Jon Sumrall says Josh Remetich’s knee injury is not serious | Tulane

TAMPA, Fla. — Fifth-year senior offensive guard Josh Remetich went down with a knee injury in the first quarter, was carted off the field and did not return in Tulane’s 33-8 loss to Florida on Friday in the Gasparilla Bowl.

Sixth year senior Caleb Thomas replaced him and went the rest of the way but coach Jon Sumrall said the injury was not as serious as it appeared at first glance. Remetich, a Holy Cross product playing his final college game, was able to get up on his old one and walk to the cart with the help of trainers.

“Rem’s (injury) is nothing major,” Sumrall said. “It looked like maybe a sprained MCL. It wasn’t stable enough for him to come back. He’ll be fine, but he wasn’t able to play and finish the game.”

Tulane had avoided significant injury all year on its offensive front, with the same five starters for every game except for Thomas, who started as a homecoming courtesy against Temple.

Security Jack Tchienchou also left in the first half and was unable to return.

“His back was kind of locked,” Sumrall said of Tchienchou. “It was a little muscle strain in his lower back. I thought he had the wind knocked out of him at first, but it was just like a muscle strain. He’ll be fine. It was nothing serious.”

Crescent City connection

Former Tulane safety DJ Douglas and the De La Salle product Montrell Johnsona senior running back, had very little impact on the outcome for Florida.

Johnson, who came in with 593 yards on 100 carries for a team-best 5.9 yards per carry average. carry, was a kickoff returner but never carried the ball in his final college game.

Douglas had two tackles. He started at strong safety against Samford and Texas A&M earlier in the year, but lost his job after struggling in a 33-20 loss to the Aggies and didn’t get it back, making just eight of his 23 tackles after September.

After spending two years as a backup at Tulane, the former Alabama walk-on made 54 tackles with three interceptions for the Wave last season.

Former Tulane running back Cam Carrollwho blew out his knee in August 2023 after transferring to Florida, was on the sidelines on a push cart, having never been able to recover from the serious injury.

Portal power

Tulane added three more players from the transfer portal over the past few days, bringing the total to nine.

Jude McCoskeya 6-foot-8, 300-pound sophomore offensive tackle who started nine games in 2023 and 10 this year for Indiana State, and Robbie Pizzaolatoa 6-4, 320-pound John Curtis product who played guard the past two years at Nicholls after spending two seasons at Tyler Junior College will bolster the offensive line.

Santana Hopsa redshirt sophomore defensive end transfer from Appalachian State, will arrive at Tulane after making 36 tackles with five sacks and two forced fumbles this year.

Tulane loses three offensive starters in Remetich, Rashad Green and Vincent Murphy. Urgent end Matthew Fobbs-White transferred to Baylor last week.

Fun in Florida

As part of its pre-bowl excursions, the Wave went to Busch Gardens on Monday after arriving in Tampa, packed meals for hurricane relief through Feeding Tampa Bay on Tuesday and went to MacDill Air Force Base on Wednesday.

“It’s been a great event,” Sumrall said Wednesday. “The Bowl did a great job of entertaining our guys.”

Lagniappe

Nickelback Caleb Ransaw and cornerback Rayshawn Pleasant was kept out due to minor injuries. … Tulane, which was second in the FBS in time of possession before its three-game skid to end the year, had the ball for just 21:03 to Florida’s 38:57. That followed similar numbers against Memphis (20:20) and Army (25:40) in a complete reversal of the first 11 games. … The Wave practiced at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ facility on Tuesday, marking the third NFL facility it has seen this season. It practiced several times at the Saints’ indoor facility due to inclement weather and also practiced at the New York Giants’ facility after flying up to the American Athletic Conference championship game against Army.