Tulane Special Teams Are Truly Special in 2025

Football coaches say there are three phases to each game: offense, defense, and special teams. Most fans and media focus on the former two, barely taking a cursory glance at the third phase. This year for the Tulane Green Wave, special teams is something you cannot ignore. Tulane's kick and punt teams are among the top in the country.

Kicker Patrick Durkin Doing Special Things

Freshman place kicker Patrick Durkin is as close to perfect as one can be, hitting all but one of his 21 field goals this season, including a career high 52-yarder last weekend.

The redshirt frosh has not been placed on the watchlist for the Lou Groza award, given to college football's best kicker. That doesn't bother him at all.

"Not really," Durkin said this week. "It's out of my control. I don't really care about personal awards. I really care about team awards, getting back to the conference championship. That taste (of defeat against Army last year), I just don't want to feel that or our team to feel that. All the individual stuff is great, but the main thing is the team stuff. That's all I really care about."

Punter Clark Has Been Booming It

Sophomore transfer punter Alec Clark is averaging over 47-yards a punt out of the 40 he has kicked. A dozen of those have died inside the 20, 15 have been over 50-yards, and the Aussie has topped 70 for his longest.

"(My coaches) just give me free rein (to punt the way I need to)," Clark said. "(Special teams coach Johnathan) Galante gives me the call. They have confidence in me, which give me the mindset to walk out there (to punt) already thinking that I'm already going to help out the team."

Galante Gaining Nomination

This week, Galante was nominated for the 30th annual Broyles Award, honoring the top assistant coach in college football.

"It means everything," Galante reflected. He is in his first year at Tulane. "I am honored to be considered for it. It comes from the top down. (Jon) Sumrall has always placed the utmost importance in the kicking game, having been a special teams coordinator.

Leading The Hullabaloo

Durkin led The Hullabaloo cheer in the locker room after his five field goal performance against Temple last week, something he had done earlier this year against East Carolina, for which the freshman place kicker was a little nervous.

"This past week, I was a little better," Durkin reminisced. "I think each time (he leads it) I'm going to be a little better at it."

Tulane closes out its regular season Saturday night against American Conference opponent Charlotte. Kickoff set for 6:30 p.m. in Yulman Stadium.