When Tulsa football has had success in the past, it has almost always come with outstanding play from its receivers. Whether passing a lot or sparingly, Tulsa has always needed its receivers to come through.
Whether it be greats like Howard Twilley, Steve Largent, Drew Pearson, Dan Bitson, or other recent standouts like Keevan Lucas, Damaris Johnson or Keyarris Garrett, if Tulsa doesn’t have receivers, success isn’t happening.
Although Tulsa’s fall from 10-3 in 2016 to 2-10 in 2017 can’t be placed squarely on one position, it is clear that losing Lucas and Josh Atkinson to graduation didn’t help matters. That, combined with losing TU record-holding quarterback Dane Evans, caused Tulsa to fall from 33 touchdown passes to six. And also, fall from two 1,000-yard receivers to zero.
It wasn’t that TU had bad players at those positions. It was the combined lack of experience that really hurt. So this year, with all the main players coming back at receiver and quarterback, TU coach Philip Montgomery is expecting a big turnaround.
Leading the way will be 6-foot-4, 218-pound senior receiver Justin Hobbs, who is a player that Montgomery believes can be a difference maker. He finished last season as Tulsa’s leading receiver with 55 catches for 830 yards at 15.1 yards per catch and three touchdowns.
“I really thought Hobbs, especially towards the mid-to-late part of the year, really started coming into his own,” Montgomery said. “He’s a guy that wants the football, will do anything for us to win, and is a great team player. He’s a physical, imposing type of receiver. I mean he’s just a big kid when you walk up on him, he can intimidate some people. He’s strong and physical. He’s got to do a great job of continuing that trend upwards.
“I think he’s got a chance to have a breakout year. We need him to have a breakout year and be that dominant receiver that teams are really, really concerned about as they enter games. He’s ready for that challenge now.”
Alongside Hobbs will be the talented Keenen Johnson, a converted high school quarterback who was forced into action out of necessity in 2016 and did well. He improved last year with 44 catches for 539 yards at a 12.2 average with a touchdown.
Johnson has shown the ability to make plays, but hasn’t established himself yet as a go-to receiver.
“Keenen’s another one who we put a lot on his plate last year with the loss of Keevan and Josh,” Montgomery said. “He needed another year to kind of learn the position. I thought this spring he did a great job of really learning how to run a route, and knowing where to sit, and how to push and manipulate a DB and find those open areas.
“I think Keenen’s got a chance now that he’s ready to have a big explosive type of year. We need him to have that. He’s got to continue to stay positive with what he is doing. But I think his maturity and growth has been a great surprise as we’ve gotten through the spring. So I expect big things from him.”
Outside of Hobbs and Johnson, Josh Stewart is the player most likely to step up this season. Stewart, a 6-3, 211-pound redshirt sophomore, made some plays last year in his nine starts. He finished with 13 catches for 162 yards and a 12.5 yards per catch average. He was banged up at the end of the season and didn’t start the last three games.
“Josh was another young kid we threw into the fire and hoped that he comes out okay,” Montgomery said. “He’s got the length and the speed that he can be a dominant receiver in this league. He’s got to continue to keep growing. We’ve got really high hopes for Stew.”
