It was a common cry from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team’s coaches to the players Monday during the team’s first spring practice in pads.
“Let him go!! Let him go!!” the coaches yelled at players, telling the defensive players not to go through with tackles even though they were in position to make the play. At times, it was difficult for the defenders to listen, as they’d waited since December to hit somebody.
There were some offensive players hit, and some actually tackled.
“It’s tough,” senior defensive lineman Josh Freeman said. “You run 10, 15, 20 yards to get to a guy and get your hands on them, and you’ve got to let them go, but we know it’s all in an effort to protect the team. Up front, we get a little pop on every play, but as far as tackling — what you really want to do — there’s not a lot of that going on. It’s all about taking care of each other.”
Mocs head coach Russ Huesman runs and instructs Oscar Prado on defense as spring practice begins in this March 20, 2015, file photo.Freeman said Monday that the defenders didn’t perform well. Running back Derrick Craine ripped off a long touchdown run during one of the drills, while quarterback Jacob Huesman made some nice throws, including making a long ball to receiver Xavier Borishade for a touchdown.
As one of the team’s leaders, Freeman said it’s important to be solid each day.
“The defense could have done better,” he said. “I thought we were low on energy, but we have to make sure we come back Wednesday and get back at it. We ran around a lot more; it was our first day in full pads and that might have had something to do with it, but that’s no excuse. We come out to work every day, so we have to stay focused and come back to work.”
Coach Russ Huesman agreed with the senior defensive lineman’s assessment of the team. He admitted that the weather — with highs around 70 on Monday — might have played a role. With injuries and players missing on both sides of the ball, there were no excuses.
“We’ve got to play better than that,” the coach said. “We have to chase the ball better. The offense hit some big plays on us today, but we need a little more energy on offense and defense, but I think the offense got the better of them.
“I’ll go in and watch the film. It’s never as bad as I thought it was on defense, or as good as I thought on offense; it never is. So I’ll go in and hopefully see some good things.
“I’m hoping I see some good things.”
Four-down territory
Former UTC defensive lineman Derrick Lott was at practice Monday. He said he’d been interviewed by Tampa Bay and New England in preparation for the NFL draft, which begins April 30. … Monday’s practice was the third of the spring season for the Mocs. They practice again Wednesday and Friday before their first scrimmage Saturday afternoon at Scrappy Moore Field.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.