Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Felton making the most of his senior year
10/19/2016 5:30:00 PM | Football
Defensive tackle leads team in sacks
Players sometimes don't get to see the fruits of their labor manifest on a football field quite like they expected, whether due to injuries, academics or lack of development.
Middle Tennessee defensive tackle Raynard Felton is showing this season how much hard work can benefit, though.
The redshirt senior from Jacksonville, Florida, is enjoying his best season as a Blue Raider. His 2.5 sacks currently lead the team, and he is tied with fellow senior Steven Rhodes for second on the team with 3.5 tackles for loss.
"I'm really proud of where he is," MT defensive line coach Tommy West said. "He's grown leaps and bounds as a leader on our team, because I think he leads now in a positive way. I'm not sure three years ago he saw himself as a really good defensive lineman because he didn't have a lot of size, but now he does. He's playing his tail off right now."
Felton redshirted during his first year at Middle Tennessee, and in his redshirt freshman season a broken ankle kept him out of the team's first nine games.
He returned as a redshirt sophomore and saw some playing time in all 12 games, getting in on 408 total snaps. In his redshirt junior season last year, he saw his action on the field grow a little more, playing in all 13 games and getting in on 502 snaps.
This season, Felton was poised to see his playing time grow even more, though he wasn't tabbed as a starter right away. When senior Jimal McBride was sidelined before the Louisiana Tech matchup due to an ankle injury, Felton stepped into the starting lineup for the first time and has since started three games in a row.
Getting placed in the starting lineup is a product of Felton's constant strives to improve.
"Ray's grown a lot. He's gotten better every year, gotten more aggressive, and he's always juiced up," Rhodes said. "We can always depend on Ray to get us hyped and get us going.
"He came from being whatever string he was a couple of years ago, and now he's starting. He's producing, which is the biggest thing. I'm glad to have him play beside me."
Felton has shown the pressure of starting doesn't get to him. Over the last three games he has two sacks and three tackles for loss. He also had one of the biggest plays in the game against WKU on homecoming, in which he sacked quarterback Mike White and forced a fumble that eventually led to a missed Hilltopper field goal to keep the score tied at 27 with just under eight minutes left in the game.
His ability to get to the quarterback, despite often being undersized along the line, is a skill Felton didn't show much before this season. He had just .5 sacks going into this year but already has 2.5 through six games.
"It's just my motor," he said. "Watching highlights of other players and hearing how analysts talk about players who do have a lot of sacks, all they say is they have a high motor. I try to bring that high motor.
"I feel like it's a mindset, also. I go out there with a mindset that I am the biggest, that I'm not the smallest out there. Also, it's just quickness and other things coach teaches me, mostly technique."
Not only has Felton grown as a player on the field, but he has also grown as a man off of it.
"That's where my biggest growth took place," he said. "I've made relationships, gotten wiser and other stuff that I didn't do before, like I like to read now. I really found myself throughout this process of college."
His academic growth led Felton to graduate in May with a degree in liberal studies.
Since graduating, he has taken more time to focus on his game and continuing the improvement he's shown since arriving in Murfreesboro.
"It's more time to study film, more time to work out outside of the workouts we do with the team," Felton said.
With a degree in hand and a budding reputation along the defensive line, Felton is hoping to continue the successful senior campaign he's started this season. If he can, the Blue Raiders will continue to be one of the better teams in Conference USA.
"As long as everyone around me stays up and we believe in each other, it will drive us."
Middle Tennessee defensive tackle Raynard Felton is showing this season how much hard work can benefit, though.
The redshirt senior from Jacksonville, Florida, is enjoying his best season as a Blue Raider. His 2.5 sacks currently lead the team, and he is tied with fellow senior Steven Rhodes for second on the team with 3.5 tackles for loss.
"I'm really proud of where he is," MT defensive line coach Tommy West said. "He's grown leaps and bounds as a leader on our team, because I think he leads now in a positive way. I'm not sure three years ago he saw himself as a really good defensive lineman because he didn't have a lot of size, but now he does. He's playing his tail off right now."
Felton redshirted during his first year at Middle Tennessee, and in his redshirt freshman season a broken ankle kept him out of the team's first nine games.
He returned as a redshirt sophomore and saw some playing time in all 12 games, getting in on 408 total snaps. In his redshirt junior season last year, he saw his action on the field grow a little more, playing in all 13 games and getting in on 502 snaps.
This season, Felton was poised to see his playing time grow even more, though he wasn't tabbed as a starter right away. When senior Jimal McBride was sidelined before the Louisiana Tech matchup due to an ankle injury, Felton stepped into the starting lineup for the first time and has since started three games in a row.
Getting placed in the starting lineup is a product of Felton's constant strives to improve.
"Ray's grown a lot. He's gotten better every year, gotten more aggressive, and he's always juiced up," Rhodes said. "We can always depend on Ray to get us hyped and get us going.
"He came from being whatever string he was a couple of years ago, and now he's starting. He's producing, which is the biggest thing. I'm glad to have him play beside me."
Felton has shown the pressure of starting doesn't get to him. Over the last three games he has two sacks and three tackles for loss. He also had one of the biggest plays in the game against WKU on homecoming, in which he sacked quarterback Mike White and forced a fumble that eventually led to a missed Hilltopper field goal to keep the score tied at 27 with just under eight minutes left in the game.
His ability to get to the quarterback, despite often being undersized along the line, is a skill Felton didn't show much before this season. He had just .5 sacks going into this year but already has 2.5 through six games.
"It's just my motor," he said. "Watching highlights of other players and hearing how analysts talk about players who do have a lot of sacks, all they say is they have a high motor. I try to bring that high motor.
"I feel like it's a mindset, also. I go out there with a mindset that I am the biggest, that I'm not the smallest out there. Also, it's just quickness and other things coach teaches me, mostly technique."
Not only has Felton grown as a player on the field, but he has also grown as a man off of it.
"That's where my biggest growth took place," he said. "I've made relationships, gotten wiser and other stuff that I didn't do before, like I like to read now. I really found myself throughout this process of college."
His academic growth led Felton to graduate in May with a degree in liberal studies.
Since graduating, he has taken more time to focus on his game and continuing the improvement he's shown since arriving in Murfreesboro.
"It's more time to study film, more time to work out outside of the workouts we do with the team," Felton said.
With a degree in hand and a budding reputation along the defensive line, Felton is hoping to continue the successful senior campaign he's started this season. If he can, the Blue Raiders will continue to be one of the better teams in Conference USA.
"As long as everyone around me stays up and we believe in each other, it will drive us."
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