The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga was scheduled to begin spring football practice Friday afternoon, but there were no footballs or helmets present at Scrappy Moore Field.
Instead, Mocs coach Russ Huesman spent the afternoon sending a message to his team in the form of a difficult workout. Huesman's message:
Staff Photo by Allison Carter/Chattanooga Times Free Press - Feb 25, 2011 - Russ Huesman, left, addresses the football team Friday at Scrappy Moore Field.Failure to do the little things right won't be tolerated.
"Sometimes they don't realize that how you handle yourself in every aspect of your life makes a difference in whether you win a championship or not," Huesman said. "We wanted them to know that.
"I don't know if I've ever been a huge believer in making a statement with running and conditioning and killing them, but I figured we needed to do something."
UTC will conduct its first of the 15 allowed spring practices at 10 this morning at Scrappy.
The players didn't learn about Friday's workout until their team meeting, during which Huesman let them know that the boss wasn't happy about some minor issues - such as players being late for class or workouts - that had accumulated in recent weeks.
"When you get one little thing after another and it just kind of keeps coming, you've got to get their attention," Huesman said.
Quarterback B.J. Coleman said the team needed the wake-up call.
"Like [Huesman] said, it takes a long time to build something and just a second to throw it away," Coleman said. "That's not going to happen. Coach Huesman isn't going to let it happen, and us seniors, if we have any backbone, we won't let it happen."
After the meeting, Huesman and his staff put the Mocs through an hourlong, fast-paced series of drills. Some players struggled often, some struggled occasionally and others appeared as fresh at the end as they did at the beginning.
"Honestly I would have loved to have come out here and practiced," linebacker Ryan Consiglio said. "That's what we thought we were going to be doing, and I much rather would have done that. But hopefully the message was received."
Skrine at combine
Former UTC cornerback Buster Skrine is in Indianapolis today for the NFL combine. He and the rest of the invited defensive backs will do physicals, interviews and other off-the-field activities until Tuesday, when they will run, jump and lift.