The message Saturday night from University of Tennessee at Chattanooga defensive end Keionta Davis was fairly clear. The loss to No. 7 Jacksonville State still sinking in, the 6-foot-4, 260-pounder warned about controlling the emotional aspect of what had just transpired in the Mocs’ 23-20 loss.
“We have to go forward. We can’t hang our hat on the first game,” Davis said. “We’ll learn from our mistakes, get better at what we did good and keep it rolling.”
Davis spoke highly of redshirt freshman Montrell Pardue, who tied for team honors with eight tackles while also forcing a fumble that he recovered and returned for a go-ahead touchdown.
Defensive lineman Keionta Davis takes a break during the first day of football practice for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on Monday, Aug. 3, 2015, in Chattanooga.“Tonight was just a start for him,” Davis said. “He just needed a little confidence booster to elevate his game. He’s going to play big for us the rest of the season.
“We had a lot of young guys step up and make plays tonight. That’s big because we’re going to need them this season.”
Pardue experienced both the highs and the lows Saturday. Although he made the biggest defensive play of the night, he was also part of a unit that allowed 411 yards – 215 of which came on five plays.
“We can learn a lot from tonight,” he said. “We’ve just got to do our job. It’s really just about us doing our minimum assignment. If we do our minimum assignment, the play’s going to go right, usually. There were a few times we didn’t do our minimum assignment and that’s what happened on those big plays, but we’re going to get that fixed.”
Ribeiro honored
UTC kicker Henrique Ribeiro was named the Southern Conference special teams player of the week.
The junior kicked field goals from 30 and 33 yards and two extra points. He has made 45 consecutive extra-point attempts, which ranks 10th in SoCon history.
In addition to his place-kicking, he had two punts with an average of 51.5 yards, including a 61-yarder in the fourth quarter.
Mocs 10th, 12th
The Mocs fell two spots to No. 10 in the STATS FCS poll, released Monday. They took a much steeper drop in the FCS coaches’ poll, where they fell to No. 12.
There was a lot of movement in the polls, with Sam Houston State becoming the new No. 1 team in the STATS list despite losing 59-45 to FBS member Texas Tech. Coastal Carolina, which edged Furman 38-35 on Saturday, holds the top spot in the coaches’ poll.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.