University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach Russ Huesman spoke about the Mocs’ win over Georgia Southern last week, the program’s improvement in two years and more during his weekly media luncheon Wednesday. Also on hand were junior wide receiver Joel Bradford and freshman linebacker Gunner Miller.
Here’s some of what they had to say:
Russ Huesman
On UTC’s fast turnaround from a 1-11 team in 2008 …
Probably, when I first took the job, I would have thought 3-8, 4-7, 5-6 – this was before I got to know our players.
You kind of think where the program was and where you think you can get to … but once I got to know the players and saw their work ethic, saw their commitment, saw their drive to want to win, want to play well, saw the community support, our administration, then you kind of accelerate and say, “hey man, maybe four in your second season’s not enough.”
I don’t think anybody would be mad at our football team right now if we’d have won three [last season] and then five. They’d have thought, “man, this is great progress.”
Now we’ve kind of got everybody thinking national championship around here this year. I like that people have high expectations for us.
On the remaining schedule …
We’ve got a bunch of tough ones and we’ll be scrambling to win and it’s going to be a hard road.
On Furman’s offense …
They’ve been down a little bit with their [running] backs. They’ve had some injuries there and I think some of the two-back stuff that they used against us last year, we haven’t seen as much. And unless they get some backs back, it will probably be mostly one-back stuff.
They are doing the zone read and the one-back run plays and some of the quarterback run plays. The guy they’ve got [quarterback Cody Worley], I don’t think he runs like [injured QB Chris Forcier] but he’s a pretty good athlete.
They are running the quarterback a little more this year than they did last year with [Jordan Sorrells]. You’ve always got to be ready to defend the quarterback and the quarterback runs.
On Joel Bradford, who is tied for 10th in the FCS with 6.7 catches a game and is seventh with 100.2 yards receiving per game …
He’s sneaky fast and he’s sneaky sneaky, if that makes sense. You’ve got your sneaky fast and then you’ve got your sneaky sneaky, where he’ll catch that little ball right there and then all of the sudden he’ll sneak way down there and then go back up.
So Joel is sneaky, sneaky.
On the improved running game …
We’re third-to-last in the league in rushing and we’re jumping through hoops ecstatic around here. It’s almost 170 yards rushing [167.3], which is pretty good.
Joel Bradford
On being described as “sneaky fast and sneaky sneaky” …
That doesn’t make too much sense. I guess I can see where he’s coming from. … My legs don’t move fast when I run but I’ve got a long stride.
On playing safety last season helping him as a wideout …
Just going out there and [making] pre-snap reads and seeing the safeties and stuff, where they align and how the corner’s going to play it, I kind of already know what the coverage is going to be and what the corner’s technique is going to be.
It’s taught me a lot just in terms of where the defense is going to be.
On this season …
It’s been pretty special. I’m having fun, the team’s having fun. Obviously my first two years here we weren’t winning ballgames, so right there you’ve got to question yourself if you love the sport that much.
Right now, we’re on a roll, four games in a row and we’ve got to back down to Furman. … That’s our main focus now and hopefully we can just keep riding.
For more on the Mocs, see tomorrow’s Times Free Press.
You can follow John Frierson’s Mocs coverage at twitter.com/mocsbeat.