By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – One of the biggest talking points for Tennessee Tech football since the semester began was bringing the Golden Eagle football family back together.

Friday night definitely proved that progress is definitely being made on that front.

With the crowd gathered for the team's spring game, then to the football alumni circling the team's post-scrimmage huddle, it appeared that the family was certainly reuniting.

"This is what it's all about," said Tech head football coach Dewayne Alexander. "We said from day one that we want people to really enjoy being Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles. We wanted to get some of the old players back, to get our current players to really enjoy playing football.

"With the weather and the elements we've battled this spring, to have a night like this to finish off spring practice is really special. We couldn't beat tonight – the weather was great, the turnout was great, the community support. We had a ton of former players out here, guys from the '50s, '60s, '70s. Just about every era of Tech football was present and that really made it a special night."

With the alumni players supporting the current players following the practice, it showed just how much the alumni are still considered part of the team.

"They are," Alexander said. "I told the guys before we came out here that there have been a lot of great men who have gotten dressed in this very same locker room. That's one of the things that is special about Tennessee Tech – we've been playing football here since 1922, we've had a lot of special people come through this program, a lot of people have been in this locker room. People that you don't even know get up and follow you, check what happened to Tennessee Tech football.

"These guys were excited to be back tonight and you are always representing those guys. It made our guys feel good and you could see the smiles on their faces in appreciation of it and we appreciate all those guys that came back."

There, of course, was still the matter of the spring game itself, and there were plenty of plays that made Alexander feel optimistic about what's ahead.

"Offensively, we got off to a really good start," he said. "We made some nice runs in the run game and I felt like our quarterbacks' decision making was really good. They made some nice plays, even in the run game when they'd pull the ball or run the ball.

"Last week in our scrimmage at MTSU, we had a lot of procedural penalties – illegal formations, bad snaps, things of that nature. That was cleaned up tonight. We've had a couple of injuries, so we have been a little thin at some spots, but overall I was pleased."

Alexander continued, "On defense, they settled in and made some nice stops. We had a couple of 3-and-out stops. Overall, I thought both sides were competitive and we did a lot of good work tonight."

So with spring practice at a close, how would the first-year Tech head coach rate the team's performance?

"As a whole, I hate to give it a grade," Alexander said. "I certainly wouldn't give it an A as far as what I wanted to get out of it, but communication with players and coaches and getting everyone to buy in, I feel really good about that. I feel good with where our players are at, I feel good with where our coaches are at. I knew our staff would enjoy working together when we finally got the staff put together, but it's actually been better than I thought it would be. We've got a staff that really enjoys working together and I think our players can sense that. Our players have taken on some responsibility and are starting to do some things more consistently. That part I would give an A.

"But the rest of it, it's hard to say because we didn't get all the practices in that we would have liked to get in. This program, we don't make excuses. That's part of playing college football. It's unique – you don't get a three-game series or a five-game series, or home and away, or 'hey, we'll catch them in the tournament.' There's none of that. You get them one time, whether it's home or away, lightning, rain, cold. Whatever the elements are, that's your one time to play that team. And when you do, you better be ready to play. That's been our mentality this spring and I'm really pleased with our guys."

Now it's three and a half months until fall camp, and there's plenty of work to be done.

"It doesn't sound that long of a time to me," Alexander said. "It'll get here before you know it. Our staff is going to do a lot of work this week in evaluating this team. We can sit down and really evaluate spring for each individual player, what we need to do moving forward as a team. We're going to hit the road hard recruiting in the month of May and with camps in the early part of the summer. We'll get our team back in here in July, start camp around August 1, and, before you know it, we'll be going to Chattanooga. It'll go quickly, but we have a lot of work to do with our players as far as conditioning and those kinds of things.

"But what I wanted, and I said this early on, is I wanted our players to leave spring practice being excited about being a Golden Eagle. You can look around here tonight and see that these guys are truly excited about playing football here. They're excited about coming back this fall and that was a big goal of ours."

Season tickets for the 2018 Tennessee Tech football season are on sale now. Call (931) 372-3940, visit the Hooper Eblen Center ticket office or visit TTUsports.com to order or for more information.

Photo by Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information