Golden Eagles close out camp with competitive showing
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – It’s been a blazing two weeks, but the Tennessee Tech football team is through fall camp, wrapping up a great summer session with its final scrimmage on the Tucker Stadium turf on Saturday morning. Now the work begins toward the season opener against Cumberland in two weeks.
By Thomas Corhern, TTU Athletics Media Relations
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – It's been a blazing two weeks, but the Tennessee Tech football team is through fall camp, wrapping up a great summer session with its final scrimmage on the Tucker Stadium turf on Saturday morning.
Now the work begins toward the season opener against Cumberland in two weeks.
"It was a great day and a very competitive one," said Tech head football coach Bobby Wilder. "We did a multitude of different situations. What I was really excited about is we had a two-minute drill where the offense started on the minus-25, had all two minutes and three timeouts and it ended up being a 15-play drive.
"Why I get excited as a head coach is because they got tired, it was hot, it was humid and it really forced them to concentrate while they were tired. Our red zone situations worked, we punted the ball well, so it was a great way to wrap up camp."
It continued to be a competitive day. On the first team's two-minute drill, the offense was looking for the victory on a two-point conversion and Tim Coutras made a thundering hit to break up the play, giving it his all as he was determined to seal the win for the defense. However, the officials threw down a flag, inching the offense closer for another attempt. The defense stood tall though as the next two-point try fell incomplete.
There was no question the effort was there on both sides.
"We did a number of situations where it's the end of the game, the offense is deep in the defensive territory and the defense is up eight," Wilder said. "So the offense not only has to score, but they have to get the two-point conversion to force overtime. What I like about those situations as a head coach is that you could be really excited offensively because you just scored a touchdown. The job's not done. You could be really disappointed on defense because you just gave up a touchdown. The job's not done.
"It forces the players to respond, regroup and rethink in the end-of-game, game's-on-the-line situation and we had some very competitive ones today."
Saturday also got to show off the depth on the field as all three units made highlight-reel plays to get the ball down the field.
"I mentioned to a few people I felt like last year coming out of preseason camp, we had about 50 players that we could compete for a championship with," Wilder said. "This year, there are about 80 players who we can win a championship with. We're still developing those other 40 players because, at some point in a long season, we're going to need them, but the depth has created tremendous competition at every position.
"Guys have to really strain every practice and be on top of what they're doing. As I tell the players, 'Iron sharpens iron,' and when you're competitive, when you have depth, there's a lot of iron being sharpened right now."
So two weeks before the season begins against Cumberland, how is Coach Wilder feeling about his squad?
"Really good," Wilder said. "We need some rest right now, because we have pushed them really hard in this camp – not only with the football part, but the strength and conditioning, rehab and the process of how we do rehab, how the kids work with (head athletic trainer) Jennifer Winningham and (physical therapist) David Maldonado in the training room.
"So they need a break. We'll focus on that this week. We'll practice Monday and Tuesday, and then, as I traditionally do with school starting Thursday, we won't practice Wednesday or Thursday. We'll get everybody locked in and focused, get them ready for class – there's class checks coming, guys – but we need to transition into school starting and get them in their routine where it's not just football and those are important details we'll take care of this week."
The Golden Eagles open the season on August 30 against Cumberland for the first of seven home games this season at Tucker Stadium as Tech looks to win the OVC-Big South title outright.
Season tickets for Golden Eagle Football are on sale now – call (931) 372-3940, visit the Hooper Eblen Center ticket office or order online at TTUsports.com.
Photo | Thomas Corhern, TTU Athletics Media Relations
