Middle
Tennessee has yet to fill a key position on its football team as they head into
their second week of preseason camp.
Carson
Newman transfer Carlos Lopez, a senior, was brought in to be a one-year
stop-gap. He has kicked reasonably well at short distances, but his accuracy
has been limited to less than 40 yards.
True
freshman Cody Clark, a preferred walk-on from Watkinsville, Ga., has pushed
Lopez for the placekicking and kickoff positions.
Clark,
a standout soccer player, played only one season of high school football. He
made 7-of-9 field goals and recorded 36 touchbacks on kickoffs, both team
records, in his senior season.
Lopez
was a 2009 all-conference selection at Carson Newman. He made 15-of-21 field
goals and 124-of-130 PATs in three seasons there.
“We
are just trying to find out what (Lopez’s) range is, and Cody Clark is a
freshman that I really like and he has some potential,” head coach Rick
Stockstill said. “The competition is open between Carlos and Cody. We haven’t
decided on our placekicker or kickoff guy yet.”
“To
me, there’s not a leader between those two.”
The
same goes for punter and long-snapper, according to Stockstill.
Junior
Josh Davis was an All-Sun Belt punter two years ago, but he was limited to a
situational specialist last season. Davis is being pushed by Zach Lopez, a
sophomore who has not yet played in a game.
Long-snapper
duties will go to either redshirt freshman Blaine Sidders or true freshman
William Eads. Sidders
is a walk-on who has a head-start on Eads in terms of the blocking and coverage
duties on punt team.
So
far, Stockstill said Eads has been a more accurate snapper. He only needs to
catch up on his other duties on the punt team.
MTSU
kicked only three touchbacks in 51 kickoff attempts last season, usually opting
for a sky-kick. Stockstill hopes the rule changes and fresh legs will increase
that number.
“If
we can kick that thing to the end zone or at least inside the 5, then it can
give us a chance to cover it,” Stockstill said. “The reason we sky-kicked so
much last year was that we had a hard time getting it inside the 10.
“Now
that we’re starting at the 35, it could make a difference.”
Middle
Tennessee Blue Raiders is trying to bounce back to the top and show much needed
improvement on its team that once was conference champions. If they can’t
reclaim their champion crown, they at least want to make it to a post season
bowl game.
