Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
On the field, the Blue Raider Football Class of 2023 made their names known
11/15/2023 4:49:00 PM | Football
The stories of MTSU’s eleven seniors honored this Saturday tell the story of college football.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — These days in college athletic departments, Senior Day ceremony preparations can occasionally come with a bit of a surprise.
Not in the timing, of course, which is set months in advance. Nor in the specific pageantry of the day itself, which is meticulously organized by both the teams themselves and the various all-sports support staff that make so many of our games on campus possible. But rather, the surprise can come in who is being honored on Senior Day.
With so many players transferring into Murfreesboro and/or having extra years of eligibility due to COVID, the old method of just adding up the years a player has played in the college to figure out who will walk on Senior Day is less and less fruitful. But it does make the stories within those senior classes, like the stories of the Class of 2023 that will be honored on Saturday ahead of Middle Tennessee football's 1 p.m. kickoff against UTEP at Floyd Stadium, all the more richer and representative of college sports today.
The Blue Raiders will honor 11 seniors on Saturday, and their stories range the gamut from players like defensive lineman Jorden Starling, who played in four games as a true freshman for the 2018 CUSA East Division Championship team, and now completes his sixth season of college football, all at MTSU, in just a few weeks.
To players like offensive lineman Devin Hayes, who also started his collegiate career in 2018, but in Boca Raton, Fla. playing for Florida Atlantic. MTSU is Hayes' third school in six years, after playing for Jackson State following his transfer from the Owls.
"You've got guys that will have a senior day at a couple places," head coach Rick Stockstill noted about how senior days have changed. "The grad transfer guys, they might've walked last year or two years ago at their previous school and now they're walking here."
In between those two extremes, there are guys like safety Tra Fluellen, who's played three seasons for MTSU after transferring from the FCS level (Houston Baptist).
There's FBS to FBS transfers, like linebacker Jalen Rayam, who came to MTSU just last year from UAB or wide receiver Jeremy Tate Jr, who joined the Blue Raiders from Memphis. There are junior college transfers like linebacker Johnathan Butler and offensive lineman Jacqui Graham.
There are long-time starters like wide receiver DJ England-Chisolm, defensive lineman Jordan Branch and defensive back Teldrick Ross. There's even a player that started his career as a Blue Raider, left to play at another program and came back in offensive weapon Zack Dobson.
What stands out the most about this group when you name them all in a row, like we'll do on Saturday, is how impactful every one of them has been in their time at Middle Tennessee. It's easy for me, and I suspect many Blue Raider fans, to rattle off memories for nearly every player among the 11.
It would be impossible, for instance, to tell the story of the 2022 season at MTSU without mentioning England-Chisolm's 98-yard touchdown catch against No. 25 Miami, or Branch's pick-6 of Frank Harris against UTSA. Fans of the 2019 team will talk about Dobson's speed on the edge out of the backfield for years to come.
For players like Starling, who, in addition to being a solid defensive lineman, is a part of the long lineage of blocked kicks under Rick Stockstill thanks to his blocked field goal against Charlotte in 2021, or Tate, whose contributions as MTSU's pseudo tight end have helped keep the offense fresh and dynamic, their contributions are more abstract, less about specific plays than the overall body of work. That's particularly true for Hayes and Graham, who have been bright spots at tackle at times during their tenures in Murfreesboro.
For others like Fluellen and Ross, who have so many snaps to their names that you can use their total stats to tell their stories how Ross led CUSA in pass breakups in 2022, or how Fluellen continued the tackling prowess of generations of Blue Raider safeties, the next name behind Byard-Moffatt-Blankenship in that lineage.
Then there are the guys who've battled injuries, which is nearly every name mentioned so far. But you particularly feel for the linebackers, Butler and Rayam, both of whom have missed near whole seasons while working their way back into the lineup after being impact players on defense and special teams when healthy.
It's rare to have so many guys make an impact on the field in one senior class. But as quarterback Nicholas Vattiato made a point of mentioning this week, the connections they've forged within themselves and with their teammates will last much longer than any of those on-the-field memories will.
"You start to know them more as a person," Vattiato said. "You get to know their family a bit and where they come from. You build relationships that'll last a lifetime."
"I know Tra's a senior, but we kind of came in together in a way," the quarterback reminisced. "Being able to do that with him these last three seasons has been really special."
For Fluellen, who will miss the rest of his collegiate career after tearing his ACL last week against FIU, Saturday will be a weird day, his first missed game due to injury that he can remember. But that doesn't diminish the love he has for his school, and the love for the people at it.
"So blessed and so thankful to be here at this school," Fluellen said. "I'm glad I chose this school out of everywhere because these guys have truly invested their time in me and have truly put all their love and effort in me."
Not in the timing, of course, which is set months in advance. Nor in the specific pageantry of the day itself, which is meticulously organized by both the teams themselves and the various all-sports support staff that make so many of our games on campus possible. But rather, the surprise can come in who is being honored on Senior Day.
With so many players transferring into Murfreesboro and/or having extra years of eligibility due to COVID, the old method of just adding up the years a player has played in the college to figure out who will walk on Senior Day is less and less fruitful. But it does make the stories within those senior classes, like the stories of the Class of 2023 that will be honored on Saturday ahead of Middle Tennessee football's 1 p.m. kickoff against UTEP at Floyd Stadium, all the more richer and representative of college sports today.
The Blue Raiders will honor 11 seniors on Saturday, and their stories range the gamut from players like defensive lineman Jorden Starling, who played in four games as a true freshman for the 2018 CUSA East Division Championship team, and now completes his sixth season of college football, all at MTSU, in just a few weeks.
To players like offensive lineman Devin Hayes, who also started his collegiate career in 2018, but in Boca Raton, Fla. playing for Florida Atlantic. MTSU is Hayes' third school in six years, after playing for Jackson State following his transfer from the Owls.
"You've got guys that will have a senior day at a couple places," head coach Rick Stockstill noted about how senior days have changed. "The grad transfer guys, they might've walked last year or two years ago at their previous school and now they're walking here."
In between those two extremes, there are guys like safety Tra Fluellen, who's played three seasons for MTSU after transferring from the FCS level (Houston Baptist).
There's FBS to FBS transfers, like linebacker Jalen Rayam, who came to MTSU just last year from UAB or wide receiver Jeremy Tate Jr, who joined the Blue Raiders from Memphis. There are junior college transfers like linebacker Johnathan Butler and offensive lineman Jacqui Graham.
There are long-time starters like wide receiver DJ England-Chisolm, defensive lineman Jordan Branch and defensive back Teldrick Ross. There's even a player that started his career as a Blue Raider, left to play at another program and came back in offensive weapon Zack Dobson.
What stands out the most about this group when you name them all in a row, like we'll do on Saturday, is how impactful every one of them has been in their time at Middle Tennessee. It's easy for me, and I suspect many Blue Raider fans, to rattle off memories for nearly every player among the 11.
It would be impossible, for instance, to tell the story of the 2022 season at MTSU without mentioning England-Chisolm's 98-yard touchdown catch against No. 25 Miami, or Branch's pick-6 of Frank Harris against UTSA. Fans of the 2019 team will talk about Dobson's speed on the edge out of the backfield for years to come.
For players like Starling, who, in addition to being a solid defensive lineman, is a part of the long lineage of blocked kicks under Rick Stockstill thanks to his blocked field goal against Charlotte in 2021, or Tate, whose contributions as MTSU's pseudo tight end have helped keep the offense fresh and dynamic, their contributions are more abstract, less about specific plays than the overall body of work. That's particularly true for Hayes and Graham, who have been bright spots at tackle at times during their tenures in Murfreesboro.
For others like Fluellen and Ross, who have so many snaps to their names that you can use their total stats to tell their stories how Ross led CUSA in pass breakups in 2022, or how Fluellen continued the tackling prowess of generations of Blue Raider safeties, the next name behind Byard-Moffatt-Blankenship in that lineage.
Then there are the guys who've battled injuries, which is nearly every name mentioned so far. But you particularly feel for the linebackers, Butler and Rayam, both of whom have missed near whole seasons while working their way back into the lineup after being impact players on defense and special teams when healthy.
It's rare to have so many guys make an impact on the field in one senior class. But as quarterback Nicholas Vattiato made a point of mentioning this week, the connections they've forged within themselves and with their teammates will last much longer than any of those on-the-field memories will.
"You start to know them more as a person," Vattiato said. "You get to know their family a bit and where they come from. You build relationships that'll last a lifetime."
"I know Tra's a senior, but we kind of came in together in a way," the quarterback reminisced. "Being able to do that with him these last three seasons has been really special."
For Fluellen, who will miss the rest of his collegiate career after tearing his ACL last week against FIU, Saturday will be a weird day, his first missed game due to injury that he can remember. But that doesn't diminish the love he has for his school, and the love for the people at it.
"So blessed and so thankful to be here at this school," Fluellen said. "I'm glad I chose this school out of everywhere because these guys have truly invested their time in me and have truly put all their love and effort in me."
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