A healthy Trevor Wright is a good football player.
Trevor Wright is currently healthy.
The three-year starting cornerback for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga totaled three tackles, an interception and two passes broken up in the third-ranked Mocs’ 41-21 win over Samford on Saturday.
Slowing the Bulldogs’ talented group of wideouts was no easy task, but Wright, as well as the rest of the secondary, did an excellent job of thwarting any dangerous opportunities until it was too late for Samford to mount a serious rally.
“Trevor played really well,” UTC coach Russ Huesman said. “He had a pretty tough ankle thing last year, and he’s just now getting to where he feels good and he looks smooth out there.
“I’m awfully proud of him.”
Wright’s interception with 4:30 remaining put the game away. He’s as healthy as he’s been in a while, after what he described as a “nagging ankle injury” suffered against Virginia Military Institute last year slowed him down. He had surgery in the spring and missed spring practice, then aggravated it in preseason camp.
“I’m back to making all of my cuts and being ready to go week in and week out,” Wright said.
The Mocs defense harassed Samford quarterback Devlin Hodges all game long, finishing with five sacks and multiple pressures, but even when he was able to get the ball out to the wideouts, Wright and the secondary shut down most of the dangerous plays.
“We knew watching film that they had skill guys all over the place, but all 11 of us were ready for the challenge,” Wright said. “We went toe-to-toe with them and showed we were the better defense.”
Confident Ribeiro
The Henrique Ribeiro of 2015 made his first 2016 appearance Saturday. He made all five of his extra-point attempts and nailed field goals of 46 and 48 yards.
The final field-goal try was actually lobbied for by the offense. With the team facing a fourth down from the Samford 31, Huesman called a timeout and the offense suggested that Ribeiro go for the kick, which would have been his career long.
Not only did he make the kick, but he would have made it from 60 yards out.
“I was pretty jacked up,” Ribeiro said. “Coach walked up to me and said, ‘The offense trusts you, so you better step up.’ That pumped me up. I was focused, I was ready, I’ve been feeling great all day, and it really felt good to hit that kick. It felt good coming off my feet.”
Tricky Russ
No one was as nervous when a fake punt was called in the third quarter as the person who called for the fake punt – Huesman.
Mocs coaches had seen something in the first half and mentioned in the locker room at halftime that they would try the fake if the opportunity arose. It did, but UTC was facing fourth-and-4 from its own 39-yard line when the play was called.
But it worked, with Derrick Craine sprinting 32 yards for a first down on a drive that eventually led to a field goal.
“We knew it would be there if they lined up like that,” Huesman said. “Craine is the guy, and I trust him, but that’s a tough situation because it’s 21-7 in our territory. It was pretty nerve-racking, but I knew we would get the first down.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.