BYU’s Jake Retzlaff is on his way to Tulane, according to reports by ESPN’s Pete Thamel. According to the sports network, the Tulane Green Wave has been after the former Cougars quarterback for a while, and they spent the last week doing a background check on him. Those conversations included having the school’s Title IX officer approve the transfer.
Arch Manning on the Heisman hype and championship talk around him:
“It’s nice of them to say, but it doesn’t mean anything. Talk is cheap, I gotta go prove it”
(via @TreyWallace_) pic.twitter.com/V2ALtIj1zt
— Arch Manning Highlights (@ArchHighlights) July 15, 2025
Retzlaff parted ways with BYU on July 11th, following a seven-game suspension imposed by the Cougars for violating the school’s honor code. In May, he was accused of having raped a woman in 2023. Retzlaff has denied the allegations at every turn, and the civil lawsuit brought against him was dismissed by a court. He is expected to join Tulane as a walk-on.
He did admit during the proceedings to having had premarital sex, which is a violation of the BYU honor code. At the time, the school released the following statement:
“The university takes any allegation very seriously, following all processes and guidelines mandated by Title IX. Due to federal and university privacy laws and practices for students, the university will not be able to provide additional comment.”

Why is Jake Retzlaff leaving the BYU Cougars? What is he accused of?
According to the lawsuit, the woman visited Jake Retzlaff’s apartment on Nov. 22, 2023. During the evening, they played video games and watched movies. At a point in the night, they began to kiss, and Jake Retzlaff allegedly started to escalate things, and the woman tried to stop him, telling him “wait”, “no,” and “wait, stop.”
Retzlaff was the Cougars’ starting quarterback in 2024, recording 2,947 passing yards, with 20 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions. His QBR was 61.1, which ranked 61st in the country. He led them to an 11-2 record, a No. 13 AP Poll finish, and an Alamo Bowl victory over Colorado.
He was a three-star recruit for the class of 2022, and joined the Cougars in early 2023. The Tulane Green Wave had been looking for a new quarterback after losing starter Darian Mensah to Duke via the transfer portal in late 2024.
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