Russ Huesman repeatedly tells his football players - and the parents of his players - not to cry on senior day.
This week, though, his own emotions might get the best of him.
Speaking after this past Saturday's loss at Mercer about this Saturday's senior day activities - when he will have to introduce nine University of Tennessee at Chattanooga players for their final regular-season game, and possibly their final time, on Davenport Field at Finley Stadium - he was hit with the realization that the career of his son, quarterback Jacob, is coming to an end.
"I'll be honest with you," Coach Huesman said, "I tell these guys, 'Tell your parents not to cry.' I tell them, 'You don't cry - you've had great careers,' but I don't know if I'll cry or not as a parent. I tell them that all the time because you can get too emotional going into that game, and I don't know how I'll feel at that time - I really hadn't thought about it - but it'll be emotional for sure.
"I'm finally putting myself in this situation that I get nervous about with all the players and the parents going through this thing, but obviously there's going to be a great group of seniors lined up out there. I'm going to be sad to see all of them go."
To add to the emotion, the Mocs' playoff life possibly hinges on the outcome of the game. They would have had to beat The Citadel this week anyway to receive the Southern Conference's automatic berth in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, but their loss at Mercer severely hurts their chances for an at-large invitation.
UTC (7-2, 5-1) fell from No. 3 to No. 8 in the FCS coaches' poll and ninth in the FCS STATS (media) poll, while The Citadel (7-2, 6-0) is ranked 20th in one poll and 21st in the other. Now if the Mocs lose to the Bulldogs, they will not be co-champions and they will be looking realistically at a 7-4 overall record with a trip to FBS power Florida State ahead.
The younger Huesman's UTC career started amid controversy, albeit through no fault of his own. In 2012, Terrell Robinson was coming off a season in which he was the Southern Conference's co-freshman of the year, but the younger Huesman had played well enough running the scout team as a redshirt freshman and through spring practice to at least warrant consideration for playing quarterback.
The battle for the position, which seemed amicable between the two players, turned ugly outside the program. After a 34-13 loss to South Florida in which Robinson started, the then-sophomore quarterback quit the team, only to come back four days later.
By then the younger Huesman had assumed control of the team, but because of the sensitive nature of the situation - Robinson being black, Huesman being white and the coach's son - the coach was under fire and blamed in part for how the situation unfolded.
"It was hard. It was really hard," Russ Huesman said. "As you get into it, it's hard because you try to let it be on the offensive coaches to make those decisions and how they are going to play them and what they were going to do, but I'm the head coach, it's my son. There's got to be a little bit of a sense on their part that 'I want my job.'
"(Jacob) played well his freshman year. It was probably tough on the offensive coaches to have the head coach's son play for them, but give them credit. They fought through it, and they've done a really nice job with him."
As crazy as the situation looked on the outside, players within the team said it wasn't that big of a distraction.
"I don't think it was hard for us," defensive tackle Josh Freeman said. "We supported both of those guys, we love both of those guys and we believed in both of them. It wasn't hard for us to deal with it. We believed in both of them and their ability to make plays."
Jacob went on to be all-freshman and twice already the Southern Conference offensive player of the year, and other achievements and accolades have rolled in. He became UTC's career rushing leader during Saturday's loss with 3,686 yards, eclipsing Gwain Durden (1977-80). That came a week after he became the school's all-time leader in passing yards (he now has 7,539).
Jacob also holds Mocs records for career touchdown runs (38), career touchdown passes (60) and completion percentage (.673) and has tied Durden for most 100-yard rushing games in a career (13).
He's been named SoCon offensive player of the week 12 times in his career, most among active players. He said last Saturday that he had not thought much about his emotions involving senior day.
"Dad and I haven't talked about it, but obviously I've thought about it," Jacob said. "We have a lot of family coming in for the game, but it's going to be a weird, weird feeling. Over the past five years, I've sat there and watched all these other seniors go out year to year, and I've seen how they handled it. It'll definitely be an interesting thing. I just hope it's not my last game there in general.
"It'll be nice to play in front of the home crowd one more time," he said, before adding "in the regular season."
He has 29 wins as a starting quarterback, which is another school record and speaks to his ability to lead the team. His dual-threat abilities have become a headache for opposing coaches, who likely will be ecstatic to see the 6-foot-2, 220-pounder use up his eligibility.
Virginia Military Institute coach Scott Wachenheim, who was an assistant at Virginia and recruited Huesman to play defensive back for the Cavaliers, jokingly said recently that the best thing Coach Huesman ever did was "convince that quarterback's mama to let him come play at UTC."
"It's an honor. I always kind of thought if you can give some defensive coordinator some headaches through the week, that you're probably playing football the right way," Jacob Huesman said. "A lot of coaches have said stuff to me about being glad it's my last year, and it's an honor to be thought of that way around the league and to other coaches in the nonconference."
His talent has been evident in some key possessions throughout the 2015 season, none bigger than the Wofford game in which he engineered a drive that led to a game-winning field goal by Henrique Ribeiro and a 20-17 victory on Oct. 24.
"I believe in Jake, 100 percent," Freeman said. "I always feel like we're in the game. Regardless of the score and regardless of what is going on in the game, I always feel we're in the game and I always feel like Jake is going to make something happen. He's going to go out there, lead the offense and make something happen for us.
"That's my belief in him."
One of Huesman's workout partners, running back Derrick Craine - the SoCon's leading rusher with 884 yards, 5 more than Huesman in second place - said helping instill an intense work ethic in the team has been one of the quarterback's greatest assets.
"He's been incredible," Craine said. "He took me under his wing, and he's always been here for me whenever we need him. We have a great bond not only on the field, but outside. He's really influenced my life a lot at UTC to be the best I could be, because when I came in as a freshman, I saw how hard Jacob worked and I wanted to be like that, somebody that works that hard.
"You can't judge his effort. He's incredible, does everything right and puts all the effort he can into everything, and that's how I want to be as well."
It's that work ethic that has let Jacob develop into a quality passer with a chance to pass for 8,000 yards in a career and rush for 4,000. The 29 wins are in part due to the team's development, but his career - whenever it ends this year - has played a big part in that success.
"It's been a blast to have these past five years with him," Coach Huesman said. "He's done so much for this program in helping us win a lot of football games. When we don't win one, I know he puts it on himself big-time; he always does and he should never do that, because he's a winner. He plays to win, and when we lose I know he hurts more than anybody.
"It's been fantastic to have him. I hate to lose him, but hopefully we've got him for a bunch more games."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.