In the most important football game of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s 2022 season, quite possibly the most important member of the UTC defense was sitting on a couch three hours away from the rest of the team.
That Nov. 19 game, the Mocs’ 32-29 loss to Western Carolina to close their Southern Conference schedule and regular season, was played without nickelback Reuben Lowery, who had been poked in the eye a week earlier during the Mocs’ home loss to Samford.
The injury made Lowery so sensitive to light that he was walking around campus with sunglasses on and was experiencing headaches. The loss stuck the Mocs with a final record of 7-4 and, as it turned out, made them one of the first programs left out of the Football Championship Subdivision’s 24-team playoff field.
Defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward said Lowery’s absence against the Catamounts cost the Mocs “a lot.”
“He’s vital,” Ward said. “We can’t do a lot of things that we do without Reuben Lowery. Our nickel is probably the most important part of our defense, because you have to have a guy that’s good enough to cover a slot receiver, good enough to blitz and be physical in the run game. It’s not like a typical DB where you’ve got a good cover guy but he’s not real physical, and Reuben has to be both.”