Nobody will ever know if the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga would have defeated No. 3 Appalachian State last Saturday had the Mocs made all of their extra points.
UTC missed three in its 42-41 season-opening loss, but making them would have been no guarantee that they would have won, coach Russ Huesman said.
“You can’t just add the points [to the final score], because you can’t ever tell what would happen,” he said.
What will happen starting today is that the Mocs will give Jeff Veres a try at kicker. The backup wide receiver walked on at UTC in 2007 as a kicker before changing positions before last season.
Veres was suspended for the opener following a July 31 arrest, but he could be kicking this Saturday when UTC visits Jacksonville (Ala.) State.
“In the spring [of 2009] after we got here, we saw Jeff kick and I think he kicked the ball pretty decent,” Huesman said. “He kicks off for us [in practice] when we’re trying to save [Mike Hammons’] leg a little bit.”
Huesman said the Mocs need to find someone who can handle the job that Hammons, UTC’s junior punter, tried to do last Saturday in place of injured freshman kicker Nick Pollard.
Pollard, hampered by a hip flexor injury for nearly three weeks, will rest this week, Huesman said.
Hammons, a former Class AAA Mr. Football kicker of the year at Polk County High School, kicked a lot leading up to the opener. He made a 29-yard field goal on UTC’s first possession but followed that by missing two of three PATs.
Despite the bad hip, Pollard was sent in to try to make football’s equivalent – at least that’s the perception – of a 3-foot putt. Pollard missed wide for UTC’s third miss of the half, but that didn’t seem like a big deal with the Mocs were up 28-7.
Pollard made his second try, in the fourth quarter, so Mocs kickers finished the game 2-for-5 on extra points.
Mocs wideout Joel Bradford kicked at McCallie and showed off a strong leg before UTC’s second preseason scrimmage, but he might be the last resort.
“What if he’s just run [a lot] and it’s a 10-play drive and we’re going to kick a field goal?” Huesman said. “I don’t know how good he’s going to be feeling at that point in time.”
Poll position
The latest Football Championship Subdivision polls were released Monday, and Appalachian State remained No. 3 in both the coaches’ and Sports Network (media) polls. Montana moved up to No. 1 in both after defending national champion Villanova lost to Temple.
Jacksonville State jumped from No. 17 to No. 6 in the FCS coaches’ poll and No. 5 in the media list following its double-overtime upset of Ole Miss. The Mocs didn’t get any votes in the coaches’ poll but received 130 points from the media voters, which equated to being No. 30.