What to Make of ETSU’s Football’s First Scrimmage

Defense will once again carry the Buccaneers

More than a week in to the ETSU football training camp and we know very little about who the quarterback or even receivers will be for the Buccaneers in 2019.

Head coach Randy Sanders isn’t playing his hand. He even started freshman Trey Mitchell in Saturday’s scrimmage/practice, which either means Mitchell is the story of camp or that Sanders limited smart money starter Cade Weldon to just three passes before leaving with what Jeff Birchfield of the Johnson City Press reported as being “banged up” because he didn’t want to risk his top quarterback to further injury.

The severity of Weldon’s injury is unknown.

If anything, Coastal Carolina transfer Chance Thrasher seemed to be the quarterback Sanders most wanted to look at. But he threw for only 41 yards on nine passes, completing five.

There weren’t any real deep ball completions, or even throws. Receivers routinely dropped balls. In a 3-hour practice, only 15 passes were completed and no receiver stood out, with three players tying for the team lead with two catches a piece. A shotgun snap even went awry.

Tyler Riddell, the freshman from Tampa who arguably had the most notable high school career of any of the incoming quarterbacks, moved the ball the best for the Buccaneers. But at 5–11 and 174 pounds, asking him to play this season is borderline barbaric.