Photo Credit: Parker Waters
Welcome to Part 1 of our nine-part series getting you ready for the start of Tulane’s 2024 football season. This is the type of content we will continue to bring you on a subscription basis, through our new website, starting soon.
As a reminder, everyone that works for FTW is a volunteer. The Collective’s mission is that the dollars should be distributed directly to the student-athletes, not to those within the Collective. Jimmy and Michael have set the example that we aren’t doing this to earn a nickel — we’re all doing this to support the student-athletes and to try and help our programs win!
Without further ado, here is my preview of the running back room:
The Potential Starter:
Makhi Hughes
I thought it appropriate to start off with the running backs and Hughes, given the time of year. At this time last summer, Makhi Hughes was coming off of an injury that cost him the entire 2022 season. He was completely buried on the depth chart, among a group of backs all looking to take the lion’s share of the work for an offense and program that somehow would have to find a way to replace Tyjae Spears’ 253 touches from the year before. By the end of the season-opener against South Alabama, it was clear that he should be given every opportunity to be the lead back, moving forward. Easy to say in hindsight, sure, but we at FTW first-guessed that one on our immediate reaction podcast to that South Alabama game.
In the end, Hughes would actually surpass Spears’ 253 total touches in 2022 with 268 of his own, in 2023. He turned his 257 carries into 1,373 yards, good for an average of 5.3 yards per attempt, while finding the endzone 7 times and putting the ball on the ground not once. For his efforts, he was named the 2023 AAC Rookie of the Year and was a First-Team All Conference selection. There can be little debate that Hughes should again pace the backfield in touches, but we could see efforts to work in others and help keep his legs fresh come November and December. It’s also fair to wonder whether new offensive coordinator Joe Craddock will get him move involved in the passing game, after he saw just 12 targets a year ago.
Potential Depth:
Arnold Barnes
Barnes, a local product from Booker T. Washington, now begins his second season with the Green Wave. Barnes chose Tulane over Iowa, Memphis, and Nebraska, among others. He was a top-50 recruit in the State of Louisiana by 247 in 2023, and seems to have settled in quite nicely this spring. There were few players who saw their stock rise during spring practices, to my eye, as much as Barnes did. He appeared stronger, faster and more confident than when we got glimpses of him in August and September of 2023. To be sure, his work in a limited sample size during the 2023 season was impressive; on 24 carries he amassed 143 yards (6.0 yards per attempt) and took 3 of those carries for 10+ yards. He fell out of the rotation after a costly fumble against UAB in late September and only saw 12 carries the rest of the season. It should be noted, in his defense, that the aforementioned turnover has been the only fumble of his career, to date.
Shaadie Clayton-Johnson
Clayton-Johnson has been a valuable depth piece over these past two seasons after spending the first two years of his collegiate career at Colorado. He averaged 5.95 yards across 62 touches in 2022 (55 carries and 7 receptions), backing up future NFL starter Tyjae Spears. In 2023, he dealt with some injuries, but still posted 5.02 yards per touch across 50 total touches (40 carries and 10 receptions). You may recall his 29-yard catch and run to put Tulane in field goal position with just a few seconds remaining in the first half at Rice, last season. His explosive play set Valentino Ambrosio up for a 41-yard field goal to end the half, which ultimately proved to be the difference in a 30-28 Tulane victory. That’s an element of Clayton-Johnson’s game that Joe Craddock would be wise to try and integrate.
Trey Cornist
Trey Cornist was yet another exciting 2023 signee who is just looking for an opportunity. He was 247’s 43rd highest ranked running back in that class, and chose Tulane over offers from Kansas State, Louisville, Kentucky, Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Purdue, and West Virginia, among others. While he did not see the field in 2023, he should have a much clearer path to earning a role in the offense, with the departures of reserve backs Shedro Louis and Iverson Celestine.
Jamauri McClure
McClure is a 5’10, 190 pound true freshman from Goshen High School in Goshen Alabama. He was committed to South Alabama for a time, decommitted in November of 2023 and then visited Troy in December of 2023, right around the time David Harris was courting Jon Sumrall. He ended up committing to and signing with Tulane a little over a week after Sumrall took the reigns of the Green Wave program. McClure also held offers from Ole Miss, Cincinnati and Purdue, among others. He was not an early enrollee and therefore didn’t participate in spring practice with Tulane (in fairness, he was a little busy dusting the rest of the 2A class in the 200 meter state championship in Alabama, with a time of 21.88), so we will get our first look at him, this camp.
This is part one of nine of our position-by-position preview. We hope you have enjoyed this and will continue to follow along, with us. Next up? WIDE RECEIVER.
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