First Look: Tulsa Provides Inge with Reunion, Defensive Task

The UW co-defensive coordinator and Golden Hurricanes coach were on the same staff at Indiana.

William Inge, Washington co-defensive coordinator,  coached on the same staff with Tulsa coach Kevin Wilson when the two were at Indiana together in 2013-16. On Saturday, the two will match wits in Husky Stadium.

Inge, who left the Hoosiers in 2019 to coach with Kalen DeBoer at Fresno State and now at the UW, holds Wilson in high esteem. 

"He is, literally, truly, one of the best offensive minds in college football," Inge said during his Monday news conference. 

In their season opener last weekend, Wilson's Golden Hurricanes showed off their firepower by scoring six touchdowns to rout Arkansas Pine-Bluff 42-7. 

Coming off the bench, redshirt freshman quarterback Cardell Williams completed 13 of 14 pass attempts and threw for three touchdowns to lead Tulsa after sophomore starter Braylon Braxton left the game with an ankle injury in the first quarter. 

With a young quarterback likely under center Saturday against the Huskies, Inge noted the key will be slowing down a run-oriented offense. 

"An offense that runs the football, you run the football and take shots down the field," Inge said of what to expect from his former colleague. "If you're pressing with corners, the ball is going to go down the football field."

Tulsa senior running back Jordan Ford was one of seven American Athletic Conference backs to rush for 100-yards in week one. Ford finished with 110 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. 

Fellow Golden Hurricanes backs Anthony Watkins and Bill Jackson combined to provide another 123 yards on 16 carries. 

Tulsa's Tacoma Connection

The Golden Hurricanes will bring their own Northwest connection to Husky Stadium with brothers Jayden and Julien Simon, who played for Lincoln High School in Tacoma, Washington. Both start on the Tulsa defense.

Jayden is a 6-foot-3, 314-pound defensive tackle, a redshirt junior, whole transferred from Colorado prior to the 2022 season. Younger brother Julien, a 6-foot-1, 227-pound sophomore, arrived this past spring after two seasons at USC. Each supplied 3 tackles against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

From Husky to Hurricane

On its roster, Tulsa also has a former UW defensive tackle in Brody Reese, a 6-foot-2, 311-pound sophomore from Hillsboro, Oregon. Reese spent the 2021 season with the Huskies as a walk-on and didn't play in any games. For the Hurricanes, he saw action in a pair of games last season, getting in against Navy and Memphis. He didn't appear in last weekend's season opener.

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