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University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Beard making his bid for Mocs’ D-line spot

By: John Frierson
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Fred Tate

On the final play of practice Tuesday, with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga defense one stop away from again beating the offense in the third-down competition, Josh Beard couldn’t help but follow his instincts.

Even though quarterback Tony Pastore was wearing the red (minimal contact) jersey, Beard, an attacking 6-foot-1, 250 pound defensive end, dragged Pastore down from behind for the sack and the win.

Staff Photo by Meghan Brown Defensive tackle B.J. Taylor, #96, right, practices with teammates before the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's second preseason scrimmage at Finley Stadium on Saturday.

While coaches yelled at Beard, Pastore was still on the ground holding his left foot. Beard soon went over to apologize to Pastore, who didn’t appear badly hurt and is listed as day-to-day with a mid-foot sprain.

“The intensity and the momentum were going on that play, but I felt bad when he didn’t get up right away,” said Beard, a transfer from Georgia Military College.

The fact that Beard was able to come off the corner with such speed was itself impressive, since he suffered a mild MCL sprain in his right knee during Saturday’s scrimmage. Impressive, yes; surprising, no, Mocs coach Rodney Allison said.

“He’s an explosive kid, and that’s what we’re looking for from him,” Allison said. “But he’s got to learn to play every down; he’s got to be able to play against the run and the pass.”

The Mocs know they have a pair of talented veterans on the left side of the defensive line: senior end Neil Brown and senior tackle Rodney Beamon. The starting spots on the right side of the four-man front, however, along with the No. 2 spots at each position, will go to more untested players, such as sophomore end Jaron Norfleet, Beard, junior college transfer tackle B.J. Taylor and freshman tackle Nick Craig.

“We’ve got about 10 guys we’re looking at for eight spots, and I feel real good about what we’ve got to choose from,” defensive line coach Fred Tate said. “But some of those guys have got to step up and take ownership of a spot.”

Allison said it’s a tough group to read because so few players in the mix have game experience at UTC.

“We recruited them to play, but we haven’t seen them play (in a game),” he said. “I’ve seen them practice, but we’ll see how they come around. I think it could be, potentially, a really nice two-deep defensive line.”

This and that

Quarterback Jare Gault (ankle) and offensive lineman William Giles (knee) returned to practice Tuesday, the Mocs’ first since Saturday’s scrimmage. Both players were held out of certain activities but should be cleared to play in the Aug. 30 season opener at Oklahoma. ... Gault looked more than a little rusty in his first practice in a week — “I felt good overall. I just had a (lousy) day,” he said — but he wasn’t the only player off his game. In fact, Tuesday’s 24-period practice was probably the team’s worst of the preseason, something that didn’t completely surprise Allison since the Mocs had been off for a couple of days and began classes Monday.

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