Everyone involved in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football program knew what the 2025 season was going to be like well before the opening kickoff on Aug. 30 at Memphis.
It was going to be hard with all of the quality players the Mocs lost to graduation and the NCAA transfer portal. And it was going to be difficult to replace them due to the dearth of name, image and likeness funding in the program (although UTC is working hard to fix that). That led to coach Rusty Wright and his staff searching in every crevice and under every mattress cushion for talent, and they found some gems from all levels, players who more than anything else needed coaching and development.
Even with their roster in place and their lineup taking shape in the preseason, the Mocs knew their challenging nonconference schedule over the first month wouldn’t make it any easier. And they knew that as always, once Southern Conference play began, there would be a number of teams gunning for a program that, despite the lack of a SoCon championship since sharing the 2015 title — the second-longest drought in the conference behind Western Carolina, which has never won it — seems to be viewed as one of the standards of the league.
Need proof? Western Carolina (6-3, 5-0), now on a six-game winning streak and about to host Mercer (7-1, 6-0) in a first-place battle next weekend, immediately ran to the “C” at midfield in the immediate aftermath of their 35-28 win against the Mocs on Saturday at Finley Stadium. It was the Catamounts’ fourth consecutive win in the series with the Mocs, each by a touchdown or less.
“I’ve been here for three years, and it’s the same every year,” UTC linebacker Zion Rutledge said. “Guys want to beat us, and that’s one of the things Coach Wright stresses, is we’re going to get everybody’s best game. We come out ready for that and expect people to try to come out and really give it to us, really beat us, so that (the celebration) doesn’t surprise me at all.”
The difference is that in previous seasons, the Mocs had some pro-caliber veteran players, and because of that, they were consistently part of the conversation about the race for the SoCon title and playoff berths in the Football Championship Subdivision’s 24-team bracket. This team is a mix of underdeveloped (skill-wise) transfers and underdeveloped (physically) freshmen.
“This reminds me of my first year when I was here,” defensive ends coach Tyrus Ward, who has been on staff since 2021, said during the preseason. “Jay (Person) was a sophomore, so I had to dig in like crazy. I’m doing the same thing this year that I did my first year here with Jay and Ben (Brewton), so I went back to look at what were the fundamental things that we taught them in those early periods. They’re going to produce at different levels, we enjoyed that beginning stage, and ultimately if you’re a coach, you don’t turn away from coaching.
“You start with a base, you enjoy and understand that you can’t skip those steps.”
Case in point: As seniors in 2023, Brewton and Person were both All-SoCon first-team selections.
Sometimes winning is simply about talent. The Mocs (4-5, 3-2) — whose three-game winning streak ended when their last-minute bid to upset Western Carolina fell just short — have that, but it’s probably not currently on the level of some of the teams on their schedule. So they’ve had to get back to the basics, and they’ve had to get crafty with the coaching.
After running back Justus Durant’s touchdown cut Western Carolina’s lead to 35-28 with 7:40 remaining, the Mocs lined up with regular starting kicker Jude Kelley — who had not played to that point Saturday after getting injured a week earlier at Samford — setting up for an apparent onside attempt. Was he really going to attempt it?
Catamounts coach Kerwin Bell didn’t know, so he had to use a timeout that he may or may not have needed later.
Everyone in UTC’s program has been forced to grow in their role this season, and that has included Wright, now deep into his seventh season as head coach at his alma mater.
“We have to coach every little thing, and it is fun, don’t get me wrong,” Wright said after Saturday’s game. “I love this team to death, but I’m losing my hair and getting grayer by the day. But the thing I told them at halftime was to just keep playing. We’re going to go put things together, we’re one play away, and this group is doing that and they’ll continue to grow.”
The regular season is down to a trio of games for the Mocs — Saturday’s noon matchup with Furman (5-4, 3-3), the home finale, will be followed by visits to Mercer and Wofford — but they’ll continue to pursue that goal.
“We’ve got to learn from a lot of things, but that is a much better football team than us right now,” Wright said of Western Carolina. “But my guys will go fight and battle and do the things they’re supposed to, and we’re going to get there. We’re going to get there.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.