Some old faces and new faces shined in TU’s Fan Fest scrimmage Saturday morning at H.A. Chapman Stadium. And some who are being counted on had performances that were up-and-down.
But only one thing was certain. The offense was as vanilla as it is going to get as far a showing any type of variances to its future game plans. The Golden Hurricane wasn’t going to tip its hand to season-opening opponent Michigan State.
“About five percent, showed nothing really, today,” said junior receiver Keylon Stokes about how much of the offense was unveiled. “Ran the same plays over and over. Nothing new.”
Stokes continued to show that he is a potential star in the making by catching five passes for 76 yards, which included a 47-yard touchdown from Zach Smith where there were no defenders within 15 yards against the second team defense.
Even though the offense scored four touchdowns and kicked a field goal, it was the defense that controlled things, especially early in the scrimmage. With the first teams mostly going against each other, the first team defense allowed only one touchdown - a 1 yard run by Corey Taylor, with Seth Boomer at the helm at quarterback on the fourth series of ones versus ones in the scrimmage.
Senior defensive end Trevis Gipson looks poised to have a monster year, as he had two sacks to lead a defense that had four interceptions. Also recording sacks were linebacker Yohance Burnett, defensive tackle Shemarr Robinson and linebacker Robert Revels.
“I feel like we’ve taken a big stride,” Gipson said of the defense which improved greatly in 2018. “Last year was the first year we ran the defense, so this being our second year, I feel like we’ve added a little more growth to it, a little more experience. I feel like we’re taking advantage of that.”
Fifth-year Tulsa coach Philip Montgomery was especially impressed with the defense.
“I thought the defense came out and really established themselves early,” Montgomery said. “Did a nice job versus some of the run stuff. I thought there was some throw things in there that we could have taken advantage of. I think with the length we have in there it makes the field seem really small.”
Smith started on offense, and alternated with Boomer playing with the first-teamers, although Boomer played more. Davis Brin took most of the snaps with the second-teamers, while walk-on quarterbacks Brandon Marquardt and Carson Collins each got a series.
“I thought I saw some really good throws and things that I wanted to see,” Montgomery said of his quarterbacks. “Obviously, threw a couple of picks in there which you never want. We have to do a good job of taking care of the football. It’s so critical in today’s game. Those things we’ve got to see what happened. We’ve got to correct those things and move forward.”
Boomer did some good things but also threw two picks on virtually the same play in the same part of the field. The first one came early in the scrimmage when his golfing buddy, linebacker Zaven Collins, stepped in front of a receiver around midfield to Boomer’s left side of the field and picked it off. It could possibly have been returned for a touchdown if the play wouldn’t have been blown dead.
The second one came late in the scrimmage against the second team when true freshman Bershard Glaspie stepped in front of a receiver and returned the interception for a touchdown.
Besides the interceptions, Boomer did a lot of things well, completing nine of 13 passes for 125 yards. His best pass was a downfield, over the middle toss where Sam Crawford caught it and outraced defenders for a 65-yard touchdown.
Smith didn’t get a lot of opportunities to pass, but did complete four of seven for 67 yards. His interception came when he briefly had Crawford open in the end zone, but sophomore transfer cornerback Tyon Davis closed quickly to grab the interception.
Davis had also broken up a similar pass early in the scrimmage when Boomer had Iowa State transfer Josh Johnson open deep down the field.
Some newcomers besides Davis and Glaspie who made positive impressions included true freshman running back Chris Lovick, juco transfer tight end Denzel Carter, cornerback Ryan Nixon, and true freshman wide receivers Korey King and La’Darrion Florez.
Lovick led all rushers with 17 carries for 75 yards, while King caught two passes for 62 yards, including a 57-yarder from Marquardt. Florez caught a pass for 30 yards. Carter started at tight end., and Nixon looked good defending passes. Also, freshman walk-on Brad Hensley from Cascia Hall ended the scimmage with an interception from his safety position.
Stokes, who also is the first option in returning kickoffs and punts, did so in a non-touch version on kickoffs and punt returns. He is confident the offense can make huge strides this season despite struggling some in the scrimmage.
“I still feel like we have a little progression to go as an offense,” Stokes said. “The O-line struggled a little bit, the receivers kind of struggled a little bit. It’s something we can work on and get right before Michigan State.”
NOTES
• The starters on offense besides Smith, Carter and Stokes were running back Shamari Brooks, Sam Crawford and J.C. Santana at receiver, and Chris Ivy (left tackle), Chris Paul (left guard), Dylan Couch (center), Tiller Bucktrot (right guard), and X’Zauvea Gadlin (right tackle). Others working in with the first team included Boomer, Corey Taylor at running back, Abe Anderson at tight end, and Cannon Montgomery at receiver.
• The starters on defense were Gipson (defensive end), Jaxon Player (nose guard), Shemarr Robinson (defensive tackle), Zaven Collins (will linebacker), Cooper Edmiston (mike linebacker), Diamon Cannon (star linebacker), Akayleb Evans (cornerback), Allie Green (cornerback), and safeties Manny Bunch, Brandon Johnson and Bryson Powers.
Some others working in with the first team defense included safety Cristian Williams, defensive end Cullen Wick, nose guard Tyarise Stevenson, defensive end Deven Lamp, and safety TieNeal Martin.
• Jarion Anderson got back into action at receiver after missing spring camp and some of fall camp. He caught three passes for 25 yards.
• Junior walk-on kicker Zack Long handled all place kicks and kickoffs. Long is a junior walk-on who was on the team in the spring but didn’t play. Long made all four of his extra points, but made only one of three field goals. He missed a 24-yarder, then made a 32-yarder. On his final kick, he missed on a difficult 47-yard attempt into the wind. His kickoffs ranged from going to the 3-yard-line to the 10-yard-line.
Long was kicking because graduate transfer Danny Donley from Jenks and Drake University, as well as Jacob Rainey (freshman walkon) and Kevin Neitzke (junior walkon) were all out with nagging injuries.
STATISTICS
The stats below were compiled by Inside Tulsa Sports staff during the scrimmage.
Passing
Seth Boomer 9-13-2, 125, 1 TD
Zach Smith 4-7-1, 67, 1 TD
Davis Brin 12-24-0, 116
Brandon Marquardt 3-7-0, 64, 1 TD
Carson Collins 4-6-1, 58
Rushing
Chris Lovick 17-75
Shamari Brooks 10-74
Corey Taylor 9-58, 1 TD
T.K. Wilkerson 5-31
Gabriel Bryams 7-18
Seth Boomer 2-13
Trey Collier 1-10
Receiving
Sam Crawford 3-78, 1 TD
Keylon Stokes 5-76, 1 TD
Korey King 2-62, 1 TD
Josh Johnson 4-37
Dhailon Phillips 4-36
Josh Stewart 3-31
La’Darrion Florez 1-30
Jarion Anderson 3-25
JC Santana 2-17
Kamdyn Benjamin 1-14
Ethan Hall 1-8
Joseph Breedlove 1-6
Trey Collier 1-4
Malik Rogers 1-2
Punting
Thomas Bennett 5-45.8