Tulsa Begins Spring Football Drills
2/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Feb. 27, 2006
Tulsa, Oklahoma - Just two months after winning the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, the 2005 Conference USA Football Champions will be back on the football field as The University of Tulsa begins spring football practice on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
Tulsa will hit the practice field on Tuesday night at 9:20 pm to begin its 15-day spring practice schedule.
Tulsa will put in seven practices before departing for Spring Break following classes on Friday, March 10. Players return to workouts on Tuesday, March 21 for two weeks before culminating the spring session with the Annual Spring Game on Saturday, April 1.
The Hurricane returns 44 letterwinners, including 18 on offense, 23 on the defensive side of the ball and three specialists. Tulsa returns seven starters to an offense that averaged 33 points per game and amassed over 400 yards in total offense. The defensive unit has nine starters returning for 2006 spring drills, in addition to six part-time starters.
Tulsa posted a 9-4 record in 2005 and won the Conference USA West Division title and the Conference USA Football Championship with a 44-27 win over Eastern Division Champion Central Florida.
"I'm very excited to get back on the practice field and start to formulate our football team for the 2006 campaign, said Head Coach Steve Kragthorpe. "Definitely one of the benefits we've had is that we were able to play 13 games last year and have basically only been out of practice for approximately eight weeks. Hopefully, there's a lot of carry over from the 2005 season to spring practice. We now have the opportunity to get right back on the practice field and correct the things that we know we need to correct to be a better football team in 2006."
"The biggest thing we'll try to establish in spring practice is to fill the holes, whether they're big holes or small holes that we'll have to be able to fill," added Kragthorpe. "We want to continue to improve as a football program, and we want to continue to improve as individual football players, and these 15 days of practice gives us the opportunity to do that. We're certainly not a finished product yet, we have a lot of things we have to improve upon as a program and as individual players to put us in a position to be successful in 2006."
Tulsa returnees on offense include quarterback Paul Smith, who will return for his junior season. As a sophomore, Smith completed 62-percent of his passes for 2,847 yards and 20 touchdowns while compiling a 142.9 pass efficiency rating. In addition, sophomore David Johnson completed 68-percent of his passes last year in a reserve role in five contests.
Despite losing rushing leader Uril Parrish to graduation, the running game appears in solid shape with the return of Tarrion Adams, who gained 574 yards and eight TDs as a red-shirt freshman a year ago, as well as Brandon Diles, who has gained 1,115 career yards in three seasons.
Tulsa adds Courtney Tennial, a transfer from Oklahoma, to the running back corps. The 2002 Oklahoma High School Player of the Year, Tennial showed his ability last spring by gaining 75 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries in the spring game.
The offensive line loses first-team all-conference performer Jesse Stoneham, but returns four starters, three of whom have been on the same offensive front as starters for the last two seasons. Senior tackle Jeff Perrett was a third-team all-Conference USA selection a year ago and will enter the 2006 campaign having started 35 straight contests.
All-America tight end Garrett Mills is gone, but the Hurricane does return tight ends Charles Ramsey, also a starter in 2005, Aaron Roupoli and Ted Curtis. The wide receiver corps has returning starter Idris Moss back, as well as seniors Donnie Johnson and Ryan Bugg. Among the wideouts, Moss is the returning receiver with 22 receptions for 236 yards and two TDs.
A year ago, Tulsa's offense passed for 237 yards per game and rushed for another 165 yards. The Hurricane ranked 23rd nationally in scoring offense, 39th in total offense, 40th in rush offense and 41st in passing offense.
The Hurricane defensive unit appears to be stocked with solid talent and depth. It's a defense that ranked among the nation's best in the 2005 campaign -- ranking third nationally in interceptions and turnovers gained, 11th in pass efficiency defense, 17th in pass defense, 40th in total defense and 43rd in scoring defense.
Tulsa loses just two starters -- end Brandon Lohr and safety Bobby Klinck -- but returns two players who missed most of the 2005 season -- safeties Kedrick Alexander and Steven Craver.
Tulsa returns seven defensive linemen who saw considerable playing time a year ago, and six of whom started at least one game.
Senior Robert Latu, juniors Chadd Evans, Walter Boyd and Brandon Jones and sophomores Terrel Nemons, Moton Hopkins and Tommy Daniels will once again compete for playing time.
Evans is the leading returning tackler from the front line, as he tallied 34 tackles and seven stops for 38 yards in lost yardage. Hopkins, a C-USA all-Freshman Team selection last year, totaled 28 tackles. Latu added 21 stops, Jones 14, Boyd 13 and Daniels 10.
The linebacker corps returns intact and is led by senior Nick Bunting, who tallied 85 tackles last year and comes into his final campaign with 252 career tackles, and juniors Nelson Coleman and Chris Chamberlain.
Coleman, a second-team all-C-USA selection, was Tulsa's leading tackler from his middle linebacker spot with 117 total tackles last year, and added 6.5 stops for lost yardage and four quarterback sacks. Chamberlain was third on the team with 88 tackles last season including 11 stops for -46 yards.
The secondary returns all but Klinck, who was a key reserve until injuries forced him into the starting lineup. First-team all-Conference USA selection Bobby Blackshire totaled 99 tackles and six pass breakups from his bandit position a year ago. Anthony Germany, another player who took over a starting spot after an injury, totaled 49 tackles and a team-leading 13.5 stops for 65 yards and eight pass breakups.
Returning to the safety positions are Kedrick Alexander, who missed all but the Bowl game last year, and Steven Craver, who suffered an injury against Oklahoma and missed the remainder of the season. Alexander had 155 tackles in his first two seasons at Tulsa, and against Fresno State in last season's Bowl game tallied six tackles in his first game played in over two seasons.
The two cornerback positions are manned by seniors Nick Graham and Julian McGowan. Graham was eighth in the nation last year with eight interceptions and also tallied 72 tackles, while McGowan had 24 tackles, four interceptions and six pass breakups in his first season on the Hurricane roster
Senior Chris Kindred is the returning punter, while the placekicking chores are up for grabs after the graduation of four-year starter Brad DeVault.
The Spring Game is set for Saturday, April 1 with a 1:00 p.m. start time.
Tulsa Spring 2006 Football Schedule Feb. 28 (Tues.), 9:20 pm Mar. 1 (Wed.), 9:20 pm Mar. 3 (Fri.), 4:30 pm Mar. 4 (Sat.), 1:30 pm Mar. 7 (Tues.), 9:20 pm Mar. 8 (Wed.), 9:20 pm Mar. 9 (Thurs.), 9:20 pm • SCRIMMAGE SPRING BREAK Mar. 21 (Tues.), 9:20 pm Mar. 22 (Wed.), 9:20 pm Mar. 24 (Fri.), 4:30 pm Mar. 25 (Sat.), TBA • SCRIMMAGE Mar. 28 (Tues.), 9:20 pm Mar. 29 (Wed.), 9:20 pm Mar. 31 (Fri.), 4:30 pm Apr. 1 (Sat.), 1 pm • SPRING GAME
