BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Technically, nobody on the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football roster wears the number 21, so during games the jersey is passed around to be used by different players on different special teams units.
After the performance put forth by those who wore the jersey to prevent players wearing double numbers during Saturday afternoon’s 49-13 win over Samford at Pete Hanna Stadium, maybe UTC seventh-year head coach Rusty Wright should consider retiring the No. 21.
First it was Martez Cooksey on kickoff coverage making tackles (because Taylor Crumedy — who, like Cooksey wears No. 3 — is on kickoff coverage). Then it was Keyshawn Jackson on punt coverage downing punts deep in Samford territory (because the other No. 7, tight end John McIntyre, is also on the unit). And finally it was A.J. Little, who wears the number because freshman A.J. Wallace is also on punt return.
It was Little’s 47-yard punt return — set up by Jackson downing a UTC punt at the Samford 1-yard line and pinning the Bulldogs deep — that broke open the game for the Mocs, who went on to the 36-point victory and improved to 4-4 overall this season and 3-1 in the Southern Conference as their winning streak reached three games.
The Mocs host Western Carolina (5-3, 4-0) at 4 p.m. next Saturday at Finley Stadium, a matchup with huge implications for the top of the league standings. Mercer (6-1, 5-0) — the reigning SoCon champion and a 62-0 winner against Virginia Military Institute earlier Saturday — and Western Carolina are the only teams in front of the Mocs, who visit Mercer on Nov. 15.
The Mocs finished with 429 yards of total offense at Samford, with 175 coming in the fourth quarter largely built on 35- and 31-yard touchdown runs by junior Solomon Locke. The defense limited the Bulldogs (1-7, 1-5) to 4.1 yards per play, and the special teams units obviously did their collective job.
It’s another step in the right direction for a team that started 1-4 with three losses against teams that have all been nationally ranked at some point this season.
“That sequence was a 14-point swing,” Wright said of Jackson’s downed punt and Little’s ensuing punt return. “We talked about it coming into the game today that we had to play well in all three phases. We’ve got to put a game together in all three phases, and we still haven’t done that yet. We’re getting closer, we are, we’re getting closer — but we still have to do that.
“But that punt return was huge, and I saw when they lined up down there at the goal line, I was yelling at A.J. to run it at our sideline on the return, and he made one good cut and made one other guy miss, and it was good by our guys just putting hats on hats and giving us a chance.”
Little was asked what he saw on the play.
“I saw the touchdown,” he said. “I didn’t see nobody, but the only thing about it man, I had just called it (the touchdown) before I went out there. I was telling my teammates, ‘I’m going to crib this, I’m going to take this one,’ and God, man, I’ve been praying about it, praying about just staying down and celebrating my teammates when they do good, so I guess it’s just a circle, man. It is just coming back to me, so I was proud of that.”
UTC quarterback Camden Orth finished with 172 passing yards, 50 more on the ground and four total touchdowns (three passing, one rushing). In the past two weeks, the seventh-year senior has thrown for 515 yards and seven touchdowns — and zero picks after seven interceptions in the team’s first six games. He had touchdown throws to McIntyre, Little and Jamarii Robinson as part of a 35-point second half.
The defense was dominant, sacking Samford quarterbacks five times and getting interceptions by senior Jeremiah Batiste and freshman K.J. Sejour. The Mocs got 1.5 sacks each from junior Orlando Daniels and redshirt freshman C.J. Smith, as wells as one each from freshmen Xavier Parker and Andrew Wynn. Zion Rutledge led the defense with 10 tackles.
“We’ve got to play together. Coach Wright is always harping on giving yourself up for the next man,” Smith said. “You never know when that next man is going to come back and thank you for it because it’s a team effort. Defense is a team effort, so when you’re fighting for the man next to you, that’s all it’s about. It’s fighting for that man to your left and to your right.
“It’s about that brotherhood that we have in the locker room. That’s what carries out to the field, because you’re willing to fight for the man next to you.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.