By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – With the first day in full pads on Sunday, the Tennessee Tech football team moved into some advanced concepts as they hit the Tucker Stadium turf.
The theme of the day? Mental warfare. Poise, body language, spirit – all of those made an impact as it built up one side with a strong effort from the defensive unit, and wore down the offense – that was until the offense came through with a deep pass play to score on the final play of the two-minute drill.
But it was all a lesson to learn.
"Our kids, we're conditioning them to be the most physical football team in the country," Tech head coach Marcus Satterfield said. "But, in turn, we also have to be the most mentally tough football team in the country. We know that you're not always going to play perfect, and when you play really, really good teams like we have on our schedule and you don't play perfect, the other part has to kick in and that's the mental aspect, which is the body language and the demeanor.
"We put our kids in a bunch of situations (Sunday) and whether they were successful or not, we wanted them to have unbelievable body language, and they did a great job of that. The defense with the day they had and the body language they had, it frustrated our offense. The offense regrouped itself in the two-minute drill."
Satterfield continued, "They had every opportunity to quit and say, 'Forget it, this is a bad day.' On 4th-and-10, they said, 'What's next?', then threw a 95-yard touchdown. In turn, that's not good for our defense, but it's a great sign that our defense dominated some aspects, then our offense came together in the fourth quarter and found a way to win the game. That's the mental warfare that we're talking about – the 'what's next' mentality. Control what you can control. And I think we had a great day from that standpoint today."
With the transition into full pads and the acclimation days out of the way, it's almost like the team is in true football mode.
"No doubt," Satterfield said. "They had to tackle the running backs in one or two periods (Sunday). It's good to see what they can do, whether they can make people miss or can they run after contact. It's great to see some of our young players step up and strike our offensive players. We have a very young group – 37 kids who are so athletic and so much fun to watch. Mixed in with our older kids, it's a high-spirited, high-contact, very athletic practice out here."
The Golden Eagles' first scrimmage is on Saturday evening, and the plan is to treat the scrimmages like a game day.
"It's going to be just like the Wofford game (on Sept. 1," Satterfield said. "We're going to have two Saturdays where we walk through everything – when we wake up, what we eat, we're going to have an Eagle Walk. We're going to teach them. For two Saturdays in a row, we're going to kick off at 6 p.m. We're going to play the game, so when we get to Wofford, it's old hat. They've done it before and hopefully that will prepare us to play well in our opener."
Photos by Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
