The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coaching staff needs to know exactly what true freshman running back Alex Trotter can bring to a game.
They plan on finding that out Saturday.
The 5-foot-9, 170-pounder from McCallie School had most of the carries at Tuesday’s practice, and the coaches expect him to get some carries Saturday when the 10th-ranked Mocs host Division II member Mars Hill at 1 p.m.
The Mocs’ backfield is one of their thinnest positions. Against Jacksonville State, Derrick Craine – who missed Tuesday’s practice due to illness – and Richardre Bagley combined for 15 carries for 58 yards. With the conference season looming around the corner, the UTC coaches need to see what somebody outside of those two players can do.
“We were just talking this morning, that we’ve got to get Trotter a little more involved,” head coach Russ Huesman said Tuesday. “We’ve got to get him going, but we’ll see. We don’t know what we have with him; he’s a good player, so we have to see what he can do.
Mocs glance
* UTC (0-1) vs. Mars Hill (0-1) * Finley Stadium * Saturday, 1 p.m. * SoCon Digital and 96.1 FM
“The bottom line is, you’ll never know unless you give him a shot.”
Trotter rushed for 2,266 yards and 33 touchdowns as a McCallie senior. The Blue Tornado run some zone-read offense, and the UTC coaches hope he can make a similar impact to the Mocs’ backfield.
“The No. 1 thing he brings to the table is his vision,” offensive coordinator Jeff Durden said. “I just think he sees it. He’s had to find space on his own; the blocking he’s getting now should be better than it was in high school, but the hits are better, too. He’s getting used to the contact; the thing we’re trying to impress on him now is ball security. Once he learns how valuable that is, to me that’s when he’s ready.”
Durden said Trotter could bring a similar skill set to the table as sophomore Bagley, with the ability to be used in the slot as a receiver in addition to getting carries in the backfield.
“He just gives us another speed guy,” Durden said. “We need him now, because we’re a little backed up.”
Look at Mars Hill
The Mocs’ next opponent, Mars Hill, has experience against Southern Conference teams, having just played Western Carolina last week in a 42-14 loss. The final score was slightly misleading, as the Lions were trailing 20-7 and driving for a touchdown in the third quarter before a penalty pushed them back and they failed on a fourth-down attempt from the Catamounts’ 26.
The Lions have two quarterbacks, senior Matt Layman and redshirt freshman Austin Brown, who combined for 274 yards. Senior running back Shaikel Davis rushed for 2,815 yards and 15 touchdowns in his first three seasons before missing last year with a broken ankle, and Minnesota transfer Jamel Harbison had 1,204 yards and nine touchdowns last season in Davis’s place.
They also have freshman receiver Gilbert Johnson, who signed with Georgia out of high school but didn’t qualify academically and had to go to a junior college. He spent a season at Georgia Prep Sports Academy in Atlanta before signing with Texas. He never stepped on campus, though, eventually signing with the Lions. He had six catches for 144 yards against the Catamounts.
Sophomore Keshaun Taylor had nine catches for 81 yards and a score against Western Carolina.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.