COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Anxious to get a jump on mounting a challenge for the Ohio Valley Conference championship, the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagle football team begins work toward the 2015 season Tuesday afternoon with the start of spring drills.
The practice season concludes with the annual spring game played on Saturday, April 18 at Tucker Stadium. The team's annual Awards Dinner is also scheduled for the same day, beginning at 5 p.m.
"Our goals in spring drills are always the same," said veteran head coach Watson Brown. "We want to get everybody into the right places in the depth; we want to keep improving our understanding of our offense and defense; and we're looking for younger players who are ready to step up."
A new challenger for the quarterback position will be on the field and a large list of returning starters are two of the ingredients that will be in the mix when the Golden Eagles hit the turf Tuesday afternoon on Overall Field. Tech has 72 players returning from last year's roster, including 52 lettermen and 24 who were in starting roles in 2014.
The most important aspect of the month-long drills, according to Brown, will be teaching fundamentals and improving each player's understanding of the system and skills.
"We don't have to worry about game plans in the spring, so we can spend so much more time working with each player," he said "We work to get each kid better, and his knowledge of the game better."
The Golden Eagles, who closed last season with a 5-7 overall record following victories in two of their final three games, will practice at 3 p.m. each Tuesday and Thursday, during Spring Drills, weather permitting. The team will hold scrimmages on Saturday, March 28 and April 11.
One position that will draw some attention is at quarterback, where junior Jared Davis returns. He will face a challenge from recent signee Colby Brown, a junior college transfer who enrolled at Tech in January and will be on the field Tuesday. That pair is looking to take over the starting role left vacant with the loss of senior Darian Stone.
Davis played in 10 games last season, including four as the starter, and passed for 770 yards with four touchdowns while completing 50.7 percent (70-for-138) of his passes. A nearly flawless student in the classroom, Davis spent his first season on the Golden Eagle roster in 2012 as a redshirt understudy, and saw action in his second season in 2013 when he played in nine games including two starts. That year he completed 56.2 percent of his pass attempts (95-for-169) for 935 yards, with nine touchdowns and just five interceptions. Coming into the 2015 season, Davis has thrown for 1,705 yards with 13 touchdowns.
Brown signed with Tech after one abbreviated season at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas. A native of Tampa, Fla., where he set school records at Plant High School, Brown was off to a sensational start in 2014 before sustaining a season-ending injury. Playing in the first four games at Coffeyville, the versatile quarterback ranked second in the nation with a pass completion mark of 68 percent. He was fifth nationally with 13 touchdown passes in four contests, and eighth in the nation with 1,070 passing yards. He also rushed for 154 yards, giving him 1,224 yards of total offense, an average of 306 yards per game.
Brown's high school numbers were also stunning, passing for 2,983 yards and 31 touchdowns, and rushing for 182 yards and four touchdowns in his final season. He had a completion mark of 71 percent, and broke the school record for passing in a single game when he threw for 519 yards.
NCAA Division I football programs are permitted to conduct 15 practices during the off-season. The 15 practices must be held during a period of 34-continuous calendar days. The first three practices of the spring are non-contact with players wearing helmets and shorts.
Fans can reserve 2015 season tickets by contacting the TTU Athletics Ticket Office in Eblen Center by calling 931-372-3940.
