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Coach Bill Blankenship isn't just looking for one new starting quarterback during Tulsa's spring practice sessions. He's looking for two.
After three-year starter G.J. Kinne finished his career ranked second in school history in passing, there's a group of potential replacements competing for the job - including former backup Kalen Henderson, Nebraska transfer Cody Green and newly signed freshman Dane Evans.
There's also a similar opening on defense as the Golden Hurricane try to replace middle linebacker Curnelius Arnick, who led the team with 159 tackles - 58 more than anyone else on the team.
''If we can find those two, that's kind of the quarterback of the defense, quarterback of the offense,'' Blankenship said. ''That's really the biggest roles we have to identify.''
Blankenship, who took over as head coach shortly before spring practice began a year ago, believes his program is on firmer footing now that there has been some time to settle in. Tulsa won nine games last year, losing to four ranked teams during the regular season and then falling to BYU on a last-minute score in the Armed Forces Bowl.
''I feel like we're a lot more of our program now. There was such a learning curve last spring, an entire new group of coaches. On the offensive staff, there was not one coach that had worked together. So, a lot of what we were trying to do last spring was learn each other and learn the new players. Now, I think we've got a year under our belt. The players know us, they know what to expect and now I think we're progressing faster.''
Still, there are a handful of changes on Blankenship's staff heading into Year 2.
Dan Bitzel is the new running backs coach, former Oklahoma defensive end Calvin Thibodeaux will be in charge of the defensive tackles and Darnell Walker Sr. will coach the cornerbacks - including his son, Darnell Jr.
Walker Jr. was a part of Tulsa's signing class in February and the relationship Blankenship and his staff built up with Walker Sr. during the recruiting process led them back to his door when Van Malone left to join Oklahoma State's staff.
''They always joke about it because typically in a recruiting situation, you usually hire the dad and then you get the kid,'' Blankenship said. ''We were a little backwards on that but I think it's going to work out really well.''
Walker Sr. played cornerback for eight years in the NFL with Atlanta, San Francisco and Detroit and spent the past three years as the defensive backs coach for Southwest Baptist (Mo.).
''To play eight years in the league at corner, and he's 5-8, he's a guy that never had the physical gifting size-wise, so he understood what it took and the techniques and all that,'' Blankenship said. ''Our guys are excited.''
Bitzel brings deep connections to Tulsa, where he formerly played running back. Beyond Thibodeaux's local connection from playing at Oklahoma, Blankenship likes his experience from coaching in Conference USA at Houston, winning a junior college national title at Navarro College and then recruiting at a strong academic institution at Dartmouth.
''I always like keeping my guys around as much as I can but certainly we had three guys that helped themselves and went to some good situations,'' Blankenship said. ''But I really like the men that we hired.''
Even with the changes, Blankenship said he thinks more was accomplished in the first two days of spring practice this year than in the first two weeks a year ago. And that's with unfriendly weather bringing high winds for outdoor practice sessions and knocking out the power the time players were in team meetings on the opening day of practice Tuesday.
''We kind of see it as you really coach for depth in spring, really trying to identify guys that can be starters but also guys that can compete to be starters,'' Blankenship said.
''Without a doubt, two or three at the most guys you really expect to come in as freshmen and really make a difference. They may be able to make an impact on special teams, but pretty much the guys you have on campus in the spring are the ones you've got to go out and win with. We're just trying to get those guys really plugged in, discover their roles and hopefully raise the competition level.''
