Jake Retzlaff has committed to an American Conference school following BYU departure

PROVO (KSL.com) — Former BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff has verbally committed to Tulane, according to multiple reports Monday, where he will enroll at Tulane and compete for the starting quarterback job at the American Conference program in New Orleans (the conference rebrand included dropping “Athletic” from its name, as announced Monday).

ESPN was the first to report the news, adding that the school spent more than a week investigating Retzlaff including a check from the university’s Title IX office. The Athletic and FOX Sports, among others, also reported the commitment.

Retzlaff, 22, has one season of college eligibility remaining as a fifth-year senior following his withdrawal from BYU due to a violation of the school’s honor code. The first Jewish starting quarterback in BYU history was the subject of a civil lawsuit filed by a Salt Lake-area woman in the spring that alleged sexual assault, which has since been dropped.

Within a few days, the lawsuit was dropped. But the consensual intercourse to which Retzlaff admitted was a violation of the school’s honor code, which among other things encourages BYU students to “live a chaste and virtuous life, including abstaining from sexual relations outside marriage between a man and a woman.”

That led to Retzlaff withdrawing from BYU and searching for a new team to represent without the use of the NCAA’s transfer portal. Instead, Retzlaff will enrolled in school like any other college student, walk on to the Green Wave’s football program, and compete for a starting job that appears to be wide open.

Tulane is looking to replace Darian Mensah, the California-born quarterback who threw for 2,727 yards and 22 touchdowns with six interceptions en route to the Green Wave’s 9-4 season a year ago that included a berth in the AAC championship game and Gasparilla Bowl loss to Florida.

After Mensah transferred to Duke, Tulane stocked up its quarterback room with transfers in bringing in Brendan Sullivan from Iowa, Donovan Leary from Illinois, Kadin Semonza from Ball State and Jakson Judge from Middle Tennessee to compete with three freshmen or redshirt freshmen on the 2025 roster.

TJ Finley, the former LSU and Auburn quarterback who played five seasons at four schools, was also on the roster in the spring. But he transferred following a suspension stemming from an arrest on April 2 on charges of illegal possession of more than $25,000 in stolen items, according to ESPN.

That left Sullivan and Semonza, who threw for 2,904 yards and 25 touchdowns with 10 interceptions as a starter at Ball State, as the likely front-runners for the job. But that may change with second-year head coach Jon Sumrall exploring the portal again and bringing in Retzlaff, who completed 57.9% of his passes for 368 yards and 20 touchdowns with 12 interceptions in the Cougars’ 11-2 campaign a year ago.