During Saturday night’s practice session – a session rated by Bill Blankenship as having been among the best of the preseason – former Golden Hurricane center Trent Dupy was on the H.A. Chapman Stadium turf, watching his former offensive line teammates conduct group drills.
In 113 seasons of University of Tulsa football, Dupy reigns as the Iron Man of the center position. He started in 50 games. In TU history, only defensive end Cory Dorris, whose career also ended last season, had more starts. Dorris totaled 51.
Dupy’s successor at center is a 23-year-old senior, Gabe Moyer, who competed for the assignment with a pair of younger guys (sophomore Billy LaFortune from Holland Hall and redshirt freshman Dylan Foxworth from Claremore). When Moyer won the center job, the rest of the offensive-line composition was completed.
All five starters are Oklahomans. Moyer hails from Oklahoma City (Bishop McGuinness High School). Sophomore Garrett Stafford (Memorial) is the left tackle, while junior Jake Alexander (Jenks) returns at left guard. The right guard is senior Stetson Burnett, a 6-4, 314-pound Lawton native who seems wholly qualified for NFL employment. At right tackle is Davis Walton, a Bishop Kelley graduate whose father Rob Walton formerly was the head baseball coach at ORU and now is an Oklahoma State assistant.
Stafford and Davis Walton are first-year starters. Each of the 2012 tackle starters – Jared Grigg on the left side, Brian DeShane on the right – was an All-Conference USA selection.
Moyer has experience at guard, but until this month, he had never played the center position. When the 3½-point underdog Hurricane plays at Bowling Green on Thursday, he and the TU linemen are matched with a Falcon defense that in 2012 was ranked sixth nationally in total defense and allowed opponents to convert on only 28 percent of their third-down plays.
Asked whether it is daunting to follow a 50-start guy like Trent Dupy, Moyer replied, “Trent leaves some pretty big shoes to fill. You could ask the same question now of Garrett Stafford, who follows Jared Grigg at left tackle. Or you could ask that question of Jared Grigg last year, when he followed Tyler Holmes. You just can’t think about it. You’ve got too much to think about as it is.”
Before the start of this preseason camp, Moyer only occasionally practiced snapping the football. He now expresses confidence that he can consistently pass clean shotgun snaps to Cody Green.
“It has to be a muscle-memory thing,” Moyer said. “You can’t really focus on snapping the ball, because the center is responsible for (surveying) how the defense is lined up. I feel confident about my snaps. If I snap 100 times, I’d say 95 are right where they need to be. A couple might be a little low, but nothing horrible.”
-- Bill Haisten
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