The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team hosts The Citadel at Finley Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 21, for a 2:00 p.m. (E.D.T.) kickoff.  Saturday is Military Appreciation Day where all Military, Veterans and first responders, along with their families, receive free admission. 

Below are excerpts from today's press conference with photos.  The full videos are attached to the story.  Today's luncheon included remarks from head coach Tom Arth, junior defensive back C.J. Fritz and freshman quarterback Cole Copeland. 

Tickets are on sale now on GoMocs.com, or by calling the UTC Ticket Office at (423) 266-MOCS (6627).

Cole Copeland – Fr.-QB
On playing as a true freshman:
"It is different for sure than high school.  The speed is different.  The atmosphere is different.  I was like a deer in the headlights at Jacksonville State, I am not going to lie to y'all or sugarcoat it in anyway.  It is a little different, but I am finally starting to adjust to it a little more each week." 

On the comfort level with the position:
"The only way to get really comfortable is to get thrown into the fire.  It is hard to watch somebody else do it.  You can learn from their mistakes, but until you are in the game and making your own mistakes, that is when you really get comfortable." 

How weird is the feeling to be playing now:
"I came in not expecting it.  Dro being here, I was going to learn under him.  I was not expecting it at all, so it is definitely a surreal moment.  I am hoping to take advantage of it a little bit more and I am looking forward to it."

On the nerves in the first start against Furman:
"I was telling some of my buddies on the team that I was just ready to get the first play over with.  After that, the butterflies usually go away and then you are playing again.  That first play, I was pretty nervous." 

On being the leader and the responsibility of staying positive:
"I try to be the biggest leader on the team at all times.  "I am just trying to lead everybody and stay as positive as I can.  I am not the type to quit and I know this team is not like that.  We are just going to rally and keep fighting."

On being hesitant to lead as a freshman:
"I wouldn't say hesitant, but it is different, coming in as a senior in high school and being the guy. Then coming here with the good athletes and good leaders, but I feel a little bit more comfortable each week." 

"It is hard at times, at the beginning especially.  The first week, the first practice.  Over time it has gotten a little better. Hopefully, I am gaining their respect.  I just try to fight as much as I can and play as hard as I can to gain their respect."

On going from practice as the No. 1 guy to games:
"Practice is everything to me.  That first week I was kind of nervous more, getting thrown in when I was the backup when Dro was out four games.  Like Jacksonville State, there was not much preparation.  You can't really get a feel for it.  You can watch all of the film you want, but if you are not in there, then it is not really taking you to the next step.  I was more nervous then than now. I feel like I am more prepared." 

On turning to your family for advice and support:
"I talk to my family daily.  My brother and sister both payed college basketball, so I talk to them daily.  They give me good advice.  My dad as well." 

On passing for 500+ yards in his first two games:
"I am not really big on stats.  I am just trying to get wins.  I have not done my job on that part.  I am looking to rally from that and get better."
 

Head Coach Tom Arth
Opening statement:
"Thank you guys.  I appreciate everyone being here.  Looking back at Mercer from this past weekend, there was a lot that we improved on from the week before. I think you really start with our run defense, something we'd talked about last week, something that was really important to us. We've done a pretty good job of all year, got beat up a little bit more against Furman than we'd like but we came out and  played very well against the run defensively. Really took that away from their offense.

"Unfortunately had too many penalties. We gave them some first downs off penalties and made some mistakes that way - jumping off sides, pass interference type of calls - things like that that really hurt us defensively in that game. Otherwise I thought we played a pretty sound game on the defensive side of the ball.

"Offensively I think we ran the ball better which was important, and again a major point of emphasis as it had been all year long. I think we did a good job staying with it. I think it really helped Cole [Copeland] play more efficiently throughout the course of the game.

"Now it's at the point where we're really starting to block the run a lot better than we had in the past. It's going to be about turning the two-yard gains into four yard gains and the four-yard gains into six- and eight-yard gains for us to become a good running team.

"I thought we threw the ball well. I thought Cole played a very good game, very solid game, made some accurate throws on third down and in some pressure, was able to escape the pocket and make some plays as well. That was great to see.

"Special teams, we need to be a little bit better in that. That was an area we've worked very hard at, spent a lot of time on. Right now we're not getting the production in special teams that we to. Need to be better there, but again, very proud of Victor [Ulmo]. He had a fantastic kick to open the game for us, open up the scoring. I think it was his career long field goal which was great. Unfortunately, the quarter ended so he had to kick it in the second quarter so he had to kick it going into the wind. I think it may have been a 44-yard kick into the wind. Proud of the way he's playing. Excited for him to continue to improve."

On the status of quarterbacks:
"Dro is still in recovery from the concussion. Nick is progressing. He's going to be very limited today and looking for him to be out there and practicing and maybe going through some individual. See how he feels. We'll progress from there depending how some of the limited activities go for him today. Cole's in great shape."

Are you looking at the future for Copeland:
"It's about putting our team in the best position to be successful, period. Whatever that decision is. If Nick's available, if Dro's available, we're going to play the guy on Saturday who gives us the best chance to be successful. Obviously, if those guys aren't ready it will be Cole without a doubt. We're going to make a decision as we know a little bit more information and see how these guys heal up and if they're ready to get out there and play."

Do you anticipate Alejandro to be back?
"Right now he still has some symptoms so he's not in the protocol yet. If he's feeling better today, if he starts feeling better today or tomorrow, he's symptom free, then there's a chance. As of right now he's still symptomatic, so we can't even begin to progress him at this point. It is so individual and we'll see how the rest of today and tomorrow goes. If he's not ready to go by tomorrow, he won't be in position where he's able to play."

When do you expect Alejandro to return?
"I don't know the answer to that and I wouldn't want to speculate. My hope is that he would be. He's getting better. There's definite signs of improvement each day, especially last week. I think towards the weekend, he's starting to feel as well as he's felt since the injury occurred. We sure hope that he is able to play more for him, than for anything. I just don't know the answer to that."

Does Military Appreciation Day have a special meaning since your father was in the Marines?
"I was not born yet when my dad was in the Marine Corps. It was pretty much right out of high school during the Viet Nam War, my dad was drafted and went to Camp Lejune in North Carolina. I just know what it's meant to him. His experiences in going through boot camp and the memories he's had and what he's shared with us. How much it means to him still to this day in his life.

Will you pause, will there be a moment in the pregame where you catch yourself reflecting when they make the announcements?
Absolutely. JR and I were talking yesterday, there are some times when we're here in the United States, you're going through your life, and living your life and you have your problems that you're worried about, the different issues that come up all the time professionally and within your family. Sometimes there are things that hit you and it becomes very real to you.

"Seeing Tae Davis with his sister when she got home last week or a couple of weeks ago, just seeing them together, seeing their family together and the emotion that is tied with that. I hits home for you. This is really going on. I think Sometimes we get so caught up in our lives, all freedoms that we have here and everything that we enjoy, peace that we have, going to work every day, going home. There are people out there sacrificing and risking their lives every day to make sure we have that and I thinks it's fantastic that we're going to honor the Military the way that we are on Saturday.

"For them but also for us, as a reminder that there's people that are serving this country and fighting for us every single day. It's just something that you can't ever take for granted."
 

 
On the morale of the team:
"I think the morale is good. I think they're obviously, nobody's happy about the circumstances about our record. Nobody's accepting where we're at, but I think we're handling it the right way. I think the guys are responding well and we know what we need to do, what our mission is, what needs to happen today, tomorrow, the next day, Friday, Saturday and for the rest of the season for us to start having some of the results that we all are in this for. That we all desire. It's part of a process. We have to continue to work to get there."

On contribution to the large number of penalties:
"I would not contribute it to confusion at all. I think certain instances, it's happened all year. It happens at practice. We do it offensively purposefully, we rep it a lot, we jump offsides at practice and jump off sides in the game. As far as some of the other penalties, some of them, it's just situation the official makes the call.

"You're playing physical on defense, you get a holding call. Sometimes those calls happen. You can live with those a little bit more. The majority of penalties that we have, the first drive of the game. We have a great drive going, first down at about the 24 or whatever it was and we substitute like we do just about every play, for some reason a person who is supposed to go in doesn't go in, we're yelling. He goes in and we get called for the penalty.

"I just think there's some of that. It shows up certainly in penalties and it shows up other ways throughout the week within our team. those are things that we've really the last couple of weeks put major emphasis on and try to crack down on some of those small things you'd think have nothing to do with football or how you play on Saturday. We've tried to really do what we can as coaches to do what we an as leaders in our program, to really handle a lot of those issues and get those corrected."

On the need to get turnovers:
"We've had some really great opportunities. Had a couple of opportunities for pick-sixes in that last two games in the first half that really could have changed the momentum of the game and we just didn't make the plays. The thing about it is, sometimes you can catch yourself saying we just need to get a break". You need to make the breaks, we need to make the breaks.

"When we have opportunities we need to make the play. We've had a couple that have been pretty easy right there in front of us and we just haven't finished, we haven't made it and we can. We are capable of doing it. We talk about it a lot, we emphasize it, we practice it.

"Got to give credit to the teams we're playing against that are protecting the football. They're doing a good job of it. Some chances for interceptions, not really been any balls on the ground. We've got to do a better job of stripping. If you go back, I can think of one in particular were Derrick Mahaffey was the second guy to the tackle just like we coach, second guy there ripping at it. It was a point where we needed one and he was working at it. Got to give credit to opposing offenses for not giving them to us."

On the team still adapting to change:
"I think that would be an excuse. I'm not real big on excuses. We were here in January. We were able to start meeting with them in winter before spring practice. We had all spring. We had the majority of the team here in summer. All of fall camp. Seven games in, no. Not at all. We've got to play better, we've got to coach better, we've got to execute better.

The Citadel's rushing game vs. the Mocs rushing defense:
"It's a major focus. They want to run the ball, there's no secret to that. Obviously they will throw it. They will play action. They'll drop back if they have to, but they're out there with the mindset to be violent, to be physical and to run the football, to control the clock, limit the possessions of the opposing offense. That's going to be really important for us.

"Obviously we're going to have to play great against the run. We're going to have to match and exceed their violence and their physicality. we're going to have to create long yardage situations for them. It's not going to be a situation where we're going to be able to give up 3-4 yards a carry and expect to do real well defensively against them.

"We're going to have to find ways to get negative runs. We're going to have to find ways to get runs for no gain, to put them into 2nd-10 situations. Hopefully 3rd-7 type situation. It think if we can do that, we'll give ourselves a chance to get some 3-and-outs, to create some opportunities for our offense and have some success. That will be a really big part of the week."
 

C.J. Fritz – Jr.-DB
What's is like playing a team where you want to be involved but they kind of keep the ball away?
"This is about doing my job. Just doing my role every play i can. When i get the opportunity to make the play, we're all a unit, so we're all just working off each. If I don't get any plays then I'm doing my job the best I can."

What is the toughest part of being 1-6?
"Staying positive. We always have a great mindset every day in practice and games. It's just about keeping our mind positive and just going out there every day and just working. Making sure that we are giving our all and doing our job."

What do you say to each other to stay positive?
"It's about practice and our family. We do it for each other because we're all a family. We come with a mindset to do it for the family. We keep that as a main focus and do it the best we can."

On the need to create turnovers:
"It has been a main focus. We don't get too many opportunities but when we do we've got to make the most of them. We dropped a few picks this year and we also caught a couple but we need more."

Has there been a stress this week about keeping it 3rd-long for the Citadel?
"Against their offense its more so about tackling. Making sure we make the tackle behind the line of scrimmage. Get them in those situations when we can make a play on third down."