Like almost everyone else eager to see college football return to action, new University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach Rusty Wright spent a good deal of Saturday night watching Florida’s 24-20, error-plagued victory over Miami.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, honestly,” Wright said during Tuesday’s media luncheon to promote Thursday’s UTC season opener against Eastern Illinois at Finley Stadium.
“Mistakes in the kicking game. Penalties. Not being able to tackle. I hope that’s not where the bar was set for college football.”
From his introductory news conference last December forward, Wright – who played at UTC and was an assistant with the Mocs on two occasions – repeatedly has spoken about setting a high bar for the football program.
“Coach Wright is a little more old school,” said senior linebacker Marshall Cooper, the team’s leading returning tackler. “Practices are a little bit more physical, and he came in and set his standard. He demands a lot from us to uphold that standard and hold what he believes in. He believes in us working hard every day, and success will come by following that.”
Among the most important of those standards is good tackling, which Wright felt was sometimes lacking in the past.
“I want to be the toughest team physically,” he said. “Good tackling is part of that. A lot of people are scared of getting guys hurt. I know coaches who won’t tackle except for a couple of scrimmages. But you look at Alabama, they tackle in most of their practices. The Pittsburgh Steelers tackle in practice. You have to be smart about it, but we haven’t had a single injury in fall camp because of contact.”
Noted Cooper: “It is more stressful on the body, but my form is better than it was last year. In our last scrimmage a lot of people tackled well.”
Even senior quarterback Nick Tiano – who’s not allowed to be tackled during preseason practices – has noticed a difference in the Mocs’ tackling expertise from the last year or so.
“I’ve never had a coach put so much emphasis on tackling,” said Tiano, who began his college career at Southeastern Conference member Mississippi State before transferring to UTC. “But I think it’s going to make a huge difference. It’s not only made us better tacklers, it’s made us better runners because you have to work harder to avoid being hit.”
That last thought can’t be emphasized enough. Whatever happens on offense in practice can have a profound effect on the defense. For instance, when Hal Mumme brought his Air Raid offense to Kentucky, the Wildcats’ run defense and tackling technique suffered mightily because they rarely worked against the run and Mumme didn’t think tackling needed to be practiced.
So it makes sense that if the Mocs didn’t tackle much a year ago, the running backs may have struggled to make sharp cuts or break tackles because they saw such physicality only on Saturdays.
Of course, Wright’s master plan will come into much clearer focus Thursday night under the lights at Finley.
“We push these guys really hard. We have pushed them mentally and physically,” Wright said. “I’m excited to watch them play, and I’m interested to see how they handle some things Thursday night.”
But he’s also excited to see them at this morning’s walk-through and tonight’s on-campus team dinner of hamburgers and fried chicken, followed by the movie “The Intruder.”
“It doesn’t seem like a lot to people, but those things are important,” Wright said. “It’s important for us to sit down and get away from football, to be around each other and enjoy being with each other.”
Before the news conference ended, someone asked him about preparing for an Eastern Illinois team that has a new coaching staff and two vastly different quarterbacks to worry about.
“Football is football,” he said. “I’m anxious for our guys to go make their memories.”
Especially if they go make all their tackles along the way.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.