From Today's U Sports...
A year ago Tulsa head coach Philip Montgomery arrived at the Oklahoma school from his high-profile stint as Baylor’s offensive coordinator. He was celebrated as an Art Briles protégé.
Oh, how quickly things can change in a year.
Montgomery certainly succeeded in bringing Baylor’s high-scoring spread offense to Tulsa, but “Art Briles” is now a dirty name in college football similar to Joe Paterno’s tarnished image at Penn State.
Briles was fired on May 26 and Baylor chancellor Ken Starr stepped down a few days later over the sexual assault scandal involving Baylor football players.
Montgomery, a Baylor assistant from 2008 to 2014, got out just in time. To continue separating his identity from Briles, he needs a second straight-bowl trip and continued citizenship from his players off the field goes without saying.
The optimism Montgomery reestablished in Tulsa last year was a result of improving the Golden Hurricanes from a 2-10 season that ended a two-year bowl absence. The final record was 6-7 after a 55-52 loss to Virginia Tech in the Independence Bowl, but Tulsa can build on it with a winning record.
The Independence Bowl score was indicative of Tulsa’s problems last year and may be again this season.
Tulsa can score points, but can the defense stop anybody? Virginia Tech only averaged 29.0 points in the regular season.
Tulsa returns 14 starters split evenly on offense and defense with two national award candidates.
Sophomore center Chandler Miller was named to the Rimington Award watch list for the top center and senior punter Dalton Parks to the Ray Guy list for the top punter.
Most importantly, senior quarterback Dane Evans is back. The 6-foot-1, 218-pounder threw for the fifth most yards in school history in 2015 with two 1,000-yard receivers as targets. He averaged 333.2 yards a game, completing 305-of-485 passes for 4,332 with 25 touchdowns with eight interceptions.
Keyarris Garrett (96 catches, 1,588 yards) is gone to the NFL’s Carolina Panthers as an undrafted free agent, but senior Josh Atkinson (76-1,071) returns. So do the No. 4 and No. 5 receivers, sophomore Justin Hobbs (32-551) and senior Keevan Lucas (26-409).
Leading rusher DeAngelo Brewer also is back. The junior averaged 5.2 yards a carry with 162 rushes for 864 yards and six touchdowns. He wasn’t used much as a receiver, but he did contribute 15 receptions for 107 yards and one score.
High scoring comes with playing in the American Athletic Conference with teams favoring spread offenses.
Six teams averaged 30-plus points a game with AAC East winner Temple seventh at 29.8. Tulsa (37.8) was third behind AAC champion and West winner Houston (40.4) and Memphis (40.2).
But does a Tulsa defense that allowed 39.8 points a game to rank 11th in the 12-team AAC have the pieces to improve? Seven returning starters helps; they’re all seniors or juniors.
The unit is led by senior Trent Martin (6-foot-2, 230 pounds), an inside linebacker who earned honorable mention All-AAC last year. He was the only defender to earn AAC recognition, but he is among four of the five top returning tacklers.
Senior linebacker Matt Linscott led the team in tackles followed by Martin, senior strong safety Jeremy Brady and junior cornerback Kerwin Thomas.
The returning starters are spread out amongst the unit. Up front are junior defensive tackle Jesse Brubacker and junior defensive end Jeremy Smith, the LBs are Martin, Linscott and junior Craig Suits and the DBs are Brady and Thomas.
The Hurricanes need to knock at least a couple touchdowns off that defensive scoring average for Montgomery to continue establishing his own head coaching identity.
A year ago Tulsa head coach Philip Montgomery arrived at the Oklahoma school from his high-profile stint as Baylor’s offensive coordinator. He was celebrated as an Art Briles protégé.
Oh, how quickly things can change in a year.
Montgomery certainly succeeded in bringing Baylor’s high-scoring spread offense to Tulsa, but “Art Briles” is now a dirty name in college football similar to Joe Paterno’s tarnished image at Penn State.
Briles was fired on May 26 and Baylor chancellor Ken Starr stepped down a few days later over the sexual assault scandal involving Baylor football players.
Montgomery, a Baylor assistant from 2008 to 2014, got out just in time. To continue separating his identity from Briles, he needs a second straight-bowl trip and continued citizenship from his players off the field goes without saying.
The optimism Montgomery reestablished in Tulsa last year was a result of improving the Golden Hurricanes from a 2-10 season that ended a two-year bowl absence. The final record was 6-7 after a 55-52 loss to Virginia Tech in the Independence Bowl, but Tulsa can build on it with a winning record.
The Independence Bowl score was indicative of Tulsa’s problems last year and may be again this season.
Tulsa can score points, but can the defense stop anybody? Virginia Tech only averaged 29.0 points in the regular season.
Tulsa returns 14 starters split evenly on offense and defense with two national award candidates.
Sophomore center Chandler Miller was named to the Rimington Award watch list for the top center and senior punter Dalton Parks to the Ray Guy list for the top punter.
Most importantly, senior quarterback Dane Evans is back. The 6-foot-1, 218-pounder threw for the fifth most yards in school history in 2015 with two 1,000-yard receivers as targets. He averaged 333.2 yards a game, completing 305-of-485 passes for 4,332 with 25 touchdowns with eight interceptions.
Keyarris Garrett (96 catches, 1,588 yards) is gone to the NFL’s Carolina Panthers as an undrafted free agent, but senior Josh Atkinson (76-1,071) returns. So do the No. 4 and No. 5 receivers, sophomore Justin Hobbs (32-551) and senior Keevan Lucas (26-409).
Leading rusher DeAngelo Brewer also is back. The junior averaged 5.2 yards a carry with 162 rushes for 864 yards and six touchdowns. He wasn’t used much as a receiver, but he did contribute 15 receptions for 107 yards and one score.
High scoring comes with playing in the American Athletic Conference with teams favoring spread offenses.
Six teams averaged 30-plus points a game with AAC East winner Temple seventh at 29.8. Tulsa (37.8) was third behind AAC champion and West winner Houston (40.4) and Memphis (40.2).
But does a Tulsa defense that allowed 39.8 points a game to rank 11th in the 12-team AAC have the pieces to improve? Seven returning starters helps; they’re all seniors or juniors.
The unit is led by senior Trent Martin (6-foot-2, 230 pounds), an inside linebacker who earned honorable mention All-AAC last year. He was the only defender to earn AAC recognition, but he is among four of the five top returning tacklers.
Senior linebacker Matt Linscott led the team in tackles followed by Martin, senior strong safety Jeremy Brady and junior cornerback Kerwin Thomas.
The returning starters are spread out amongst the unit. Up front are junior defensive tackle Jesse Brubacker and junior defensive end Jeremy Smith, the LBs are Martin, Linscott and junior Craig Suits and the DBs are Brady and Thomas.
The Hurricanes need to knock at least a couple touchdowns off that defensive scoring average for Montgomery to continue establishing his own head coaching identity.
