Wave of honors: Tulane dominates AAC honors

Ed Daniels
·9 min read
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IRVING, Texas (WGNO) — The No. 22 CFP nationally ranked Tulane football team (11-1, 8-0 AAC) racked up three of the league’s end of the season awards and a total of 18 All-American Athletic Conference (AAC) selections on Wednesday. The program saw Willie Fritz picking up Coach of the Year distinction, Michael Pratt earning Offensive Player of the Year honors and Makhi Hughes receiving the Rookie of the Year award. The team’s 18 overall selections to All-AAC All-Conference were also tied for the most in the league.

Willie Fritz was named the AAC Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season. It was the third time that a Tulane coach has taken home the honor from a conference as Tommy Bowden was named the CUSA Coach of the Year in 1998. Fritz’s 11 wins this season are already tied for the second-most in school history and is only the fifth time that a Tulane program has won 10 or more games. His undefeated record in AAC play marks only the fourth time that the Green Wave went through a regular season conference schedule unblemished (8-0 in 1934 in the SEC, 5-0 in 1939 in the SEC, 6-0 in 1998 in the CUSA and 8-0 in 2023 in the AAC). Tulane started the season ranked and have kept their ranking in eight total weeks on the campaign. The program also has been ranked in the College Football Playoff Ranking in each week of the poll this year and are currently placed No. 22 nationally in the metric. Tulane’s AAC regular season title earned with the 29-16 victory over UTSA on Nov. 24 was only the fourth in the history of the program. The team will vie for its second consecutive AAC Football Conference Championship title with a home matchup on Saturday against SMU.

Michael Pratt earned the AAC’s Offensive Player of the Year for the first time in his career.  It also marked the second time that a Tulane player has ever taken home an end-of-the-year Offensive Player of the Year Award from the AAC since the Green Wave joined the conference in 2014 following Tyjae Spears being named the Offensive Player of the Year last season. Pratt is only the third different Tulane player to be named a Conference Player of the Year since Shaun King took home the honor in 1998 when the school was playing in Conference USA. Overall, it is only the fourth time overall that a Tulane player has taken home a Conference Player of the Year honor with King also being named the 1997 CUSA Player of the Year. This season, Pratt is 164-for-247 for 2,168 yards and 21 passing touchdowns. He has a completion percentage of 66.4 and a passing efficiency of 164.8. Pratt is also the team’s second-leading rusher with 88 carries for 321 yards and four touchdowns. He was named the AAC’s Offensive Player of the Week twice (9/4 & 10/23) during the 2023 campaign. Additionally, this season he became the school’s all-time leader in career passing yards (9,365) and passing touchdowns (89). Besides being named the AAC Offensive Player of the Year, Pratt also was named First Team All-AAC for the first time in his career after being a Second Team All-AAC choice in 2022.

Makhi Hughes took home the league’s Rookie of the Year honor. He became the first Tulane player to capture the award in the AAC and the second overall in school history to be named a conference Freshman of the Year as Mewelde Moore earned CUSA’s Freshman of the Year in 2000. Hughes leads the team and the conference with his 1,246 yards rushing. He is averaging 5.4 yards per carry. Hughes became just the eighth different Tulane running back, and first freshman, to top 1,000 yards rushing this season joining Matt Forte, Tyjae Spears, Mewelde Moore x2, Eddie Price x2, Darius Bradwell, Dontrell Hillard and Andre Anderson. He has seven 100-yard rushing performances this season including a career-high of 166 against UTSA. Hughes put together a streak of six consecutive 100-yard rushing games from 9/30 – 11/11. He led the conference not only in rushing yards overall but also in rushing yards in league-only games with 1,001.

Joining Pratt and Hughes from the offense as AAC First Team All-Conference selections this year is offensive tackle Cameron Wire and center Sincere Haynesworth. This was the first time that Wire has earned All-AAC honors since he transferred to Tulane from LSU, while this is the fourth time that Haynesworth has been an All-AAC choice (Second Team in 2020, Honorable Mention in 2021 and First Team in 2022).

Wire and Haynesworth have helped paved the way for a Tulane offense that is averaging 27.9 points a game. The offense is putting up 167.3 yards rushing and 221.1 passing yards a contest. Tulane has topped the 20-point barrier in 11 of the team’s 12 games with a high of 37 points against South Alabama.

Earning First Team All-AAC honors from the defense this year for Tulane are defensive lineman Darius Hodges, defensive lineman Patrick Jenkins and cornerback Jarius Monroe. This is the second All-AAC selection for Hodges as he earned Second Team honors last season. This was the second All-AAC selection for Jenkins as he was also a Second Team choice a season ago. This is the second time that Monroe has earned an honor from the league after also being a First Team choicer in 2022.

Hodges leads the team and is fourth in the conference with his 7.5 sacks. He is tied for third on the team with his 8.5 tackles for loss among his 23 total tackles. Hodges also leads the team with his four quarterback hurries.

Jenkins is tied for the team lead with his 11 tackles for loss and ranks second on the squad with his 5.5 tackles for loss. On the year he has 31 tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovered.

Monroe has 45 tackles, 3.5 stops for loss, a sack, two interceptions and eight pass breakups this season.

Tulane’s AAC Second Team selections consisted of linebacker Jesus Machado, cornerback Lance Robinson Jr. and safety Kam Pedescleaux. This was the first All-AAC selection for each of them since they arrived on the Tulane campus.

Machado leads the team with his 92 tackles. He also has three stops for loss and an interception plus a pass breakup. Machado ranks fourth overall in the league in tackles.

Robinson leads the team and the conference with four interceptions. He has 37 tackles and seven pass breakups on the season. Robinson also had both a forced fumble and fumble recovery.

Pedescleaux has played in all 12 games this season and leads the squad with his 11 pass breakups. He also has four tackles for loss, a forced fumble and an interception. Pedescleaux was named the AAC’s Defensive Player of the Week on Nov. 27.

The Third Team All-AAC Tulane selections are offensive tackle Rashad Green, wide receiver Chris Brazzell II, wide receiver Lawrence Keys III, linebacker Tyler Grubbs and return specialist Jha’Quan Jackson. It was the first time that Green, Brazzell, Keys and Grubb have been named to All-AAC teams during their career at Tulane. For Jackson it was his second All-AAC selection as he was a Second Team selection in 2022 as a return specialist.

Green has helped pave the way for a Tulane offense that is averaging 27.9 points a game. The offense is putting up 167.3 yards rushing and 221.1 passing yards a contest. Tulane has topped the 20-point barrier in 11 of the team’s 12 games with a high of 37 points against South Alabama.

Brazzell leads the team in receptions with 41 and receiving yards with 670. He is also averaging 16.3 yards a catch and is placed tied for second on the team with five receiving touchdowns.

Keys is placed second on the team with his 33 catches for 599 yards. He leads the team and is placed fifth in the league with his seven touchdown receptions.

Grubbs is second on the team in tackles with 62. He also has 6.5 tackles for loss and three sacks plus a pass breakup.

Jackson has returned nine punts for 110 yards and is averaging 12.2 yards per return. He also has 24 catches for 421 yards and four touchdowns.

Tulane also had three players earn All-AAC Honorable Mention honors in linebacker Devean Deal, punter Will Karoll and return specialist Shedro Louis. It was the first All-AAC selection for all three.

Deal is tied for the team lead with 11 tackles for loss. He also has totaled 36, three sacks, an interception, a pass breakup and a forced fumble.

Karoll has punted 32 times for 1,385 for 43.3 yards per punt. He has a long of 61 yards, has placed 10 punts inside the 20 and has eight kicks of 50 yards or more.

Louis has returned 14 kicks for 437 yards and has an average of 31.2 yards per return. His average would place him among the national leader if he had enough returns to qualify. He had an electric 100-yard touchdown return against Tulsa (11/11).  It was the eighth time that a Tulane player has had 100-yard kick return in school history and the first since 2003 when Fred Smith did it against TCU (9/1/03). It was only the third 100-yard kick return for Tulane since 1985. The kick return touchdown was the first for Tulane since 2019 against UCF by Stephon Huderson (11/23/19)

Tulane’s football team will host SMU in the AAC Football Championship at Yulman Stadium on Saturday at 3 p.m. It will be the second straight year that the program has hosted the AAC Championship.

Tulane 

AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Michael Pratt, QB, Tulane

AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Makhi Hughes, RB, Tulane

AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE COACH OF THE YEAR

Willie Fritz, Tulane

All-Conference First Team
Pos.     Player

OT       Cameron Wire
C         Sincere Haynesworth
QB       Michael Pratt
RB       Makhi Hughes
DL       Darius Hodges
DL       Patrick Jenkins
CB       Jarius Monroe

All-Conference Second Team
Pos.     Player

LB       Jesus Machado
CB       Lance Robinson Jr.
S          Kam Pedescleaux

All-Conference Third Team
Pos.     Player

WR      Chris Brazzell II
WR      Lawrence Keys III
OT       Rashad Green
LB       Tyler Grubbs
RS       Jha’Quan Jackson

All-Conference Honorable Mention
Pos.     Player

LB       Devean Deal
P          Will Karoll
RS       Shedro Louis

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