UTC wide receiver Marlon Anthony is seen in this file photo.Marlon Anthony is growing. Perhaps just in time.
“Marlon’s really made some unbelievable strides,” University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coach Russ Huesman said.
The Mocs’ 6-foot-5 wide receiver is growing physically as he packs muscle onto his lean frame. He’s also evolving and maturing off the field, as indicated by his appearance on the dean’s list following the fall semester.
“He’s done a total 180, in everything,” offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield said. “Academics, he’s a stud. Socially, he’s a stud. In the weight room, he’s a stud. Now it’s time to take that on the field and become a stud.”
Wide receiver is the Mocs’ youngest position — Anthony has 44 career catches; nobody else has more than five — and UTC needs the rising junior to become the team’s lead wideout, both in using his size to dominate in games and being a standard-setter in meetings and practice.
“It’s something I’m not really used to, but I like having the role,” Anthony said. “I like being someone to look up to, so I’m OK with it.”
Anthony’s turnaround happened last summer, he said. After underachieving in the classroom during his first two years at UTC, he found himself in a make-or-break situation during summer school.
“I’ll go ahead and say it: I almost got kicked out of school, and the coaches were giving up on me and not trusting me and things like that,” he said. “There just comes a point in time where you’ve got to grow up. It all hit me at once, and I was like, I’ve got to buckle down and do my school work. When you do that, it all comes together.”
Anthony said it was a life-changing experience that is ongoing. As with many people who have that light come on — that realization of what is possible with extensive effort — Anthony wants to keep challenging himself.
“I feel more mature because the coaches are showing me more trust and I can feel that,” he said. “It makes me feel good about myself, and it makes me keep wanting to grow and keep maturing.”
The coaches now want to see it all come together on the field, as does Anthony. He put in the work this winter, bulking up from 202 pounds to 220, which should help him get free of cornerbacks at the line of scrimmage and make him harder to tackle.
“I’m anxious to see how he progresses through spring [practice] and can he be a dominant player?” Huesman said. “He has to be a dominant player this spring. That’s the next step for him.”
Extra points
The Mocs practiced for more than two hours Monday. Defensive line coach Marcus West had to make do without ends Josh Williams and D’Eddric Williams (no relation), as well as defensive tackle Devin Scates, all of whom are out with concussion-like symptoms. … The Mocs are off today and will scrimmage at Finley Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
Contact John Frierson at jfrierson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6268. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/mocsbeatCTFP.