By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Tabula rasa – in Latin, it means scraped tablet – a clean slate, in more modern parlance. In Roman times, the tabula – a wax-covered tablet used for notetaking – would be heated, allowing the wax to be smoothed out and allowing new text to be implanted on the surface.
That is the mindset the Tennessee Tech football team is adopting for the 2022 campaign as the program celebrates its 100th anniversary of its varsity game. However, it's not ignoring what has happened before, but it stands as a new chapter, a new leaf to be written on, a new beginning so to speak.
With a lot of new faces on both the field and the sidelines, tabula rasa is fitting because the start of a new season brings a new story to a century-old book of Golden Eagle legends.
With the number 100 adorning the front panel above the face mask, Tech will wear the words 'tabula rasa' on the rear panel at the bottom of the helmets. In essence, as the team is honoring its past, it's celebrating a new beginning for the program as it enters its second century, but also a new beginning in so many ways.
"I told the guys that I had just gone to the website to look over the roster to try to clean some things up before we get started," said Tech football head coach Dewayne Alexander. "I clicked on our schedule and it pops up there 0-0. Points for? Zero. Points against? Zero. It's all zeroes. It just jumped out at them – a fresh start, clean slate, 0-0.
"It's new. We get to define that. Everything out there is going to be for us to decide. That was the core word they felt was the most important. The Latin aspect, it makes it catchy and unique. People ask what it means and it gives us a great opportunity for us to explain where our team is at."
It all started with the team's leadership group – 19 players selected across the team to help shape the direction of the program with the coaching staff and support personnel. After meeting with Alexander, Sam Williamson, Chip Pugh and Trace Lee from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the student-athletes were given a list of about 100 words and were asked to pare them down to try to build an identity and goals for the season.
"The word that kept coming up was 'change' – a fresh start," Alexander said. "I think the thing the players realize is that the foundation isn't wrong, we just haven't been consistent in doing all of it. Can we do it better? What are some of the things we need to improve upon? One of the words we have adopted for our shirts this year is 'consistency.' 'Change.' 'Start over.' I told them to put some thought into it and we'd return to it the following week."
That was when transfer quarterback Jeremiah Oatsvall hit upon an inspiration.
"We all talked about those words and were trying to decide which ones were the best fit for our team," Oatsvall said. "One of our running backs spoke on the word 're-creation.' It sparked great dialogue and then I did some research on similar words, because we knew we loved the idea to 're-create,' but the word did not stick. I came across 'tabula rasa' and discussed the meaning behind it at our next leadership meeting and everyone got on board with it."
The thing that Alexander likes the most is that the idea, the initiative behind it, is player-led as the student-athletes begin to take ownership of their team.
"It gave me chills when they came up with it," Alexander said. "Quite honestly, I didn't know what it meant. I've read a ton about it since. It's awesome and the more I've read, the more excited I got about it. It's something the players came up with and that truly makes it special. They're invested in that. It's player-led. If you put that out there, let's make sure we live that out.
"It's like a mission statement – it doesn't mean a lot if you don't know what it stands for. Let's get it off the paper, let's get it off the board and live these things out. I'm a big believer in when you can get your program to be player-led instead of coach-led, that's when you really take the next step."
Oatsvall sees it as special because of what it means to the program.
"Coach A is trying to encourage a player-led team," he said. "This will be a unique sticker for our team only, but if other teams use this phrase after this season, then it is special to think we started it."
The timing of it is excellent as the team is beginning to write a new chapter in its history as the first century of the program is behind them. With new faces around on the field and on the sideline, it's a different team than the one before it and even from the ones to come.
"Every team is unique," Alexander said. "This is the 101st actual team and the 100th anniversary of Tennessee Tech football. Every team had a unique set of coaches, a unique set of players for that time and they're in a certain place, whether it's coming off of a championship or a great year, a tough year, young players, whatever it is. Where is our team at right now? What do we need to do over the summer, preseason camp, and over the fall to accomplish the things we want to do as a group? What makes this team special? When you sit in the stands and watch them practice or play, what do you want people to see from our guys?"
Oatsvall added, "Every time we step on the field, we are writing the history for this team on our blank slate. It does not matter what happened in the past. This is a unique team."
It's also a fresh start for several players who saw different circumstances see their seasons end prematurely, or even for those looking to earn their way onto the field.
"You look at last year – we had a lot of injuries," Alexander said. "It's a fresh start for Brad Clark and Tai Carter and I can go on and on with guys who missed the whole year. It's a chance for them to start fresh. We have guys playing at different positions. The guys felt, as a team, that we needed to start with a clean slate and just focus on these next five months because that's the only time this collection of Golden Eagles will be together."
While the blank slate idea seems to imply that you're not looking back at the past, that couldn't be further from the truth. Amid the 100-year celebration, the program is certainly honoring its history and legends with several events including the recent Tech Football Alumni Reunion and Golf Classic, Legends Weekend on September 10 against Texas A&M-Commerce – who the Golden Eagles played in the 1953 Tangerine Bowl – as well as other initiatives over the course of the season.
What has happened before is important, but, in the course of the campaign, it's the here and now that takes precedence.
"You don't look at the rear view too much," Alexander said. "I tell our players all the time that the windshield is a lot bigger than the rear-view mirror. You're always looking forward, but you need to be able to look back at where you've been to establish where you're at. Here's where we are, now what do you do about it? That's what the windshield's for.
"We spend a lot of time on the history of our program and our guys know how important that is to myself and our staff to connect to our past and celebrate all the positive things that have happened. Last year's game against Tennessee State, it went to overtime – that game was whatever. The 1984 game was whatever. At the end of the day, none of that matters when we kick off this year at home. It's a whole different group of players. Eddie (George) has got a different group of coaches. I've got a different group of coaches. He's got different players. We've got different players. It is truly what has taken place between January and that day is going to lead to what the scoreboard says about that game. It's neat stuff to write about or talk about, but it doesn't mean anything for that game."
Alexander continued, "The important thing is focusing on this year, this week, this day. You have good days, you have good weeks, you have good months, you have good years. If you put on the goal board that we want to win a conference championship, that doesn't take you through the day-by-day stuff it takes to do that. It's good to have long-term goals, but you better have some short-term goals as well."
There certainly has been progress in the program in the last four seasons, even if it is harder to quantify outside the win column. With countless honors including the National Football Foundation's Hampshire Honor Society, the OVC's Team Sportsmanship Awards and record numbers on the Tech Athletic Director's and OVC Commissioner's Honor Rolls, the move now is to take the next step.
Alexander sees a parallel in the team's progress to what will soon be done to Tucker Stadium.
"There's been a lot of positives in our program over the last four years with the connection to our community, the connection with our alumni, success academically, sportsmanship honors, winning the Sergeant York Trophy – and we've only done that twice," he said. "You have to look at all of those things. The next piece is to consistently be a championship-caliber football team. That's not happened here at Tennessee Tech in a long time. We've won one in 40 years. Consistency – that's the challenge. I know that, our players know that.
"We've got to take the next step, but that starts by laying a foundation. I equate it with what's on campus. When these buildings start coming out of the ground, it's amazing. We're at the point, through a lot of adversity, we've laid the groundwork. We're going to do like we're going to do with the west side of the stadium – tear it down and build back. When we got here, we had to take it all back down to the foundation. Now we can build it back exactly as we want it. You don't see the results of that overnight."
In addition to wearing 'tabula rasa' on the helmet, it will be prominent on a sign in the locker room with the 100th anniversary logo as well as some of the other words the team selected, including 'consistent,' 'brotherhood,' and 'sacrifice.'
"This is who we are," Alexander said. "We are the 101st team and, at the end of the year, can we say that we lived this out? These are going to be a part of everything we do every day. Did you sacrifice something to be a Golden Eagle today? Were you consistent? Did you have a chance to take care of one of the guys today? It's all simple things.
"I have been amazed at what these guys have come up with and done this summer. This is possibly the most cohesive, tight-knit bunch that we have had. There's been addition through subtraction by getting the right guys there. I'm excited by our team, our staff and where we're at there."
Photo | Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
