Rodney Allison

For the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga offense to work, quarterback Jare Gault has to do a better job of playing within the system, Mocs coach Rodney Allison said Monday.

Allison has described Gault as a “gunslinger,” which he meant as a compliment. But he said that too often in last Saturday’s 35-10 loss at Furman, as well as in previous games, Gault tried to make plays on his own rather than showing patience in the pocket and waiting for plays to develop.

“I like the way he plays the game — he plays — but he’s got to learn where to go with the football,” Allison said. “He knows that and I’m not criticizing him. It’s just a fact that in the offense, in any offense, the quarterback has got to know what to do with the football. And that’s our challenge to him.”

In his third start of the season and first against a Southern Conference opponent, Gault was 9-for-19 passing for 103 yards. His longest completion was 24 yards, to Chris Pitchford, and he threw one interception. Gault ran the ball 15 times for 43 yards and was sacked three times.

Allison and offensive coordinator Carmen Felus want Gault to run some and to be creative when necessary, but not at the expense of opportunities to make big plays downfield. As a case in point, Allison said, UTC’s wide receivers were consistently open deep against Furman but there were very few attempts to throw the ball deep.

“He’s got to use his legs because that’s going to be his game,” Allison said, “but there’s those three or four or five times during a game where you’ve got to read your progressions, (know you’re going to) get hit in the mouth and throw the ball down the field and get a 20-, 30-, 40-yard play, which we had opportunities to get the other night. You’ve got to do it.”

Gault said after the game that he knew he didn’t capitalize on some opportunities.

“I know I missed on a few throws,” he said. “The game plan was solid and we’ve just got to finish, and we’re not doing that right now. Coaches are giving us the calls, and we’ve just got to execute.”

Allison said he sent his son, Sloan, in with 9:01 to play in the game not for mop-up duty but because he wanted to see if Sloan could do a better job making the reads and finding the open receivers.

He said the reason he went with Sloan ahead of Tony Pastore, who has started two games, was because of Furman’s persistent pass rush. Sloan is a little better runner and scrambler than Pastore.

“I just thought we needed some flexibility there, some movement opportunities, and that’s the reason I went with Sloan,” Allison said.

Sloan was the quarterback on the final two drives and was 4-for-10 for 43 yards. He suffered what turned out to be a concussion on the first drive when he was drilled at the end of a 4-yard run and is not expected to practice today.

Allison said Gault, a transfer who enrolled at UTC in January, will start again Saturday against Georgia Southern and that there could be some tweaking of the game plan to better suit what he can execute.

“We’ve got to make sure we’re giving him stuff that he can handle,” Allison said, “but still not limit us so much that we don’t work within the structure that gives you a chance to cover the field with everything and where (the defense) has to got to defend the whole field.

“When it’s all said and done, you’ve got to know what you’re getting from the quarterback in what he knows, what he sees and what he throws.”