University of Tennessee at Chattanooga quarterback Chase Artopoeus threw for 2,672 yards and 20 touchdowns in 10 games last season.
Javin “Nunu” Whatley caught 55 passes for 977 yards and nine touchdowns in 2023 and is a preseason Football Championship Subdivision All-American. Fellow redshirt junior receiver Sam Phillips had 624 yards on 60 catches in 2023 and was a Freshman All-American in 2022.
Sure, as UTC prepares to kick off its 2024 schedule on Saturday against Tennessee in Knoxville, a lot of attention is being paid this week to Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava — a redshirt freshman who has taken over behind center after making his first start in a Citrus Bowl win on New Year’s Day — and fourth-year head coach Josh Heupel’s high-powered offensive attack.
Still, the Mocs feel like they have some talented players who can make a few things happen as well.
“Nico and those guys, I think they do a really good job. It’s always fun to watch them, and I’m excited to see what he can do this coming season,” said Artopoeus, a California native who started his career at UCLA and is familiar with Iamaleava from the latter’s on-campus recruiting visits with the Bruins.
“As far as us, I think the more eyes we can get on us, the better. I think that the better competition we can play, it can’t hurt us to play. I’m not sure we’ll see a better defense all year after this Tennessee team, so being able to kind of go up against them right off the bat and kind of get our heads in the right spots and have that uber focus going into a game week, I think that’s only going to help us in the long run. Hopefully we can do a good job this week. Hopefully we can show some people that UTC can play some good football, too.”
Kickoff is set for 12:45 p.m. at Neyland Stadium, and the SEC Network will televise the matchup between the 15th-ranked Vols and the Mocs, who are ranked eighth by FCS coaches and ninth by FCS media.
“We’re not really focused on what the other team has, what their quarterback has going on, what their receivers have going on,” Phillips said. “We worry about our own stuff and what can make us better so that we can go show people that we can play.”
When he transferred to UTC in January 2023, Artopoeus immediately set out to create a bond with the receivers, working routinely after practices with Phillips, Whatley and Jamoi Mayes (who had 1,000-plus yards last season but transferred to Cincinnati). It didn’t take long for that connection to show itself on game day as Artopoeus threw for 276 yards and three touchdowns in the second week, leading the Mocs to a 27-20 win over Kennesaw State — which is now, like the Vols, a Football Bowl Subdivision program.
And for the first time under Rusty Wright, who is entering his sixth season as head coach at his alma mater, the Mocs return their starting quarterback for a second season, allowing that passing connection a chance to continue.
“Any time you have familiarity with your teammates, I think that helps, especially positions like the receiver and quarterback where timing is everything,” Artopoeus said. “I think that can only help. I’ve had Nunu, had Sam, worked a lot with them, had Gibby (Jay Gibson) at tight end to work a lot with him.
“I think just that timing helps you to be able to be more comfortable reading a defense downfield and knowing that he’s going to be there, instead of maybe that half a second where you have to see, ‘Has he done his route yet? Has he turned yet?’ You just know his timing, just through all the reps that you’ve gotten with him.”
Mayes has been replaced in the lineup by Stonehill transfer Chris Domercant, a two-time All-Northeast Conference selection, but there’s also more depth in the form of guys like redshirt freshman A.J. Little and seniors Chris Houston and Zaire Thornton.
So if the Mocs have it their way, the Vols won’t be the only team making plays Saturday in Neyland.
“We talk about it all the time, it’s just about execution,” Wright said. “It doesn’t matter who’s over there, we’ve got to be able to throw the ball and catch it. It doesn’t matter what you get after it or how it happens, but we have to be able to line up and throw the ball and catch it.
“We can’t drop passes, we can’t throw it to the enemy, we can’t do those things, because then it doesn’t matter who we’re playing.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.