University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football players recently returned to campus to start preparing for the team’s 2023 season, which begins Sept. 2 at North Alabama.
The Mocs are coming off a combined 13 wins over the past two years, when one more victory in each case would have almost certainly secured a spot in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs and ended a postseason drought that is now at six seasons. Many of the players who put them in contention in the Southern Conference race are gone, though, and with a ton of talent lost, UTC must deal with replacing their production and contributions.
Even with the team in many ways unrecognizable, there will be some familiar faces leading the way this fall. One is running back Ailym Ford, who will enter his final college season with career totals of 3,431 rushing yards and 32 touchdowns. Another is edge rusher Jay Person, who was named a preseason FCS All-American this week by Athlon Sports and was the SoCon defensive player of the year in 2022 after finishing the season with eight sacks and 17.5 tackles for loss.
But there will be questions surrounding who steps up on the offensive line, which has lost six starters over the past two years, including NFL draft picks Cole Strange and McClendon Curtis. And on the other side of the ball, the Mocs must adjust to not having All-American defensive lineman Devonnsha Maxwell, linebacker Ty Boeck and other playmakers.
UTC coach Rusty Wright and his staff have been active in the NCAA transfer portal, bringing in no fewer than 13 players via that route. A number of others are coming in as preferred walk-ons, a method in which the program’s success stories include receiver Sam Phillips, who last season made Phil Steele’s Freshman All-America third team.
Here’s a look at five spots where a transfer could make a noticeable impact for the Mocs this season.
Staff photo by Robin Rudd / UTC quarterback Chase Artopoeus warms up before the team’s spring football showcase on March 10 at Finley Stadium. Artopoeus, who’s from California, joined the Mocs as a graduate transfer this year after spending four seasons at UCLA.QUARTERBACK
Chase Artopoeus, who spent four seasons at UCLA before joining the Mocs, was solid during spring practices before struggling in the showcase that wrapped up that phase of offseason work in early March. He hasn’t thrown a pass in a game since his days as a California prep standout, but in terms of time in college football, he is the team’s most experienced player at a position where the Mocs don’t ask much other than to not turn the ball over. The Mocs have also added former Walker Valley quarterback Tucker Pope, a transfer from Tennessee State who in his first year of college started the 2021 opener against Grambling State but didn’t record any stats.
OFFENSIVE LINE
The Mocs still have a lot of quality returning in this group, led by All-SoCon selection and Ringgold native Reid Williams and SoCon All-Freshman selection Bryce Goodner. But they’ve also lost a lot, including two players from last season’s team who moved on to the professional ranks in Curtis (NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders) and Lucas Lavin (CFL’s Ottawa Redhawks). Meanwhile, Strange was one of four starters lost from the 2021 line. To offset those losses, the Mocs brought in three players from the portal: Will Buchanan (Liberty), Almarion Crim (Houston) and Griffin McDowell (Florida). Each found his way into the two-deep chart during the spring, and it’s possible one could be in the starting lineup for the season opener.
DEFENSIVE LINE
The Mocs didn’t do a lot here, but they didn’t need to because most of the 2022 unit is back, minus Maxwell, who signed with the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent. His production will have to be replaced, and the staff brought in junior-college All-American E.J. Thomas, who had 13 tackles for loss and five sacks in 2022, as one of the players who will be asked to step up.
SECONDARY
The headliner of this group is 2021 FCS All-American Clay Fields III, a former Marist College safety who in his lone season at UTC can immediately help a young secondary that was a weakness in 2022. But former Tyner standout Jeremiah Batiste, who played receiver at Miami of Ohio, will be one of the bodies expected to fill the void of multiyear starter CaMiron Smith at cornerback.
SPECIAL TEAMS
This was a weakness last year on all fronts: punting, kicking, long snapping and, at times, kickoff coverage. The Mocs were eighth in the SoCon in field-goal kicking (11-of-19), while their punting was slightly better, ranking fourth in the league in net yardage. To help, the staff brought in former Georgia Tech kicker Jude Kelley, who was named the best kicker in the country coming out of high school, and punter Clayton Crile, who was a Division II All-America first-team pick in 2021 and averaged 45.5 yards per punt in his four-year Catawba career.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.