Mocs Football Set to Return to Campus For Voluntary Summer Workouts

Chattanooga-(WDEF-TV) The coronavirus pandemic wiped out Mocs spring football practice.
The team can finally workout again on campus Monday as players start voluntary summer workouts. It’s a welcome sight for head coach Rusty Wright, although there are a few more hurdles to clear before the season begins.

Health screenings are the first order of business as the Mocs gather at UTC to start up football workouts.
Said Wright:”There’s some questionnaires and things they have to fill out. We’ve tested them for the virus, and we’re testing them for the antibodies as well. There’s a whole process everyone is going through before they’re allowed to reintegrate themselves into campus.”
Reporter:”Is contact-practice kind of the next big hurdle?”
Said Wright:”I think the biggest hurdle is just having them all back in one place at one time. We really need NBA basketball to come back. I really want to see how that goes if it has an opportunity to come back. That’s skin-on-skin contact. That’s guys on top of each other. They have no protective equipment at all.”
Reporter:”I know preparation is everything for a coach, but for this season, could it be one of the weirdest seasons we’re going to see?”
Said Wright:”I know. Somebody asked me yesterday what kind of team I thought we’d have, and I said I have no idea. Somebody told me this is probably a pretty good year not to be a head coach. I said well I don’t know what it feels like really to be one because I’ve only been around these guys for two semesters really, a spring and a fall, and then they’ve been gone.”
So much has changed since the team last met in person, including the summer protests for racial and social justice. which Coach Wright has discussed with his players in zoom meetings.
Said Wright:”We actually had a team meeting a couple of weeks ago as all of this stuff was starting to happen. Spent a lot of that time talking about tell me something good that has happened to you during this time. Tell me something bad that has happened to you during this time. Those situations came up as some of the bad things were going on in the world. Not necessarily in their lives, but were happening around them, and they didn’t have answers for. We talked about this in January with the football team as soon as the semester started. We got all of these guys. We showed them how to register to vote. Showed them how to do all those things. And told them that’s the biggest difference they can make in this world is being able to vote and change things that way.”