UTC quarterback Terrell Robinson carries as Glenville State's Ian Andrews, left, and Nate Ingersoll approach.University of Tennessee at Chattanooga quarterback/wideout Terrell Robinson now is sporting the one-glove look at practice and in games. It's a look made famous by Michael Jackson.
"I'm just getting my Michael on," the redshirt sophomore joked after practice Wednesday. "I've got some dance moves."
Actually, Robinson started wearing the glove on his left hand a few weeks ago, after settling in as the Mocs' offensive Swiss Army knife. Having his right hand free allows him to grip the ball barehanded, as he prefers, when passing. The glove on the left hand gives him some grip when catching a pass from Jacob Huesman, or when tucking the ball away during a run.
"Since I'm not taking [the right-handed glove] on and off," Robinson said, "defenses won't catch on to when I'm throwing the ball and when I'm not."
The Mocs (2-3, 1-2 Southern Conference), who visit Furman (2-4, 1-2) on Saturday, hit their offensive stride two weeks ago in a 28-10 win at The Citadel. Huesman was 11-for-14 passing for 86 yards and a touchdown and ran 14 times for 80 yards. Robinson was 4-for-5 passing for 73 yards and a score, while leading the team with 97 yards rushing and a TD on 22 attempts.
"I guess [the offense] will be something like it was against The Citadel from here on out," Huesman said, "That was the first game we really got it rolling, and you saw what we could do."
Furman coach Bruce Fowler saw it as well.
"They were pretty effective running the football with both of their quarterbacks," Fowler said. "Both of those guys were in the game at the same time some, and they're doing some things that are pretty hard to defend."
A year ago, when Robinson was running the offense with B.J. Coleman still out, UTC went into the Furman game having easily beaten Western Carolina and Elon in consecutive weeks. Furman held UTC to 169 yards of total offense in a 14-7 Paladins win.
Robinson was 1-for-7 passing, for 3 yards, and was sacked five times. He had 87 yards rushing, on 32 carries.
"I remember last year a lot," Robinson said. "We didn't practice good that week, starting on that Sunday before, and I think we got complacent as far as where we were going. It's all about how you come out and prepare."
The Mocs haven't played since their Sept. 29 win at The Citadel. Since then, UTC has been working to perfect its base plays and adding "some new wrinkles," Jacob Huesman said.
Coordinator Marcus Satterfield said he'll feel good about the offense's direction after the unit plays well in back-to-back games. It's time for consistency, he said. And it's a lack of consistency that has UTC last in the SoCon in scoring (23.4 points per game) and total offense (347.6 yards per game).
"I thought Satt did a great job against The Citadel in how he managed them," head coach Russ Huesman said of the quarterbacks. "If we could do that every time, manage them that way, that would be great."