Anthony Goodlow is a defensive monster waiting to destroy opposing offenses.

And he is the type of player that has made Tulsa football successful over the years, being somewhat overlooked by many top college programs coming out of high school.

Goodlow is in position to have a dominant season for the Golden Hurricane.

"When you really looked at the production of Anthony, his production was off the charts," said TU coach Philip Montgomery of Goodlow last season.

Playing in a base three-man line that can expand to four for rushing the passer, Goodlow shared a line last year with two players - Tyrarise Stevenson and Cullen Wick - who are in NFL camps now, and another, Jaxon Player, who transferred and will likely be an NFL draft pick in 2023.

Recruited as a 230-pounder out of Del City HS, the 6-foot-5 Goodlow is now 274-pounds and is a nightmare to block at defensive end. Now in his fifth year at TU, Goodlow is coming off a year where he had 6 sacks and 7 tackles for loss, with two quarterback hits, 28 tackles, and a fumble recovery.

"Right now, he's bigger, stronger and faster than what he was," Montgomery said. "The offense had a really tough time handling him during the spring. I think he's fixing to have a breakout type, tremendous type year."

Goodlow played safety as a junior at Del City, and moved down to linebacker/defensive end as a senior, where he had 19 sacks and 30 tackled for loss, which moved him up to a 3-star recruit.

At Tulsa, Goodlow redshirted and played two games as a true freshman in 2018, and played mostly special teams in 2019. He finally got considerable playing time on defense in 2020, and had 4 sacks and 5.5 tackles for loss among his 33 stops.

"He's definitely the leader in that room," Montgomery said. "He's a guy that brings so much to the table because he's got the size to play on the edges, the length to do that. He can slide down inside and create some matchup problems. He's got the quickness that you want.

"And he's just continuing to develop those pass rushing skills and the technique you need to be a dominant player. Really feel like he's going to be an all-conference type player, and expect him to have even more of a breakout year than he had last year."

With the loss of experienced talent after a 7-6 season in 2021, other returnees, as well as transfers, will have to step up.

A transfer who was making plays all over the field in the spring is Colorodo transfer Jayden Simon, a 6-3, 315-pound nose guard or defensive tackle who was originally from Lincoln HS in Tacoma, Washington. He played in 8 games last season, with 3 tackles, and didn't play his first two seasons for the Buffs.

Simon clearly stood out in the Spring Game. He definitely made an impression.

"Jayden Simon, a really big kid. I thought he had a great spring. I think he is going to have a tremendous year," Montgomery said. "Big guy, got great strength and quickness. He can really move. Got a lot of length about him. I'm waiting to see it (in the 2022 season), but this spring he caused a lot of problems for us (on offense).

"But he's still young and he's still learning the position. But I think he's got a really high ceiling of what he's going to bring to the table."

Everitt Rogers is a 6-2, 303-pound defensive tackle who had 5 tackles in 7 games as a true freshman out of Ellison HS in Killeen, Texas. In 2021, Rogers was banged up a little bit, but still played in 8 games, recording 6 tackles.

"He's healthy now, ready to roll. A guy that's a two-gap player. Commands a double-team. Really strong, explosive," Montgomery described. "I think he's a guy that's going to move around a little bit, kind of like what we did with Jaxon.