Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Spring Q&A: West blessed for opportunity to teach
4/5/2021 6:00:00 PM | Football
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Defensive line coach Tommy West is no stranger to college football.
He's going into his eighth season with Middle Tennessee and 39th overall as a coach. His 11 different stops in his career include everything from being a wide receivers and running backs coach to defensive coordinator, linebackers coach and now as a mentor for MT's defensive live.
West has also served as a head coach three different times in his career. He led Chattanooga in 1993 before being hired at Clemson, where he guided the Tigers until 1998. He then went to Memphis in 2000, serving as defensive coordinator before taking over as head coach from 2001-09.
To say it was strange for West not to have spring practice and summer drills last year could be an understatement. This time of year has become special for him after almost four decades in the profession, a time when he can slow down the game and teach some of its finer points to the team's younger players.
We sat down with West to talk about how this spring is going so far and how happy he is to be back out there doing what he loves: coaching.
How nice is it to be back out there this spring?
"It's an absolute blessing. Spring ball is when we teach guys how to play football and how to protect yourself. I thought you could tell it with our team during the season that we didn't have spring ball, and I think you could tell with everyone we played, too. It wasn't the same game."
Did not having spring practice and summer drills last year make you realize how critical they are to the development of a team?
"Sure, it did. You can't just pour water over their head and they know how to play. We're teachers, and we're teaching them how to play football correctly and how to play it within the system that we're running. It's the same thing when you're at the high school level and the same thing at the next level. You have to practice to be good at it, regardless of what you're doing. You think Tiger Woods doesn't practice all the time? Absolutely, he does. You have to practice to get better at what you do."
As a guy who's been in college football for over 30 years, how tough was it for you not to have spring ball last year?
"Me, personally, it hurt me, because I'm a spring ball and summer camp guy. I love spring football, because there's no game plan. It's just fundamental, pure football at its finest. That just killed me. To me, this is the most fun time of the year. I'm having the most fun time right now."
You get all four starters back on your defensive line — Rakavian Poydras, Jordan Ferguson, Jorden Starling and Jordan Branch — plus a few other guys who played quite a few snaps last season — Richard Kinley, Zaylin Wood, Marley Cook, Quindarius Dunnigan and others. How exciting is it to have all of them back?
"It's really good. We're going to have some depth this year, and I really think, if we keep going in the direction we're going, this can be one of the best defensive lines we've had since I've been here.
"We're really young — other than [Poydras], we don't have any seniors (he was having so much fun with our group he decided to come back another year). We're still really young, and we have a great group of young guys who right now are really learning how to play football.
Three of your four starters have the same name (Jorden Starling is spelled differently than Jordan Ferguson and Jordan Branch). That must be pretty unique in position meetings.
"In our meetings, when I say, 'Listen up, Jordan,' I get three heads that pop up. It's funny how we've ended up that way, and we had another one at one time, too. They're all good players, and I'm glad they're all here."
Spring practice is at its halfway point. What are your guys most focusing on over the next couple of weeks as we wrap up?
"Our thing this spring is we're trying to learn to play with better pad level. Like I said, spring is fundamentals, and we have to get better with our pad level. We play too high at times, and that takes our advantage away. We're not an oversized D-line, but we are a quick, fast D-line. That kind of negates it when you don't play with good pad level. That's been No. 1, and No. 2, that we know what we are. … We're just trying to perfect our craft. I tell them we just need to know what we do, and then you can beat anybody. You don't have to be as big or as fast or as strong, you just have to do your stuff better than they do their stuff. That's what we're trying to perfect now."
He's going into his eighth season with Middle Tennessee and 39th overall as a coach. His 11 different stops in his career include everything from being a wide receivers and running backs coach to defensive coordinator, linebackers coach and now as a mentor for MT's defensive live.
West has also served as a head coach three different times in his career. He led Chattanooga in 1993 before being hired at Clemson, where he guided the Tigers until 1998. He then went to Memphis in 2000, serving as defensive coordinator before taking over as head coach from 2001-09.
To say it was strange for West not to have spring practice and summer drills last year could be an understatement. This time of year has become special for him after almost four decades in the profession, a time when he can slow down the game and teach some of its finer points to the team's younger players.
We sat down with West to talk about how this spring is going so far and how happy he is to be back out there doing what he loves: coaching.
How nice is it to be back out there this spring?
"It's an absolute blessing. Spring ball is when we teach guys how to play football and how to protect yourself. I thought you could tell it with our team during the season that we didn't have spring ball, and I think you could tell with everyone we played, too. It wasn't the same game."
Did not having spring practice and summer drills last year make you realize how critical they are to the development of a team?
"Sure, it did. You can't just pour water over their head and they know how to play. We're teachers, and we're teaching them how to play football correctly and how to play it within the system that we're running. It's the same thing when you're at the high school level and the same thing at the next level. You have to practice to be good at it, regardless of what you're doing. You think Tiger Woods doesn't practice all the time? Absolutely, he does. You have to practice to get better at what you do."
As a guy who's been in college football for over 30 years, how tough was it for you not to have spring ball last year?
"Me, personally, it hurt me, because I'm a spring ball and summer camp guy. I love spring football, because there's no game plan. It's just fundamental, pure football at its finest. That just killed me. To me, this is the most fun time of the year. I'm having the most fun time right now."
You get all four starters back on your defensive line — Rakavian Poydras, Jordan Ferguson, Jorden Starling and Jordan Branch — plus a few other guys who played quite a few snaps last season — Richard Kinley, Zaylin Wood, Marley Cook, Quindarius Dunnigan and others. How exciting is it to have all of them back?
"It's really good. We're going to have some depth this year, and I really think, if we keep going in the direction we're going, this can be one of the best defensive lines we've had since I've been here.
"We're really young — other than [Poydras], we don't have any seniors (he was having so much fun with our group he decided to come back another year). We're still really young, and we have a great group of young guys who right now are really learning how to play football.
Three of your four starters have the same name (Jorden Starling is spelled differently than Jordan Ferguson and Jordan Branch). That must be pretty unique in position meetings.
"In our meetings, when I say, 'Listen up, Jordan,' I get three heads that pop up. It's funny how we've ended up that way, and we had another one at one time, too. They're all good players, and I'm glad they're all here."
Spring practice is at its halfway point. What are your guys most focusing on over the next couple of weeks as we wrap up?
"Our thing this spring is we're trying to learn to play with better pad level. Like I said, spring is fundamentals, and we have to get better with our pad level. We play too high at times, and that takes our advantage away. We're not an oversized D-line, but we are a quick, fast D-line. That kind of negates it when you don't play with good pad level. That's been No. 1, and No. 2, that we know what we are. … We're just trying to perfect our craft. I tell them we just need to know what we do, and then you can beat anybody. You don't have to be as big or as fast or as strong, you just have to do your stuff better than they do their stuff. That's what we're trying to perfect now."
Players Mentioned
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