Tavon Lawson (4) and the UTC defense celebrate a big play during the 2017 season opener against Jacksonville State. Matt Feeney, who’s entering his first season as defensive coordinator at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, remembers his final season as a college football player. It was 2013 at John Carroll University, and he was introduced to Brandon Staley, who was in his first year as the Blue Streaks’ defensive coordinator.
Staley had come to the Division III program in University Heights, Ohio, with a new, complex defensive scheme he wanted to implement.
At first, Feeney’s mind was blown by it. Now, he’s a proponent of it.
“When day three of the install hit, and it was a whole new deal, I absolutely thought I was the dumbest football player of all time,” recalled Feeney, who was awarded the Gene Slaughter Award as the top linebacker in the Ohio Athletic Conference that season. “I was relaxed by Coach Staley, and he gave me the courage to understand this is how it is for everybody. He always had my back that year and helped strengthen me to realize I can do it.
“We eventually got to that point (of understanding) and had a great year.”