The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team may be without a key piece of its defense entering the season.
But there are other options.
Mocs coaches believe a few players are starting to separate themselves at linebacker, a position where there could be no starting experience returning. The lone returning starter in that group, 6-foot, 225-pound senior Dale Warren, is facing the prospect of an NCAA-mandated suspension and could be out "a significant amount of time," according to a UTC source who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information has not been officially released.
Regardless, defensive coordinator Tom Kaufman said the Mocs expected to use a number of different bodies at linebacker. Because of that, the preseason hasn't been about who is taking over on a full-time basis as much as it has been about who deserves playing time.
"It's still a work in progress," Kaufman said. "We'll figure it out, but we play a lot of people anyway, so it's not like it's going to be whoever wins the job gets 70 reps while the others sit on the bench, but it's a competitive group and well-coached."
"Coach (Matt) Feeney does a great job with them. They're in great hands."
Feeney was a former conference linebacker of the year at Division III member John Carroll University. In his three seasons as an assistant at his alma mater, two players earned All-American honors under his tutelage, so he knows the drill.
His challenge so far at UTC has been putting the talented yet inexperienced pieces together. There are three seniors - Tae Davis, T.J. Jenkins and Tavon Lawson - jockeying for time at inside linebacker, but Davis is a converted safety, most of Jenkins' playing time has come on special teams and Lawson has bounced between safety and linebacker during the preseason.
Behind them, sophomore Matthew Draper, who transferred from Cincinnati, appears to be in line for a role, as do sophomores Michael Bean and Marshall Cooper.
"The guys have been competing their tails off, and what that creates is a lot of competition," Feeney said. "It's making our group a lot better. They're really competing every single day in individuals, with the team and in the meeting rooms to find out who those starters are going to be. There is a big group of people really competing, and it's making everybody better."
The group checks off the "athletic" and "versatile" boxes the coaching staff harps on in recruiting and development, and they've done a good job of absorbing content as the coaches have been preaching both concepts of 3-4 and 4-3 defensive fronts this preseason.
"Things are starting to click with these guys," Feeney said. "They understand the scheme and mentality we want them to have."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.