 196)
Ransaw transferred over from Troy with head coach after 3 years at Troy. He’s experienced in the defense and was tough as an extra run defender in the box last season, putting up 51 tackles and 6 tackles for loss. When Kansas State runs to the wide side of the formation, someone will need to get a hat on Ransaw because he’s often tasked with setting the edge.
Safety
Orange Dot
Strong Safety
Look for their strong safety to move around a good bit during the game. He’ll line up deep on passing downs (unless he’s blitzing) but also look for the strong safety to be active in the run game, often stepping down into the box and functioning like an extra linebacker in order to give the defense a numbers advantage against the run.
Blue Dot
Free Safety
From the tape I’ve seen, they keep the free safety deep in attempt to contain big plays in the run game and provide deep help to either side. He’s also responsible for picking up anything deep in the middle of the field.
Safety to Watch
Strong Safety – #32 – Bailey Despanie (R-Jr. 6’1”, 204)
Despanie is the only returning member of the 2023 Tulane secondary. He was third on the team in tackles with 67 including 5.5 for a loss. Despanie likes to create havoc around the line of scrimmage and is good at timing up run plays from his spot in the secondary. He’s aggressive but can be prone to over committing to the run.
Strength
Stopping the Run
If this Tulane team is going to be good, it’s because teams can’t run against them. Jenkins is problem to block and they’re going to throw linebackers, safeties and corners at the K-State O-line from multiple angles in an attempt throw off the Wildcat blocking scheme.
Tulane needs to stop the run and Kansas State could have the most dangerous backfield in college football, depending on Avery Johnson’s involvement. This is good on good and will be an interesting matchup for the newly constituted offensive line. This might be a game where Johnson needs to set up the run game with a few passes. If Tulane is allowed to spin their free safety down into the box, K-State has to punish them over the middle until they stop sending him. Otherwise, they’re going to be looking at an 8 or even 9-man box. That’s tough sledding.
New Secondary
The Green Wave brought in 6 new corners and safeties to replenish their ranks. Individually they’ll be fine but most big plays happen because of busts. These guys don’t have many snaps together as a unit and their 52 – 0 win over FCS opponent Southern Louisiana didn’t exactly put them to the test. I’m particularly interested in challenging the free safety down the seam.
In theory, this defense could be vulnerable in the deep middle because they use their strong safety to stop the run game a good bit of the time. Draw the strong safety up with play action and Oakley or Loftin could find themselves one-on-one with a 6’1”, 200-pound corner. Avery will take that match-up all game if offered.
Overall
This is one of those early season games that’s tough to get a handle on because we’ve yet to see the new coaching staff and roster under any sort of pressure. Jon Sumrall is a quality coach. Troy was always a tough out under his leadership because the defense.
Things will be significantly easier for the Wildcats if they can get the passing game going get a few defenders off the line of scrimmage in order to free up the run game. We saw Avery struggled with that in the opener (granted he was essentially playing with his shoelaces tied together).
I’m not sure if Tulane has enough to beat Kansas State if the passing game continues to misfire, but I don’t want to find out. I’m looking for significant improvement from the wide receivers in this one.