Lightning Strikes First Day of MT Fall Camp

8/4/2022 8:08:00 AM | Football

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A weather-shortened practice did not damper the Blue Raiders’ spirits

By: Sam Doughton, MT Athletic Communications

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — If Wednesday's opening day of Fall Camp at MTSU were a regulation football game, it would've been suspended with 10 minutes to go in the 4th quarter.

It was a hot, muggy day in Murfreesboro, one where the sweat even dripped off the coaches' clothes as they walked under the shelter of Floyd Stadium from the practice field after a nearby lightning strike forced MT to take a break later in the afternoon. The lightning would persist, but the rain never came, at least while the team completed its field goal unit install under the stadium's seats, making the best of the weather.

"We started out good, got 50 minutes in, and then we got lightninged out," head coach Rick Stockstill said. "But it was good to see a full team out there compared to what we had in the spring.

After a spring practice where injuries and roster transition often left MTSU with smaller position groups than Stockstill would've liked to see, the fact that crucial areas of the team — the offensive linemen, the linebackers, the wide receivers — had gotten reinforcements clearly put a pep in his step for his 17th fall camp as head coach at MTSU.

On a more practical level, Stockstill noted, that meant his staff would be doing more evaluation now than they might have had to in years past, with so many new faces getting challenged each and every day.

"I feel good about the ones who were already on the team that missed spring practice because of surgeries, you know what they can do," Stockstill said. "But the new guys that just got here this summer, it's a big evaluation to see what they can handle mentally, to see if it can transfer over the field. (Today) they looked the part, and as camp goes along and we get further evaluations on them."

On the offensive side, all eyes were on the quarterback battle, with both Nicholas Vattiato and Chase Cunningham impressing alongside true freshman Kyle Lowe and DJ Riles in their first fall camp, as well as Murray State graduate transfer Preston Rice. For Cunningham, it was his first true on-the-field action since he was helped off the field after tearing his ACL against Southern Miss last fall.

"Obviously, first practice in eight months, so maybe a little bit out of football shape, but I'm feeling good out there," Cunningham smiled when asked about the team's tempo drills. "Hated it ended a little early, but great to be out there."

His position coach, Brent Stockstill, praised all the work the redshirt senior has put in just to get back on the field, as well as the Knoxville, Tenn. native's leadership in the locker room as the offense gets used to offensive coordinator Mitch Stewart's new system.

The good news is that system takes a lot of things MTSU has done over the years, from a no-huddle pace meant for tempo to air raid concepts and route trees, helping the younger Stockstill instill 'habits' into his group, as he takes over the quarterback room after leading the wide receivers a season ago.

"The main thing is what we do is we let the guys go play," Brent Stockstill said. "This offense is really about building habits, because when you get out there on Saturday night, that's what's going to take over."
Defensively, safety Teldrick Ross was buzzing about taking on an even bigger responsibility this year, moving from his Swiss army knife defensive back utility role to getting a chance to play exclusively safety. The lightning cut practice short before many of the team's scheduled offense and defense competition periods, but Ross still relished the little bit of competitive juices he was able to get going.

"1 on 1, a little bit of DB on receiver action," Ross recalled, relaying what he was most excited to get back into in camp. "I was really looking forward to pass skel(eton) too."

The afternoon practices, thankfully for both the heat and the thunderstorms, will be short-lived for the Blue Raiders, as the final day of the summer semester is tomorrow. Meaning after tomorrow afternoon's practice, it'll be much cooler morning practices until school starts back up on August 22 for the fall semester.