Wednesday afternoon, it was all about football for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
With an offseason full of news – positive and negative – in the rearview mirror, the Mocs were at Scrappy Moore Field for their first official practice for the 2016 season.
There was the good, including Monday’s announcement of four preseason All-Americans – tied for the most in the country – in defensive lineman Keionta Davis and offensive lineman Corey Levin (first-team selections) and running back Derrick Craine and linebacker Nakevion Leslie (third-team selections).
Plus, the team is excited about the return of 16 starters and the growth and maturity of new starting quarterback Alejandro Bennifield, who made it known this was going to be “his team” even before practice began.
“I’m ready to go out there and have fun,” Bennifield said. “I’ve been working out with them for so long, I think it’s time for me to step in and play with them. I want everyone to know I’m the leader of this team. I’ll control everything.
“I want everyone to know I’m going to lead the team from here on out.”
But there’s also been the bad, with the offseason arrests and dismissals of three players.
Senior cornerback Dee Virgin, a two-time All-Southern Conference selection, and freshman receiver Ke’Von Hall were dismissed in May due to a violation of team rules. Most recently, tight end prospect Duke Ethridge – who had played basketball for the Mocs but was returning to another one of his high school sports for his final year of eligibility – was dismissed following his arrest this past weekend.
“We had some great players make some mistakes, but ultimately that’s their decision,” senior receiver Xavier Borishade said. “As a team we back them up, but there’s nothing we can do. We’re just focusing on us. All we’re doing is focusing on a national championship. We’ve got three SoCon titles (in a row); now we want to go for the national championship.”
Leslie added that it was disappointing because so many players stayed in Chattanooga for the summer, working out and hanging out together to get prepared for the season ahead.
“We worked as hard as we did to continue to build for UTC, so for that to happen a few days before camp, it became a distraction for us, which isn’t good for us,” Leslie said. “But we’ve been trying to look past it and look forward to football.”
And Wednesday, that was what it was all about.
That and the heat, with temperatures reaching the mid-90s on the field, which led to a water-and-protein break in the middle of practice. There was some installation of the offense and defense, with the target of Sept. 1 and the season opener against Shorter on the calendar.
“It was hard to get through today,” UTC coach Russ Huesman said. “You could see the guys kind of wear down, and when that happens it looks a little sloppier than it should. It’ll be a lot crisper of a practice tomorrow morning.”
The Mocs will take the field at 7 this morning.
Craine on watch list
Craine is one of 22 players on the STATS FCS Offensive Player of the Year preseason watch list released this week.
The 5-foot-10, 205-pounder is a preseason third-team All-American selection and a first-team SoCon pick after a 1,251-yard, 13-touchdown showing in 2015. The yardage total set a school record, while his touchdown total tied for the conference lead and was the fourth-highest total in school history.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.