Jon Sumrall praises Tulane star wide receiver Mario Williams

It may be bowl season, but as Tulane has discovered, it’s also a time when the transfer portal dominates sports.

Once something rarely used by players because they had to sit out a year when changing schools, the newfound ability for prospects to make unlimited transfers without being forced to sit out a season has ensured that Portal works like in the Wild West.

The Green Wave has experienced this firsthand over the last two years.

First it was Willie Fritz who took the head coaching job at Houston, which led to a lot of roster turnover, and after Jon Sumrall was able to come in and have a successful performance in his debut season, the Power 4 programs pounced on some of their best poach players.

But it can go either way, and Tulane was the beneficiary of their own transfer addition and became a gamebreaker for them, which Sumrall made sure to point out when discussing star wide receiver Mario Williams.

“I was so overwhelmed by Mario from day one. We started our offseason program at 5:50 a.m. in February and all he did was kick everyone’s ass every morning. He gives so much to the team. When he did it.” He tried to draw attention to himself when we won a game. “Like everyone else on our team, he’s fully convinced,” said the head coach, according to Guerry Smith Nola.com.

After graduating from high school, the 1.75 meter tall pass catcher was one of the most sought-after players in the country. Rated as a four-star prospect, the 247Sports Composite Rankings have him ranked No. 43 overall in the 2021 class.

Some may say he didn’t live up to that billing, as he posted 1,316 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns on 104 receptions in the three seasons prior to his arrival in New Orleans, but Sumrall and the Green Wave are certainly happy to have him have.

Williams is just 60 yards away from reaching the 1,000-yard plateau this season, a sign of his very solid performance.

It could be something that puts him back on the radar of NFL teams, but he won’t miss the Gasparilla Bowl to prepare for it

Williams is one of Tulane’s draft-eligible players who isn’t missing the bowl game, and in fact, none of the eligible players will miss the final game of the year.

That bodes well for a Green Wave team looking to finish this season by beating an SEC program in Florida looking to build momentum of its own.