Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Blue Raiders officially report to fall camp
8/5/2021 5:00:00 PM | Football
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The Game Day Room within Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium is once again filled to the brim for Blue Raider football, as 113 players reported for the start of fall camp on Thursday.
With the first practice scheduled for 9:30 am on Friday, the benefits of the team's hard work in spring ball and offseason workouts finally has a chance to come to fruition for head coach Rick Stockstill's program.
The Blue Raiders return an experienced roster from a season ago, with nine starters on both the offensive and defensive units returning to Murfreesboro for another season. That experience, alongside a plethora of veteran transfer additions, have Stockstill confident ahead of the team's first official practice on Friday.
"I'm over the top ready," Stockstill said. "I like our team right now. They've got a good sense of urgency. There's a lot of energy in the building, and I'm fired up and extremely excited to get this thing going."
This will be the first camp under new NCAA contact rules for practice during the preseason, the most prevalent of which is limiting teams to only 75 minutes of full contact maximum each practice, while also not allowing more than two days in a row of full-pads. The first three days of practice will have the Blue Raiders only in helmets and shorts, while the next two days will have the team only adding shoulder pads to that equation.
The acclimation period, the time from the start of fall camp to when teams are allowed to practice in full pads, has been increased from five days to seven days, while the total number of full contact practices has been reduced from 21 to 18. Teams are also only permitted two full scrimmages each preseason.
"It's not going to drastically affect how we do things," Stockstill said. "You're limited to two scrimmages (for example), but that's normally about what you'd get in anyway."
As with most rule changes related to contact, the main goal of these changes is to reduce the potential for injuries in student-athletes. Specifically, the changes approved in May 2021 for this preseason period were made after the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee found that a number of data points supported the conclusion that "the preseason practice period may lead to a disproportionate amount of concussions and head impact exposure."
The reduced number of contact days, as well as the permanent, season-long ban on "drills that encourage or create straight-line contact," such as the "Oklahoma" or King of the Circle/Bull in the Ring drills, should hopefully lead to a reduction in preseason head injuries.
"The three main drills that the NCAA has prohibited: Bull in the Ring, Oklahoma drill and Board drills," Stockstill said. "We stopped doing those a long time ago, and most people had."
The Blue Raiders are scheduled to have seven days of practice before holding their first scrimmage on Saturday, August 14. The team's second scrimmage is scheduled for a week later on August 21. Sunday August 22 will see the return of the annual Beanie Bowl, the last football camp event before classes start on August 23. MT's first game week starts on August 29, however, ahead of the season opener against Monmouth on September 4.
2021 Camp Quick Facts
New Numbers...and New Players' Numbers
Richard Kinley, 0...Gregory Grate, 1...Izaiah Gathings, 2...Quincy Riley, 3...Johnathan Butler, 4...Deonte Stanley, 5...Jurriente Davis, 6...Devyn Curtis, 8...Bailey Hockman, 10...Javonte Sherman, 13...Tra Fluellen, 17...Nicholas Vattiato, 18...Will Gilchrist, 21...Jai'Brian Bouye, 27...Jakobe Thomas, 30...ZaBrien Harden, 38...Terrell Pack, 39...Chaton Mobley, 44...Alex Usry, 48...J'Shun Bodiford, 61...Jacqui Graham, 64...Netori Johnson, 72...Jamari Williams, 75...Taharin Sudderth, 82...Elijah Metcalf, 84...Ja'Shawn Sheffield, 88...Damonte Smith, 92
Coaching Staff Additions
Brent Dearmon joins Rick Stockstill's staff as the Blue Raiders' new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Dearmon was most recently the offensive coordinator at Kansas before coming to Murfreesboro. He has experience as the head coach at Bethel College in 2018, the offensive coordinator at Arkansas Tech from 2015-2017, and as an offensive analyst under head coach Gus Malzahn at Auburn from 2013-14.
Brent Stockstill is the new leader of the MT wide receivers' room. A former standout signal caller for the Blue Raiders, the younger Stockstill spent 2020 as a quality control analyst at South Florida under head coach Jeff Scott and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, Jr., previously working under Weis Jr. as an offensive player personnel assistant at Florida Atlantic in 2019 under head coach Lane Kiffin.
With the first practice scheduled for 9:30 am on Friday, the benefits of the team's hard work in spring ball and offseason workouts finally has a chance to come to fruition for head coach Rick Stockstill's program.
The Blue Raiders return an experienced roster from a season ago, with nine starters on both the offensive and defensive units returning to Murfreesboro for another season. That experience, alongside a plethora of veteran transfer additions, have Stockstill confident ahead of the team's first official practice on Friday.
"I'm over the top ready," Stockstill said. "I like our team right now. They've got a good sense of urgency. There's a lot of energy in the building, and I'm fired up and extremely excited to get this thing going."
This will be the first camp under new NCAA contact rules for practice during the preseason, the most prevalent of which is limiting teams to only 75 minutes of full contact maximum each practice, while also not allowing more than two days in a row of full-pads. The first three days of practice will have the Blue Raiders only in helmets and shorts, while the next two days will have the team only adding shoulder pads to that equation.
The acclimation period, the time from the start of fall camp to when teams are allowed to practice in full pads, has been increased from five days to seven days, while the total number of full contact practices has been reduced from 21 to 18. Teams are also only permitted two full scrimmages each preseason.
"It's not going to drastically affect how we do things," Stockstill said. "You're limited to two scrimmages (for example), but that's normally about what you'd get in anyway."
As with most rule changes related to contact, the main goal of these changes is to reduce the potential for injuries in student-athletes. Specifically, the changes approved in May 2021 for this preseason period were made after the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee found that a number of data points supported the conclusion that "the preseason practice period may lead to a disproportionate amount of concussions and head impact exposure."
The reduced number of contact days, as well as the permanent, season-long ban on "drills that encourage or create straight-line contact," such as the "Oklahoma" or King of the Circle/Bull in the Ring drills, should hopefully lead to a reduction in preseason head injuries.
"The three main drills that the NCAA has prohibited: Bull in the Ring, Oklahoma drill and Board drills," Stockstill said. "We stopped doing those a long time ago, and most people had."
The Blue Raiders are scheduled to have seven days of practice before holding their first scrimmage on Saturday, August 14. The team's second scrimmage is scheduled for a week later on August 21. Sunday August 22 will see the return of the annual Beanie Bowl, the last football camp event before classes start on August 23. MT's first game week starts on August 29, however, ahead of the season opener against Monmouth on September 4.
2021 Camp Quick Facts
New Numbers...and New Players' Numbers
Richard Kinley, 0...Gregory Grate, 1...Izaiah Gathings, 2...Quincy Riley, 3...Johnathan Butler, 4...Deonte Stanley, 5...Jurriente Davis, 6...Devyn Curtis, 8...Bailey Hockman, 10...Javonte Sherman, 13...Tra Fluellen, 17...Nicholas Vattiato, 18...Will Gilchrist, 21...Jai'Brian Bouye, 27...Jakobe Thomas, 30...ZaBrien Harden, 38...Terrell Pack, 39...Chaton Mobley, 44...Alex Usry, 48...J'Shun Bodiford, 61...Jacqui Graham, 64...Netori Johnson, 72...Jamari Williams, 75...Taharin Sudderth, 82...Elijah Metcalf, 84...Ja'Shawn Sheffield, 88...Damonte Smith, 92
Coaching Staff Additions
Brent Dearmon joins Rick Stockstill's staff as the Blue Raiders' new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Dearmon was most recently the offensive coordinator at Kansas before coming to Murfreesboro. He has experience as the head coach at Bethel College in 2018, the offensive coordinator at Arkansas Tech from 2015-2017, and as an offensive analyst under head coach Gus Malzahn at Auburn from 2013-14.
Brent Stockstill is the new leader of the MT wide receivers' room. A former standout signal caller for the Blue Raiders, the younger Stockstill spent 2020 as a quality control analyst at South Florida under head coach Jeff Scott and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, Jr., previously working under Weis Jr. as an offensive player personnel assistant at Florida Atlantic in 2019 under head coach Lane Kiffin.
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