Wide receiver Shazz Preston was the first player to reach Jake Retzlaff after his eye-opening 69-yard touchdown run against Northwestern on a quarterback draw in Tulane’s season-opener.

The word that may best describe his reaction is “gobsmacked.” Retzlaff, whose reputation as a runner when he transferred from BYU did not precede him, streaked down the field like a sprinter.

“When I watched film on him, I didn’t see any of that, so he definitely surprised me,” Preston said. “He really messed me up. When he did that, I was like, OK, let’s go then. When he kept doing it for the Duke game, I said, OK, we’ve got a pocket passer and we got a little running back in him, too. We’ve got something here.”

They certainly do. Retzlaff rushed for 417 yards on 100 carries with six touchdowns as BYU

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