The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s 2025 football season kicks off on Aug. 30 at Memphis, and beat writer Gene Henley is taking a daily positional look at UTC’s roster.
After highlighting quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers/tight ends, today we look at the offensive line:
Who’s gone: Dave Monnot III (graduated; started all 12 games at right tackle in 2024); Reid Williams (transferred to UNLV; started all 12 games at center); Bryce Goodner (left team; nine games, six starts at right guard); Almarion Crim (transferred to South Dakota; six games, six starts); Keon Hardin (transferred); Eli Patton (left team); Luke Keith (left team); Bubba Jeffries (left team).
Who’s back: Tyrell Ragland (senior, 6-2, 318; 12 games, 12 starts); B.J. Ragland (senior, 6-1, 286; 10 games, five starts); Will Buchanan (senior, 6-6, 340; 9 games, 6 starts); Aidan Donald (sophomore, 6-3, 262; eight games); Nick Paul (sophomore, 6-2, 315; eight games); Devin Lively (sophomore, 6-2, 296; seven games); Christian Va’a (senior, 6-0, 315; four games); Tracy Jackson (freshman, 6-1, 311; redshirted); Watts Alexander (freshman, 6-4, 296; redshirted); Will Brown (sophomore, 6-0, 269; two games); Jules Ney (freshman, 6-2, 294; redshirted).
Who’s in: Ryan Merklinger (senior, transfer from Western Illinois, 6-4, 319; started all 12 games in 2024); Joseph Kallies (sophomore, transfer from Iowa Central Community College, 6-0, 328; 11 games, 11 starts); Therion Cannon (senior, transfer from Western Carolina, 6-2, 271; two games); Dazmon Galloway (junior, transfer from Louisiana-Monroe, 6-1, 312; redshirted); K’Erius Cockrum (freshman, 6-3, 292); Connor Coffman (freshman, 6-4, 255); Malik Brown (freshman, 6-4, 287).
The breakdown: In a theme of the 2024 offseason, it wasn’t that the offensive line was decimated by quantity of players lost as much as it was the quality. Seven players logged starts in 2024 for the Mocs; four of those are gone, with Monnot (29 career starts) graduating; Williams — voted the best center at the Football Championship Subdivision level and a two-time All-American with 38 career starts — transferring to UNLV and Crim, who started all 18 games he was healthy for in two seasons, bolting for South Dakota. Then, in the offseason, the program lost Goodner, who stepped away from the game after three seasons with the program and 13 career starts.
The defections leave offensive line coach Kevin Revis with a lot of work to do at reshaping the unit, which has had its struggles the past couple of seasons. The Raglands (no relation) are the most experienced returners, with B.J. the likely option to replace Williams at center and Tyrell the only returner to start all 12 games in 2024. Buchanan, who started his career at Liberty, replaced Crim and was solid the second half of the season, and the coaching staff has been really high on Donald and Paul.
The addition of Merklinger, who started all 23 games during his two-year career and whose brother, Jake, is a quarterback at Tennessee, provides another versatile option because he has played center and tackle in his college career. To add additional depth, the program added Kallies, who was a freshman junior-college All-American in his only season at Iowa Central and Galloway, who started two seasons at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in 2022-23.
So nobody will know much of anything as far as how things will wind up, but what’s known is it will take some time for everything to shake itself out and should make for an interesting preseason.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.