Image Credit: Ron Campbell/ETSUAustin Herink, Austin Gatewood and Alonzo Francois still come to the Chattanooga area often to visit friends and family members.
This weekend, Chattanooga is coming to them.
The three are just a few of the area East Tennessee State players who will be playing against the third-ranked University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in a Southern Conference matchup Saturday at noon at Kermit-Tipton Stadium on the campus of Science Hill High School.
Herink, who starts at quarterback, has become the leader of the ETSU program in his sophomore season. The UTC coaching staff has taken notice.
"He throws the ball really, really well. He runs the ball better than you want to give him credit for, too," defensive coordinator Adam Braithwaite said Tuesday. "He's a deceptive runner; every time he gets out of trouble in terms of scrambling, keeping plays alive with his feet and making some throws down the field. Then he'll pull the football on occasion to keep you honest, and he's getting positive yardage on those type of things.
"I think he's a really solid football player."
The 6-foot-3, 206-pound Herink has completed 66 percent of his passes for 563 yards and three scores with no interceptions. Behind the former Cleveland High School standout's leadership, the Buccaneers have one turnover through three games.
In its first season as a program since dropping football 12 years earlier, ETSU finished 2-9 last year, with wins over NAIA program Warner and NCAA Division II school Kentucky Wesleyan. This season the Bucs are off to a 2-1 start, which included a defeat of Kennesaw State - which beat the Bucs 56-16 last season - and a SoCon victory over Western Carolina at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Herink credited the team's growth to its experience. When bringing the program back in 2014, coach Carl Torbush chose to bring in a freshman class to practice together. Last season, they had redshirt freshmen and true freshmen.
"That's a great advantage, because we have a lot more experience and that makes us mature," Herink said. "Both of our wins have been in overtime or on the last drive of the game, and that's made us mature. We've been in the system for two years and we all feel more comfortable."
His roommates, linebacker Gatewood and defensive back Francois, played at East Hamilton. A third roommate, manager Reid Lewis, is also from Chattanooga. Defensive lineman Joe Dossett is a Notre Dame graduate. Offensive lineman Myles Smith played at Red Bank.
"All of us kind of talk about it," Herink said Wednesday. "We go home on break and hang out with some of those guys, and since we played in the area we know a lot of guys on the team there. It's definitely a little different this week, and we're all excited about it. Chattanooga is one of the best programs in the country, consistently one of the best in the SoCon, so it's really nice to see how we stack up.
"It's a great opportunity. We're all excited, but it's a little difference because it's our hometown team."
Linebacker Kahlil Mitchell played at South Pittsburg. He and Gatewood are among the team leaders in tackles, while Mitchell leads the team in sacks with two.
"With me growing up near Chattanooga, I know about the natural rivalry," Mitchell said at ETSU's Monday news conference. "By coming here to ETSU, it wasn't hard adopting into the rivalry. I'm pretty sure that all our players get the gist of the rivalry with Chattanooga."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.