By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–After finally seeing someone other than his own team, Nick Markle deemed himself “well-pleased” with Union City’s spring football practice.
“This has been a unique spring, to say the least,” claimed Markle after he watched his troops outscore Class 5A Dyer County four-touchdowns-to-two Friday afternoon. “Most days, we haven’t had but about 20 players in practice because we have so many involved in spring sports. We’ve spent a lot of time going half-line and against modified defenses, just trying to get good looks at what we’re doing.
“For us to finally get to go 11-on-11 today, and against somebody other than ourselves, was something we really needed. We needed to get some things on tape that we could refer to and use as teaching tools.
“We needed to be challenged, and we were. And I liked what I saw from our guys.”
UC controlled the line of scrimmage against the Choctaws and scored on four of their seven possessions.
Tayehari Jones took option pitches from quarterback Keaten Brown and found the endzone twice, while fullback Jacob Arnold broke free for a 60-yard scoring romp. Kenny Moss ran away from the DC defense on his way to a 70-yard TD to complete the session, which was played in a light drizzle at Newbern.
Brown, Kolby Craig and Gage Smith also had big-gainers to set up Union City scores
The scrimmage capped what Markle said was “the best offseason I could’ve expected.”
“Not only did we have a phenomenal spring practice, but we had a great offseason as a whole with our work in the weight room and with our plyometrics,” he insisted. “We changed some things that we do, and it was good to see today that many of the changes paid off with the things that carried over to the scrimmage.
“I knew deep down that we were going in the right direction. We have a veteran squad coming back with several guys who’ve played a lot of snaps the last three years. They’ve set the tone in our workouts, and they’ve been great leaders.”
The coach singled out a handful of players who’ve made significant strides in the offseason, including lineman Davion Jeffrey, Brown, and both Durrell Littleton and Hayden Moon.
“Davion came back to our program, and he is seeing what an impactful player he can be,” Markle stated. “We saw just how much stronger Keaten has gotten in the offseason with the way he finished his runs today, and you can also see the noticeable difference in (Hayden) and the mass he’s added through the weight room.
“Not having Durrell (Littleton) due to grades last year was a big blow. We only got him back this year in March and only after he got his grades right. He’s worked tremendously hard to catch up, and he can be a difference-maker for us.”
Markle and his troops will now turn their focus to summer workouts and the beginning of the 2022 campaign that begins Aug. 19 with a trip to Lake County.
“We just have to keep the momentum going that we’ve built through the offseason and today,” he concluded. “We’ve broken down our future into three-week periods. When school is out, we’ll have three weeks to the dead period, and when we return from that, we’ll have three weeks to our first scrimmage. Then we’ll have three weeks before we open our season.
“I’m excited about this group and their potential. We need to stay focused during these next three intervals and continue to get better individually and as a football team.”
2022 Union City High School Football Schedule
Jamboree Aug. 12 Covington Away
Week 1 Aug. 19 Lake County Away
Week 2 Aug. 26 USJ Home
Week 3 Sept. 2 Houston County* Away
Week 4 Sept. 9 Trinity Christian# Home
Week 5 Sept. 16 Gibson County* Home
Week 6 Sept. 23 Ripley Home
Week 7 Sept. 30 Westview* Away
Week 8 Oct. 7 OPEN DATE
Week 9 Oct. 14 Camden* Home
Week 10 Oct. 21 Liberty Tech Away
Week 11 Oct. 28 Huntingdon* Home
- Designates Region 7-2A Games
# Designates Homecoming