Only one former Trojan who is playing college football this year is still alive in the 2025 season.
Maurice Turner, a redshirt junior running back with the Tulane University Green Wave, started out the season strong but saw another year sidelined by injury. He made a return to the field late in the season in limited action. Now, his Tulane team is on the cusp of a berth in the College Football Playoff while also in a coaching controversy.
Turner had two carries for 11 yards in Tulane’s 27-0 win over Charlotte last Saturday. The Green Wave are 10-2 overall (7-1 in conference) and play the University of North Texas Mean Green tonight on ABC for the American Conference Championship. The winner of this game will likely be the highest ranked Group of 5 team and therefore will earn a spot in the playoff.
The game is being played at Tulane and North Texas is a 2.5-point favorite. Tulane is ranked #20 in the College Football Playoff while North Texas is #24. In the AP Top 25, North Texas is #20 and Tulane is #21.
Additionally, Jon Sumrall, Tulane’s head coach, has been hired by the Florida Gators as their new coach. However, Sumrall will coach Tulane in the conference championship and beyond should the Green Wave advance. Oklahoma State has hired North Texas’s head coach, Eric Morris, as its new coach. Like Sumrall, Morris will coach the Mean Green in tonight’s title game and in the playoff if North Texas wins.
Note: The seasons for Georgia Military College (Tyrese Woodgett, Jerzabeon Grant, and Kyler Smith), Reinhardt University (Chris Reed), the University of West Georgia (Jyarius Carter), Clark Atlanta (Jaydon Vester), Fort Valley State (Larenzo Harvey), Western Carolina (Jackson Banks), and Charleston Southern (Jayden Hancock and Anthony Paulk) have all ended.
