Kragthorpe taking over
and Tulsa’s starting over
Fifth in a series of 13 features
on UH opponents this season
Nobody in Tulsa worried about the Golden Hurricane's depth chart after spring football drills ended. New coach Steve Kragthorpe decided not to name any starters.
"I thought we had a tremendous spring," the former Buffalo Bills quarterbacks coach said. "But I felt like 15 days of practice was not enough to evaluate the body of evidence."
Coach Keith Burns' fingerprints were all over the crime scene of last year's 1-11 disaster, and it cost him his job.
Things got so bad that the team's video equipment was stolen from the Waikiki hotel it was staying at while Hawaii beat the Golden Hurricane 37-14.
Later, tackle Austin Chadwick said Burns' style was more that of a used car salesman than the tough-but-fun-uncle persona he was shooting for. And Burns might have made a mistake by coaching the defensive backs himself.
Kragthorpe said his approach is the opposite. He wants to give players and assistant coaches lots of room.
"Every good general has to have good soldiers ... and a great, great staff," Kragthorpe said.
Offensive coordinator Charlie Stubbs has guided the attack at four different schools, and he learned his stuff from LaVell Edwards at Brigham Young. He was staffmates with Kragthorpe's dad, Dave, when the Cougars won the national championship in 1984, and Stubbs was mentor to young Kragthorpe on the father's staff at Oregon State.
Kragthorpe and Stubbs plan to have Tulsa throw the ball and add to the illustrious list of former Golden Hurricane receivers that already includes Steve Largent, Howard Twilley and Drew Pearson.
"I look at Tulsa football as a program with a tremendous amount of tradition and potential," Kragthorpe said. "When BYU decided to throw the football, they went to Tulsa and it's great history to learn how to do it. Now we have to roll the sleeves up and go to work."
The first triggerman at quarterback for this renaissance pretty much got the job by default. Junior James Kilian (6-foot-4, 214 pounds) threw only 52 passes last year, but he's the guy since Tyler Gooch left to play pro baseball.
The wideouts will come from the group of senior Romby Bryant (6-2, 180), juniors Montiese Culton (6-2, 174) and Jermaine Landrum (5-9, 158) and sophomore Richard McQuillar. Bryant led Tulsa with 49 catches for 593 yards and seven TDs in 2002.
Senior running back Eric Richardson (5-10, 175) rushed for 957 yards last fall. Second-year freshman James Clancy (6-1, 253) is slated to be the fullback.
Left tackle Chadwick (6-4, 283) and right guard Matt Black (6-3, 300) provide senior leadership on the offensive line, and both started last year. So did junior center Derek Warehime (6-1, 283). The other two spots are wide open, and junior Caleb Blankenship (6-3, 227) and sophomore Garrett Mills (6-2, 214) are the leading contenders at tight end.
The following does not bode well for the Golden Hurricane: Tulsa gave up a very bad 6.3 yards per play last year, yet must replace three very good defensive starters in linebacker Michael Dulaney, rover Keithan McCorry and tackle Sam Rayburn.
Senior outside linebacker Jorma Bailey (5-11, 199) is probably the best of the bunch coming back. The other returning starters are cornerbacks Jermaine Hope (5-7, 154), a junior, and Darrell Wimberly (6-1, 196), a senior, junior free safety Jeff Thibodeaux (6-0, 174), senior nose guard Tse Ogisi (6-2, 288) and junior end Josh Walker (6-4, 249).
Senior ends Jeremy Davis and Sammy Umobong (both 6-2, 262), junior linebackers Brendon Swisher (6-1, 211) and Josh DuPree (5-11, 201) and safeties Kedrick Alexander (6-1, 197) and Max Kraus (6-1, 175), a sophomore and a senior, are also vying for playing time. Kragthorpe knows how footballs fly in the Western Athletic Conference, so he starts five deep backs in his base package.
Sophomore place-kicker Brad DeVault (6-0, 179) made all three field goals in a recent scrimmage, and senior Cort Moffitt (6-3, 256) is the punter. Unfortunately for Tulsa, there is little to indicate that Moffitt will be called upon fewer than the school-record 75 times he punted last year.
But Kragthorpe can hope.
"I'm an optimist, and I wouldn't take the job if I didn't think we could do it," he said.
Tulsa Golden Hurricane
2003 schedule
Aug. 30 at Minnesota Sept. 6 at Arkansas Sept. 13 Southwest Texas State Sept. 20 Arkansas State Oct. 4 Hawaii Oct. 11 at Boise State Oct. 18 Nevada Oct. 25 Southern Methodist Nov. 1 at Texas-El Paso Nov. 8 at Rice Nov. 15 Louisiana Tech Nov. 22 at San Jose State 2002 results
1-11 overall, 1-7 WAC Aug. 30 Oklahoma L, 0-37 Sept. 7 at Arkansas State L, 19-21 Sept. 14 at Louisiana Tech L, 9-53 Sept. 21 at Baylor L, 25-37 Sept. 28 Kansas L, 33-43 Oct. 12 Boise State L, 24-52 Oct. 19 at Hawaii L, 14-37 Oct. 26 Texas-El Paso W, 20-0 Nov. 2 Rice L, 18-33 Nov. 9 at Fresno State L, 12-31 Nov. 16 San Jose State L, 38-49 Nov. 23 at Southern Methodist L, 21-24
