First Day of Fall Camp Like Groundhog Day For Chattanooga Mocs

Chattanooga-(WDEF-TV) First day of fall football practice for the Chattanooga Mocs, and it feels like a Bill Murray movie.
News 12’s Brian Armstrong makes the connection.

Said head coach Rusty Wright: You know, it’s Groundhog Day this time of year. You just get up and, you know, wash, rinse, repeat, and just try and get better.

Living the day over and over again is the life of football practice before the season starts.

Said defensive end Jay Person: Day by day, honestly, I mean, they say you can prepare for it, but it’s really just a day by day, taking it in, getting your body right in the training room and just taking it step by step.

Said running back Ailym Ford: Groundhog Day, I don’t think of that day. I think of one day at a time, the work day.

But there is a special spark to it being the first official day of practice.

Said Wright: I think these guys were excited about being out here. That’s the one thing we’ve tried to do, knowing we’ve got such a long haul this year is trying to break things up to where we’re not continuously just doing the same thing over and over, repetitive. And I think that was the biggest thing is Ithink they were excited to be out here, which, knowing you got about 16 weeks ahead of you, it’s hard to pace yourself and be that way and be in.

Said Ford: A good frame of mind, learning your role with the team, making the younger guys better and just being a cohesive unit so we can win more ball games in the fall.

For most of the time during Coach Wright’s tenure, the quarterback has been a revolving door from season to season.

Said Wright: I mean, it has been that’s one thing we’ve gotta get out of. We’ve got to have a guy around here for a couple of years, and I think we’ve got some options there.

As for this year, both quarterbacks Chase and Luke Schomburg will get action. Both of them are smart guys.

Said

Wright: They both do things differently. Well, we’ve got to figure out what they can do well all the time and put them in the best situations to be successful.And that’s kind of what you do when you go through camp. You try and figure out what those guys can do and maximize their skill set.