Like the Tulane Green Wave As they face a season that will test them mentally and physically during a short week in Charlotte, they will need to focus at critical moments.
They have faced adversity on the field, aside from the hurricane that changed their preparation for Oklahoma. Back-to-back road races on Saturday and Thursday present a unique challenge of external factors and extra mental and physical strain.
It is critical to build the team’s mental toughness before these moments. This means that young boys should be on the field in critical situations as early as possible in the year.
Against Kansas State, freshman safety Jack Tchienchou’s playmaking ability allowed him to take meaningful snaps, while sophomore Kevin Adams continued to creep onto the field as his counterpart.
Six opponents later, Tchienchou led Tulane with eight solo tackles against North Texas, saving a crucial breakaway run with a tackle similar to Adams’ to take down Dean Connors to prevent a touchdown against Rice. Adams recovered the fumble on special teams.
They’ve completed several matches since Week 2, and Tchienchou sees how that time on task has built strength and bonds.
“Coach Gas (Gasparato) tells us you are not young after the spring season. You’re not a young guy anymore. Kevin and I took it upon ourselves as if it were our job to come in and not lose a step or lose pace. I think we’ve kept raising the bar and the older guys before us have set a good example. We can just keep that up.”
Veterans Jalen Geiger and Bailey Despanie have been important models for the two players to learn from. There was no better representation of the team’s core values than Despanie is on the sidelines after his expulsion for targeting Oklahoma. I remember him hugging the next young players in line and several moments of in-game coaching that translated quickly.
“His experience is something you can’t teach,” Tchienchou agreed. “He can even help me on the field by letting me know and warning me about things he thinks are going to happen. And even if it doesn’t happen, it stays in the back of my mind, and I’m able to play continue on the things he helped me with.”
Geiger spoke earlier this year about the temperament of the young defenders and specifically pointed to Tchienchou as a young, true leader.
“Even though he’s young, he’s still going to go the extra mile, he’s going to talk. I think we all have that connection with each other. We all hang out outside of football, so we all just know in these big moments, these In difficult moments we know that we support each other.”
One level higher, the Green Wave linebackers show similar ties of brotherhood. Despite Sam Howard When Tyler Grubbs transferred to Tulane just this summer, he couldn’t believe how seamlessly they connected, a sign of the ultimate culture fit on the roster.
“With Sam coming in, it’s hard to build relationships when things are moving so fast. You can’t really build great relationships if you’re worried about this and that. It’s hard to sit down and talk to someone. But me and him are very connected for some reason. We see a lot of things the same way. It’s special to have someone next to you who is such a leader and sees the same things as you who wants that greatness .”
“I think our friendship and the way we push each other kind of impacts our team, where everyone sees how we push each other. It’s a great show of leadership for everyone else. So to have him every game and all the time To have this leadership role that we have next to me is special.”
When faced with adversity, Tulane’s response is universal: good. That only works if there is team-wide buy-in. They won’t be immune to those moments against the 49ers on Thursday. But they won’t have fresh legs or diligent enough preparation to leave this to the plans on the field.
It is critical that the Green Wave players view each other as brothers and lean on that competitive advantage to level the playing field at Charlotte.