How Should MT Football Approach 2021?
Austin Lewis
The 2020 season was a disaster for Middle Tennessee. Sure, COVID complicated things a little bit, but it’s impossible to miss how poorly prepared the Blue Raiders were to start the season. Nevertheless, Rick Stockstill will return as the Blue Raiders head coach in 2021.
Heading into his 16th season as head coach, he has one goal. Win. And win often. Stockstill is a paltry 11-19 since 2016 without his son, Brent Stockstill, as starting quarterback. He’s suffered back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since the 2007-2008 campaigns
Turning the program around is a difficult task. It’s one - quite frankly - I’m not sure he can do. Don’t get me wrong. Stockstill is a good man. I’m just not sure he has the intestinal fortitude to do what needs to be done to turn the program around.
Nevertheless, Stockstill remains head coach. So, what does he need to do to ensure a winning season in 2021? Three simple things: improve strength and conditioning, improve recruiting and player development, and improve his coaching staff
Strength and Conditioning: It doesn’t take a football savant to see the Blue Raiders are undersized and slow. The lack of explosive speed at the skill positions and the lack of size in the trenches are disastrous for a sport that is built on size and speed. And the number of injuries the Blue Raiders may have suffered over the past few seasons may be attributed to a poor strength and conditioning plan for the football program.
Recruiting and Player Development: Recruiting is the lifeblood of championship programs. Teams stock - and restock - their roster with players who have the size, speed, and athletic ability to compete at the highest level.
This hasn’t been the case under Stockstill.
The Blue Raiders are undersized and slow. 15 years into Stockstill’s tenure, there is no reason for 3 of the 5 starting offensive lineman to weigh under 300 pounds and 3 of the 4 defensive ends weigh less than 240 pounds. Quite frankly, it’s a recipe for disaster. Size matters in the trenches. And the Blue Raiders don’t have it.
They need it. But Stockstill’s staff will need to dig into the transfer portal to find some prospects who can win in the trenches.
Coaching: In a game won - and lost - in the trenches - the offensive and defensive lines continue to plague the Blue Raiders. The defensive line finished the season with only 6 sacks and allowed opposing running backs to shred the defense to the tune of 5.23 yards per carry.
The offensive line didn’t fare much better, paving the way for a meager 3.75 yards per carry and hasn’t generated a one thousand yard campaign by a running back since I’Tavius Mathers in 2016.
It’s time for Stockstill to move on from Tommy West and Rick Mallory. Their units continually underperform and hold the program back from competing on a championship level.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize Rick Stockstill is in the twilight of his coaching career. If Stockstill wants to win a conference championship before he hangs up his whistle, he needs to improve the strength and conditioning program, recruiting, and on-field coaching. If he doesn’t, he may find himself out of a job in the not-so-distant future.
Tyler Pellom
For a multitude of reasons, we'll all be excited when 2020 is in the rearview mirror. Anyone involved with or following the Middle Tennessee football program certainly feels the same way. From canceled and postponed games to tough losses and nailbiting wins, the Blue Raiders never had a dull moment this year.
Looking forward to next year, I believe the coaching staff knows the results are make or break. Rick Stockstill has had two consecutive losing seasons for the first time in his career. Simply put, he and the rest of the staff know they have to do something to change the trajectory of the program.
WR Coach Austin Silvoy is gone, he received a promotion and is now the Co-Offensive Coordinator at Austin Peay. Silvoy was one of MT's best recruiters, and it will be interesting to see who they replace him with. We've heard rumblings this may be an opportunity for Brent Stockstill to come home and coach on his dad's staff, but those are just rumors at this point. In the meantime, Dustin Royston, Kenneth Gilstrap, Mike Polly and Siriki Diabate will be forced to pick up the slack on the recruiting trail. I would not be surprised if there is more turnover in the coaching staff as we move through the off-season. Some may leave on their own accord, others may be fired as Stockstill moves in a different direction.
It is clear the team did not progress from 2019 to 2020. Some of that is COVID-related, absolutely, but a lot of it is a result of issues GoMiddle pointed out at the end of last season. There needs to be a refocusing of the strength and conditioning program in the off-season. Middle's offensive and defensive lines have been pushed around for the last two seasons and without remedying that issue, nothing else can be fixed.
In talking with some folks associated with the program, their biggest worry right now is how scholarship numbers are going to work themselves out. The NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility to all players due to the pandemic, so that means Seniors can come back for another season if they so choose.
To make that rule feasible, the NCAA will likely allow any returning Seniors to not count against the 85 man scholarship limit. That's a big advantage for larger schools that can afford 100 scholarships - and a big disadvantage for programs like MT that would not be able to afford it. They are currently playing with numbers to decide how many scholarships over the 85 limit - and what mixture of that excess will be made up by returning seniors and incoming freshmen. It will likely hurt this recruiting class and make the numbers very tight. We could see as few as 15 signees once this class is wrapped up.
The elephant in the room is the status of Coach Stockstill's job stability. The feeling I get from talking to folks on and off of campus is that Stock has earned the right to control when he leaves Middle Tennessee. Massaro and McPhee are in general agreement on this - and after 15+ years together, I don't think it's particularly surprising nor is it totally unwarranted.
At the same time, results are results, and this program is 8-17 over its last 25 games. Stock and the rest of his staff know that isn't good enough, and if the program continues down this path, eventually Massaro might be forced to make a move. Also, Stockstill doesn't want to lose - losing is no fun for anyone. It would not be inconceivable for him to retire should things not get better in 2021, thus taking the sword out of Massaro's hands.
Which brings me to this: we at GoMiddle have requested all contracts for the football staff, support staff and Athletic Director Chris Massaro under the Freedom of Information Act. After doing that, we found that Massaro is currently working on a contract that expired in 2018. There is no long-term deal tying him to the University. As a result, one has to question if he will be around for the long term - either by his choice or by the MTSU administration's choice. It's possible there could be more turnover than expected in 2021.
To make matters more difficult, the Blue Raiders will go into 2021 without the one player responsible for 78% of the offense's total yardage in 2020. QB Asher O'Hara has announced he is entering the transfer portal.
We've been told that Stockstill wanted to bring in a transfer QB this off-season to push Asher - specifically, a QB that fits more into the Air Raid system they want to run. However, the idea was to create competition, not hand the offense over to another QB.
Now the Blue Raiders will be forced to do just that - and if they don't find a transfer QB worthy of elevating the program, it could easily get to a point in which they start one of the Freshman QBS, either Nick Vattiato or Matt Geeting.