Tulsa Golden Hurricane 2018 Football Preview
Opening Statement: The 2017 season presented a nasty fall from grace for Tulsa after the Golden Hurricane had lost several top performers from the 2016 season. Tulsa fell from 10 wins to 2, and fell from 42 points per game to 29 offensively. They also went from allowing 29.7 points per game to allowing 37.5 points per game defensively, and ranked 127th out of 129 teams in total defense. Phillip Montgomery will have his hands full trying to get Tulsa back up to par, and in getting them back to near the top of the AAC West.
Breakdown Offense: Luke Skipper is back to start at QB after missing 5 games last season. He passed for just 1141 yards and 3 scores, and tossed 4 picks, while completing just 55.9% of his passes. Chad President also returns, but he wasn't much better, passing for just 921 yards in 12 appearances, with 3 TDs and 2 INTs. He completed just 52.9% of his passes on the season. One of these two QBs must step up this fall, or moving up from 2 wins will seem like a massive mountain to climb. As a unit, Tulsa QBs threw just 6 TD passes all season long. Dane Evans tossed 32 alone the season before.
D'Angelo Brewer and his 1500 yards are gone. Shamari Brooks will now step into his roleafter rushing for 687 yards and a team leading 10 scores last season. He averaged 5.77 yards per carry, and could be a candidate for a breakout season as a sophomore. Corey Taylor II should be the number 2 back after carrying just 34 times last fall. Depth is a huge problem.
Josh Stewart, Keenen Johnson, and Justin Hobbs are all back to start at WR, and Keylon Stokes is projected as the 4th starter in the spread offense. Hobbs led the team with 55 catches for 830 yards and 3 scores, and averaged 15.09 yards per carry. Johnson posted 44-539-1, and Stewart posted 13-162-0. Stokes caught just 9 passes in 6 games last season.
The line gets 3 starters back in Tyler Bowling (LG), Chandler Miller (C), and Willie Wright (RT). Washid Muhammed is projected to start at LT, while Tiller Bucktrot is the projected RG.
Breakdown Defense: The defense was as bad as any team in the nation last fall, and there are some real problems still apparent. Shemarr Robinson is the lone returning starter on the line, and will be back at DT once again. He totaled just one TFL last fall. Garrett Flanary is penciled in next to him at DT, while Travis Gipson and Myles Mouton are projected to start at DE. None of these players has provided much pop during their time until now.
Diamon Cannon and Cooper Edmiston are back at LB. Edmiston finished 2nd on the team with 106 tackles last fall, but added just 2 TFLs. Cannon was good for 60 tackles and 4 TFLs. Robert Revels III is penciled in for the open LB spot, and totaled 25 tackles off the bench last season. Treyvon Reeves adds some depth.
The secondary returns 3 starters in Akayieb Evans (CB), Reggie Robinson III (CB), and McKinley Whitfield (S). Robinson led the team with 9 PBUs last fall, but Evans struggled in coverage last season with just 2 PBUs. Whitfield totaled 8 PBUs, and led the team with 113 tackles. Keidrien Wadley is expected to fill the open Safety spot. He played in 9 games as a sophomore in 2017. Cristian Williams will back up at both Safety spots, while depth needs to be found at CB. Look for Daiquain Jackson to push for a Safety job at some point after redshirting to transition over from RB.
Breakdown Special Teams: Nathan Walker walks into the starting PK job as a senior this fall, but has never attempted a kick at Tulsa.
Thomas Bennett is back at Punter, and was solid last season with an average of 42.31 yards per punt.
Keylon Stokes will be back in the KR role this fall, and averaged 20.27 yards per return. Tulsa returned just 3 punts as a team last fall, and will be looking for a new PR man in camp.
Final Analysis: Stopping anybody on defense will be an upgrade over their utter failures of 2017. The QB situation has to develop firmly this fall as well, as the run game could be more of benefit if defenses honestly believed that they could throw the football. There are some tools available, but getting Tulsa much above where they were a year ago is going to be a major challenge this season, as the defense really does not have a lot to show for it in terms of overall change, or talent for that matter. Montgomery has to get this program back on track, or the old hot seat could come calling for him next winter.
No comments:
Post a Comment