All the newcomers within the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football program will merge with the returners in the pre-dawn darkness this morning, and together they will kick off spring practice at Finley Stadium.
The 90-minute workout begins at 6 a.m. — more than 90 minutes before sunrise, according to the Weather Channel’s Web site — and is the first of the Mocs’ 15 spring sessions. It will be the first chance for the team to practice together since the Mocs finished their 2-9 season last November, and it will be the first opportunity for UTC’s five midyear junior college transfers to perform live for their coaches, most of whom are also new.
Four of the new juco transfers are offensive players, and most of the seven new assistant coaches work with the offense.
“I think we’ve done about as much as we can do (to prepare), and it’s time for us to go out on the practice field and put things together,” said offensive coordinator Carmen Felus, who was promoted to assistant head coach during the hectic offseason.
Not all of UTC’s returning starters will be available this spring. Several players are recovering from injuries and postseason surgery and will be held out of contact or out of practice completely.
Running back Bryan Fitzgerald, who led the Mocs with 798 rushing yards in 2007, had reconstructive surgery on his right shoulder and will not take part in contact drills. Receiver Blue Cooper and defensive tackle Neil Brown also had shoulder surgery and will avoid contact, head coach Rodney Allison said, as will linebacker Edward Sawyer and defensive back Aaron Ware, a redshirt freshman recovering from wrist surgery.
Sawyer, a sophomore, sat out the final three games with what coaches and trainers called a stinger in his neck/shoulder area. A stinger is essentially a nerve problem caused by hard hits, UTC head trainer Todd Bullard said.
Sawyer said the condition has improved since the Elon game on Oct. 27, when he took himself out of the game and sat out the rest of the season. However, he won’t be cleared for contact until he is “totally asymptomatic,” Bullard said.
“The guys that can’t have any contact, they’ll still be a large portion of spring practice where these guys will be able to participate,” Allison said. “I expect them to get a lot of work done.”
Offensive lineman William Giles severed the tip of his right thumb in a weightlifting accident last month and will miss all of spring practice. The tip of the digit was surgically reattached, and a pin was inserted in his fractured thumb.
The Mocs will practice on Wednesday mornings and Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons leading up to the April 18 spring game at Chamberlain Field.
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 ...
