Players appreciate Wilson's approach in spring practice

A new approach for TU with an old school guy in Kevin Wilson.

That is what the approximately 1,000 fans who attended Saturday's Tulsa Football Springfest at H.A. Chapman Stadium got to witness.

The new was that fans were waved onto the field by Wilson at the end of the practice, where some got to run plays against Tulsa's defense and score touchdowns. They also got to attempt field goals surrounded by fans and players.

"Everyone was juiced up. It was fun," said Tulsa's returning starter at center, Will Farniok, about the practice and having the fans participating on the field.

Another new aspect, compared to recent past years, was that Tulsa fans, other than the parents and family, were not allowed to see the actual scrimmaging that was taking place before the fans were let in at 11:30 a.m. for the approximate hour of viewing. Then it was on to autograph signing on the field and mingling with the players.

There has been an aspect of the old school part of Wilson that has been evident. Being wary of spies getting to gather inside information on Tulsa's schemes. Running a tight ship.

After watching Tulsa go through very basic offensive, defensive, and special teams drills, the fans did get to see some basic plays run from around the 20-yard-line of the defense. Some with less than 11-on-11, and some with 11-on-11.

The fans were waved onto the field at 11:54, and after watching some from just behind the action, they got to participate in the action.

Such was the case when a female fan threw a touchdown pass to another female fan, and the crowd and team went wild. As they also went wild when a young boy was allowed to run through the defense for a touchdown.

With no rosters and players wearing a lot of different numbers than they will during games, it was difficult to identify players. But at quarterback, Braylon Braxton was wearing number 11 instead of his regular number 1, and Cardell Williams was wearing number 13 instead of his number 11 from last year.

The little that was shown was Tulsa using three wide receivers, one running back sets on offense. And the defense ran both a 4-2-5 and a 3-3-5 defense.

Farniok has been clearly impressed by Wilson and the new staff he has brought in.

"He loves working with us. All of us guys love having him around," said Farniok about Wilson. "You can definitely tell he's a genius when it comes to making plays, the scheme. You can trust that he knows what he is talking about."

Returning defensive lineman Joseph Anderson likes what the defense, still without a defensive coordinator, is doing.

"A lot of similar stuff to what we did last year, in some ways," said Anderson. "Being aggressive. It's the type of defense that I like to be in. More discipline. It's intense. He (Wilson) makes sure we're all paying attention to details."

On offense, as the returning starter from the end of last season who won his final two starts, Braxton is the clear leader in the race to be the starting quarterback after completing his redshirt freshman season. A total of four quarterbacks were getting to run plays with the fans on the field.

"Braylon is a talented young player, learning how to play, got some playing experience," Wilson said. "We're intrigued by Cardell Williams, the younger player behind him. We've got Roman Fuller and Stephen Kittleman.

"The two main guys, Braylon and Cardell, a lot of athleticism, a lot of potential. Learning how to manage the ball. We threw a couple of balls we shouldn't have thrown. Learning how to make the right decisions, for the most part."

Williams redshirted as a freshman last year. He looked terrific in Tulsa's 2022 Spring Game as an early enrollee last spring. Fuller is a junior who played in one game last year. Kittleman is a sophomore walk-on from Jenks.

"Our defense is doing a great job showing multiple looks," Wilson said. "I think our secondary is really gifted and has a chance to be really good. So they are really challenging our quarterbacks in practice.

"Coach Spurrier is doing a great job with those quarterbacks. There's a lot of talent with Braylon. There's a lot of talent with Cardell. Some quality play with Roman and Stephen. That's a good group right now. There's a lot of work to go. We've got to see who is the guy. Probably going to need more than one. We did last year."

As for Wilson's credentials of working with high profile quarterbacks in his previous stops as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma and Ohio State, such as current Bears star-in-the-making Justin Fields, Wilson knows how to get his quarterbacks' attention.

"There was a Twitter shot the other day I saw of Justin Fields on a zone read, and I said, hey Braylon, this is what it looks like," Wilson said. "It's better than me talking about it. Just do that."

On defense, it isn't clear what Tulsa will be running, although there obviously will be a mixture running a 3-3-5 and a 4-2-5 defense.

"You've recruited a little bit more for the three guys. So when you want to play four down, do you have the personnel to do that?," Wilson said "You'd like to sometimes play a combination of both, if you could, but in doing so, do your bodies allow you to do that?

"We signed four high school guys. We couldn't find, in the January period, a transfer we were comfortable with, academically, someone who could make it work for us. But maybe as we end the spring, we might need to find another one of two just for depth purposes."

As for bringing in a defensive coordinator, Wilson says there will be a DC, but is not sure whether it will be from outside or from someone already on staff. He is seeing how things are going with his current defensive coaches working with his players, and likes what he sees.

"We like our two-deep. But if we're playing some four-down front, I wish we had some more bodies," Wilson said. "Maybe we're another recruiting cycle away from being more balanced between being three and four down."

Wilson talked about Tulsa's recent history of switching to a three man front.

"That happened a few years ago with Bill Young, a legendary coach who passed away too young," Wilson said. "But I know coach Young was a four front team, but he couldn't find enough for four guys, so they went to three down.

"We'd like to play a combination of both. So does that mean we play with a bigger backer, or do we find enough defensive ends? That's why we really haven't shoved an exact defense at them."

The personal aspect of Saturday's Springfest was the best part of Saturday afternoon for Wilson.

"For me, a lot of parents here. It was the first time meeting a lot of the parents, which was great. It was fun," Wilson said.

Overall, Wilson has enjoyed his experience as Tulsa's new head coach.

"I think we've done a really good job of trying to connect with the kids," Wilson said. "I think we are in a why generation. Why are you trying to do things? The kids have bought into a lot of it, and because of that, it's been a lot of fun.

"There are very few days where I walk out of this building and say this wasn't a good day. The most pleasant thing to me with a coaching change is that we've had a lot of good days. I'm really happy to be here, but really excited because we are getting some good buy-in."