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Tulsa Football Players Report to Preseason Camp
8/8/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 8, 2004
Tulsa, Oklahoma - The University of Tulsa football team reported to preseason camp on Sunday afternoon as the Hurricane coaching staff welcomed a total of 100 players to campus. The group includes 65 returning players and 35 newcomers. Among the newcomers 19 are scholarship players and 16 are walk-ons. Tulsa returns 42 letterwinners, including eight starters on offense and eight starters on the defensive side of the ball. "It's exciting to have everyone back and to get back onto the field. It's been a long four months since we've had a chance to go out and practice football together. I can't wait for Monday night, so we can get out there on the practice field and shape our team for the 2004 season," said Kragthorpe. Senior quarterback James Kilian leads the offense after throwing for 2,217 yards and 22 touchdowns and finishing second on the team in rushing with 605 yards and seven TDs last year. Kilian will have four of his top five receivers returning in 2004. The tight end combo of senior Caleb Blankenship and junior Garrett Mills combined to catch 86 passes for 843 yards and 12 touchdowns, while senior receivers Montiese Culton and Jermaine Landrum totaled 693 yards and two touchdowns. Junior running back Uril Parrish appears healthy from a knee injury that sidelined him for the final four games of the 2003 season. Before the injury, Parrish was Tulsa's leading rusher with 537 yards for a 5.4 average per carry and five touchdowns. Sophomore Brandon Diles saw valuable playing time as a true freshman and gained 271 yards on an eight-yard average per carry. The offensive line returns four starters in the likes of senior center Derek Warehime, junior guards Jesse Stoneham and Victor Mercado and sophomore tackle Jeff Perrett. In addition, senior guard Matt Black, a starter in the season opener last year, returns to the lineup after missing all but the first game of the 2003 campaign with a knee injury. Defensively, ends Brandon Lohr and Josh Walker return to the starting lineup, but Lohr moves outside after playing the 2003 season at nose guard. Tulsa will be young on the defensive front, but returns sophomores John Mila and Robert Latu and junior Drew Lagow, all saw action a year ago. The linebacker corps is led by senior second-team all-WAC selection Michael LeDet and the WAC Freshman of the Year Nick Bunting. LeDet is Tulsa's leading returning tackler with 91 stops and nine tackles for -58 yards. Bunting, also a first-team all-WAC selection in 2003, tallied 79 tackles and seven stops for -22 yards. The defensive secondary returns four of five starters from last year, including senior cornerbacks Jermaine Hope and Oliver Fletcher, senior SPUR Clint Rountree and sophomore free safety Shannon Carter. Those four players totaled 256 tackles, 11 interceptions and 21 pass breakups in 2003. A pair of sophomores, bandit Bobby Blackshire and cornerback Nick Graham will compete for starting positions after seeing valuable playing time as true freshmen a year ago. Among the 19 scholarship newcomers, three are transfers and 16 are true freshmen. Five junior college transfers from last year's recruiting class joined the Hurricane at mid-semester 2004. Seventeen of Tulsa's 19 scholarship newcomers participated in summer workouts on the TU campus under the direction of strength and conditioning director Shawn Griswold. This is the second year that NCAA rules preclude newcomers from practicing before the veterans return to camp. "Now, the newcomers are thrown into the fire," said Kragthorpe. "There's no indoctrination period for them. So we're going to throw them into the fray pretty quickly. In some respects, that may be positive because you get a chance to react to a very tough situation that we're putting them in because of the rules stipulation." Among the transfers, OU transfer Bobby Klinck, who had an All-America career as a prep senior at Jenks (OK) High School, will compete for playing time in the secondary. JC transfer Conner Long comes to Tulsa after catching 15 passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns last season at Fresno City College. Sophomore Ryan Jackson is a transfer from Hutchinson (KS) Junior College, but will have to sit out the 2004 campaign. Among the freshman class is a group of highly-touted players, including Tarrion Adams, a running back from Moore (OK) High School, Texas defensive backs Randy Duncan and Ty Page, Oklahoma defensive back Anthony Germany, as well as Damacho Ousley, a receiver from Tulsa's Booker T. Washington High School. Those five players were recognized by either PrepStar magazine or Rivals.com as some of the best at their positions. Two walk-ons, Jared Brejcha and JD Wright, both members of the 2003 team, did not return to the Hurricane. Tulsa will have its first practice on Monday night at Harwell Field. Practices on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will be open to the public. The remaining preseason practices beginning on Thursday will be closed.
