Transfers add experience to Mocs’ D-line
With preseason football practice starting soon for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the Times Free Press is taking a daily positional look at the Mocs, with today’s preview on the defensive line:
WHO’S BACK
The Mocs return seven letter winners at defensive end, but junior Devonnsha Maxwell is the only one who played a major role last year, when he was an All-Southern Conference firstteam selection after posting a team-high seven sacks. Maxwell (6-foot-2, 275 pounds), who made multiple Football Championship Subdivision Freshman All-America lists for the 2018 season, has 12.5 sacks in his UTC career. After him there are some bodies, although none have been overly productive for the Mocs as of yet. Tavi McLean had 12 tackles while playing in every game as a freshman last year, and Christian Smith played in seven games at defensive tackle before missing the final five due to an injury. Junior Ben Brewton had a sack last year.
WHO’S NEW
With the losses of end Khayyan Edwards (48 tackles, six for loss in 2019) and tackle Telvin Jones (3.5 sacks, 6.5 tackles for loss), second-year head
coach Rusty Wright and his staff had to address this position group in the offseason. They did so by signing former McCallie standout Giovanni Reviere, Rhode Island graduate transfer Tez Wilson and incoming freshmen John Prince and Quay Wiggles. Reviere started all 13 games in 2018 for Purdue, logging 28 tackles (five for loss)
and three sacks for the Big Ten program. Wilson was extremely productive during his career with the Rams, logging 162 tackles (24.5 for loss) and eight sacks in three seasons. Wiggles was committed to Georgia Tech for seven months before backing out prior to the early signing period. He was then believed to be headed to Illinois before
signing with the Mocs in February. Prince chose the Mocs over offers from Football Bowl Subdivision programs Bowling Green and Miami (Ohio).
STRENGTHS
Maxwell, Reviere and Wilson could form a solid front three that, while perhaps not immediately reminding anyone of the
Mocs’ loaded defensive fronts from the 2010s, could be equally as productive. Wiggles has the potential of being an elite edge rusher, but it’s possible a player such as McLean (who has produced some at UTC) or Brewton could become part of a rotation; that could give Prince and Wiggles the opportunity to compete for positions but ultimately redshirt and learn for a season before being asked to seriously contribute in 2021. That approach worked very well for previous standout linemen at UTC, including Keionta Davis, Isaiah Mack, Davis Tull — even Maxwell.
WEAKNESSES
Although two of the three linemen who could end up starting — Reviere and Wilson — have college experience, they don’t at UTC. It may be a little thing, but both arrived on campus only recently and haven’t been able to develop a chemistry with the rest of the defensive line. The remainder of the group provides a good amount of depth, but there’s little experience aside from Maxwell. If Reviere and Wilson can’t get up to speed, the Mocs will be relying on some inexperienced players heading into their scheduled Sept. 3 season opener at Western Kentucky, and it could take some time for them all to jell.