It’s football time in Chattanooga. The first day of fall camp began for the Chattanooga Mocs Friday at Scrappy Moore Field. The up-tempo, high-energy day was befitting of a program with championship aspirations.
It’s just eight days since the Mocs were picked to win the Southern Conference by both its head coaches as well as media. News has also surfaced of running back Ailym Ford (Walter Payton Award) and defensive tackle Devonnsha Maxwell (Buck Buchanan Award) being closely monitored for National Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year honors, respectively.
Thursday was check-in day with the final few who did not spend the summer in Chattanooga joining their teammates at last.
The roster sits at 100 with the possibility of two or three more additions to come.
Expectations are high for good reason. Fifteen starters return, 25 from last year’s 2-deep and 40 total letter winners along with 17 who redshirted. Add in 43 newcomers and there’s depth to compete through the “dog days” of August.
“It’s what we’ve done since January,” Coach Rusty Wright answered when asked what excites him about this team. “Just the attitude and work they’ve put in since January to get us to this point. The competition…the things we’ve done internally since January gets me excited for these guys.
“I wouldn’t say we’ve created so much depth,” he chuckled in answering a question about what the newcomers and redshirts add. “We have some people in some spots, and we need to see what they can do. We’re still relatively young in some spots so we’ll see how they respond to situations.”
The Mocs 2022 schedule is linked above. Five home games are included with visits from Wofford, North Alabama, VMI, Mercer and Samford. Season tickets start at just $60 for general admission. Click the link above, go to the Go Mocs app or call (423) 266-MOCS (6627) to purchase.