The Tulsa Golden Hurricane played in the AAC Championship Game in the 2020 pandemic season. They weren\u2019t able to come remotely close to matching that standard in 2021, but they did still make a bowl game, and unlike 2020, they won their bowl game, beating Old Dominion. Coach Philip Montgomery has had an up-and-down tenure as Tulsa\u2019s coach. The 2020 season was a notable success story. Other seasons have crashed and burned. Last season was expected to be difficult because the Golden Hurricane lost star linebacker Zaven Collins, who did so many great things for this program in 2020, and yet the year was disappointing to a certain degree because of a surprising loss to a lower-division school, UC-Davis, in the season opener. Tulsa\u2019s defense allowed fewer than 27 points per game, which \u2013 in the American Athletic Conference \u2013 should translate to a lot of wins. Yet, the offense scored fewer than 27 points per game, which limited the team\u2019s ceiling and its overall development. Tulsa will try to make necessary improvements in 2022 and see if it can return to the AAC title game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Key Personnel Lost<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Offensive tackle Tyler Smith was a top-25 pick in the NFL draft. Guard Chris Paul (no, not the Phoenix Suns star, but an interior offensive lineman) was an NFL draft selection. Defensive tackle Tyarise Stevenson, defensive end Cullen Wick, and receiver Josh Johnson are all pursuing professional careers. There are a number of notable players Montgomery and his staff must replace this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Important Incoming Freshmen<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Quarterback Cardell Williams might not be ready to be the starter right now, but he could become the starter midway through the season and gain crucial experience to set him up for long-term success at Tulsa. This is the player the offensive staff has to find a way to cultivate. Receiver Keith Wheeler chose Tulsa over Houston, an AAC competitor. He needs to become an instant contributor in the offense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Key Position Battles<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Though incoming transfer defensive lineman Jayden Simon might shake up the position battles along the defensive front, this is ultimately a team where quarterback and receiver need to provide much better production and leadership. Tulsa\u2019s offense lagged behind the defense for most of last year. There was some improvement late in the season, but over the course of 13 games, the offense generally didn\u2019t do its part. This is why Tulsa was just 6-6 in the regular season before winning its bowl game. Tulsa has had star defensive players in recent years, but it needs its skill players on offense to be better than what they have shown. Having an offseason in which the quarterback and receivers feel comfortable together and are on the same page would be a great result for Tulsa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biggest Offseason Goal(s)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The development of skill players is clearly at the heart of the offseason project for Tulsa and Montgomery, who have often struggled to get maximum results on the offensive side of the ball. That comes first and transcends all other needs. If there is a second acute need, it is to find a quality replacement for Tyler Smith, a first-round NFL draft pick along the offensive front. That is a significant loss, and it obviously has to be noted that if the offensive line is significantly worse, that would offset any development from the skill players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Tulsa Golden Hurricane played in the AAC Championship Game in the 2020 pandemic season. They weren\u2019t able to come…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":7161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaaf"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22601"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22607,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22601\/revisions\/22607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}