By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Without a doubt, there are a lot of new faces on the Tennessee Tech football team.
But the position group that probably has the most adjustment to do because of learning the habits and skills of those new guys is the offensive line as they're attempting to provide enough time for the Golden Eagles' new quarterbacks, running backs, receivers and tight ends to do their jobs.
An unenviable task for sure, but David Napert, the Golden Eagle assistant coach and offensive line coach, feels like this year's group is up to the job.
"The guys are doing great work," Napert said. "With the spring practice and the offseason workouts, they grew a lot from that. They've done a great job learning a new system and have really come a long way. In June, our strength coach (Casey Kramer) did a great job working with them with the specifics that linemen need to improve. They got ahead by working good fundamentals in the weight room.
"I feel, fundamentally, we're a far way from where we were in the spring – which we should be. But we've been down some players right now, but we should get those guys back soon. We have some key guys who will play an impact, but we've also got a bunch of young guys who are showing a lot of great things."
Napert comes to the Golden Eagle staff with a wealth of experience, coaching at Chattanooga, East Tennessee, Southern Methodist, Valdosta State and Western Carolina.
And his young charges are taking advantage of that experience.
"I think the players are really excited about the entire coaching staff," Napert said. "They're really excited about the energy that Coach (Marcus) Satterfield brings. The staff is a lot of young, energetic guys and I'm the old man, so I always feel like I have to prove myself and try to hang with those guys. The players, with as much as we keep throwing at them, they keep responding with great attitudes all the way back to January. They've been really optimistic and these guys really want to win and they'll do what it takes."
That's proven by how much the offensive line has stepped up its game since the summer started.
"Back in the spring, (right guard) Charles Mouton didn't have a great spring," Napert said, "but he was considered one of the better players. I was a little bit disappointed with him, but he came out and stayed here during the summer and had a tremendous summer. He really had a great attitude and he's really taken over this fall. He's really our best lineman right now.
"(Right tackle) Will Chatmon, same thing – he had really gotten sick in the offseason. He was considered the best lineman and he didn't have a good spring due to his sickness. He's a really good young man, he's brought in a great attitude. Now that he's back 100 percent and healthy, he's back to his old self."
Still, the challenge for the offensive line is learning how to protect a wealth of new offensive skill players, many of whom weren't in Cookeville in the spring.
"That's been the biggest pressure on the offensive line coaches," Napert said. "We feel like we've got to do our job -- if we can protect, we've got people we can get the ball out to with a quarterback who can throw the ball.
"We haven't done a great job of protecting, but we're working our tails off to improve that. We've put in a new running game and we seem to be adapting to that better and better every day, but we are moving people around."
Napert continued, "The thing about offensive line is you've got to be able to play more than one position. You have to be able to adapt because we could have guys up and down all the time."
