By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – One of the positions that has seen the most transition during the installation of a new coaching regime has been the Tennessee Tech linebacker corps.
The Golden Eagles graduated many key players there, leaving new defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Shawn Quinn with an unenviable task of building a new group to field the position.
However, Quinn has seen plenty of improvement as summer camp has gone on.
"We're much improved from the spring," Quinn said. "We have a bunch of new faces, which is exciting. We have some old veteran guys and, collectively, we've done a good job. We have to keep getting better on communicating and tackling and doing the basics. The basics are what win championships.
"But it's a good, talented group and they've become much more talented in the short time we've had them. We did a great job recruiting a group to come in here to play and we had a great corps of guys coming back. It's an exciting group to work with."
Linebacker was one of the biggest question marks after last season after Tra'Darius Goff and Jay Rudwall finished up their careers. Goff and Rudwall combined for 235 of the Golden Eagles' 1,006 total tackles in 2015.
Quinn, however, notes that it isn't the only change to adapt to.
"We changed the scheme," Quinn said. "We completely changed the defense. We're now a 4-3 defense. We went out and recruited a bunch of guys. We've still got a long way to go, but we'll get there."
And there are guys who have already started to make some names for themselves.
"Elliott Normand has had a really good camp," Quinn said. "Aderick Moore, who is a freshman, has looked really good. Deven Sullivan has done a really nice job.
"Everyone has gotten better. Our football team as a group has gotten better. We've improved on so many things. It's not so much the scheme, but it's learning to play with great intensity and focus and believing in what we're doing."
As the camp works its way through its final week, there's still some goals the unit would like to meet.
"We just want to get better at the basics," Quinn said. "If you get ahead of yourself and forget the basics, you're going to have a long day. It's about communication and getting lined up and being more comfortable with what we're doing. It's just so new for everybody out there because the veterans only have 14 practices. They don't have that much more work in than the young guys do. We're still learning the system and what our expectations are as a team and as a defense."
