Tulane 2026 Football Schedule

After putting the nail in the coffin last week against Memphis on a 48-yard touchdown run, Johnnie Daniels starts to look forward to his next opponent, UTSA.

He discussed the huge win over the Tigers after we met with Coach Will Hall, and he gave some insight on the Wave's next opponent.

Resilience

In response to a question about how much of a serious boost this win is for the program, Daniels said, "Just an amazing confidence boost. Believing in each other."

"Just (believing) that we can do the little things right and prove everybody wrong."

Speaking to his freshman QB Trace Johnson, who made his first collegiate start last Friday, Daniels had plenty of flowers to hand out.

"(What really impressed me was) the way he extended the plays. Staying calm when the pressure was high. It showed a lot of maturity from him... Trace (Johnson) did a great job."

The Tulane QB room has seen plenty of shuffling of the deck since the start of the season: from starting Houston transfer Zeon Chriss-Gremillion, to benching him after the first half against Duke for Kadin Semonza, to finally settling on the frosh Johnson last week against Memphis for what seems to be the true starting quarterback for the wave.

Being able to stick through the interchange, Daniels said, "(The offense) is versatile. Being able to adapt to anything. Like we always say, 'next man up' mentality."

Strong, Healthy Running Back Room

That versatility applies more to the running back room perhaps more than any other position due to the brimming talent inside the room, with all of them making an argument for extra playing time.

When he was asked how he felt being trusted to put the game away on that critical fourth and one, he said, "It felt great that the coaches trust me. I do a lot in the little things to gain their trust."

The competition that comes with that extremely gifted room was commented on by Daniels, pointing out how the competition has only brought the room closer.

"It's just friendly competition, we all know that. Anybody in the room can start and score at any point."

Running over the Roadrunners

In respect to preparing for UTSA compared to Memphis, Daniels had the same approach, "Same thing. The next best thing, that's how we do it. Prepping more because they're saying they're the number one team in the conference. Everybody preparing and being more detailed every week."

Flipping to the defense, Daniels had confidence that they'd show out again against the Roadrunners.

"The defense is going to come to play. It's going to be a great game... They said (they'd show out last week), and they said the same this week."

One of the highlights of last week was TJ Smith taking an interception 76 yards to the house, and here was Daniels' reaction: "I was so hyped. I was just yelling on the sideline... it was like a movie."