University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior safety Jordan Tippit is looking forward to Saturday’s home opener against No. 10 Jacksonville State, perhaps more than the rest of the No. 25 Mocs.
“It’s fair [to say that], but I’m treating this like every other week,” he said Wednesday as the Mocs (0-1) prepare to face the Gamecocks (1-0) in the first regular-season game between ranked teams ever at Finley Stadium, which opened in 1997.
It was at JSU in Week 2 last season that Tippit suffered a high ankle sprain that kept him out for two weeks and the ankle didn’t feel 100 percent until November.
“I really didn’t feel like I had my explosiveness back until the Samford game or the Wofford game,” he said. “Those were the last two games of the season, so it was pretty rough going through last season. It definitely wasn’t what I was expecting.”
Tippit was expecting big things after earning first-team All-Southern Conference honors as a sophomore. And he got off to a good start with eight tackles and a fumble recovery in the opener against Appalachian State.