Corey Levin and the rest of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga offensive line paved the way for a pair of 1,000-yard rushers during the 2014 season. There’s a chance the Mocs won’t have one in 2015, but that’s only because the Mocs are looking to employ more bodies in the backfield this season.
The line is just going to keep going.
Despite some concerns about the depth, the Mocs are in good shape with the quality of their starting front. Levin was given the Jacobs Blocking Award as the Southern Conference’s best offensive lineman, and UTC averaged 34.7 points, 210.8 rushing yards and 411.1 total yards per game. The Mocs’ point total led the SoCon, and they finished second in total offense and third in rushing.
The team has five offensive linemen with starting experience, including 2014 preseason all-conference selection Synjen Herren, who missed last season with a torn ACL.
“We’ve got some continuity going this year,” offensive line coach Chris Malone said. “Last year we were young, so we kept things vanilla. We’re just now getting to ‘B’ and ‘C’ in the alphabet, and we’re adding more tools to the toolbox and they’re starting to pick up some stuff.
“We’re athletic up front. There’s not a lot of them, but they’re smart and they care, and those are the guys you want to coach.”
Depth was a concern coming into the spring season, but Malone praised Casey Hybarger and Alex Hooper, who both prepped at Walker Valley. Hybarger has been getting some work with the first unit while Herren fully recovers from his knee injury.
“We’re a guy or two away from being average, but if we stay healthy with the grace of God, we have a chance to be good,” Malone said.
This season there is no Keon Williams, who ran for 1,037 yards and 14 touchdowns. The rushing attack will lean on quarterback and three-year starter Jacob Huesman, who also topped 1,000 yards rushing. The backfield will be led by returners Derrick Craine and Richardre Bagley. The Mocs signed two tailbacks — Kyle Nalls and Alex Trotter — while walk-on Shaqualm McCoy has been one of the surprises of the camp.
Whoever is in the backfield is going to have the support of the guys on the line. It might be the backs who get the headlines when they break off a big run, but there’s a certain pride the offensive line takes when that happens.
“No one in the stands knows, but we know when there’s a big run we had the majority of the blocks right, so that’s a great feeling,” Levin said. “We’ve got some guys that have definitely come along and are interchangeable, but we’ve added some good depth. We still have some work to do to be even better.”
The Mocs ran for more than 200 yards in six of their final eight games last season.
“We were one of the top rushing teams in the SoCon, so we know we can hang our hat on running the ball and wearing down the clock late in games,” Levin said.
“We’re a strength on this team.”
The Mocs will scrimmage today at 3:45 p.m. at Chattanooga Christian.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.