ALL ABOARD THE GREEN WAVE MOBILE
RB Jamauri McClure is on SOAP watch for 2026.
Pyong on the Yamaha, chromed out 11 hundred. What I'm doing? Getting money.
- Lil Wayne, musician
The Tulane football program has been a productive progenitor of future NFL RBs since the days of Matt Forte and head coaches Chris Scelfo & Bob Toledo. More recently, under the careful watch of Willie Fritz, RB Tyjae Spears dashed for over 1500 yards and 19 scores during the 2022 season. Then came Makhi Hughes, who saw over 200 carries in back-to-back seasons between 2023 and 2024.
In 2025, CFFers were hoping another name would emerge under former head coach Jon Sumrall, who coached Hughes in 2024, and had the FBS’ carry leader in 2023 via Troy RB Kimani Vidal. In the end, it wasn’t meant to be.
But it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Earlier on in the season the Green Wave sought to find the answer through true freshman Javin Gordon, but he struggled with injuries and inconsistency. Ditto for Louisville transfer Maurice Turner.
In November, however, Sumrall and co. found an unlikely engine for their offence. Second year player Jamauri McClure finished the year with five straight games of double digit carries, averaging 5.5 YPC or better in every appearance during that span (including a blowout loss vs. Ole Miss in the CFP).
Here is a note from last December about McClure before Tulane’s CFP game:
McClure, an uber-talented redshirt freshman from Goshen, Alabama, has gone from a fifth-string afterthought in September to the Green Wave’s bellwether back entering its College Football Playoff first-round game at Ole Miss on Saturday.
During the last third of the season, [McClure] has been impressive. The 5-foot-10, 190-pound speedster remains one of the keys for the Green Wave offense.
Unfortunately, he had an offseason procedure on his shoulder which has limited him during spring camp. Though the good news is it sounds like he is at least back on the field in a limited capacity currently—from spring practice on April 4:
Some good news today: last year's breakout running back, Jamauri McClure, was participating in Spring practice for the first time since off-season shoulder surgery. Hold on. Don't get ahead of me: no pads, no contact, but it was good to see McClure get non-contact reps with the offense early in practice. He actually ran through a few holes during offensive drills and was seen during team drills at the end of practice watching from the field.
As mentioned above, McClure was quite effective once he became the primary bellcow late in 2025, and is apparently one of the more elusive returning runners in CFB:
Of course, just like YPC, it’s probably easier to have a ‘higher’ elusiveness rating on a smaller sample of carries, hence why none of the top five players listed in the graphic above are prototypical bell cows with over 200 carries in 2025. In fact, three of the five were well-defined RB2s behind a starter.
Nonetheless, McClure’s YPC and elusiveness rating at least paint a picture of a player who could be great in 2026 with a steady workload. Some players in CFF get a lot of volume and they suck with it. They’re still effective because of the input volume, but they are what we call ‘plodders’. Other players are extremely effective but don’t get the volume (these are always the most unfortunate case studies).
Those in the sweet spot have high-end ability and receive the requisite porcine workload to make some CFF magic happen.
Of course, there is a new staff calling plays this year following Jon Sumrall’s exit to Florida. Former Southern Miss head coach and Tulane’s 2025 pass-game coordinator Will Hall was promoted from within. He was also formerly the OC at Tulane 2019-2020. Ironically, Tulane’s new OC comes from Florida in sort of a coaching swap this offseason—Russ Calloway, who was the OC in 2025, co-OC in 2024, and TEs coach for the Gators in 2023. Besides 2024-2025, Calloway doesn’t have any other play-calling experience.
Let’s take a closer look at what to expect from this new cast of characters in the Boot.
COACHING & SYSTEM
As mentioned, new head coach Will Hall spent several seasons as the head coach of Southern Miss (2021-2024). During that time, his RB1 Frank Gore received over 220 carries in 2022 and 2023. In 2021, Gore received 179 carries, and in 2024 he was no longer with the team and the Golden Eagles deployed a committee approach with the lead runner finishing with 124 carries.
During Hall’s first two years as the OC with Tulane (2019-2020), the Green Wave deployed committee approaches.
Looking at the OC’s limited sample size of play calling data, we really only have 2024 and 2025 Florida. Last season was a success in this context given that Calloway fed RB Jaden Baugh 220 carries over the span of 12 games. The 2024 team split was not as encouraging—Baugh still led the squad but with only 133 carries. I chalk that up to him being a true freshman at the time and the staff not wanting to put too much on his plate.
Overall, like a lot of coaches, I’d say that this staff doesn’t seem to have an intractable preference either way, but they have demonstrated a propensity to ride the right kind of player when the opportunity presents itself.
Unfortunately, while Tulane were able to miraculously hold onto McClure (who flirted with the portal), they will not be returning a lot of experience on the OL (rank 118th in the FBS in returning OL snaps).
Jamauri McClure (5’10, 190)
2025 STATS: 83-540-2 (5.2 PPG)
Stylistically, one thing working against McClure is that he is a different type of commodity compared to OC Calloway’s former RB1, Jaden Baugh. Where the Gator sophomore was a big and bruising back, McClure is more of an elusive, protean runner.
Though he proved over a small sample of five games that he can handle a heavy workload when called upon, and I imagine Will Hall, now the head coach, probably had some hand in the shaping of the offence around McClure last November while Sumrall interviewed for other positions.
I could be wrong about that, but I don’t think I am (lol). What I don’t like and was slightly disappointed with is that McClure was barely used as a receiver. Oftentimes with these speedy players you hope that they also have the receiving profile because that can serve as rocket fuel for their CFF profiles. The bigger guys who aren’t as explosive aren’t as likely to break off a huge catch and run. A player like this on the other hand…
Well, there’s no use in letting my imagination get away from me here—the player either does it or they don’t. In this case, we don’t have any evidence to suggest that McClure is going to be a PPR monster even if he’s the bellcow. Disappointing for sure.
As for his career so far, he really didn’t do much in the first 1.5 years of his CFB tenure. As a true freshman, he appeared in only five games, with a notable performance of 10 carries for 84 yards, one score, and a catch for 24 yards vs. UAB (17.8 full PPR points).
Then in 2025, he was the fifth stringer to open the year, and then randomly starting on November 15 he began seeing double digit carries every game. What can I say, this is why we love the game of CFF, am I right fellas?
He does not have anything particularly notable in his high school profile—a three star rated prospect out of Alabama in the class of 2024—he originally committed to Southern Alabama, but flipped to Tulane later in his process.
Overall, I think it’s telling that Tulane prioritized retaining McClure of all players this offseason during their transition between staffs.
I think of a player like Nebraska’s Emmett Johnson last season, who had a similar strong finish to his previous season (2024) under an interim OC, and then carried the momentum into the next campaign (2025). Of course, EJ’s profile was better because he was used heavily as a receiver, but the vision remains the same for McClure in that hopefully he can carry his momentum over as well.
The ceiling won’t be as high without the receiving work, but if he sees 220+ carries, that can still serve just fine. Hopefully the figure is even higher than that.
It’s a loaded RB group this year, so I don’t think McClure is a guy you want to really reach for, but he is a player that is worth thinking about in the mid-rounds of CFF bestball drafts currently. His health is a question mark, but assuming he eventually gets back to 100%, I view him as the default favourite to be the starter unless we hear otherwise. ◾
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