7/28/2023 football Edit

Tulsa Football - Summer Position Analysis: Cornerback

Tyree Carlisle was a part-time starter for Tulsa last season. (USATSI)

Larry Lewis

ITS Staff Writer

It could be Booker T time at corner for TU.

Transfers Keuan Parker and Demarco Jones are Booker T. Washington grads who could be really good for the Golden Hurricane.

Cornerback is as uncertain a position as there is for TU going into fall camp before the 2023 season. Jones is a late arrival who could really shake things up for Tulsa.

"We're a work in progress," said first year Tulsa coach Kevin Wilson. "In getting Coach Polizzi (Defensive Coordinator and Safeties coach) in here, he's trying to figure out those guys - who should be at corner, who should be at safety."

Uncertainty isn't a bad thing. There are plenty of potentially good options for Defensive Pass Game Coordinator/Cornerbacks coach Michael Hunter, who played under Wilson at Indiana.

The best option at corner may be Parker, a 5-11, 178-pound sophomore Arkansas transfer. Parker played in 5 games for the Hogs last year as a redshirt freshman. He was a 3-star recruit coming out of high school, and Rivals rated him as the 2nd best player in Oklahoma.

Parker is a likely starter at corner. Or he could start at nickelback, which he played all during spring practice. As with all positions, however, starting is not a given.

"Keuan Parker is probably our best corner," Wilson said. "We'll see."

Another option at corner is 6-0, 185-pound OSU grad transfer Demarco Jones, a fifth-year senior who played 31 career games for the Pokes. Jones had 20 tackles at OSU, including 7 tackles and a pass breakup last year in 8 games. The former 3-star recruit was primarily a special teams player who got some playing time on defense for the Cowboys.

Jones arrived at TU after spring practice.

"We're going to play Demarco Jones from Booker T at corner," Wilson said. "We need to be a little bit better at corner."

The corners listed as first team on the depth chart are seniors Reggie Ellis (6-0, 193, Houston Aldine Davis) and Tyree Carlisle (6-1, 180, Independence CC).

Ellis is a three-year letterman and fifth-year senior who had 6 tackles, including a half tackle for a loss, in 10 games last season for TU. Ellis has played in 27 career games with 20 tackles. He redshirted as a freshman.

A part-time starter last season, Carlisle has lettered twice since coming to Tulsa as a juco transfer. He had 44 tackles for the Golden Hurricane in 10 games in 2022, including 2 for losses, as well as breaking up 3 passes and forcing a fumble. In 13 games in 2021, Carlisle had 18 tackles and a forced fumble.

Donte Burton (6-0, 185, Sr., Loganville, Ga.) is a sixth-year senior who spent his first 4 years at Wisconsin, where he started 5 of his 27 games at corner. He had 26 career tackles there, with 5 pass breakups. Burton had a tackle in 5 games for TU in 2022.

"Tyree has been rock solid. Reggie is set to play. We'll see about Donte," Wilson said.

NuNu Campbell is a 6-0, 165-pound redshirt freshman who played in 3 games last season with one tackle. Campbell is a dynamic athlete from Holland Hall.

"NuNu is finally getting stable, doing solid, finished spring good," Wilson said. "We'll see where he can get to."

Tulsa recently brought in Adrian Huey (6-0, 172, Nashville, Tn. Hillsboro HS), a Kentucky transfer who spent 2 years there without getting into a game.

Kaylon Washington is a 6-2, 213-pound fourth-year junior from Fort Worth Crowley HS who has played in one career game, in 2020.

When Wilson says the current group of corners needs to improve, he is talking about his spring practice, where BTW grads Keuan Parker and Demarco Jones were not in the CB mix at the time. They are in the mix now out of necessity.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Keuan and Demarco went out there and jogged out there first," Wilson said.

Regardless of who starts at CB for TU, there are good enough options to think that the position should be stable.