Jewish quarterback Jake Retzlaff will play at Tulane after leaving BYU following suspension

BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff reached a sponsorship deal with Jewish food brand Manischewitz. (Courtesy of Manischewitz)

(JTA) — The first athlete to notch a Manischewitz endorsement is transferring from a university with just a handful of Jewish students to a school with one of the highest proportions of Jewish students in the United States.

Jake Retzlaff will play for Tulane University, according to reports in sports media. Neither Retzlaff nor Tulane has confirmed the move, but Retzlaff retweeted an article about it.

Retzlaff announced earlier this month that he would leave Brigham Young University, the Mormon flagship where he was a star quarterback but also drew a suspension for violating the school’s famously strict honor code. The suspension followed allegations of sexual assault in a civil lawsuit that was later dismissed and Retzlaff’s admission that he had engaged in premarital sex, which BYU prohibits.

Tulane vetted the allegations against Retzlaff thoroughly before inviting him to join its team, according to ESPN. He’ll be one of multiple quarterbacks vying to fill the starting role vacated when a Tulane player was arrested and left the school last year.

The move is meant to keep Retzlaff on the field despite his stumbles at BYU. But it also represents a dramatic shift in the Jewish character of his schools for Retzlaff, who grew up attending a Reform synagogue in Pomona, California.

He was one of just three Jewish students at BYU, where he embraced the nickname “BY-Jew.” At Tulane, in contrast, there are so many Jewish students — about 37%, the most at any non-Jewish university — that the school is known colloquially (and sometimes with annoyance) as “Jewlane.”

Last year, the Tulane Green Wave went 9-5 in its first season under a new coach, finishing second in its American Athletic Conference. It lost to the Florida Gators in the Gasparilla Bowl 33-8.