Fall drills have started and Tulsa football coach Philip Montgomery is ready to talk about the upcoming season.

“We have quite a few of our starters coming back, so as we went through spring ball, we continued pushing from an installation standpoint. (Along with) The carryover that you got from last season,” Montgomery said.

“We’ve had such good leadership and we have a lot of guys coming back up front. We have to be good there, we’ve been good the last couple of years and we’ve got to continue to be strong there. Most of our skill guys are coming back as well, so we feel good about where we’re at. This conference is always very difficult but we’re going to be up for the challenge.”

The transfer portal situation has wrecked havoc with some teams and benefitted others. TU lost a few talented players – especially on defense – and it is a challenge to replace them.

The biggest loss was linebacker Zaven Collins, who was a first-round draft pick in the NFL. Two starting cornerbacks transferred, too.

“It’s tough losing anybody but especially a player like Zaven and our two corners,” said defensive lineman Jaxon Player. “We’ve got great leadership on defense and some great guys stepping up and coming back off injuries. This year should be special.”

Player has drawn attention on some preseason award lists.

“I always expect to elevate my game in every year that I play and just get better,” Player said. I am more focused on the team winning and us winning games. Any way that I can contribute, that is my focus right now.”

The players that remain have improved.

“Our guys have done a tremendous job throughout the spring and the summer getting their bodies prepared for the upcoming season,” Montgomery said. “I was thrilled with how they reacted (the first day of practice), you saw guys in their transitions and being able to stick and move, the length that we’re carrying in our secondary and the things that happen with that length.

“In addition to that, being able to handle that practice  with the type of energy that they had from start to finish, that’s something we’re going to build on every day.”

The future departure of Oklahoma and Texas from the Big 12 to the Southeastern Conference has stirred realignment talk across the country, including speculation about the American Athletic Conference.

“All of the realignment talk is out of my pay grade,” Montgomery said. “There are guys in rooms making decisions and moves on all of that part of it.

“For us I know our conference is extremely strong. We’re a conference that has gained national respect over the last couple of years and is still growing, still building. Our conference is strong, we have strong teams in it, we’ve got strong players and strong coaches, we feel like we’re in a good position. We’re going to focus in on what we have to do this season to win games.”

The first practice for TU was productive.

“We obviously still had to brush off the rust being the first day, but as far as the energy level and enthusiasm I was very pleased. It was good to see our guys back out moving,” Montgomery said. “They did a really good job of changing directions, cutting and breaking.”

Montgomery is expecting rapid advancement.

“We’ll put our installation in a lot faster than we normally do,” said Montgomery. “We have an older team so we have an opportunity to build on that. In addition to being older, some of the changes that have occurred to the preseason schedule we’re just trying to get more things in a little quicker. We just have two scrimmages this year so we want to make sure we get the majority of that install done before the second scrimmage, then we can really start focusing on our first opponent, UC Davis.”

Tulsa had a late signee in running back Jordan Ford from Garden City Community College. Ford rushed for nation-leading 1,039 yards and 12 TDs on 179 attempts without a fumble in 2020. He had a career best 222 yards rushing against Butler Community College.

Assistant coach Carlton Buckels, who has served as safeties coach for his first three seasons on staff, is now the defensive passing game coordinator and cornerbacks coach.

On offense, receivers coach Calvin Lowry and quarterbacks coach Beau Trahan will also share the responsibilities of co-passing game coordinator.

In the preseason American Athletic Conference coaches poll, Tulsa was picked to finish sixth. Cincinnati was predicted to be No. 1. TU was ranked ninth in last year’s preseason poll yet finished 6-0 and played the Bearcats in the championship game.