Special to TTUsports.com by Jordan Pace
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Looking ahead to the 2015 season, on Tuesday afternoon the Tennessee Tech football team stepped onto the field for the first time since last season’s final game at Austin Peay.
Tuesday’s session on Overall Field was the first of 15 scheduled spring practices for head coach Watson Brown, staff and players. Following last season’s 5-7 (4-4 OVC) finish, Brown says he is optimistic that the veteran leadership, particularly on defense, will play to his team’s advantage going forward.
“We’re an older team now and we have to take advantage of that,” Brown said. “When we won our championship (co-OVC champions in 2011), we won on maturity, experience and depth, and I think that’s going to be our way again. There’s no way back.”
Entering spring camp, the team will see several key position battles on offense, particularly at the quarterback position. The team added Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College transfer Colby Brown to compete with and help build junior quarterback Jared Davis, who played in 10 games for Tech last season.
While Davis is looking to take the helm under center from last year’s senior starter Darian Stone, Brown said that he’d like to see the Tullahoma, Tenn., native step up and break away from the pack of suitors aiming to replace Stone.
“Jared needs to separate himself,” Brown said. “It’s his job to come out here and take it over and it’s his time.”
Brown added that although he is not ready to name the team’s starting quarterback, which he says he plans to do by the end of spring, Davis’ familiarity with the team’s offense gives him an early edge for the signal caller spot.
“I wouldn’t say the job is his to lose because I want him to earn it,” Brown said. “I do, however, think he’s in the lead spot for the starting role because of his experience.”
On the defensive side of the ball, the Golden Eagles’ 2015 group, for the most part, looks similar to last year’s bunch. Despite losing senior secondary standouts Marty Jones and Austin Tallant, Brown said that his defense will bring added continuity in the fall.
“Pretty much everyone is back with us on defense,” Brown said. “Johnnie Anderson is listed as the starting free safety as of right now, and he’s the only guy in the group that was a redshirt freshman last year.
“Filling Marty Jones’ spot is so big because he was the quarterback of our defense. He made all the calls and had done it for so long. That’s a big loss, so we have to find him a replacement.”
Outside of a sickness-related absence from senior defensive end Harrison Reid, Brown said that the majority of his team was able to participate in the team’s first practice Tuesday. Colby Brown, who enrolled at Tech in January out of the junior college ranks, was the only one of the team’s 22-player signing class who participated in the team’s first spring date.
Weather permitting, the Golden Eagles’ next scheduled practice is set for 3 p.m. Thursday. The team will also practice Saturday and Sunday at the same time.
