Lifelong Tulane fan Noah Taliancich refuses to feel sorry for himself despite a sports hernia injury that derailed a promising football career.
Taliancich, a three-star defensive line prospect when he came out of Destrehan High in 2020, will play his final game for the Green Wave in the Military Bowl on Wednesday despite having two years of eligibility left. Limited to two tackles in a reserve role this season, he participated in senior day ceremonies last month and will move on with his life after the Wave faces Virginia Tech in Annapolis, Maryland.
“It’s a little bit of everything,” he said. “Injuries definitely played a part of it, but I’m just cherishing every moment and thanking God for what he gave me.”
Taliancich got hurt during his freshman year and never recovered totally from the sports hernia, an injury to the muscles or tendons in the lower abdomen or groin that causes chronic pain. He coped as long as he could until the constant flare-ups wore him down.
“It’s just one of those things you have to kind of doctor and nurse up,” he said. “Last year was probably one of the better years with it, and I was able to do a lot, but this year it’s been catching up to me, so it’s definitely been on my mind and my body. Every time I get out there and go hard, it acts up.”
Taliancich redshirted as a freshman and played sparingly in 2021 before making a significant impact in Tulane’s run to the American Athletic Conference championship in 2022. Managing the discomfort, he made 19 tackles and was on the field for the most important defensive possession of a dream season for the Wave.
Lining up next to Patrick Jenkins on the nose after USC took over at its 1-yard line with 4:06 left in the Cotton Bowl, he saw how close linebacker Dorian Williams was to tackling running back Austin Jones in the end zone on first down.
“I looked back at Dorian and was like, hey, if they run the same play, we’re stuffing it,” he said. “The first play we had it figured out, and then the last play everybody did their assignment and Pat got the safety. It was assignment football, and we played hard and didn’t quit.”
The safety closed Tulane’s deficit to 45-39 and set up the game-winning drive that ended in Alex Bauman’s juggling touchdown catch with nine seconds left, catapulting the Wave into the top 10 of the final polls.
“It was surreal,” Taliancich said. “When that clock hit zero, it all just came full circle for all of us and me especially just being a Tulane fan. I looked up in the crowd and saw my family and you just kind of came to tears. I was overwhelmed and blessed. It’s something a lot of people don’t get, and I’m lucky to have that.”
Taliancich grew up cheering on the Green Wave. His family had season tickets, so he went to all of the games in the Superdome during mostly lost years before Tulane moved to on-campus Yulman Stadium in 2014. Former coach Willie Fritz said Taliancich was his easiest recruit ever because once he was offered, there was no way he was going anywhere else.
Even if his career did not pan out the way he expected, he feels like he has made the most of his opportunity. He earned an undergraduate degree in business management in three years and will get his master’s in management energy next spring, setting himself up for the future.
While doing that hard work in the classroom, he has been part of a previously unimaginable football transformation, winning 23 games the past two years with a chance for No. 24 in the Military Bowl.
“As a Tulane fan growing up, it probably took 10 years to win 23 games,” he said. “It just truly is a blessing. I talk to my grandpa all the time, a huge Tulane fan, and he just tells me I’m so proud of y’all because y’all changed the culture around Tulane.”
That sense of pride covers up any individual disappointment.
“I don’t even look at it like that,” he said. “I look at it as an opportunity. I thank God the most because he gave me this opportunity to be out here and coach up some young guys. That’s really where I saw my role as being a leader and a mentor. You want to see the on-field accolades, but you can’t control everything. You have to control the controllables and just take it like that.”