The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team kicked off its spring practice on a chilly morning at Finley Stadium today. Practicing in shorts and helmets, though a few players had on extra layers to ward off the breezy mid-40s weather, the Mocs worked on fundamentals with their position coaches during the 90-minute workout.
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As daylight begins to break, UTC defensive players clasp hands at the end of their first 2008 practice session this morning. To accommodate players with early classes, the Mocs began their practice session at 6 a.m. at Finley Stadium.Photo by John Rawlston
There were a lot of new players and coaches on the field together for the first time; the Mocs brought in five junior college players and had to replace seven assistant coaches this offseason.
Offensive coordinator Carmen Felus had a pair of new quarterbacks to work with in Jare Gault and Michael McDonald, who each got plenty of repetitions today, as did returning quarterbacks Tony Pastore — the only QB on the roster to have started a game at UTC — and Cody Romans and Sloan Allison.
New defensive coordinator Dick Hopkins spent most of the practice working with the defensive backs, which lost three of four starters from last season. By the end of the workout, Hopkins’ voice was gone but he said he was pleased with what he saw during the first of the team’s 15 spring practices.
See Thursday’s Chattanooga Times Free Press for complete coverage.
John Frierson is in his fifth year at the Times Free Press and fifth year covering University of Tennessee at Chattanooga athletics. The bulk of his time is spent covering Mocs football, but he also writes about women’s basketball and the big-picture issues and news involving the athletic department. A native of Athens, Ga., John grew up a few hundred yards from the University of Georgia campus. Instead of becoming a Bulldog he attended Ole ...
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