University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coach Russ Huesman and his staff hit the recruiting trail hard after the 2015 season, attempting to build more depth all over the field but most of all on the defensive line.
What they've built will be put to test in the coming weeks.
Already six games into the season, another three games will pass before the Mocs have an off week at the start of November. By then, UTC's postseason fate may have already been sealed, because only a Southern Conference game against Wofford and the season finale against Alabama will remain.
For the Mocs (6-0, 4-0), who are ranked third in the Football Championship Subdivision coaches' poll, Saturday's game at eighth-ranked The Citadel (5-0, 3-0), next week's home against Virginia Military Institute and an Oct. 29 trip to Western Carolina are crucial.
"I don't know if anybody at our level has great depth at this time of year," Huesman said Tuesday. "You just hope you stay healthy, roll people in and keep plugging along. I wish we had a whole bunch of depth, but we don't. We've got enough that we don't have to play 11 on offense, 11 on defense. We can play other people, but the bottom line is that you need to stay healthy now."
A season ago, UTC's defensive line was hit hardest by injuries. Taylor Reynolds, now a junior, missed half the regular season after a knee injury, and graduated senior Josh Freeman was lost for the season on Nov. 14 when the Mocs defeated The Citadel 31-23 to claim the SoCon title.
For Saturday's game against the Bulldogs, the focus of the defensive lineman - specifically the tackles and their play - is key.
The starting four linemen - ends Keionta Davis and Vantrel McMillan, and tackles Justin King and Taylor Reynolds - are good, but with the low, cut-blocking schemes employed in the Bulldogs' offense, tackles Isaiah Mack, Derek Mahaffey and Brandon Bourk, and ends D.J. Prather, Khayyan Edwards and Joshua Phillips could be asked to take on additional roles as the Mocs try to roll fresh bodies in.
"We all need each other this game," Mack said. "We need to know what we're doing when we get the chance. You never know what's going to happen in these types of games. At any point someone could go down, so the next person has to always be ready, because it could be his chance to play.
"We've all got to be fresh. If one of us is done, another one has to come in and not miss a beat."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.