A dozen University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football players were working out in the Wolford Family Strength & Conditioning Center early Wednesday afternoon.
Some of the Mocs, like linebacker Gunner Miller and wide receiver Sloan Allison, were using the voluntary workout to build on the progress they've already made in the offseason. Wide receiver Chris Pitchford, meanwhile, was continuing his efforts to get back to where he was a year ago.
Pitchford missed winter workouts and spring practice while recovering from shoulder surgery, so there's a lot of work to be done in the next couple of months leading up to preseason practice in August, the senior said.
"I'm just trying to get back in shape and make sure that I can play at a high level when I come back," Pitchford said. "I want to be able to do the things I know I can do, so that's my main focus this summer."
The 6-foot Pitchford said he weighs 195 pounds right now, but some of that weight isn't necessarily the kind a fast wide receiver wants to carry.
"Some of that's kind of fat right now," he said, laughing, "so now I'm trying to work it back into muscle and maybe play at 190 or 195."
He said he's been running twice a day recently, as well as lifting weights and going to summer school, so that he'll be ready when the Mocs can begin working out in an organized program with strength coach Scott Brincks next month.
The Mocs need Pitchford to return to the form he showed last season because he's the team's only proven wideout following the graduation of Blue Cooper and Clint Woods.
Pitchford had 73 career receptions and is the only receiver on UTC's roster that has caught a touchdown pass. He caught 44 passes for 528 yards and five touchdowns last season as quarterback B.J. Coleman's second-favorite target behind Cooper, who had 84 receptions.
Pitchford said he doesn't expect to regain in a summer the upper-body strength that he had entering his junior season, but that won't keep him from being productive in the fall.
"I think that I've proven myself, that I can play in this league," he said. "When I was younger I wasn't as strong as I was (last season), but I was still able to make plays. I'm convinced that I can go out there and make it happen."