Mocs Disappointed With Defense to Start the Season
Chattanooga-(WDEF) Last year, the Mocs led the SoCon in total defense, and scoring defense.
This year, the Mocs are fifth in the league in both of those categories.
Granted…it’s way early in the season.
But those numbers don’t sit well with head coach Russ Huesman.
Chattanooga beat Mars Hill 44-34 for their first win of the season, but the victory celebration was low key.
"I told our guys to enjoy the win. They’re hard to come by. Anytime you win a game, you should feel happy."
Coach doesn’t sound happy. That’s because the Mocs defense gave up over 400-yards to a Division two opponent.
Said Huesman,"I mean if you’re looking as to why we’re not playing good defense, you guys can probably look right at me."
Huesman says missed gaps and poor tackling are killing the defense.
"I mean you can’t come back and say, oops. You know I’m sorry."
Rut-roh is never a good excuse.
Said linebacker A.J. Hampton,"We’re clearly not happy about our performance in the first two games on defense. I feel like we definitely need to step up the intensity. That’s the focus right now."
When you couple the Mars Hill game with the Jax State game where UTC allowed nearly 300-yards rushing, a few players starting jobs could be on the line this week.
Said Huesman,"We’re going to go into today’s practice. We’re going to see who produces. Who practices in certain positions."
Added Hampton,"We all feel confident still. It’s just little slip-ups here that we’re trying to account for. Trying to work harder to make sure that doesn’t happen anymore."
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