Tulsa Spring Practice Within Sight

February 2nd, 2012

Stephen Rhodes

Posted in Campus Football Events, Conference USA, Tulsa

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The Tulsa Golden Hurricane have announced their spring practice dates. The Golden Hurricane, which is coming off an 8-5 campaign, will return 13 starters and begin spring drills on March 6. They will hold seven practices before spring break and then finish up with eight more practices, ending with the spring game on April 7.

“Spring is going to be here pretty quick,” said Tulsa coach Bill Blankenship. “We’re anxious to build continuity off the season that we just had. We felt like bowl practice and leading up to the bowl game was very positive for us. We were able to red-shirt a good number of our freshmen last year, so these are guys that we’re anxious to get into the mix and see how they compete.”

The Hurricane will be replacing some key holes to fill on offense, including quarterback, offensive line and tight end. Tulsa returns six starters to the offensive unit.

“Obviously, some real key battles for us are going start at the quarterback spot,” Blankenship explained. “We’re going to have four scholarship quarterbacks in camp and several walk-ons that will compete for that spot. It’s really important that gets decided this spring.

“We need to fill in some holes on the offensive line. We’ve got quite a few bodies, but we need to see who’s going to step up and be the leaders there. Similarly at tight end, with the loss of Clay Sears and the backups.”

On defense, TU returns seven starters, but they need to find replacements at linebacker and defensive end.

“The big keys on defense will be replacing the middle linebacker, Curnelius Arnick, and all the production that he had as a tackler,” said Blankenship. “We also need to find the replacement at defensive end for Tyrunn Walker. That’s a big loss.

“I think another big deal is place-kicker Kevin Fitzpatrick being gone. We’ll be competing for the job this spring, and who will get to compete with incoming freshman Daniel Schwarz for the job in fall camp. Similarly, the deep snapper position is up for grabs, and we want to continue to see Cole Way develop as our punter.”

Spring practices will be closed.

Below is the 2012 spring football schedule for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane:

MARCH

6th (Tuesday)

8th (Thursday)

9th (Friday)

10th (Saturday)

13th (Tuesday)

14th (Wednesday)

15th (Thursday)

27th (Tuesday)

29th (Thursday)