UTC coaches tougher on players this spring
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| Rodney Allison | - Download MP3- |
One on one, new University of Tennessee at Chattanooga defensive coordinator Dick Hopkins is friendly, chatty and cordial. On the field, however, he's a bit of a bulldog.
"There's a little Jekyl and Hyde there," Hopkins said.
Like many of the Mocs' new assistant coaches, Hopkins has brought with him a tough, demanding attitude that has already caught the attention of his players. When a mistake is made, the players are going to hear about it - often at full volume.
The assistant coaches UTC had last season no more tolerated mistakes that the Mocs' seven new assistants do, but the newcomers have already demonstrated this spring a more in-your-face demeanor.
"A lot of that is personalities," Mocs coach Rodney Allison said. "There was a different style, definitely, on defense last year (under former defensive coordinator Billy Taylor). Dick Hopkins is more my style mentality as far as the way to coach defense."
Hopkins concedes that he does a lot of yelling and screaming on the field, but he said that style doesn't work unless the players understand that it's all done to help the players improve.
"You have to let the players know that you care," he said. "We may ride their (tail) and ride their (tail), but when they walk off the field we let them know that we still care about them but they need to improve in this area or that area."
The players on defense are not only having to get used to a bunch of new coaches, but also a new scheme. Hopkins is installing a 4-3 scheme that UTC will use at least part of time, and it is taking some time for the players - especially those used to Taylor's 3-4 scheme - to learn it and be comfortable in it.
"(The coaches) are staying on us hard because we're still trying to learn the defense," linebacker Joseph Thornton said. "It's all good, but it's frustrating right now because you want to play fast and you want to play hard, but when you think on the field it's kind of hard to play your 'A' game.
"A lot of players are getting frustrated, but it will all work out once we learn all the wrinkles."
Contact commences
Sunday afternoon at Finley Stadium, the Mocs practiced in shoulder pads for the first time during their third workout of the spring. That led to the first collisions and hard hits since the end of the 2007 season, something the players clearly enjoyed.
"(Practice) is kind of tedious when you can't hit, so this was fun," tight end Joseph Pitman said.
Pitman had one of the better blocks of the day late in practice during an offense vs. defense series, bowling over defensive end Jaron Norfleet on an Erroll Wynn run to the right for big yardage.
This and that
Allison said Saturday's rained out practice is tentatively scheduled to be made up Tuesday morning. ... Running back Bryan Fitzgerald, still recovering from shoulder surgery, sat out most of Sunday's practice. ... Several seniors from last year's team came out to watch practice, including Steven Mills, Antonio Miller, Malachi McGee and Craig Gilbeaux.


