The Preseason finale is upon us. The Saints will look to notch their first win against the Cowboys which could have some carryover frustration from how their joint practice went last week. Usually the preseason finale does not have much significance as the starters do not typically play and there are only a select few roster spots still up for the taking. This year the preseason finale will be a little bit more than that. The Saints do not have a clear answer at backup quarterback coming into this game and it would be hard to imagine one single game could be enough to sway this opinion in a positive direction. The running back battle behind Etienne and Kamara appears to be ending in an unexciting fashion with Kendre Miller appearing as the favorite barring something unforseen happening. But if either of those two want to stand out in the game they will be relying on the offensive line to make some holes for them in the run game which they struggled to do against the Rams. So the offensive line will look to have a bounce back game to spearhead the offense to score some points this week. The one other position I will be curious about is tight end with the recent injuries to Delp and Matavao. There could be an opportunity there for someone to land a spot on the roster or role on the team this season given the health at the position currently. Moving on to the kicker battle where unfortunately for Smyth and Brown they both lost as the Saints signed Tucker Carlson to solidify the position. Smyth and Brown will now try to aim to be given an opportunity to kick for another team this season. However the special teams play during the game could be the deciding factor for a few players with the last few roster spots up for grabs fighting for the remaining roster and practice squad spots. On defense the Saints will look to have a bounce back type of performance where they struggled to stop the Rams in any shape or form last week. Performing better on defense will start up front with the defensive line who will be tasked with doing a better job of controlling the line of scrimmage. After them I will be looking at the secondary who performed well against the Jaguars but took a step back after their performance against the Rams. This week will hopefully show whether the depth in the secondary will be capable or not moving forward. Linebacker appears to be in a great position where the Saints felt good enough to trade from to help address the running back depth. Linebacker is the one spot on the team which has felt strong for a long time and this year proves to be no different even with the departure of Demario Davis. Overall I would say the preseason has been about as expected for the Saints. You would like to win these games for the sake of winning but ultimately winning or losing in the preseason does not matter. The starters have not played much this preseason so you cannot read much into how they look in these games compared to how they will look in Week 1. But after this game against the Cowboys, meaningful football games will be played and judged. We are almost there folks, enjoy this last appetizer against the Cowboys.
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How failure at Southern Miss forced Will Hall to confront himself, travel the country in search of answers, and return stronger to try and lead Tulane. Failure does not always arrive with a single, dramatic collapse. Sometimes it arrives as a slow, grinding erosion, one loss after another, one season after another, until the weight becomes impossible to carry. For Will Hall, that weight settled fully on a Sunday evening in October 2024. Southern Miss fired him after a 1-6 start to his fourth season. The final record stood at 14-30. The 2022 season, a 7-6 campaign capped by a LendingTree Bowl victory, felt like a distant memory. What remained was the hard truth that the program had not moved forward under his watch in the way anyone, least of all Hall himself, had envisioned. Most coaches in that moment retreat into bitterness, silence, or the next available job. Hall did something rarer. He treated the failure as a teacher rather than a verdict. Shortly after being let go, Hall was already on the Tulane practice field. Not as a visitor seeking employment, but as a coach who needed to be around the game again. In the weeks that followed, he deliberately stepped off the treadmill of the coaching carousel. He traveled. He watched. He listened. He went to Houston to sit with Willie Fritz, the man who had once given him the offensive coordinator job at Tulane. He spent time at Army. He visited Oregon. He stopped at Jacksonville State. These were not networking trips. They were intentional acts of study, visits to programs that had figured out how to sustain success at a high level. What Hall discovered on those trips was not a single schematic secret. It was something more fundamental about himself. At Southern Miss he had drifted into the role of CEO and fundraiser. The job of modern head coach had pulled him away from the field, away from the daily teaching that had defined his earlier success at West Alabama and West Georgia, where he went 56-20 and made four playoff appearances. “I’m not a CEO,” Hall would later say with quiet clarity. “I have to coach on the field. The CEO route, I tried it and it doesn’t work for me.” That realization did not come easily. It required the humility to admit that the version of himself that succeeded as a lower-level head coach and as an offensive coordinator had been diluted by the demands of an FBS head job. The trail of those visits forced him to confront the gap between who he had become and who he needed to be. When the opportunity came to return to Tulane in January 2025 as pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach under Jon Sumrall, Hall took it without hesitation. He returned not as a former head coach demanding the title, but as a teacher hungry to work. The role put him back on the grass, back in the meeting rooms, back in the daily work of developing players. One year later, when Sumrall left for Florida, Tulane turned to the man who already knew the program, the city, and most importantly the hard lessons of the previous chapter. In December 2025, Will Hall was named head coach of the Green Wave. The story is not one of simple redemption. It is one of deliberate progression. Hall did not pretend the Southern Miss years never happened. He examined them. He traveled to understand how successful programs sustain themselves. He returned to a place that already knew his strengths and asked to be judged on the version of himself that had been refined by failure. There is a quiet power in that sequence. Many coaches experience setbacks. Fewer use them as a mirror. Fewer still leave the comfort of their own system long enough to study someone else’s. Hall did both. The trails at Southern Miss became the trail that led him back to New Orleans with clearer eyes and a renewed conviction about how he wants to lead. In the end, the measure of a coach is not only the wins recorded on a résumé. It is the capacity to learn when the record turns against him. Will Hall’s path from the firing in Hattiesburg to the head coaching chair at Tulane is a living example of that capacity. The failure was real. The learning that followed was more real still. And the Green Wave program now stands as the place where that hard-earned growth will be tested and, if history is any guide, put to use. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” — Winston Churchill #RollWave Make sure to follow Patrick Harkness on X
Jaxson Dixon- @JaxsonDixon10 5-10/165 Foley, AL He has camped and impressed at places like Florida State (7-on-7 and camps in June 2026) and has drawn additional regional interest. He is currently uncommitted. Prep Redzone previously ranked him as high as the #3 ATH/DB in Alabama and around #4 ATH / top-65 overall in the state. Production and athletic traits continue to generate offers and attention in FCS/G5. • Elite short-area quickness and change of direction: True “joystick” mover. Exceptional lateral agility and ability to make defenders miss in tight spaces or after the catch. Prep Redzone scouting describes elite YAC ability and an uncanny knack for escaping congestion. • Separation and route bounce: Creates separation quickly. Shows burst out of breaks and the ability to stack moves while maintaining speed. Effective in the slot against linebackers and versatile enough to work outside. • Vision and elusiveness after the catch: High-end run-after-catch traits. Turns short throws, screens, and jet sweeps into explosives. Forces missed tackles and punishes poor angles. • Deep threat / field-stretching speed: Can take the top off a defense and is dangerous on vertical routes and returns. Game-changing speed in the open field. • Versatility / multi-phase value: Legitimate gadget/playmaker profile. Returns kicks and punts, contributes on defense (coverage and finishing ability), and can be used in creative packages (motion, sweeps, etc.). High football IQ and competitiveness noted. • Big-play production: Consistently produces highlight-reel plays. Junior film and the senior opener both show the ability to take over stretches of games. #RollWave Make sure to follow Patrick Harkness on X
Zeon Chriss-Gremillion is your Week 1 starter, and Tulane’s offense just got a whole lot more dangerous with the option. Today sources confirmed what many around the program had sensed coming: fifth-year senior Zeon Chriss-Gremillion has won the quarterback competition and will start for the Green Wave against Duke on Sept. 5. The Baton Rouge native and Madison Prep product beat out redshirt junior Kadin Semonza after a competitive fall camp that began as a four-way battle. This isn’t just a QB decision. It’s a scheme decision. Why Zeon Fits: Chriss-Gremillion brings proven dual-threat production and starting experience at two previous stops. At Louisiana in 2023 he completed 66.7% of his passes for 1,222 yards and 11 touchdowns while adding 492 rushing yards and six scores. At Houston in 2024 he started seven games, threw for 824 yards, and rushed for 388 yards with four touchdowns. His legs have always been the separator, elite speed, vision, and the ability to make defenders miss in the open field. Coach Will Hall has repeatedly said he wants at least one quarterback who can move. Zeon is that guy. In camp he consistently showed the ability to extend plays, finish drives with his legs (including multiple red-zone touchdowns in scrimmages), and force defenses to account for the quarterback as a runner. Hall Ball with Option Teeth: Hall’s offense is a multiple-personnel West Coast/spread system built with tempo, shifts, motions, and versatility. He loves tight ends (one-TE base with heavy two-TE packages) and hybrid “Superback” types who can line up in the backfield or in the slot. The running back room is deep. Jamauri McClure, Jaylin Lucas, Maurice Turner, Johnnie Daniels, DJ Dugar, and Jake Randle, the staff has emphasized a run-first approach that sets up play-action. What changes with Zeon under center is how often the quarterback becomes a legitimate run threat in the design of the play. Hall’s football roots include the triple-option principles he learned from his father. That “always have the extra number” mentality shows up in zone-read and option concepts. Camp reports ( @DougJoubert and @greenwavecolin ) noted that every quarterback worked option plays, not just Zeon. With a true dual-threat starter, those concepts move from change-of-pace to core identity. Expect a heavier dose of: • Zone-read and power-read looks where Zeon is reading the defensive end or edge defender • Designed QB keepers and keepers off play-action • Option elements that force the defense to account for the quarterback, the running back, and the pitch man or receiver (Jaylin Lucas) • Misdirection that plays off the threat of Zeon’s speed This is classic “put the defense in conflict” football. When the quarterback can run at a high level, defenses have to slow-play their edges or commit an extra defender. That opens lanes for the backs and creates one-on-ones for the tight ends and receivers on play-action. What It Means Moving Forward Tulane already had the pieces for a physical, multiple run game. Zeon elevates it. The offense doesn’t have to abandon the West Coast passing concepts or the tempo, it simply becomes harder to defend because the quarterback is now a legitimate third option in the run game. Semonza remains a strong backup with a different skill set (more of a pure pocket passer with accuracy). The battle may not be completely closed for the season. Hall has kept things competitive, but the Week 1 decision is clear. Zeon gives Tulane the best chance to stress Duke’s defense with scheme and athleticism from the jump. Louisiana product. Dual-threat experience. A coach who understands how to use a mobile quarterback. The pieces fit. The Green Wave are about to run a heavier option-oriented attack than many expected, and Zeon Chriss-Gremillion is the engine. #RollWave Make sure to follow Patrick Harkness on X
