Tulsa Football Summer Position Analysis: Special Teams
Many TU fans may not have noticed Adam Higuera or the Higuera family dynasty at deep snapper over the last decade, but that's okay.
Because deep snappers usually only get talked about when there is a bad snap. And that doesn't happen with the Higueras.
Adam Higuera, and his older brother Rey Higuera, will have handled deep snapping duties for TU nine of the last 10 seasons when the 2021 season starts.
"That's pretty amazing," TU coach Philip Montgomery said of the Higuera family's hold on the TU deep snapping job over the last decade. Montgomery recruited Adam but Rey came in under previous coach Bill Blankenship in 2012.
In his fifth year as the deep snapper at Tulsa, Adam Higuera leads a Golden Hurricane special teams unit that figures to do well in 2021.
"Obviously, it is huge to have Adam back," Montgomery said. "He has been very consistent and is a tremendous player. He may have a chance to play at the next level, we'll wait and see. But he is a guy who has been just so steady for us all the way through."
The 6-foot-1, 224-pound Higuera, from Gilbert, Arizona, was most noticed perhaps in his first college game when TU played at OSU. After snapping on a punt, Higuera recovered a fumbled return in the end zone for a touchdown, scoring Tulsa's first points of the season.
For a snapper to hustle down the field and recover a fumble in the end zone is pretty impressive stuff. It shows he does more than just deliver perfect snaps on punts and place kicks.
Benefitting from his snaps on field goals and extra points was Zack Long, who certainly is one of the feel good stories of last year or any year.
A soccer player in high school for Eureka HS in Missouri, Long first began playing football in the spring of 2019 when the finance major decided to walk on the football team at TU.
Long ended up handling the kickoff duties in 2019, but missed his only field goal attempt. He again handled the kickoffs in 2020.
Due to a subpar kicking game where the Golden Hurricane missed two potential game-winning field goals in 2019, the kicking job was wide open in 2020, but TU signed a scholarship kicker for the first time in many years - Tyler Tipton.
Tipton got the nod to start the season as the place kicker. But after Tipton missed a short field goal in the season opener at OSU, Long got his chance, and came through.
The 5-10, 172-pound Long made 12 of 15 field goals (80 percent), with a longest of 48 yards, and connected on 25 of 26 extra points. For his performance, Long was named All-AAC second team.
The upgrade in place kicking in 2020 was a factor in going from a 4-8 season in 2019 where Tulsa lost many close games to finishing 6-3 and being ranked for most of the season.
"I thought Zack had a really good year," Montgomery said of Long, who will again be a senior walk-on this season due to the extra year granted by the NCAA because of Covid-19. "He was second team all conference, and made some really big kicks for us.
"We really needed Zack to step up and he did so. We're excited that he decided to come back and stay with us for another year."
The 6-2, 183-pound Tipton, from Little Elm, Texas, didn't have much luck against OSU. He actually drilled his first field goal attempt against OSU, but the whistle had blown before the kick, and TU ended up going for it after the time out. Tipton never got another chance after he missed his first official kick.
"Behind Zack, Tyler is talented," Montgomery said. "Obviously, he need a little bit of time to grow and mature. He had a good spring."
Another kicker, Alex Haight, is in the mix. He is a 5-10, 172-pound redshirt freshman from Owasso. And TU will have another kicking option as well.
"We've got a freshman kicker who is coming in from the Houston area who has done some good things named Connor Bryan." Montgomery said of the 5-10, 175-pound Bryan from Klein HS.
The biggest competition could be for the kickoff spot, where Tipton could have the edge. Tipton is known for having a very strong leg, and he opened up TU's spring game kicking off, with Long also kicking off in the game.
Tipton kicked off once for 63 yards last season. Long averaged 55.4 yards on kickoffs with three touchbacks and three out of bounds kicks.
The weakest part of Tulsa's special teams was kickoff coverage, which hurt the Golden Hurricane in some games. More touchbacks and better kickoff coverage is needed.
"We'll see how it all plays itself out," Montgomery said of the kicking duties. "There is always competition."
The final piece of the place kicking game is holder Cannon Montgomery, who is in his fourth year as the holder on place kicks for Tulsa. A 5-10, 174-pound junior, Montgomery has handled the duties well in addition to being a receiver.
"Cannon will come back and hold for us again. He's done an exceptional job there," said proud father Philip Montgomery.
Handling the punting duties again is Lachlan Wilson, who has brought some fun to the position. A 6-3, 194-pound redshirt freshman, Wilson did not play football until coming to TU in 2019.
The experienced Australian football player can punt traditionally or on the run, and can manipulate the football with different types of drops to give it special types of spin for positioning, which can be especially helpful on kicks inside the opponents 20-yard-line.
Wilson averaged 42.9 yards on 42 punts in 2020, with 14 downed inside the 20. Wilson also used his running skills from Australian football on a fake punt last season, gaining 22 yards and a first down on his only rushing attempt.
"Lachlan's placement, his growth, just learning the American game, I thought he did a tremendous job for us last year," Montgomery said. "I thought we needed to do a little better in coverage."
Giving up an averaged of 15.6 yards on 13 punt returns, with a long of 60 yards, is what Montgomery was talking about on his team's punt coverage.
Coach Montgomery is glad to have his kicking game specialists return.
"We're excited to have that nucleus of guys back," Montgomery said.
On punt returns, the electric Keylon Stokes is back. The 6-0, 194-pound senior from Manvel, Texas is also in a great position to possibly become Tulsa's career leader in receiving yards if his play is similar to his previous two seasons.
Last season, Stokes averaged 3.4 yards on 17 punt returns, with a long of 17 yards. He is a danger to break a long return, but was not able to do so last year. He was very sure handed and dependable.
On kickoff returns, several players returned kicks, with running back Christian Lovick leading the team with five returns for 95 yards while averaging 19 yards a return. Stokes, and running backs Deneric Prince and Anthony Watkins also got limited opportunities to return kicks.
Overall, Tulsa returned 16 kickoffs for a 16.7 average, with a long of 24 yards, while opponents averaged 23.9 yards on 36 returns, with a long of 71 yards.
So obviously, punt and kickoff coverage are areas of need for TU going into 2021.
But Tulsa's place kicking and punting should again be in good hands.