From top to bottom: MTSU head football coach Rick Stockstill, Defensive coordinator Manny Diaz and Offensive coordinator Tony Franklin
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With a change in offensive tempo and an attacking attitude on defense, Middle Tennessee's football team will be traveling often and working fast when they get there when the season opens Sept. 5.
With the addition of new offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, Middle fans will see the biggest change in the pace of the offense.
“Hopefully, we’ll have a better change of tempo and better pace in our no huddle offense,” Head Coach Rick Stockstill said.
Franklin said the offense will stick to the no huddle and get quarterback Dwight Dasher a majority of the snaps.
“We really want to maximize the number of plays. ... We want to play fast,” Franklin said, before saying “Fatigue makes cowards of all men. That’s truest in sports.”
Franklin was hired as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in February after a brief stint in the same position at Auburn and two years at Troy.
“It (his offense) didn’t work at Auburn – wrong plays at the wrong time … It just wasn’t a good fit,” he said.
But it did work at Troy, with the Trojans posting a 16-9 record over the two years and clinching two conference titles during his tenure.
Franklin said the Raiders are catching on to his style quickly with Stockstill crediting similar approaches to the game between himself and the new offensive coordinator.
On the other side of the ball, Defensive Coordinator Manny Diaz said the Raiders have better depth and quality at skill positions, but “we’re not all the way there on defense yet.”
He said the faster pace on the offensive side will test his defense as well, but he’s hoping for a good show.
“We are in attack mode from the moment we step off the bus,” Diaz said.
Pace and tempo will be important in the first half of Middle’s football season when facing Top 25 opponents right off the bat.
From the season opener at Clemson’s Death Valley, Middle then takes on interstate rival Memphis at home in a Blackout game, before traveling to North Texas and Troy and then back home for two key home games with Mississippi State and Western.
“We’ve got to be a good road team,” Stockstill said. “Our players are looking forward to that challenge.”
Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com. |
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