TU's Blankenship Awards Four Walk-Ons With Scholarships

On Saturday night, during a team function following a day's activities at Dry Gulch USA as part of a retreat for the Tulsa football team, coach Bill Blankenship announced that four walk-on athletes were put on scholarship.

The four walk-ons receiving scholarships for this year include safety Matt Linscott, fullback Colby Scott, defensive tackle Hayden Carman and H-back Mandel Dixon.

Here's what Blankenship had to say about each:

Matt Linscott from Jenks HS (Jenks. Okla.)

“Matt is going into his third season. He has done remarkably well. We began noticing him as a freshman. He was very active. He was a really good special teams player a year ago, and will be again this year, but he's also in the two-deep at safety. He's paid the price and has shown us how dependable he is and is a good student.”

Colby Scott from Enid HS (Enid, Okla.)

“Colby has been a fullback/H-back for us. He worked into a starting role for us last year at fullback, but we didn't do it a lot. He's a guy that has paid the price. He's going into his fourth season. Colby is a great student and has done everything that we've asked him to do, and he's our starter at fullback.”

Hayden Carman from Little Rock Catholic HS (Little Rock, Ark.)

“Hayden is going into his third year at defensive tackle. Hayden actually got into some games last year, and played on some special teams last year. He's in our rotation right now as a number two. He'll provide depth for us in the defensive line. Hayden has developed his skills and Coach Thibodeaux has been very happy with his development.”

Mandel Dixon from Red Oak HS (Dallas, Texas) and transfer from Pittsburg State

Mandel showed us enough in the spring that we officially put him on scholarship this summer, but haven't announced it until now. Mandel is our starter at the H-back position and has been very impressive. He did that in the spring, enough to get our attention, and then to believe that we should put him on scholarship, and he's done nothing this fall to change those thoughts.

Tulsa took Sunday off and will return to practice Monday afternoon.