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Russ Huesman
For a while, Wofford had a monopoly in the Southern Conference as the only football team to run the headache-causing, defense-vexing triple-option offense. Not anymore.
Georgia Southern returned to its roots this offseason, going back to the option under new coach Jeff Monken, and The Citadel coach Kevin Higgins decided it was the system best suited for his Bulldogs.
Monken was a longtime assistant under Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson and coached at Georgia Southern with Johnson in the 1990s, so he’s seen firsthand how effective the triple option can be in the SoCon.
But it won’t happen overnight. He said it takes time for teams to really run it well, and “it probably doesn’t happen in the first year,” Monken said.
“It’s not a magic wand,” he said. “It’s not a magic offense.”
SoCon defenses still have to stop the option, but seeing it three times in eight league games could make that easier to do.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga caught a break in the schedule because it will play The Citadel and Georgia Southern in consecutive weeks, Oct. 9 and 16. The Mocs won’t see the option again until the season finale at Wofford on Nov. 20.
“They’re always hard to defend, whether you see them once, twice, three times. They’re hard because they’re so unique,” Mocs coach Russ Huesman said.
Huesman said scout teams typically need three days to simulate the offense well enough to help the defense, and by then teams are backing off contact in practice so it doesn’t do much good.
Because the Mocs play back-to-back option teams, the scout team should be ready to go from the first practice of the second week, which should pay dividends, Huesman said.
Monken said he wasn’t concerned about a third of the teams in the league now running the option.
“It’ll help the other teams,” he said, “but it’s still different, it’s still unique.”
Sharing the secret
Former Mocs kicker Craig Camay was in Chattanooga on Wednesday kicking with freshman Nick Pollard at Scrappy Moore Field. Camay, the SoCon kicker of the year last season, said he’s trying to teach Pollard the surprise onside kick that he developed.
“He doesn’t get it yet but hopefully he’ll work on it and figure it out,” Camay said.
Camay said it took him about a month to perfect the kick, which the Mocs converted 5 of 6 times last season. Camay is still trying to land a job kicking professionally. He said he has had workouts with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Tennessee Titans of the NFL and was cut at the last minute by the Orlando Tuskers of the UFL.
Extra points
Mocs season ticket sales have passed the 2,000 mark, UTC announced Thursday, and last season’s record of 2,527 appears well within reach with a little more than a month left before the Sept. 4 opener against Appalachian State. ... UTC is hosting its inaugural women’s football clinic tonight at Finley Stadium. The event includes instruction by Huesman and his staff and a Q&A session with Huesman and his wife, Amy. Registration begins at 6.
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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