Spring Practice Update
Tulsa football finished its first week of spring drills on Saturday with a two-hour practice in full pads, ending with a 20-minute scrimmage. TU upped the physicality, which pleased the coaches.
"This was the first really physical day we had," said Tulsa head coach Bill Blankenship. "It was really good to see our guys in that kind of situation. I saw some positives from the guys you'd expect -- Trey Watts you expect to be good, Cody Green you expect to be efficient, and they were."
Advertisement
While the veterans performed as expected, a few younger players stepped up and impressed the Tulsa coaches with their effectiveness.
"The guys that caught my eye offensively included Keevan Lucas," Blankenship explained. "He had a really good day. He had a bunch of catches and was making plays.
"Zach Epps has been very active catching the football and Derek Patterson is looking good. Those are some new guys on offense who have impressed thus far."
Several TU players stood out on defense as well.
"Defensively, I'll be interested to watch the film to see who stood out," said Blankenship. "Early on, Jack Jewell has played really well inside on the line and I'll be anxious to see how he did today. Brentom Todd at defensive end has been a man out there, and Chris Hummingbird has been a pleasant surprise at defensive end."
Tulsa ended Saturday's practice with a scrimmage that included some situational work. The Hurricane had its moments on each side of the ball.
"I thought our defense really played well early in shutting down our offense on their drives, then we finished with a fourth and one drill," Blankenship described. "The defense won early, but folded late as the offense took over at the end of the day."
TU will be back on the field for three more sessions this week before taking a week off for spring break.
"We'll really need to get some good work in these next three days (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday), because we know the focus at the end of the week will be on spring break," said Blankenship. "We'll scrimmage part of the day Tuesday, trying to make improvement based on what we see on film from Saturday's practice."
Prospects check out TU practice
Several 2014 recruits were on hand for the Golden Hurricane's practice on Saturday, and a few came away with scholarship offers. Here is a list of those prospects identified by Inside Tulsa Sports:
Tyler Bowling, OT, Yukon (OK)
Evan Brown, OT, Southlake (TX) Carroll
Damian Howard, DB, Broken Arrow (OK)
Chris Miles, OL, Flower Mound (TX)
Mildren Montgomery, OL, Oklahoma City (OK) Douglass
Zachary Wary, LB, Rogers (AR)