Tulane Football's Talented Transfers Should Strengthen Green Wave Running Game

This offseason Tulane lost its star running back Makhi Hughes in the transfer portal. Hughes will now spend his 2025 year as an Oregon Duck.

A season ago, Hughes ran for 1,401 yards and 15 touchdowns plus an additional 176 yards and two touchdowns receiving. He was 10th in Division I rushing yards and tied for 18th in rushing touchdowns.

Losing Hughes certainly will hurt, but the Wave brought in two new key additions in an attempt to create an electric running back room.

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While Tulane does return running back Arnold Barnes III, who ran for 402 yards and six touchdowns in his sophomore season with Tulane, transfer additions from Louisville and Florida Atlantic to round out this group of running backs.

Louisville transfer running back Maurice Turner rushed for 136 yards and a touchdown for the Cardinals a season ago. The year prior he ran for 287 yards and a touchdown.

He has proven himself a solid contributor at a high level. He will be a viable option in the run game in his junior season.

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Florida Atlantic transfer Zuberi Mobley ran for 487 and four touchdowns for the Owls. He was particularly impressive in Florida Atlantic's 38-20 win over FIU, a game in which he ran for 134 yards and three touchdowns.

Mobley decided to transfer within the AAC and now has the chance to produce impressive numbers for the Green Wave. Mobley is an experienced running back who will look to have a prominent senior season in New Orleans.

While both Turner's and Mobley's respective roles in this Tulane offense are yet to be determined, at the very least, they provide great depth at an important position.

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The loss of Hughes has been mitigated as best as possible by building a running back corps with multiple promising options. In a college football landscape where the transfer portal is incredibly important, the Green Wave certainly used it well in building this group of running backs for the upcoming season.

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