When the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team opens fall practice on Wednesday, it will begin in earnest the preparation for a 2024 season that opens Aug. 31 at Tennessee.
Last year’s 8-5 record was UTC’s best since a nine-win campaign in 2016 and ended in the second round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, which stopped a skid of six consecutive seasons without a berth.
Here are five questions coach Rusty Wright’s team faces entering preseason camp.
1. Where does the edge rush come from?
It’s not just that UTC lost two long-standing members of the defensive front in Ben Brewton and Jay Person, six-year players who were with Wright from the beginning. It’s that in those two, the Mocs lost a combined 49.5 sacks and a pair of players who finished their respective careers ranked among the top six in sacks (Person fourth, Brewton sixth). Plus Person was second all-time in tackles for loss with 57, ranking just behind Davis Tull, so finding people on the edge that can get into the backfield is a big question considering the interior rush, led by preseason All-American Marlon Taylor and fellow All-Southern Conference selection Quay Wiggles, is in great shape.