In looking at this 2014 class and last year's 2013 class, I believe Tulsa now has the most balance and depth at all positions than it ever has in previous years. TU has put together some very good classes in past years and past successful football seasons attest to that. But there was always an imbalance, that is, positions weak in depth. DT and DE were two positions that always seemed to lack depth over the years. Tulsa's most recent success on the football field is that it could play physically. Previously, TU was a finesse team on both offense and defense. Last year, TU Coach Ben Blankenship, commenting on the 2013 class, stated we added a little more strength and a little bit more speed. That trend continues with this 2014 class.

TULSA FOOTBALL INKS 23 PLAYERS

SIGNING DAY REWIND FROM TULSA RIVALS BOARD

2014 TULSA GRAYSHIRTS (ENROLL JANUARY 2015)

OFFENSE:
Tyler Bowling (OK), OT, 6-5, 295 (Oregon St, Wyoming, UNT, UTSA, Texas St, Ohio)
Isaac Johnson (AR), OT, 6-6, 275 (Memphis, LaTech, Arkansas St, ULM)
Mildren Montgomery (OK), OT, 6-4, 245 (Texas Tech, Iowa State, UNT)
Chandler Miller (OK), OC, 6-2, 285 (Kansas, Memphis, New Mexico, ULM, Harvard, N. Colorado)
Payton Prince (OK), TE, 6-4, 237 (Okla St, Illinois, Memphis, New Mexico)
Jabe Burgess (AR), QB, 6-2, 200 (Illinois, Memphis)
Tavarreon Dickerson (TX), RB, 5-9, 185, JUCO (HS Offers: Pitt, Indiana, Kanas, Tulsa, Utah St, UNT, LaTech, Texas State)
Ramadi Warren (TN), RB, 5-9, 173 (North Carolina, Memphis, Middle Tennessee, UAB, Arkansas St.)
D'Angelo Brewer (OK), RB/WR, 5-9, 180
Terrance Ivery (TX), WR/KR, 5-8, 175
Bishop Louie (OK), WR/KR 5-10, 155
Justin Hobbs (KS), WR, 6-4, 195
Nigel Carter (OK), WR, 6-3, 185
Broderick Umblance (TX), WR, 6-1, 180

DEFENSE:
Michael Rios (KS), DT, 6-3, 280 (LaTech, UTEP, Texas State, Lamar, Sam Houston St)
Earl Rollins (TX), DT, 6-3, 275
Willie Wright (TX) DT, 6-3, 280 (Iowa St, Houston, Fresno St, Tulane, Nevada, La Tech, Texas St, NM St)
Myles Molton (TX) SDE, 6-3, 230 (UNT, UTSA, Lamar, Grambling)
Jeremy Smith (OK), WDE, 6-4, 230 (Oklahoma, Memphis, Colorado St)
Tim Quickel (AR), ILB, 6-2, 215
Petera Wilson (TN), OLB/DE, 6-2, 220, (Alabama, Florida, LSU, Florida St, Tennessee, Mississippi St., Texas Tech, UCLA, USC)
Jordan Miller (OK), Safety, 6-2, 180 (Navy, Ohio, Utah State)
Jordan Dennis (AR), Safety, 6-1, 180 (Arkansas St, Illinois St)

Tulsa has 8 commitments in the 2014 class that do not have a IA competing offer.

LB Tim Quickel was voted to Scout's All-Sleeper Defense team at the Dallas Nike Football Training Camp. Scout National Recruiting Analyst Greg Powers subsequently wrote that Quickel should be receiving much more recruiting notice.

QBs are often the most athletic player on a high school team but, at the same time, may not be a gifted passer. Tulsa has consistently targeted this type of player over the years and has two QBs in the 2014 class that will not be QBs at Tulsa, RB/WR D'Angelo Brewer and RB/WR Terrance Ivery. Ivery was also hurt November in his senior season and did not play after the injury. This surely scared other schools away or these schools lost interest.

WR Nigel Carter suffered a concussion and ankle injury and played in only 5 games his senior year. Like RB/WR Ivery, the injuries probably caused other schools to lose interest or were scared to offer.

Justin Hobbs was a skinny 6-4 TE weighing 195 pounds at the high school level and obviously did not draw interest or impress at TE. But Tulsa saw him as a big WR and offered.

WR/KR Terrance Ivery did not have much of a chance to shine as a WR because his high school coach asked him to play QB his senior year. In his junior year, Ivery led the state of Texas in kick returns and was an outstanding receiver.

Like WR/KR Terrance Ivery, speedy WR/KR Bishop Louie will also return kicks.

WR Broderick Umblance was a high school teammate of a currently highly regarded TU WR. Umblance did not have much of a chance to shine as a WR because his high school team was not very good and he got over looked.

Earl Rollins is ranked #18 DT among Top 25 Texas High School DTs by 247 Sports and #146 DT Nationwide. No other detailed info was found for DT Earl Rollins. Undoubtedly, more info will be forthcoming on signing day and I will put it here. Rollins is not shown as a UNT prospect on either their rivals or scout board. However, UNT fans on one of the boards contained a thread bemoaning the fact that Rollins signed with Tulsa. So I am guessing UNT was pursuing Rollins...hopefully, more solid info will become available in the next few days.

Of TU's current 22 verbals, 8 are from Oklahoma; 6 from Texas, 4 from Arkansas, 2 from Kansas, and 2 from Tennessee (Memphis). Obviously, TU is located in a fertile recruiting area that allows TU to play much stronger than its itty bitty enrollment of 4,167 students infers, the official bean count.

The usual caveat is in order. I do not subscribe to any paid recruiting service so undoubtedly I have some misinformation and errors in the above. KTUL, as part of their signing day coverage, is reporting that OC Chandler Miller received an offer from Kansas and DE Jeremy Smith had an offer from Colorado State. Otherwise, KTUL agreed 100% with everything above. I have made those two changes based on KTUL signing day report.

Thats a great job. Thanks for your input on that. You are the best at this kind of thing (putting recruiting into perspective with the facts) imo. Please keep us informed. We are keeping our fingers crossed that noone will decommit.

They all signed......plus that WR from the Tulsa area......don't know much about him. It ended better than it started!!!

If you all sould go to the official TU site and click the signing day central, there is a list of recruits and their video highlights. This might give some of us an idea of what we may see from them.

My favorite observation from TU Coach Bill Blankenship on signing day:

"We've signed three interior defensive lineman that are very big and physical football players, and two defensive end types that we think will elevate our athleticism and pass rush."

My second favorite observation from TU Coach Bill Blankenship on signing day:

"We knew we'd sign only one true inside linebacker and we think Tim Quickel is a real steal for us. He has incredible speed and is a big time hitter, while Perea Wilson is more of a hybrid linebacker/defensive end. What we love about him is his pass rushing ability."

Given the especially strong 2013 recruiting of Defensive Backs, I think Tulsa has now set itself up to play some really strong defense, something that was not always true as one looks back since Tulsa joined CUSA.

I think you are right Tallgrass....defense is going to be more important in the AAC and we should be getting better in that department. CUSA was an Offensive league but not much defense.....probably why we won the title in 2012, we had the best defense in CUSA. Now if we can come up with a new, exciting offense, we might not be near the bottom of the AAC.

Good comments good folks. I think the defense will remain fairly strong. Our future success will depend on how productive the offense is. It'll be interesting to see how well we adapt to the new conference. Stay tuned.

IMO

For me, the best part of this class is the playmakers. Blankenship has usually gone more for size than speed, until this class.

Bishop Louie, Terrance Ivery, D'Angelo Brewer & Taverreon Dickerson are all smaller, but quicker, shiftier playmakers. Keevan Lucas is the only similar player Blankenship has signed, IMO. In particular, Louie, Ivery & Brewer are all guys who break multiple tackles on most plays of their highlight videos.

I have a friend who coached HS defense against McLain. He has been telling me for months that TU needed to sign Louie. He said Louie was a nightmare to defend, & called him a Damaris Johnson type player.

I watched Ivery's highlights & he looks like another DJ type player. I watched Brewer's junior highlights & was impressed how many times he evaded 3 rushers in the backfield as he caught a shotgun snap & still made 10+ yards on the play ! IMO, if you put Louie, Brewer or Ivery at a Jenks or Union as a RB or a slot receiver, they would get BCS offers. I really think Blankenship is starting to figure out recruiting of skill position players at TU.

BTW, we actually have 4 players who played QB their senior seasons, 5 including Prince, who played some wildcat QB !

Other players whose videos were impressive to me include : Jeremy Smith, Justin Hobbs, Myles Mouton, Chandler Miller, Mildren Montgomery, Payton Prince & Petera Wilson. I also like all 3 DTs in this class.

I sure hope some of these young playmakers & DTs can help us in 2014. Blankenship has a few more bullets in his gun. Now we will see if he can do something with them !

One more thought : Tallgrass posted some info about Earl Rollins, including North Texas fans bemoaning that UNT didn't sign him. On Rollins video (which was impressive), Blankenship said Earl Rollins was TU's #1 DT prospect on their board all along. If he's not doing some signing day exaggerating, that is a strong endorsement!

(02-05-2014 10:57 PM)Tulsafanzz Wrote:  One more thought : Tallgrass posted some info about Earl Rollins, including North Texas fans bemoaning that UNT didn't sign him. On Rollins video (which was impressive), Blankenship said Earl Rollins was TU's #1 DT prospect on their board all along. If he's not doing some signing day exaggerating, that is a strong endorsement!

Thanks for info! Can you provide a link as I couldn't find it....I am not the sharpest tool in the shed.

(02-06-2014 12:21 AM)Tallgrass Wrote:  

(02-05-2014 10:57 PM)Tulsafanzz Wrote:  One more thought : Tallgrass posted some info about Earl Rollins, including North Texas fans bemoaning that UNT didn't sign him. On Rollins video (which was impressive), Blankenship said Earl Rollins was TU's #1 DT prospect on their board all along. If he's not doing some signing day exaggerating, that is a strong endorsement!

Thanks for info! Can you provide a link as I couldn't find it....I am not the sharpest tool in the shed.

I'm not good on links, but go to tulsahurricane.com & then Football.....then Signing Day Central. They have a video for every signee. Hope that helps !

Looking at the recruiting site on rivals, it looks pretty close between TU, Tulane and possibly Memphis, but I'd give us the edge due to offers and videos. SMU is just "OK" but not as good as the top 3. Surprisingly, Houston was not very good. hard to figure that out.