GAME NOTES: Week 1 vs. Austin Peay (PDF)
By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – It's been a long wait for football season to arrive. Heck, the last game was in the previous decade.
But on Sunday, football is back at Tucker Stadium, ending a nearly 15-month drought of gridiron action, as Tennessee Tech plays host to Austin Peay.
Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Roger Ealey will provide the radio call for 98.5 KISS FM, while Dylan Vazzano and Sam Brooks handle broadcast duties for ESPN+ (subscription required).
Fans will be allowed into Tucker Stadium up to a 5,500 capacity, and masks will be required for all in attendance.
When we last saw the Golden Eagles, they had wrapped up a 6-6 season, the most wins for the team since the 2011 season. As the 2020-21 campaign opens with the first of seven Ohio Valley Conference contests, there are a lot of familiar names on Tech's roster.
Junior quarterback Bailey Fisher is back for another campaign under center. The Clayton, Ga., native and preseason all-OVC selection has already made an impressive assault on the Tennessee Tech record books and will make a push to earn the Golden Eagles its 11th OVC championship. Fisher currently ranks fourth in all-time total offense (5,159) and fifth in passing (4,324), while setting seven single-season records in 2019.
He'll have an experienced first-team unit to throw to in receivers Metrius Fleming, Brad Clark, Justin Oden and tight end Adam Browner, as well as some new names in Quinton Cross, Ashton Maples, Tanner Shiver and Hunter Barnhart. Fleming, a preseason all-OVC pick, finished the season with 629 yards on 47 catches with three touchdowns, while also rushing for 94 yards and two touchdowns. He is also an exceptional returner, bringing back 18 kicks for 477 yards, including a 91-yard kickoff return to his credit.
On the running attack, David Gist is back ready to tote the ball for the Golden Eagles after leading the team in rushing in 2019. He'll be joined by former Michigan running back Kurt Taylor Jr. in the backfield.
Up front, the Golden Eagles bring back plenty of experience on the offensive line, anchored by all-OVC selection Mike Rhoades. The senior will be alongside senior Kurt Huff, juniors Daly Cull and Spencer Stachyra and sophomore Trevor Stephens.
In the trenches on the defensive end of the ball, preseason all-OVC pick Chris Tucker, seniors Jale'n Gladney and Henry Karimu and sophomore Christian Cantrell will block the way with support from redshirt junior Josh Lee, Phil Steele third-team Freshman All-American Kail Dava, sophomore Michael Dixon and newcomer A.J. Hall.
Junior Tai Carter, another preseason All-OVC pick, will return for another season at that spot, while a talented quartet of linebackers – Seth Carlisle, Xavier Washington, Heath Price and Jack Warwick – continue a long pedigree of powerful defenders.
There is some young but talented players in Tech's secondary with sophomores Cameron Hudson and Jamaal Singleton and freshmen Nyquan Washington and Jyron Gilmore at corner, as well as sophomore Jamaal Boyd, redshirt juniors Josh Reliford and Slater Howard and senior Marcus McMeans at safety.
With Haidar Zaidan ending his eligibility in 2019, the Golden Eagles bring in a couple of new faces on special teams to handle punts and kicks. Cookeville's Jacob Anderson will take over punting duties while true freshman Hayden Olsen will handle kicks. As a high school senior, Olsen averaged 59.3 yards per kickoff, went 9-for-10 on field goals with a career-long 47-yarder and was 57-for-62 on PATs.
Austin Peay, however, is an interesting contrast. As the 2020 season was originally scheduled to open, the Governors were projected as the OVC's preseason favorite to win the championship. But things changed quickly. Head coach Mark Hudspeth stepped down in July and interim coach Marquase Lovings took over for the three games the Governors did play in the fall.
Over at Southern Miss, Jay Hopson stepped down and Scotty Walden took over as its interim coach in the week Tech was originally slated to travel down to Hattiesburg, Miss., before the pandemic wiped out Tech's fall slate. Walden coached four games at USM, going 1-3, then was named the head coach at Austin Peay in early November.
Top quarterback Jeremiah Oatsvall transferred to Memphis and other experienced players made moves, leaving the Governors with a much younger lineup than in the fall. APSU went 0-3, falling 24-17 to Football Championship Subdivision No. 13 Central Arkansas, 55-0 to Pittsburgh and 55-20 to Football Bowl Subdivision No. 13 Cincinnati.
Redshirt freshman Bryce Robinson is listed at the top of APSU's quarterback list, and he completed two of five passes for 11 yards in his one game in the fall. Freshman C.J. Evans, who made an electrifying entrance with a 75-yard touchdown run in the Governors' first play of the season, will also be a tough weapon to stop. Senior DeAngelo Wilson is also back and the Golden Eagles know how dangerous he is – collecting 161 yards and two touchdowns on seven catches in the previous meeting.
On defense, there are several familiar faces, including nickel Kordell Jackson and linebacker Jack McDonald, who had 11 tackles in the last game vs. Tech and the duo led the Govs in tackles in the fall with 18 each.
Tech holds a 26-21 record all-time against Austin Peay, but the Governors have won the last three meetings, including two of the last three in Cookeville.
