Tonight, the University of Tulsa Football team takes the field at H.A. Chapman Stadium to open the 2021 season against UC-Davis, with kickoff set for 6:30 p.m. Tulsa head coach Philip Montgomery said his team is ready to face an opponent.

“It’s like that every year; you love fall camp and you love getting on the field, but you’ve gone against each other so much, it’s just hard,” said TU head coach Philip Montgomery, following the team’s final scrimmage last week. “They’re ready to do something different, see something different, see someone new and that’s what I talked to our team about. Now it’s about who we’re playing and it’s us coming together and that’s what’s going to make our football team.”

Overall, Montgomery is happy with the way his team looks going into the season, but realizes there is room for improvement on offense.

“I feel good about where we are and I’ve seen enough in the practices of where we are,” Montgomery said. “We’re not going to show everything when we come out. I feel good about it. I think we still have a lot of room to grow offensively. I didn’t think our tempo was very good today. There’s a lot of areas we have to get better in, but going against our defense [isn’t easy]. It’s a tough defense, you have to work for yardage and that’s a good thing for us as a team.

The Golden Hurricane finished the 2020 season with a 6-2 record, and a perfect 6-0 in the AAC. Tulsa lost to Mississippi State, 28-26, in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl.

Cal Davis played an abbreviated spring season, after the pandemic shut down their fall season last year. The Aggies compiled a 3-2 record.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Wide receiver Keylon Stokes is a four-year letterwinner and three-year starter. He has played in 42 games and has 33 starts. Stokes has 155 receptions for 2,402 yards in his career, and has totaled 60 kickoff returns for 1,244 yards, 37 rushing attempts for 211 yards and 26 punt returns for 99 yards.

In 2020, Stokes started in all nine games, earning second-team all-AAC honors. He had a team-leading 644 yards and three touchdowns on 46 catches. He ranked fourth in the AAC for receiving yards per game and seventh for receptions per game.

Running back Shamari Brooks is a three-year letterwinner and two-year starter. He missed the 2020 season with an ACL injury the week prior to the season opener. Brooks has 2,700 career rushing yards and 23 touchdowns, and ranks 5th on the school’s career rushing chart.

Quarterback Seth Boomer has played in 13 career games and has eight starts. He has career totals of 1,535 yards and 10 touchdowns for 118 yards per game. Boomer played in two games last year; seeing action in the USF and Tulane games. He came in against Tulane after an injury to starter Zach Smith before leaving with an injury late in the 3rd quarter. Boomer completed 7-of-13 passes for 60 yards on the season, all coming in the Tulane game.

TU SCHEDULE