Aug. 6, 2010
Tulsa, Oklahoma -
2010 University of Tulsa Football Media Day
Friday • August 6, 2010 _________________________________________________________
2 PM PRESS CONFERENCE WITH HEAD COACH Todd Graham WILL BE LIVE ON TULSAHURRICANE.COM
PLAYERS REPORTING . . . A total of 100 players reported to camp this week, including 70 returning players and 30 newcomers. Among the newcomers 15 are scholarship players and 15 are walk-ons. (list of roster additions is on the back page).
Among the 70 returning players, seven enrolled in January 2010 -- including four-year transfer Jameel Owens (WR), JUCO transfers Milton Howell (DB) and Darrell Zellars (NG), high school freshman Donnell Hawkins (LB), and gray-shirts Greg Brown (TE), Stetson Burnett (OT) and Shawn Jackson (LB).
Two four-year college transfers, Joe King (OL/Texas Tech/Oklahoma City, Okla./Putnam City North) and Lowell Rose (DB/UCLA/Los Angeles, Calif./Culver City HS), have joined the Tulsa roster. The sophomore King will red-shirt in 2010, while Rose, also a sophomore, will be eligible to play in 2010.
TULSA'S PRESEASON C-USA PICKS HEAVY ON SPECIAL TEAMS . . . The Conference USA Coaches Preseason awards has five Tulsa players on the list, including one player on each offense and defense, and three players on special teams. Junior offensive tackle Tyler Holmes earned preseason honors for the second straight year, while sophomore defensive end Cory Dorris took one of four spots on the defensive line by the league's coaches. Tulsa place-kicker Kevin Fitzpatrick, punter Michael Such and return specialist Damaris Johnson also earned recognition. The junior Fitzpatrick was second in C-USA last year for kick scoring, while the senior Such had a 44.5 average to rank third in the league. Johnson earned the preseason honor as a punt returner. The nation's all-purpose yardage leader last year, Johnson led Conference USA in punt returns with a 14.2 average.
THE HEAD COACH . . . Tulsa's Todd Graham (East Central '87) enters his fourth season as head coach of the Golden Hurricane. Graham has a 26-14 overall record with the Hurricane. Graham has an overall coaching mark of 33-21 in three seasons as a college head coach. After his first two seasons as the Hurricane head coach, Graham had a 21-7 mark, the best record for any Tulsa coach in their first two years. He led Tulsa to two straight C-USA West Division titles in 2007 and 2008, two appearances in the C-USA Championship Game and two GMAC Bowl Championships. Never before had a Tulsa head coach led a team to back-to-back 10+ win seasons. Graham led the Hurricane to a 10-4 record in 2007 and an 11-3 mark in the 2008 campaign. In each of his first two years, Tulsa led the nation in total offense by gaining 543.9 yards in 2007 and 569.9 in the 2008 season. The Hurricane defeated No. 22-ranked Ball State in the GMAC Bowl following the 2008 campaign by a score of 45-13. In 2007, Tulsa posted a 63-7 win over Bowling Green in the GMAC Bowl, the largest margin of victory in NCAA Bowl history. Tulsa set 29 school records, 15 C-USA marks and four NCAA records that season. Graham was the head coach at Rice in 2006, where he led the Owls to a 7-6 record, second-place in the C-USA West Division and the school's first bowl berth in 45 years. Before his stint at Rice, Graham spent three years as the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Tulsa. He helped Tulsa post a 21-17 record and win the 2005 C-USA Championship and 2005 Liberty Bowl titles. Prior to coming to Tulsa as defensive coordinator, he spent two years at West Virginia. Graham coached in the prep ranks in Texas and Oklahoma before moving to the college level.
TULSA'S SUCCESS OVER SEVEN-YEAR PERIOD . . . Although Todd Graham was in his first season as Tulsa's head coach in the 2007 season, he came to the Hurricane in 2003 and spent three seasons as Tulsa's defensive coordinator before serving as the head coach at Rice in 2006. Graham helped lay the groundwork for the recent success that the program has seen. In addition to appearing in five bowl games, Tulsa has 55 victories in the last seven seasons, posting a 55-36 (.604) record. In an 11-year stretch before that, Tulsa won just 34 games from 1992-2002 campaign, compiling a 34-88 mark for a .279 winning percentage. In the seven-year period before 2003 (1996-2002), Hurricane teams compiled just a 19-60 record for a .241 win percentage.
JOHNSON LOOKING TO MOVE INTO FIRST ON TWO CONFERENCE USA CAREER LISTS IN JUST HIS JUNIOR SEASON . . . Damaris Johnson moved onto Conference USA's top-10 career lists for kickoff return yardage and all-purpose yards in 2009 as a sophomore. He completed the season ranked fourth on the C-USA career kickoff return yardage list with 2,513 return yards on 100 returns. Johnson enters 2010 needing 432 yards to tie SMU's Jesse Henderson (2005-08) for the C-USA record. Johnson also has a career total of 5,168 all-purpose yards and ranks in seventh place on the C-USA career chart. He enters the 2010 season needing 2,405 yards to tie Memphis' DeAngelo Williams for the C-USA career lead with 7,573 career all-purpose yards.
THREE 1,000-YARD RECEIVERS RETURN TO HURRICANE LINEUP . . . When sophomore Damaris Johnson went over 1,000 receiving yards last season, it marked the first time in school history that Tulsa has had a 1,000-yard receiver in three consecutive seasons. In 2007, Brennan Marion (1,244), Trae Johnson (1,088) and Charles Clay (1,024) surpassed 1,000 receiving yards. In 2008, Marion went over 1,000 yards again with 1,112 yards. In 12 games in 2009, Johnson had the first 1,000-yard receiving season of his career with a team-high 1,131 yards. Damaris and Trae Johnson, along with Clay, return this year to the Hurricane as career 1,800 yard receivers. Clay is already over 2,000 career yards with 2,018 yards, while Trae and Damaris each have 1,874 career yards and need just 126 yards to reach the 2,000 career plateau.
SCORING OVER 40 POINTS . . . Since the 2007 season when Coach Graham took the helm of the Hurricane program, Tulsa has scored over 40 points in 19 of 40 games. In 10 of those contests, Tulsa has scored over 50 points. Tulsa had nine 40+ point scoring games in 2008, including four over 50 points, three over 60 and one over 70 points.
TULSA GOES FOR 50 AND 500 . . . Since Todd Graham took over the head coaching reigns for the Golden Hurricane, Tulsa has tallied over 500 yards 25 times and has scored more than 50 points in 10 games. Tulsa's 516 yards and 56 points against Sam Houston State in the fourth game of the 2009 season was the 10th time that the Hurricane totaled both 500 yards and 50 points in the same game. Last year, the Hurricane gained a season-best 589 yards against Southern Miss, and had 534 yards against Houston. In the 2008 season, Tulsa did it six times and in three games in 2007.
Damaris Johnson LED THE NATION IN ALL-PURPOSE YARDS IN 2009 . . . The nation's all-purpose yardage leader Damaris Johnson returns to the Hurricane for his junior season. He led the nation with an average of 224.4 yards per game. Johnson has 5,168 career all-purpose yards in 26 career games. He had three straight 300+ all-purpose yard games last year. Johnson set a new career high for all-purpose yards against Houston with 324 yards, a week later had 321 yards against East Carolina, and a week after that he had another 300+ game with 320 yards vs. Southern Miss. His previous best was 296 yards against UTEP as a true freshman. He has totaled 2,513 career kickoff return yards, and is just 59 yards shy of tying the Tulsa school record. Johnson also ranks fourth on the C-USA career list, just 432 yards shy of the league's all-time record. He has also totaled 1,874 career receiving yards and 13 touchdowns on 131 career receptions. JUNIOR QB G.J. Kinne DOES SOMETHING NO OTHER TU QUARTERBACK HAS ACCOMPLISHED. . . Quarterback G.J. Kinne returns for his junior season in 2010. Last year, Kinne became the first Tulsa quarterback in school history to pass for over 300 yards and rush for at least 100 yards in a single game. He did that against No. 13-ranked Houston with 334 passing yards and three TDs and 100 yards and one touchdown on the ground -- that feat had been accomplished only 24 times in NCAA history, and he became just the 22nd quarterback to do it. Those totals were his career-best, but he has since set a new passing best with 396 yards against Southern Miss.
AND FIRST TIME SINCE . . . G.J. Kinne led Tulsa in both passing and rushing from his quarterback position last year. He passed for 2,732 yards and 22 touchdowns, while rushing for 393 yards and five TDs. Kinne became the first Tulsa quarterback to accomplish that feat as the team's leading rusher and passer in a single season since 1968 when Mike Stripling rushed for 308 yards and five TDs, and threw for 1,968 yards and eight touchdowns.
TULSA RETURNS FOUR SOPHOMORES WHO EARNED ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM HONORS IN 2009 SEASON . . . Tulsa had four players earn Conference USA all-freshman team merits last season -- two on offense and two on defense -- as three true freshmen and one red-shirt freshman earned the award. Returning to the Hurricane lineup this year on offense is center Trent Dupy and receiver Ricky Johnson, while defensive end Cory Dorris and safety Dexter McCoil were recognized on the defensive side of the ball. Dupy started 10 games at center last year as a true freshman, while Johnson caught eight passes for 111 yards in his true freshman season. Dorris, a red-shirt freshman a year ago, tallied 54 tackles, 5.5 stops for -22 yards, forced two fumbles and had two fumble recoveries. McCoil was third on the team in tackles with 85 stops a year ago and was second with six pass-break-ups from his free safety position.
TULSA DEFENSE ALLOWED JUST NINE RUSHING TDS IN 2009 . . . The Hurricane defense allowed its opponents to score just nine rushing touchdowns in the 2009 season. However, Tulsa allowed only five TDs in the first 11 games and four in the final game alone. Tulsa's defense did not allow a rushing touchdown through the first 27 quarters of the season. It was not until the seventh game against UTEP that Tulsa gave up a rushing touchdown -- the Miners had two rushing TDs in the fourth quarter. In the final six games, Tulsa allowed a total of five rushing touchdowns.
TULSA HAS PLAYED FOR THREE CONFERENCE USA TITLES IN FIRST FIVE YEARS IN THE LEAGUE . . . Tulsa entered Conference USA as a member in all sports on July 1, 2005. A little over five months later the Golden Hurricane captured the school's first C-USA title in any sport. Tulsa completed its first season by winning the C-USA West Division with a 6-2 league record and posting a win over UCF in the C-USA Championship Game. In 2007, Tulsa had another 6-2 record to win the West Division and went on to face UCF in the title game once more. This time the Knights captured the championship game victory. In the 2008 campaign, after finishing 7-1 in C-USA play and winning its third West Division title, Tulsa hosted East Carolina in the Championship Game, dropping a 27-24 decision. Tulsa's has won 34 conference titles in school history. Tulsa's C-USA crown in 2005 was the first since 1985 when the Hurricane won the Missouri Valley Conference Championship.
CHAMBER KICKOFF LUNCHEON . . . The annual Tulsa Metro Chamber's Hurricane Football Kick-off Luncheon is scheduled for Thursday, August 19 at 12 noon at the Doubletree Hotel Downtown. Head Coach Todd Graham will introduce the 2010 Golden Hurricane team to the public at this time.
TU FOOTBALL CAN BE HEARD ON KRMG. . . Tulsa Football games can be heard on KRMG 740 AM Radio again this fall. Bruce Howard and Rick Couri will call the action from the press box and former TU football player Chris Kaiser will give sideline commentary. Airtime for TU football game broadcasts will one hour prior to kickoff.
GRAHAM'S RADIO CALL-IN SHOW AIRS LIVE FROM TeKEI'S ON MONDAYS . . . The Todd Graham Radio Call-in Show will air live from TeKei's (1616 South Utica Ave.) usually on Mondays throughout the football season from 7-8 p.m. The show will air on the home of Golden Hurricane football, Newstalk 740 AM KRMG. Due to some non-traditional game days this year, the radio schedule could be altered slightly.
THE Todd Graham TV SHOW AIRS ON COX-CHANNEL 3 . . . The Todd Graham Television Show will air on Cox Communications-Channel 3 on Sunday nights at 8 p.m., and will re-air on Monday nights at 8 p.m. The show can also be seen in Oklahoma City on Cox-Channel 7. Coach Graham and host Bruce Howard will give fans an inside perspective of the Golden Hurricane football program.
GRAHAM TV SHOW ON FOX COLLEGE SPORTS . . . The Todd Graham Television Show will also air nationally on FOX College Sports Network throughout the season. Days and times will be announced at a later date.
KTBZ "THE BUZZ" RADIO TO CARRY C-USA DAILY UPDATE AND WEEKLY FOOTBALL SHOW . . . KTBZ Radio will air both the C-USA Daily Update, a two-minute update on Conference USA happenings, Monday-Friday, throughout the academic season; as well as the 15-minute Conference USA Weekly Football Show. Airtime of both features will be announced at a later date.
2010 TULSA FOOTBALL WALK-ON ROSTER ADDITIONS5 Malachia Blankenship QB Tulsa, Okla./NOAH Homeschool23 Dalton Burchett DB Pryor, Okla./Pryor HS86 Travis Burmaster DE/TE Shenendehowah, NY/Shenendehowah HS29 Jonathan Chavira DB Purcell, Okla./Purcell HS26 Samuel Crabtree DB Oklahoma City, Okla./Bishop McGuinness HS42 Jerod Gates OLB Salina, Okla./ Salina HS28 Marshall Gilbert PK Tulsa, Okla./Memorial HS13 Jacobe Green QB Humble, Texas/Humble HS46 Chris Hummingbird LB Tahlequah, Okla./Sequoyah HS88 Garrett Klutts TE Poteau, Okla./Poteau HS37 Austin McDaniel DB Waco, Texas/Midway HS85 A.Z. Moyer WR Tulsa, Okla./Cascia Hall HS38 Colbert Nelson DB Little Rock, Ark./Catholic HS7 Stephen Rouse QB Tulsa, Okla./Cascia Hall HS54 Jake Sizelove LB Argyle, Texas/Argyle HS