Mocs' D-line disrupts

Friday, January 1, 1904

It wasn't flawless by any means, but the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga defensive line looked imposing during Saturday's scrimmage at Finley Stadium.

"They're the guys that we count on," defensive coordinator Adam Fuller said. "Josh Williams is supposed to take over when he's going against a young tackle, so he played good and that was good to see."

Lining up at defensive end opposite redshirt freshman left tackle Taylor Dodds, Williams was able to get a pair of sacks and be disruptive for much of the scrimmage.

"It was a fun day," the soft-spoken junior said.

Defensive tackles Keyon Reed and Devin Scates, both redshirt freshmen, also had sacks. The line made it a tough afternoon for quarterback B.J. Coleman, offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield said.

"I don't think B.J. had any comfortable situations to throw the ball all day," he said.

Out of the backfield

The offense didn't focus on the run game too much Saturday. First-team backs J.J. Jackson and Chris Awuah combined for nine carries and fullback Taharin Tyson had two.

Satterfield said he didn't wanted his guys getting pounded at this point in the preseason.

"You've made it this far without getting hurt so you try to eliminate as much inside run as you can," he said.

Awuah and Jackson did make nice plays on catches out of the backfield. Jackson had a 27-yard gain on a screen pass and Awuah had what would have been the offense's best play, a 48-yard touchdown down the right sideline off a screen, if it hadn't been called back for holding.

Mocs coach Russ Huesman said the official that threw the flag later told him that it was a clean play.

Inside the 20

Punter Mike Hammons was the special teams standout with five punts that averaged 41.8 yards. His long was 58 yards and he had three downed inside the 20-yard line, including a couple inside the 5.

Kicker Nick Pollard, who was perfect in the first scrimmage, went 3-for-5 on field goals. He made all three attempts of less than 30 yards and missed from 47 and 43 yards.

Extra points

Linebacker Ryan Consiglio and backup cornerback T.J. Thompson led the defense with six tackles each. ... Joel Bradford led the receivers with five catches for 51 yards. Jarrett Burns had four for 56.