The Chattanooga Mocs quarterback room includes three – Drayton Arnold, Cole Copeland & Robert Riddle – who have started and won multiple FCS games
photo by Logan Stapleton/gomocs.com
The 18th-ranked Chattanooga Mocs continue fall camp in preparation for the 2021 campaign. GoMocs.com moves to round three in its 8-point season preview series taking a look at the men behind center for this year’s edition.
Starters Returning (1): Drayton Arnold
Starters Lost (0): N/A
Returnees with career starts (2): Cole Copeland, Robert Riddle
2nd-Year Freshmen (2): Landon Allen, Ty Gossett
The quarterback position is a question mark for the Mocs.
Not a bad question…not a worrisome question, but one nonetheless with three signal callers who have started and won multiple games in Southern Conference play. It’s unprecedented depth at this level.
“It’s as deep as anywhere I’ve ever been,” offensive coordinator Joe Pizzo explained. “I haven’t had three that I feel comfortable we can build a game plan around and go out and have a good chance to win.”
Returning starter Drayton Arnold led the quintet of throwers into fall camp. He was fifth-year senior a season ago taking his first reps as a starter at Western Kentucky and into the spring slate. Arnold began his career at Old Dominion before coming to the Scenic City as a grad transfer in 2019. He was a backup over that time pushing for time behind an established starter.
Now it’s two other experienced guys pushing him. Junior Cole Copeland returned to the squad in 2020-21 and had his moments after an eye-opening stretch completing 2017 in the starting lineup as a true freshman.
Chattanooga native Robert Riddle grad transferred from SoCon-rival Mercer this summer with three years of eligibility remaining after an injury-riddled career for the Bears. Through the injuries, he impressed in his 11-game audition with the Mocs coaching staff know exactly what they’re getting talent-wise.
Those three are mentoring two “true” freshmen. Ty Gossett and Landon Allen are working hard in their second seasons in the program but with four full years remaining and the freedom to redshirt if neither earns a playing role right away.
No matter past numbers, there is one way to claim the job and maintain it. This goes for all five in the mix.
“Find a leader who will take care of the football and make good decisions are the biggest things,” Head Coach Rusty Wright detailed when asked what he’s looking for from this competition. “I feel like we have good enough folks around them where they just need to make good decisions distributing the football.”
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
“We have confidence in those guys. It’s the luxury we have with their experience. It’s not like you’re sending someone out there the first time. Hopefully one of them separates himself and keeps moving forward.” – Coach Rusty Wright
“I absolutely love it (the competition). If you want to grow as a quarterback, you have to have guys push you. I definitely have that for sure. We’ve grown as a QB group over these weeks of practice that feels like two months. It’s awesome being able to compete my tail off every day and grab as much knowledge as I can from all of them.” – Arnold
“Any time there’s competition it’s exciting. It pushes each guy to go even harder. I know that’s what’s going on in that quarterback room.” – Senior DB Rashun Freeman
NOTES
- Arnold ranked third in the nation with 15.7 yards per completion last season.
- Copeland had the most completions (130), yards (1,177) and attempts (207) by a freshman in school history during his 6-game run in 2017.
- Riddle earned SoCon All-Freshman in 2018. In his 11 career games, he has 2,304 yards and 21 TDs.