New UTC football coach Rusty Wright and his staff are busy recruiting ahead of the start of the traditional signing period next month.The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team picked up a pair of commitments this past weekend.
After hitting the road for their first recruiting visits after the end of the recruiting "dead period" Thursday, new head coach Rusty Wright and his staff filled a pair of defensive needs with the commitments of Edgewood (Ohio) High School's Evan Brown and North Atlanta's Justin Sanders.
Brown, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound defensive end/linebacker, is a three-time all-star selection for the Journal-News who also earned honors from the Ohio Prep Sportswriters Association and the Southwest Ohio Football Coaches Association in addition to being chosen first team on the All-Southwest District team this past season. Brown, who also earned All-Ohio honors in baseball as a junior, was the team's leading tackler this past season and had four sacks.
Sanders (6-1, 197) was a two-way starter for North Atlanta, leading the Warriors in receiving with 848 yards and 13 touchdowns and also anchoring the secondary at free safety. Sanders, who also plays basketball and runs track, has listed scholarship offers from Florida A&M, Tennessee State University and Western Carolina - like UTC, all three are Football Championship Subdivision programs, with Western Carolina alongside the Mocs in the Southern Conference - and interest from Football Bowl Subdivision programs in the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Southeastern Conference.
Opportunity knocks for men's basketball team
The UTC men's basketball team's 80-75 home win over Samford on Saturday pushed them to 8-10 overall and 3-2 in SoCon play, with the Mocs equalling last season's total for league wins and putting themselves in position to make some noise in the conference.
Second-year coach Lamont Paris and the Mocs have two more home games this week, against Mercer at 8 p.m. Thursday and The Citadel at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, with those two opponents a combined 2-8 in SoCon play this season.
"We are really focused on going one game at time, of course, but with three games at home, if you can play well it puts you in a really good position," Paris said after Saturday's win. "You want to really make sure you play well when you get those stretches at home. It can change the complexion of how the race shapes up."
UTC players, who bounced back from a 96-70 loss at East Tennessee State University a week earlier, are well aware of the opportunity.
"After the ETSU game, Coach told us we have three really big opportunities coming up," freshman Kevin Easley, the team's leading scorer this season, said Saturday. "We took that to heart and have been working hard over the past week to get ready for today and this upcoming week."
After this week, though, a tough road swing awaits the Mocs with games at Furman (Jan. 24) and Wofford (Jan. 26). The Paladins - who have wins this season against 2018 NCAA tournament champion Villanova and Loyola-Chicago, which also made the Final Four - and Terriers are a combined 29-7 overall and 10-2 in SoCon play.
"Funny thing about the schedule," Paris said with a smile, "is that no matter how many home games you have, there are just as many road games. We've already had a three-game road swing, so it's nice to be home."
Mocs thankful for fans
McKenzie Arena was less than half full Saturday, with the announced attendance 4,173, but Mocs players and coaches were quick to point out the home fans' support was critical to a men's and women's basketball doubleheader sweep. The UTC women beat ETSU 76-67 before Easley had 20 points and fellow forward Ramon Vila scored 18 to lead the men past Samford.
"The crowd was amazing today," Vila said. "We worked really hard yesterday to get people to the game, and they showed up and hopefully enjoyed it. They helped us a lot. It's amazing to play when there's a lot of people here, and I think that's the key."
Added Paris: "The crowd was good, and people wonder if that affects guys, but it really does."
UTC women learned from tough times
Having played the fifth-toughest schedule of any women's basketball team in the country so far this season, according to RealTimeRPI.com, UTC entered SoCon play Saturday with an uncharacteristic 5-10 overall record. After the win against ETSU, first-year Mocs head coach Katie Burrows said her players learned from their struggles in nonconference games.
"All of this hard work that they have put in over the last couple months, especially with a tough schedule, we've seen everything," said Burrows, whose team hosts Wofford at 5:30 p.m. Thursday and Furman at 2 p.m. Saturday.
"We've seen the best teams in the country, the best players in the country. We don't play competition that isn't going to make us better. Win or lose, it was going to make us better, and I think that showed today. We were able to handle everything thrown at us and we were calm today."
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.