Tulsa Football: Will Golden Hurricane return to bowl for first time since 2016?

Tulsa should field another top AAC defense

Tulsa had an ultra efficient defense last year, but had trouble creating a lot of havoc plays, such as sacks or tackles for loss. The Golden Hurricane will have to replace seven starters on the defense including a couple of guys who are now in the NFL.

On the defensive line, only nose tackle Jaxon Player returns and this unit will be missing defensive end Trevis Gipson who accounted for eight of the team’s 14 sacks last season. The focus for this defensive line will be to improve getting to the quarterback, as 14 sacks is just not good enough, especially when you are facing offenses like UCF, SMU and Memphis.

The linebackers will be led by junior Zaven Collins, who was the team’s second-leading tackler last season with 97 tackles and he also had two sacks. New starters Treyvon Reeves and Yohance Burnett have experience, but have not been full time starters yet, but both are talented players.

The linebackers, much like the defensive line, needs to be better at causing havoc and creating negative plays for the offense

The secondary is going to be another place where there is a lot of inexperience. Seniors Cristian Williams and nickelback Allie Green IV are back and are going to have to lead this secondary. Free safety TieNeal Martin is a senior and he does have four career starts under his belt. They will be missing Reggie Robinson, who was a first-team All-AAC selection, but is now in the NFL.