During a leadership council meeting Monday afternoon, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga receiver Alphonso Stewart stood up and said what he felt needed to be said.
"He told us that regardless of what people say, this is our team, this is our players," sophomore linebacker Hawk Schrider said. "We're the 11 players on the field, so it's important to make sure we're taking accountability for ourselves, but also making sure other teammates account for other teammates as well."
The Mocs' 1-4 start has been filled with lots of issues. The offense has been anemic, averaging 20 points and 251 yards per game - both of which rank eighth in the league - and has turned the ball over 11 times. The defense has been generally solid but has given up a number of big plays and has three games in which it hasn't forced a turnover.
"We have to put the weight of the team on our shoulders and not depend on anybody to get us going," Stewart said. "We have to hold ourselves accountable. It's not the coaches' job to do anything but give us a plan and a foundation; the rest is on us.
"We've got to move the ball downfield, make stops, make plays. We've got to hold ourselves accountable as players."
Part of the message coach Tom Arth expressed during the meeting is that a certain level of the accountability has to come from the players.
"You have to have a player-driven team," Arth said. "Your coaches are there to set the plan, set the course and provide the oversight and the leadership they need, but your players have to drive that for you to be ultimately successful. If it's constantly coming from coaches, it may work in the short term, it may help you have some success, but you'll never be as good as you're capable of unless it's coming from the players, because it means so much more when they hear it from their peers."
Conversations with players revealed a similar message: It's all about us. Players most mentioned as the leaders of the team were senior receivers Stewart and James Stovall, quarterback Alejandro Bennifield, safety Lucas Webb and junior defensive lineman Derek Mahaffey. Each has a different style: Mahaffey would be considered the most vocal of the group, but the others, along with fellow seniors Taylor Reynolds, Tae Davis and Josh Cardiello to name a few, have the voice, the experience and the skill sets to back up their words.
And right now, it's the words and the actions of the leaders that are going to make a difference between salvaging a season or seeing it completely plummet down the stretch.
"Coach lays the framework, but we set the standard and I think it's really important for us to continue to do that, to work even harder to make sure we're getting better every day," Schrider said. "Sometimes you might dread practice, but you only get three real opportunities to prepare for an opponent, so it's important to be cognizant of that."
Titans pick up Board
Former UTC receiver C.J. Board was signed Tuesday to the Tennessee Titans' practice squad.
Board signed a free-agent deal with the Baltimore Ravens right after the 2017 draft but was cut before the season opener. At UTC he played in 51 games with 47 starts and caught 146 passes for 2,032 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.