Former BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff has verbally committed to transfer to Tulane, sources told ESPN.
The school has spent more than a week doing background on Retzlaff, per sources, including having the university’s Title IX office vet the transfer. He’s expected to enroll soon as a walk-on, per sources, and compete for the starting job in training camp in the upcoming weeks.
Retzlaff’s departure from BYU came following his formal withdrawal from the school on July 11 in the wake of BYU’s planned seven-game suspension of him for violating the school’s honor code.
That BYU suspension arose after Retzlaff was accused in a lawsuit in May of this year of raping a woman in 2023. Retzlaff denied “each and every allegation” in a response and was never charged legally.
The lawsuit ended up being dismissed on June 30, with the parties jointly agreeing to dismiss with prejudice. Retzlaff’s response included an admission of premarital sex, which is a violation of the BYU honor code, which led to the BYU suspension.
Along with Tulane’s vetting of the situation, Retzlaff will arrive at Tulane with a long history with coach Jon Sumrall. While the coach at Troy, Sumrall recruited Retzlaff. While Retzlaff ended up picking BYU prior to the 2023 season, the two have a yearslong relationship that included an official visit to Troy. Retzlaff, who hails from California, also is familiar with many of the current staffers at Tulane from that time.
Retzlaff’s transfer is an unconventional one in the mechanics of how it worked. Because of the timing of his decision to leave BYU, he couldn’t enter the NCAA transfer portal. (He was just short of his earning his degree.) Instead, he withdrew from school and plans to enroll at Tulane and technically will walk on to the team, per sources.
The timing of the suspension in late June and subsequent transfer led to few schools around the needing a quarterback, as it’s rare for a starter-caliber quarterback to transfer after spring practice. Because this is Retzlaff’s fifth and final season of college football, he was unable to redshirt this year and transfer in a more traditional window.
Retzlaff went 11-2 as a starter for BYU last season, throwing for 2,947 yards and 20 touchdowns. He completed 57.9% of his passes and threw 12 interceptions, establishing himself as a productive Big 12 quarterback on a strong BYU team.
He spent two seasons at junior college before transferring to BYU in 2023, starting in the final four games of the season while maintaining his redshirt for the year. He took over as the full-time starter in 2024 and was poised to be in 2025 before off-field issues diverted him from Provo.
As part of the recruitment, sources said, the Tulane staff made it clear there were no guarantees for him to start and that he would need to earn the job. Retzlaff had suitors at both the Power 4 and Group of 6 level as he made his choice, per sources.
He’ll enter a quarterback situation at Tulane that’s layered in ambiguity after the arrest and subsequent transfer of the talented TJ Finley this spring.
Tulane took Iowa transfer Brendan Sullivan in April after Finley’s issues and also has Ball State transfer Kadin Semonza and Illinois transfer Donovan Leary. Of the four players competing for the Tulane starting job, none was enrolled prior to January.
The void at that position came after Darian Mensah left for Duke after leading Tulane to the AAC title game and completing 65.9% of his passes.
Tulane went 9-5 in Sumrall’s debut season in 2024, which followed 11-win and 12-win seasons under former coach Willie Fritz. Tulane has been ranked in the top 20 in each of the past three years.
