UTC inside linebacker C.J. Winston is a redshirt freshman competing for playing time.Oscar Rodriguez likes to keep his emotions relatively balanced about his University of Tennessee at Chattanooga inside linebackers.
So the position coach fights the urge to get down if the team’s most inexperienced group has a bad practice. Conversely, he’s learned not to get too excited when he sees his guys have a solid period or even a great practice.
“Undersell and overachieve,” he said after Thursday’s session.
The Mocs have only one player who’s played meaningful time at the position, but that’s senior Tavon Lawson, a converted defensive back who was the team leader in tackles last year. Rodriguez’s mission in his first season with the program has been to mold a group that has to replace Tae Davis – now with the New York Giants – and Dale Warren, who along with graduated quarterback Alejandro Bennifield recently signed to continue his career with Memphis of the Alliance of American Football League.
Their departures left the Mocs with a gap in the middle of the defense, literally.