Isaiah Mack admitted there was a brief moment of awe when new position coach Davern Williams walked into the room with Mack and other University of Tennessee at Chattanooga defensive linemen.
Williams had spent some time in the NFL, but his name really blew up on Netflix’s “Last Chance U,” a documentary series based the last two seasons at East Mississippi Community College, where Williams also presided over the defensive line.
“But at the end of the day he’s shown he’s just like us, just trying to feed his family,” Mack said recently.
Life is slightly more normal for Williams now. No longer is he tasked with dorm checks. No more checking to make sure players are in class, or chasing down players on campus to question why they aren’t in class. Now he can focus on coaching his new unit, which features Mack and fellow senior Derek Mahaffey.
After Marcus West (now at Minnesota), Carey Bailey (now at Richmond), Tony Brown and Brian Cochran (now at Kent State), Williams is the fifth defensive line coach Mack has had at UTC. Mahaffey is also on his fifth, having spent a year at Western Kentucky, so personal improvement is a far bigger focus for them as they head into their final season as Mocs.