Mocs making final surge to opener vs. JSU

Alphonso Stewart is tired of talking.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior wide receiver is ready to play, as are his teammates.

That first opportunity is four days away.

The game-prep part of the Tom Arth era at UTC starts today, as the 12th-ranked Mocs focus on their game Saturday at 6:30 p.m. EDT against sixthranked Jacksonville State in Montgomery, Ala.

The Gamecocks have won four straight in the series that UTC leads 25-15, but the average margin of victory in those four games has been 3.8 points. Three straight three-point JSU wins were followed by a 41-35, overtime triumph in the second round of the 2015 Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

“It’s time, man,” Stewart said after Sunday’s practice. “It’s a lot better feeling to come out and have a goal, to stop beating up on ourselves and have somebody else to focus on, to learn what they’re doing and just get ready to play a game, a live game.”

Arth and his staff started reviewing video of the Mocs’ first four opponents back in May. Last week they introduced portions of what the Gamecocks will do but primarily were getting the players ready for what game week typically will feel like — including the information the team will receive and opponents’ scouting reports and tendencies.

The Mocs started repetitions of some of the plays and defensive schemes the coaches plan to use but will get deeper into that this week.

“We talked last week about our philosophy, our way, and we don’t have to change this week because nothing is different,” Arth said. “Nothing should look different; nothing should sound different; nothing should feel different if you’ve been coming out all camp with the right mindset like we ask, up to our standard.

“Now we have an opponent, but it’s hard to get away from what you do with your team. Even though it’s game week, it’s still so much about us.”

The players feel good about the plan they’ve seen so far. For example, defensive end Taylor Reynolds spoke of a conversation he had with “Pops” (defensive tackle Derek Mahaffey) and senior defensive end D.J. Prather and said the team “will be ready Saturday.”

“We’ve had to grind all camp, from beginning to end,” Reynolds said. “It was a major adjustment, but we feel good. We’ve got to have one last good week of work, but we feel confident going into the game. We’ve got a good game plan defensively, and I know the offense has a great game plan.

“We’ve got to get this done. I’m 0-3 against them in my career, and I don’t want to go 0-4. I feel very confident, I know everybody else feels confident, and I feel like we’ll be ready.”

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. low him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.