Marquis Green of UTC is forced out-of-bounds by Christon Gill of Western Carolina at Finley Stadium Saturday.The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team outplayed Western Carolina in every phase of the game Saturday. The Mocs’ freshmen didn’t carry the team to a 51-7 thumping, but they did a lot of the work.
“The young pups are doing a nice job,” Mocs coach Russ Huesman said Sunday.
A total of seven true and redshirt freshmen started the game, and it was primarily on offense that they made their mark. Of UTC’s 388 yards of offense, freshmen accounted for 233 — that number goes up to 299 if you factor in redshirt freshman quarterback Terrell Robinson’s 59 passing yards to senior wideout Joel Bradford.
Robinson, making his first career start because of B.J. Coleman’s shoulder injury, ran 14 times for 72 yards and was 7-for-11 passing for 123 yards and three touchdowns.
“Coaches told me all week to trust my arm, and I put the ball on the money during practice this week,” Robinson said after the game, “so it gave me good confidence [going into the game].”