Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
CUSA Kickoff Notebook: Change from Year-to-Year
7/25/2023 4:32:00 PM | Football
The Blue Raiders return from Globe Life Field after meeting face-to-face the new CUSA for the first time
ARLINGTON, Texas — The annual CUSA Kickoff was once again a place of comradery for the coaches and players and of convenience for the assembled media.
This year at least, it was also a place of irony, with the American Athletic Conference holding its media day in the same hotel CUSA stays in next to the Texas Rangers' Globe Life Field that CUSA Kickoff was held in for the second year in a row.
But fun hallway coincidences aside, the energy of the event was contagious, as all five returning schools and four new programs each entered optimistic for the season ahead, and not without good reason.
In between the usual media day platitudes, however, there emerged some storylines for Middle Tennessee football. Here's three that stood out to me in Arlington this week.
The words on everyone's lips: Midweek Games
The speed at which Rick Stockstill rattles off the number of games his team will have to play in a certain number of days is impressive. In less than a breath, "two in six, three in 12, four in 18, five in 25, then 18 days off," the October schedule for the Blue Raiders rolls off the veteran head coach's tongue.
For Stockstill, and every other head coach in Conference USA, the midweek games in October loom large as a unique challenge that each team will have to face. Stockstill has spent much of his spring and summer studying that time of the year, talking to coaches to learn best practices and figuring out an overall strategy to get through the five-game stretch at the end of September where MTSU will face *deep breath* Colorado State, Western Kentucky, Jacksonville State, Louisiana Tech and Liberty all within 25 days.
"I think the most important thing is that we as coaches have to do a really good job making sure that our players are healthy and fresh," Stockstill said. "They've got to do their part from a recovery standpoint of taking care of their bodies, because there's not a lot of recovery time between those games."
That focus on recovery, coupled with a realization that playbooks might have to be smaller in these midweek contests, were echoed by nearly every head coach in attendance on Tuesday.
"From a schematic standpoint, I'm not sure how big of a gameplan you can put in," Stockstill said. "There's going to be some carry over from week to week because you're not going to have as many days to practice, to install, to communicate what you want to do from a schematic standpoint in a short period of time."
The unique timing of the off week for MTSU, which will come the week of October 28, creates an 18-day off period for the Blue Raiders, one that cornerback Teldrick Ross thinks could prove to be an advantage for his team in the latter third of the season.
"You know how football season is, it's a vicious sport," Ross said. "I feel like it can be good for us if we approach it and handle it in a business-like way."
The QB Battle (or lack thereof)
It's so rare that something newsworthy on the field comes out of these media day events, which have turned into more content vehicles for the teams and the conference's media partners and networking opportunities for the writers and videographers in attendance than rigorous Q&A sessions. That's in part due to the circumstances of the event itself (falling so early in the fall camp process on the calendar, pretty much every program publicly likes where the team is at and often doesn't have answers to the questions that remained after spring ball without having been on the field in true practice situations in months).
But still, you have to ask around those on-the-field questions, because occasionally you get an intriguing answer. DJ England-Chisolm gave a very insightful response on the podium to my question on the quarterback battle between Nicholas Vattiato, DJ Riles, Kyle Lowe and Ren Hefley that defined much of spring ball for the offense.
After acknowledging the four different skillsets of those guys, England-Chisolm quickly turned the redshirt sophomore Vattiato.
"When you said, Vattiato, I smiled, I love Vattiato." England-Chisolm said. "Coming in this summer, I hear him."
The 2021 Bahamas Bowl MVP has been much more vocal this summer, his wideout said, in the weightroom, during workouts and during their throwing time as a unit. Stockstill later added that Vattiato is someone that can make "all the throws" when leading the Blue Raider offense.
"Our offense is fast-paced, so he's hammering on us how we have to be fast," England-Chisolm said. "He's being a leader, and we're following him."
On paper, there likely will be a chance for someone to make an impact in camp and get on the offense's radar at signalcaller. But heading into the first day of practice on August 2, and likely the first game against Alabama on September 2, I'd be surprised to see someone other than Vattiato take that first snap behind center.
New Teams, New Energy
The biggest difference between this year and last year's CUSA Kickoff was the far more optimistic vibe of those in attendance at Globe Life Field compared to the inevitability of the previous iteration. As Commissioner Judy MacLeod said in her address to the media, she got more than a few eye rolls when discussing the desire to "finish strong" with the 11 teams in the league ahead of losing six schools and adding four in 2023.
But, with plenty of success for both returning and departing schools in 2022-23, combined with the eagerness of the four new schools — Jacksonville State, Liberty, New Mexico State and Sam Houston — entering, MacLeod described the conference as "hungry" to prove themselves as a group. Something Stockstill noted during his time on the podium as well.
"These four teams we have coming in are talented, they're very well-coached," Stockstill said. "I know they've got a lot of good players."
The four new teams made for an uncertain pecking order, outside of Western Kentucky as the likely CUSA title favorite, in the preseason standings. It's not hard to make an argument for why nearly everyone eligible could make a run to the conference title game if a few key transfers hit or a few younger guys develop. Even the two FCS-transition teams, Jax State and Sam Houston, have potential to make a splash thanks to a prolific offense (Rich Rodriguez's spread) and roster construction (a heavily redshirted upperclassmen cohort), for the Gamecocks and Bearkats respectively.
With that uncertainty, likewise, comes preseason optimism for nearly everyone. Some of that comes from all four schools being very excited about their new conference memberships (as New Mexico State Coach Jerry Kill quipped, "Who wants to be an independent?"). For the returning five programs, it means a chance to impove their fortunes in a wide-open league, one that's even more uncertain thanks to modern roster construction, Stockstill said.
"At the Group of 5 level, at the Conference USA level, our teams, especially with the transfer portal, change so much from year-to-year," Stockstill said. "When you have four new teams coming in that you've never played before, the familiarity is not there yet."
"As you watched them this summer, we got a good idea, but until you start watching them play, teams change. Our team is so much different right now than it ended at the Hawai'i Bowl. We've got some new players here, we've got some players that didn't play last year that have really matured and stepped up and look to contribute this year."
This year at least, it was also a place of irony, with the American Athletic Conference holding its media day in the same hotel CUSA stays in next to the Texas Rangers' Globe Life Field that CUSA Kickoff was held in for the second year in a row.
But fun hallway coincidences aside, the energy of the event was contagious, as all five returning schools and four new programs each entered optimistic for the season ahead, and not without good reason.
In between the usual media day platitudes, however, there emerged some storylines for Middle Tennessee football. Here's three that stood out to me in Arlington this week.
The words on everyone's lips: Midweek Games
The speed at which Rick Stockstill rattles off the number of games his team will have to play in a certain number of days is impressive. In less than a breath, "two in six, three in 12, four in 18, five in 25, then 18 days off," the October schedule for the Blue Raiders rolls off the veteran head coach's tongue.
For Stockstill, and every other head coach in Conference USA, the midweek games in October loom large as a unique challenge that each team will have to face. Stockstill has spent much of his spring and summer studying that time of the year, talking to coaches to learn best practices and figuring out an overall strategy to get through the five-game stretch at the end of September where MTSU will face *deep breath* Colorado State, Western Kentucky, Jacksonville State, Louisiana Tech and Liberty all within 25 days.
"I think the most important thing is that we as coaches have to do a really good job making sure that our players are healthy and fresh," Stockstill said. "They've got to do their part from a recovery standpoint of taking care of their bodies, because there's not a lot of recovery time between those games."
That focus on recovery, coupled with a realization that playbooks might have to be smaller in these midweek contests, were echoed by nearly every head coach in attendance on Tuesday.
"From a schematic standpoint, I'm not sure how big of a gameplan you can put in," Stockstill said. "There's going to be some carry over from week to week because you're not going to have as many days to practice, to install, to communicate what you want to do from a schematic standpoint in a short period of time."
The unique timing of the off week for MTSU, which will come the week of October 28, creates an 18-day off period for the Blue Raiders, one that cornerback Teldrick Ross thinks could prove to be an advantage for his team in the latter third of the season.
"You know how football season is, it's a vicious sport," Ross said. "I feel like it can be good for us if we approach it and handle it in a business-like way."
The QB Battle (or lack thereof)
It's so rare that something newsworthy on the field comes out of these media day events, which have turned into more content vehicles for the teams and the conference's media partners and networking opportunities for the writers and videographers in attendance than rigorous Q&A sessions. That's in part due to the circumstances of the event itself (falling so early in the fall camp process on the calendar, pretty much every program publicly likes where the team is at and often doesn't have answers to the questions that remained after spring ball without having been on the field in true practice situations in months).
But still, you have to ask around those on-the-field questions, because occasionally you get an intriguing answer. DJ England-Chisolm gave a very insightful response on the podium to my question on the quarterback battle between Nicholas Vattiato, DJ Riles, Kyle Lowe and Ren Hefley that defined much of spring ball for the offense.
After acknowledging the four different skillsets of those guys, England-Chisolm quickly turned the redshirt sophomore Vattiato.
"When you said, Vattiato, I smiled, I love Vattiato." England-Chisolm said. "Coming in this summer, I hear him."
The 2021 Bahamas Bowl MVP has been much more vocal this summer, his wideout said, in the weightroom, during workouts and during their throwing time as a unit. Stockstill later added that Vattiato is someone that can make "all the throws" when leading the Blue Raider offense.
"Our offense is fast-paced, so he's hammering on us how we have to be fast," England-Chisolm said. "He's being a leader, and we're following him."
On paper, there likely will be a chance for someone to make an impact in camp and get on the offense's radar at signalcaller. But heading into the first day of practice on August 2, and likely the first game against Alabama on September 2, I'd be surprised to see someone other than Vattiato take that first snap behind center.
New Teams, New Energy
The biggest difference between this year and last year's CUSA Kickoff was the far more optimistic vibe of those in attendance at Globe Life Field compared to the inevitability of the previous iteration. As Commissioner Judy MacLeod said in her address to the media, she got more than a few eye rolls when discussing the desire to "finish strong" with the 11 teams in the league ahead of losing six schools and adding four in 2023.
But, with plenty of success for both returning and departing schools in 2022-23, combined with the eagerness of the four new schools — Jacksonville State, Liberty, New Mexico State and Sam Houston — entering, MacLeod described the conference as "hungry" to prove themselves as a group. Something Stockstill noted during his time on the podium as well.
"These four teams we have coming in are talented, they're very well-coached," Stockstill said. "I know they've got a lot of good players."
The four new teams made for an uncertain pecking order, outside of Western Kentucky as the likely CUSA title favorite, in the preseason standings. It's not hard to make an argument for why nearly everyone eligible could make a run to the conference title game if a few key transfers hit or a few younger guys develop. Even the two FCS-transition teams, Jax State and Sam Houston, have potential to make a splash thanks to a prolific offense (Rich Rodriguez's spread) and roster construction (a heavily redshirted upperclassmen cohort), for the Gamecocks and Bearkats respectively.
With that uncertainty, likewise, comes preseason optimism for nearly everyone. Some of that comes from all four schools being very excited about their new conference memberships (as New Mexico State Coach Jerry Kill quipped, "Who wants to be an independent?"). For the returning five programs, it means a chance to impove their fortunes in a wide-open league, one that's even more uncertain thanks to modern roster construction, Stockstill said.
"At the Group of 5 level, at the Conference USA level, our teams, especially with the transfer portal, change so much from year-to-year," Stockstill said. "When you have four new teams coming in that you've never played before, the familiarity is not there yet."
"As you watched them this summer, we got a good idea, but until you start watching them play, teams change. Our team is so much different right now than it ended at the Hawai'i Bowl. We've got some new players here, we've got some players that didn't play last year that have really matured and stepped up and look to contribute this year."
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