By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – It certainly hasn't been the traditional football season for Tennessee Tech. If the original schedule were in place, the Golden Eagles would be enjoying their bye week before prepping for a contest against UT Martin.
Instead, Tech's dance card has remained empty in the fall – thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic – and the season has been shifted to the spring, set to begin on February 21 against Austin Peay.
But while Tucker Stadium isn't the stage for a game yet, there's still plenty of work going on in the facility as the Golden Eagles strapped on the pads for the first time in fall ball practice.
"It's just so good to be spending a Saturday in Tucker Stadium," said Tech head coach Dewayne Alexander. "It's sunny, beautiful. In a typical October, we'd have an opponent in here and getting ready for kickoff, but we'll take this. It's the opportunity that's been presented to us and what we've got. It was the first day in pads that we were allowed to have with what the NCAA has put in place.
"I think the guys were excited. We had a lot of physical work today and we were ready for it. We needed it. It's been almost a year – 11 months – since these guys have had on full gear and making live tackles. Coach (Matt) Hewett has done a great job with these guys in the weight room and they've been there since mid-August consistently every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We've been out here every Tuesday and Thursday morning for conditioning and light practices with footballs and helmets, but no contact."
It's still hard to believe that it has been that long since the Golden Eagles have been able to play a live situation, dating back to the season finale against Tennessee State. As the Tech football team was starting up spring ball in March, the pandemic shut down the work. The same thing happened in the summer as the Ohio Valley Conference postponed fall competition.
Now that everything's set to resume in February, the team is hard at work.
"We've ramped things up with some shell practices," Alexander continued. "Today was our first day of having some true 11-on-11 and tackle all the way to the ground. It was good to see – our guys are excited and you can tell that. It felt like football today, which was refreshing for both the players and the coaches."
As the team held a controlled scrimmage as part of the workouts, the defensive unit certainly made the Tech offensive players work as just one series ended with a touchdown.
"They did a great job," Alexander said. "I'll tell you one thing I've noticed – both sides of the line of scrimmage are much more physical. You just watch inside drill tape, team tape and what I've seen out here today, it sounds like it's supposed to sound. It sounds like football out here when the ball is snapped. There's some guys just getting after each other.
"Our defensive front linebackers had a good day, our offensive line did some nice things. They're very physical and have had a nice fall ball to this part. It was just good to see the physical nature of the play on both sides of the line of scrimmage. That's probably the number one thing I've been pleased with this fall. Being an old offensive and defensive line coach, that's been the goal – get us where we can line up toe-to-toe in the trenches. We've made a lot of positive steps."
The lone offensive score of the day came on a run for redshirt sophomore wide receiver Kolby Alonzo. He worked his way around the left side of the defense and turned up the jets as he pulled away for a long score.
"Kolby's one of the fastest guys we've got on the team," Alexander said. "He's a really tough kid and he made a nice play. He's got a lot of speed when he gets into the open field. That was great to see from him."
On special teams, true freshman Hayden Olsen seems to be following the footsteps of some of the great Tech kickers as he went a perfect 6-for-6 on field goals during the scrimmage portion of Saturday's practice.
"Hayden has been a tremendous asset," Alexander said. "We've been blessed with kickers around here for a number of years, even in just my time here with Nick Madonia and Haidar Zaidan. Hayden came in highly touted out of Georgia. Buford High School has won multiple state championships and kicked the winning field goal in the state championship game this past season. I don't think he's missed but one kick in all of fall ball camp so far.
"He's done a tremendous job punting the football as well. Our long snappers have been very steady, and we knew that was an area we needed to address because Haidar had some pretty big shoes to fill. Hayden's going to be tremendous and I'd be surprised if he didn't hold all the records when it's all said and done, because he's going to be our kicker as a freshman."
A good day of work in the books and it's still not the situation the team expected to be in following the conclusion of the 2019 campaign. Still, Tech is making the most of it and doing what it can to prepare for the 2020-21 season.
"Right now, it's just getting a sense of normalcy," Alexander said. "We're getting some consistency and certainty. Those are words that have not been prevalent here the last five months. To have the reality that we're going to come out and we're going to play football on Saturday in practice – it feels good.
"They're getting to be around each other. We've had to work really hard to keep them apart during the pandemic, which goes against everything a coach tries to do, because you're usually trying to bring them together. We get out here as a team with all the coaches and all the players and get to be on the turf at Tucker Stadium, it's one of the few times we can be together. After that, the team gets broken into smaller groups. We've only had three team meetings the entire summer and fall, which is usually something we have all the time.
"The guys have worked hard to do those things. Classes really aren't all that normal – some are online, some are hybrid. But Saturdays, when we can get out here in Tucker Stadium and have everyone who's in our football bubble together, that's about as normal as it gets for these guys right now."
Photo | Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
