Brandon Dowdell was as productive as any University of Tennessee at Chattanooga freshman during the 2017 football season.
And he's planning to be even more effective in 2018.
Dowdell worked his way into the lineup primarily as a return specialist after an injury to senior Richardre Bagley last season. He finished the year sixth in the Football Championship Subdivision with a 12.6-yard average on 13 punt returns. He also averaged 23 yards on 11 kickoff returns.
Against The Citadel on Oct. 21, he had 130 yards on three kickoff returns (with a pair of 50-yarders) and a 37-yard punt return in the 20-14 loss.
The 5-foot-10, 190-pounder will add full-time defense to his job responsibilities this season, as he is currently slotted to start at either safety or nickel back.
"What we saw last year of Brandon is a good glimpse of what we can expect this year with a year in our program, and that's a better version of what we had last year," UTC coach Tom Arth said. "We saw a guy that was capable of impacting a game from a return standpoint on special teams.
"He's as smart of a football player as we have in terms of his football intelligence, but also within our scheme. He knows it inside and out and brings a lot of versatility within our secondary. He brings a really great mindset and a great competitive spirit that's going to help our team."
Dowdell had eight tackles and broke up a pair of passes in limited time mainly at the nickel. He has spent this offseason trying to mature and grow into the role not only as a player but as a leader going into his sophomore year.
"I'm just out here competing every day from a defensive standpoint, using my voice to help some of my teammates, be accountable for other teammates, and go out and compete every day," Dowdell said. "To compete every day feels great. I'm a huge part in this team's success, so I've got to go out and play my role."
New defensive coordinator Matt Feeney - also Dowdell's new position coach - said he's seen "incredible growth" out of Dowdell. Feeney said the former Crisp County (Ga.) standout was coached well in high school by Shelton Felton, now UTC's outside linebackers coach.
"I'm expecting a lot of things out of Brandon," Feeney said. "We've seen a lot more growth in just his confidence. He was an extraordinary high school player, and when he came here he had a lot to learn. It was a little bit different of a style and it took some time for him to get it down, but now he understands the system, he's gained a lot of confidence and it's starting to show."
New coach reported
According to a North Jersey.com report, former Jacksonville Jaguars assistant coach Tony Sorrentino has accepted a position on the UTC coaching staff.
Sorrentino recently had become the head coach at Verona (N.J.) High School. Although his hiring hasn't been confirmed yet by UTC, he presumably would assume the position of wide receivers coach vacated by Ryan Aplin, who recently took the offensive coordinator job at North Alabama, a transitioning FCS program.
Sorrentino spent four seasons as the assistant receivers coach with the Jaguars before spending time as an assistant at Tennessee. He's also had coaching stops at the University of Miami, the University of Minnesota and at the College of New Jersey.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.