Bradley Central football coach Damon Floyd, who was a four-year letterman at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, lets his players make their own decisions when being recruited.
But he feels a twinge of pride when one chooses his alma mater.
Bear senior Lameric Tucker chose the Mocs on Wednesday, becoming the fourth player to make a nonbinding commitment to the Chattanooga program for the 2018 signing class. He joins Dalton offensive lineman Dylan Cole, Hewitt-Trussville tight end Logan Pitts and Boyd-Buchanan outside linebacker Kohl Henke in that group of pledges.
Tucker, a 5-foot-11, 170-pound receiver rated as a two-star prospect by 247Sports.com and Scout.com, has 160 career catches for 2,400 yards and 22 touchdowns. He was a first-team Times Free Press Best of Preps selection in 2016, when he had 91 catches for 1,452 yards and 13 scores, and he has 397 yards on 19 catches with three touchdowns through three games this season.
Lameric Tucker plays receiver for Bradley Central. Members of the Times Free Press Dynamite Dozen were photographed in the newspaper's studio on July 23, 2017. He also has three rushing touchdowns and a kickoff return for a score in his career tally.
He mentioned proximity and being reunited with former Bears quarterback Cole Copeland, a Mocs freshman this season, as reasons for his decision.
"UTC was up front and honest with me," Tucker said Wednesday. "They were all about me, and I could tell they were all about me, but they told me to look around a little bit. I'm able to take off a lot of stress with this decision being made. It's not something I have to think about every day now."
Tucker - who has been timed at 4.5 seconds in the 40-yard dash and has a 40-inch vertical leap - was also considering Eastern Kentucky and Mercer before committing to the Mocs.
Floyd mentioned Tucker's work ethic as being one of his strongest and best traits. The latter plays basketball and runs track at Bradley, but Floyd spoke about how Tucker would come work out before school, only missing when he was sick.
Floyd said he "made Lameric not work out that day," adding that he had a basketball game that night.
"He's a great person with great character and an unbelievable work ethic," Floyd said. "When you add in how talented he is, he's one of the best I've ever coached.
"He doesn't have a weakness. That's just the type of player he is."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.