Tulsa Trying to Get the Job Done with Youth

TU coach Todd Graham said a youthful roster is still no excuse for poor performance against OSU.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 11:57 am

By: News On 6

Tulsa Trying to Get the Job Done with Youth

Originally Published: Sep 20, 2010 8:25 PM CDT

Grant Belcher
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

TULSA, Oklahoma – Tulsa coach Todd Graham would never bring it up on his own, but facts are facts.

And the glaring fact for Tulsa is that it’s a team full of young players.

Heading into Saturday’s matchup against Central Arkansas, Tulsa has 33 freshmen and sophomores on its two-deep roster.

Graham said he has been impressed with how some of the older players have responded to adversity and become leaders.

“A lot of our players from the secondary last year graduated,” he said. “That's forced a lot of young guys into playing, but they are doing really well. They have a great attitude and the older guys are doing a great job of working with them.”

Graham emphasized, however, that his young team still must be responsible for their assignments, which didn’t quite happen in Tulsa’s 65-28 loss to OSU on Saturday.

“OSU's fast-paced tempo, especially at the end of the second quarter, was a big factor in what went wrong,” he said. “We had two true freshmen starting - one at middle linebacker and one at free safety - and they didn't run the right coverage.”

The youth from the Golden Hurricane have had to take their lumps in the past year and a half as Tulsa attempts to rebuild to the level of success it has had in recent years.

After going 10-4 in 2007 and 11-3 in 2008, Tulsa has lost eight of its past 10 games.

But aside from a select few programs in the country that simply reload, most teams hit a rebuilding period.

Graham said the difference in the Golden Hurricane’s case is that he thinks he and his team are going about everything in the right way.

“I can't tell you how good I feel about this staff and how they're working with our kids,” he said. “I called a staff meeting (on Sunday) and they probably thought I was going to chew them out, but I walked in and said I wanted them to know what a great job I thought they were doing.”