UTC defensive end Nick Davison.Injured University of Tennessee at Chattanooga defensive tackle Nick Davison will miss the rest of the season, Mocs coach Russ Huesman said Tuesday during his weekly media luncheon.
A preseason All-Southern Conference pick, Davison suffered a torn ACL in his left knee while sacking Jacksonville State quarterback Coty Blanchard in the second game of the season. UTC was hoping the senior would eventually be able to play through the injury, but little progress has been made the past two weeks.
Huesman said Davison will have surgery soon. Davison still has a redshirt year available so he should be able to play next season.
As for suspended defensive tackle Keyon Reed's status, Huesman said a decision hasn't been made on Reed's availability this week. The Mocs were down to three defensive tackles last week at Appalachian State, all of them freshmen.
UTC (2-2, 0-1 Southern Conference) hosts The Citadel (1-2, 0-2) on Saturday.
Huesman talked about a range of topics, including The Citadel's triple-option offense and its stout defense. Here's some more of what he had to say:
On The Citadel's defense, which is allowing a SoCon low 14.3 points per game:
"The thing that people don't talk about is their leading the league in a bunch of defensive categories. They have actually played three really good offenses - Jacksonville, who's got a really good offense, Furman and Elon - and they're leading the league. They're really good on defense and that's what kind of causes you some concern."
On defending The Citadel's offense:
"They use every inch of [the field] and that's what makes the triple-option so tough."
"There will be a lot of one-on-one situations out there where we've got to get them on the ground."
On needing the wide receivers to play better:
"We have to block better, we have to get off of press coverage, we have to catch every ball that's thrown to us, we've got to get open. And everybody blames our offensive line [for the offense's struggles against Appalachian State], but our wideouts didn't play very good at all on Saturday. Probably the worst group out of everybody and they've got to get better."
For more Mocs coverage, see tomorrow's Times Free Press. You can also follow beat writer John Frierson on Twitter at twitter.com/mocsbeatCTFP.