What a difference a year makes for Tennessee at Chattanooga head football coach Russ Huesman.

Last year on the day before the Saturday NCAA semifinals, Huesman, as Richmond defensive coordinator, and the Spider football team were in Cedar Falls, Iowa preparing to play Northern Iowa and a week away from winning a national championship.

This Friday afternoon, Huesman and his staff are in their fourth floor McKenzie Arena offices working on recruiting of top-level high school players in the Southeast (or on the road recruiting) which they hope will be part of a solid Mocs foundation to lead to spending mid-December days working on game plans for a shot at a national title.

“I had Thanksgiving off this year for the first time in a long time,'' said Huesman who is accustomed to a morning football practice as part of his Thanksgiving day agenda along with the gathering of family and friends for a big feast and give thanks and a little football on television as his teams moved through the playoffs.

“Myself and my staff are working hard at recruiting today so we won't have Thanksgivings off in the future.''

And some of that winning foundation is in place with the program's first winning season (6-5) since 2005 and post-season honors for Josh Beard as Southern Conference Defensive Player of the Year and Huesman as co-SoCon Coach of the Year.

UTC had six players on the All-SoCon teams this season – three on the first team and three on the second team, plus a pair on the all-freshman squad – which is the most by a Moc team since 1990.

In recruiting, above all else, speed - “they have to be able to run, especially on defense'' – is the top factor.

“You can't teach speed and if they can't run then we don't recruit them,'' stated Huesman who was rewarded for the winning season with the aforementioned coach of the year accolade, after the Mocs (6-5, 4-4 and tied for fourth) were picked to finish last in the pre-season conference voting.

Formula For Success: A meat and potatoes kind of guy, Huesman has a straight forward approach to winning football games and national championships.

“You red shirt a player as a true freshman, he gets some playing time as a red shirt freshman and is a key contributor for the next three years,'' stated Huesman who was a four-year starter at defensive back for the Mocs three decades ago.

The Ohio native believes this is the blue print for success to put an NCAA championship trophy in the trophy case and national championship rings on players and coaches fingers.

“Last year's Richmond team (which beat Montana at Finley Stadium for the national crown) had something like 22 fourth and fifth year players on the roster,'' said Huesman with a smile.

“That's unheard of, but that's what it takes to win it all,'' he said with tone of excitement in his voice.

“I believe that having lots of fifth year seniors making major contributions to your program is the key to a championship.''

He is sold on the fact that you must have those older, veteran players, stay away from lots of juco transfers or a team has no chance at big time success.

According to Huesman, the Spiders graduate 15 red shirt seniors this year and the team will be in a re-building mode next year.

“I can't see Richmond in the hunt for a national title next year (lost this year to Appy State in the quarters), because they lose so much experience,'' he stated. “But you stick to your recruiting plan and then red shirt those freshmen and keep them in the program for four and five years and you will see success.''

For the Mocs, Huesman wants to sign one or two high school seniors at each position.

“We lose a lot at linebacker and we lose some top wide receivers, but we need help at all spots,'' he said. “We must build depth across the board at all positions.''

The offensive line is one such area for improvement.

“We need depth on the O-Line because we will most likely start three seniors in 2010 and our current players must get in the weight room to get bigger,'' he said. “And the younger ones have to be ready to step in and start in two years.''

Recruiting Area: Huesman and company recruit Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama … “If we can't find what we need in those three states then we will look to Florida and Mississippi.''

Don't Try This At Home Philosophy: Huesman and his staff had no verbal commitments for the 2009 season when he was hired last Dec. 22 … ''We were going eight thousand miles an hour from late December until signing day on that first Wednesday in February and got a good class,'' he stated. “It worked for us this one time, but that was a rare exception.''

Cap and Gown on Sunday: Mocs who are graduating this Sunday at 2 p.m. in McKenzie Arena are Craig Camay, Blue Cooper, Justin Buckhalter, Tony Pastore and Steven Smigelsky.

Contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net