Mocs' Warren now has his chance to start at linebacker

UTC linebacker Dale Warren (20) tackles Jacksonville State wide receiver Jairus Hollman during the Mocs' season-opener football game against Jacksonville State at Finley Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn.
UTC linebacker Dale Warren (20) tackles Jacksonville State wide receiver Jairus Hollman during the Mocs' season-opener football game against Jacksonville State at Finley Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Dale Warren knows only one way to play football. Hard.

In his first two seasons at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Warren made a name as a special-teams guy. He had only limited playing time at his main position of linebacker, studying behind Muhasibi Wakeel, Nakevion Leslie and A.J. Hampton - each of whom claimed at least one All-Southern Conference honor while at UTC.

Now, Hampton's graduation at the Sam linebacker position has left a spot open, and Warren has taken the opportunity and run with it.

The 6-foot, 225-pound junior performed well in his first camp as the starting Sam linebacker, strengthening his hold on the position as the countdown of days until the Sept. 1 season opener against Shorter University hits nine.

His hard-hitting, go-all-out mentality has been well-documented, from his numerous tackles on special teams to his willingness to shoot through gaps and make bone-crushing tackles.

He had 13 tackles, mostly on special teams, last season. In consecutive weeks, he recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff that led to a field goal against Florida State and blocked a punt that led to a safety in the first round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs against Fordham.

"It's just the way I was raised," Warren said Sunday. "Growing up playing, I was a hard player. That's the type of intensity I bring to the game, to always get after the ball and never slow down. Go hard 100 percent of the time."

Defensive coordinator Adam Braithwaite said after Saturday morning's scrimmage that when you have a player who goes 100 mph all the time, you "don't even touch that."

"I usually let that thing go," Braithwaite said. "I'd rather have them like that. If one guy goes hard all the time, we just let him go, and hopefully some others feed off of him."

The UTC defensive coaches are now just tweaking some things with Warren, making sure he adds some additional knowledge on the field to go with his all-out effort. Mocs linebackers typically are the team's leaders in tackles and are expeced to cover large chunks of the field. There's no reason to think things should be any different with Warren in.

He spent a lot of time last season talking with Hampton, his roommate on road trips. Warren said Hampton gave him "a lot of knowledge about what to do."

"Things have been going great," Warren said. "Right now I just pray to God to give me the strength and the wisdom to be in the right place, and everything has been going accordingly as planned. I feel like I'm doing great; all I've got to do is focus up, make the plays I'm supposed to make and help the team."

The Mocs return to practice at 3:40 this afternoon at Scrappy Moore Field.

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleyftp.

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