BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Five plays into Saturday’s Southern Conference game at Samford, Ailym Ford lay on the turf at Siebert Stadium, grabbing his knee and writhing in pain. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga running back was carted off and did not return.
It was another defining moment for first-year head coach Rusty Wright’s Mocs, who shook off the possibly demoralizing injury to their star freshman by racing to a 21-point lead in the first half on their way to a 35-27 win.
In his place, graduate transfer senior Elijah Ibitokun-Hanks rushed for 139 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries, and senior quarterback Nick Tiano had 296 total yards – including a career-high 100 yards on the ground – and three total touchdowns.
“It was one of those games where you have to do whatever it takes to win,” Tiano said. “It’s next man up. This week, unfortunately, Ailym went down. We’ve seen injuries all year, and guys have stepped up.
“You can’t make up for a player like that because he’s so great, but EB (Ibitokun-Hanks) and Jonathan Stovall came in and we were able to do whatever it took to get the win. You never know who that next man is going to be for us, but you do know that we are going to play our tails off all game.”