Thinking Davis Brin was going to play at a Heisman Trophy level in his first year as Tulsa's starting quarterback was something that was fun to hope for.

After all, Brin's debut performance in a little over a quarter against Tulane in 2020 was breathtaking and fascinating. In that game, he showed unbelievable poise and the ability to rally a team in the clutch.

The reality, however, was that Brin had a good debut season. Not great, but in the end, he led Tulsa to a 7-6 season and a bowl victory where he was both outstanding and flawed, showing that he still has a lot of room left to grow.

"I thought the expectation level for his play coming into the season was almost unattainable coming off the quarter and a half of what he played against Tulane," said Tulsa coach Philip Montgomery.

Brin, a confident perfectionist who is a diligent student of the game, is the clear leader for the Tulsa quarterbacks coming into the 2022 season, and is poised to have a terrific season.

"You've got to go through some growing pains," Montgomery said of Brin. "I think he is now much more comfortable in that role. I think he obviously had an opportunity to see a lot of different looks, see a lot of different things, make some mistakes, try to learn from those mistakes."

Brin, a 6-foot-2 and 208-pound fifth-year player from Champion HS in Boerne, Texas, averaged 251.5 yards passing per game last year, playing in all 13 games. He finished with 3,269 yards passing for the season (8th most in TU history), completing 59.4 percent of his passes, and threw 18 TD passes while being intercepted 16 times.

There were glaring inconsistencies in Brin's performances. Passing for 428 yards at No. 9 Ohio State while giving the Buckeyes a major scare, followed the next week by completing 17 of 25 passes for 355 yards against Arkansas State were highlights in a season where he attempted all of Tulsa's passes.

Brin finished strong, leading the Golden Hurricane to four consecutive victories to finish the season, including completing 22 of 34 for 285 yards in Tulsa's 30-17 bowl win over Old Dominion.

On the flip side, in Brin's starting debut in the shocking season-opening loss against UC Davis, and in some other losses, he struggled at times. And he even had problems in some wins as well, like in Tulsa's 20-13 overtime win at Tulane where his 3 interceptions almost cost TU a game it had controlled for most of the contest.

However, with two years of eligibility left, Brin should give TU fans good reason for optimism. His ability and attitude give him a chance to go down as one of the best quarterbacks in Tulsa history.

"I foresee him having a tremendous year," Montgomery said. "A lot of things play into that. Some of those things are in his control, some of those things are out of his control. Just being able to dive deeper into what we do, offensively. Feel more comfortable into putting your eyes into this spot, understanding what they're trying to take away from you and trying to counteract that."

Brin practiced all throughout the spring, but the right-hander had a surgically repaired left wrist that he kept with a protective cast on to avoid injury, thus, he did not fully participate, giving his talented backups chances for a lot more reps than they would usually get.