The East Tennessee State football team dealt with a slew of nagging injuries as it beat The Citadel 34-16 on Oct. 17 and went into its bye week. At least one of those ailments looked more serious than anyone realized.
During his weekly appearance on the ETSU radio coaches show, Will Healy revealed that starting quarterback Mason Mims had been dealing with substantial swelling in his knee for weeks that required the knee to be drained on multiple occasions. In spite of that ETSU (5-2, 3-0) went into its open date riding a four-game win streak and atop the Southern Conference standings.
It started when Mims got tackled during the September home game against West Georgia and landed on that joint.
“You didn’t really want to talk about it a whole lot, but Mason missed a lot of Tuesday, Wednesday practice for about three weeks there,” Healy said Monday night. “He got tackled at home against West Georgia, I think it was, and his knee just swelled up really big. It wasn’t anything structurally; it was just, he landed on his knee. Had it drained a couple times. He missed a lot of practice time.”
Mims looked more like his old self at the Bucs’ Sunday practice as they began game week prep for Saturday’s road trip to VMI (0-7, 0-3). During his weekly press conference Monday afternoon, Healy said, “Mason ran yesterday in practice and I was like, all right, he looks like he did, you know, three, four weeks ago.”
The Bucs are dealing with other injury issues, with 28 of 44 players on the offensive and defensive two deep limited going into The Citadel game. The most significant current health issue is on the offensive line. Maddox Radcliffe, who started ETSU’s first six games at center, left the field following the Bucs’ 14-3 win over Chattanooga on Oct. 3 in a protective boot, and missed the 34-16 win at The Citadel the following week. When asked about Radcliffe’s status during Monday’s press conference, Healy said Radcliffe had “a doctor’s appointment” scheduled for Monday afternoon.
Cal Grubbs, a transfer from Liberty, got the start at center against The Citadel. Healy elaborated on Radcliffe, and the interior offensive line, in his appearance on his coaches show Monday:
“I dont know the extent of which he’ll be out but I think it’s awesome that Maddox is in a situation where we’re getting these questions, because he’s earned that,” Healy said of Radcliffe, a former walk-on who won the starting center job during preseason camp. “We hope to get him back as fast as possible.”
Healy said the Bucs spent time moving players around at center and guard during the bye week practices, looking for the best combinations.
“The kind of guys that we have on the offensive line, like, we’re all athletic,” fellow O-lineman Micah Sumpter, who has started every game at guard this season, said during Monday’s press conference. “We can all do anything that coaches ask for us. And I feel like that’s helped us out a lot.”
Healy added on the coaches show that Jack Gideon Herbert, who got knocked out of The Citadel game early, is back and available.
Moving on up
Even though ETSU was idle, the Bucs still climbed in the rankings. ETSU is now 18th in the Stats Perform Top 25, and 20th in the AFCA poll. The Bucs remain the only undefeated team in SoCon play and control their own destiny in pursuit of the conference’s automatic bid to the FCS playoffs. At this point, Tennessee Tech (6-1, 2-1) and defending conference champ Mercer (6-2, 3-1) look like the most formidable competition for the league title.
“I love being ranked. I love people saying good things about our program. I’m not running from any of those expectations,” Healy said. “But to me saying, you know, people not believing in you and if you hadn’t done crap, that hasn’t changed for me. You know what I mean? So there’s still a lot for this team to prove. We are leading this conference and we’re the third ranked team in this conference in the polls, right? There’s not a respect factor from a national perspective, that we want to have. So we’ve got work to do. “
“The hunger isn’t going to stop,” defensive lineman Tyreek’e Robinson said during the press conference. “How we practice on our Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays is we look at it as we’re playing a game on those days. So, we’re practicing physical and hard no matter what. It’s a bloody Tuesday, bloody Wednesday. So, the way we prepare on those days prepares us for Saturday.”
Young bucks
ETSU focused on its young players in scrimmage work during the bye week. During his coaches show appearance, Healy identified several of the standouts: quarterback Kaleb Narcisse, running back Mike Hassell, receiver Jayden Scott, offensive lineman Harry Simpson, and defensive back Jaden Haywood. All of those players are true freshman.
“Kaleb Narcisse is a dude. What he does every day against our first team defense is really impressive,” Healy said. “He’s given a much better look than a lot of the other quarterbacks that we’ve played. He’s talented.”
Healy recalled a conversation with offensive coordinator Brian Blackmon that nine true freshmen already were getting significant snaps for the Bucs. That group includes Jack KJ Gillespie, the only collegiate rookie currently starting for the Bucs on offense or defense. Healy noted Hassell and Scott could see the field on special teams units down the stretch for ETSU, and that Simpson was on the cusp of cracking the two deep on the offenssive line.
Watch list
PK Ewan Johnson has been named to the midseason watch list for the Fred Mitchell Award, which recognizes outstanding kickers at every level of football below the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Johnson is 7-for-9 on field goal attempts this season, and booted a career-long 49-yard kick. His career points total of 257 ranks fourth all time in ETSU football, and he already has set the program record for made extra points and ranks third in made field goals.
The Mitchell award also takes into account a player’s community and civic service work off the field in determining the winner.
Buc bites
ETSU leads the all-time series with VMI 19-11 and has won eight of the past 11 meetings. The Bucs are riding a two-game winning streak against the Keydets, who are winless so far this season. … VMI is led by first-year coach Ashley Ingram, who previously held the same role at Division II Carson-Newman, which he led to a 16-6 record across two seasons. … The Keydets have two Next Level Locals on their roster: senior punter Ben Shrewsbury (Jonesborough/Daniel Boone) and redshirt freshman linebacker Baylor Necessary (Johnson City/Science Hill).