Tulane WR taking on leadership role

[PonyPride]

Tulane's Terranova growing up

By Benjamin Hochman
Staff writer
New Orleans Times-Picayune

RUSTON - While the final minute scampered off the game clock, Tulane was 64 yards and a few dramatic catches away from tying Mississippi State.

And Tulane’s oldest receiver was on the sideline.

Bubba Terranova seethed. The senior found Tulane receivers coach Darryl Mason. He told the coach that he wanted to play – and that he wanted the football.

“I heard it in his voice and saw it in his eyes,” Mason said.

And on Tulane’s fourth-and-nine on its 48, quarterback Lester Ricard completed a 13-yard pass to Terranova.

First down.

But the clocked had painfully ticked to: 08 and Ricard’s next pass attempt would be his last – a 39-yard heave, which fell incomplete.

While Tulane lost, Terranova grew up last Saturday. He emerged as a confident receiver and leader.

“I think last Saturday was the best game he’s played since I’ve been here,” said Mason, whose first season was Terranova’s junior year. “He had a good year his sophomore year – before I got here – but on Saturday he was very competitive, he had a leadership role out there and he pushed himself.

“I just think his attitude came out in that game. He was vocal on the sideline, and I was kind of surprised.”

Mason admitted that the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Terranova didn’t push himself during the offseason as much as the coach expected. Then, Tulane’s lone senior receiver injured his left knee, and missed the bulk of August while recovering from surgery.

“So I didn’t know what to expect,” Mason said. “I didn’t think he was in great shape when we were about to start the season. But when the hurricane came, he had an opportunity (with time off), and I think he took advantage of it to get in shape. And then, when the game came, he stepped up.”

Terranova said Hurricane Katrina demolishing his mother’s home and his car in Slidell put his priorities straight. He talks to his mother, Patti, daily.



“As long as I know she’s all right, it helps me get through the day,” Terranova said.

And he cherishes his opportunities.

“(Dealing with the hurricane) definitely helped me as a man and as a football player. …It just hurts you when you hear someone say, ‘I still have one more year.’ Or, ‘I have three more years.’ ”

In his final 10 regular-season games, Terranova is expected to shift around the line of scrimmage. He is not a starter, but he is second-string at both wideout and slot receiver.

In the opener, he made five catches – only Preston Brown, with nine catches, had more. One of them was a 9-yard bullet from Ricard, one of the evening’s highlights in the 21-14 Green Wave loss.

“It was an out route,” Terranova said. “I was fighting with the defender, and as soon as I turned around, the ball was two feet away from me.”

“He provided leadership being the only senior out there,” said left guard Matt Traina, also a senior. “No matter how much you practice for game-speed, there’s nothing to prepare you for an actual game. He can provide leadership for younger guys who haven’t been there yet.”