COLUMN: Position Battles I’m Watching as Fall Camp kicks off for MTSU Football

For Blue Raiders on the gridiron, it's been a productive summer in the weight room and on the turf of Floyd Stadium, with the annual water slide celebration this past week to cap off the end of the long summer grind.
Work hard, play hard 🤙#BLUEnited | #EATT pic.twitter.com/2f64oZ7v0e
— Middle Tennessee Football (@MT_FB) July 28, 2023
With the start of practices where the players can, you know, practice football, questions lingering from the spring will soon be answered prior to MTSU's season opener against Alabama on September 2. While the Blue Raiders return 44 lettermen and 16 starters (five on offense, eight on defense and three on special teams), there's plenty of chances for players to stand out and make their way into the starting lineup by kickoff in Tuscaloosa.
Here's four position battles—two on offense, two on defense—I'll be keeping my eye on when the ball is snapped for the first time later this week.
Who are the starting five on the offensive line?
In the spring, offensive coordinator Mitch Stewart was quick to acknowledge the heat the offensive line took as a unit in 2022. There were extenuating circumstances to the struggles up front for the Blue Raiders' offense last season, from the relative inexperience of the group as a whole to the lack of continuity week-to-week, with the Blue Raiders only starting the same offensive line in back-to-back games just once (UTSA and UAB).
But when most folks' final memory of the season is a thrilling Hawai'i Bowl victory...that also saw MTSU rush for negative –66 yards while Chase Cunningham was sacked seven times by San Diego State, it's easy to point fingers. The Blue Raider offensive line clearly took that message to heart in the spring and played with a chip on their shoulder throughout the "offseason" practices, ultimately coming away earning praise from both Rick Stockstill and Stewart for the work they put in.
Now in the fall, the key for offensive line coaches Mike Polly and Rick Mallory will be finding a starting five that works well together and building cohesion in that group ahead of non-conference play. There are plenty of tools there, with three returning starters (tackles Sterling Porcher and Jacqui Graham and guard Keylan Rutledge), plus another four linemen that started at least one game the at FBS level last season (returning lettermen J'Shun Bodiford, Ethan Ellis and Wilson Kelly, plus FIU transfer Julius Pierce).
Unlike some position battles, I'm not going to be watching super closely to see who wins out, as I can probably pencil in at least three starters right now (Porcher, the only returning offensive lineman to start every game last season, at one of the tackles, Rutledge, an All-CUSA Freshman Team selection last year, at one of the guards and Kelly, who won all four of his starts in 2022, at center). But I hope that whoever the starting five is can be determined early and that injury luck is on their side so they can continue to build chemistry as a unit, allowing some of the speed in the receiver room to shine while helping establish a running game that's been missing for stretches of the past two season. This room's growth will be the biggest key to MTSU reaching its goals on offense in 2023.
Who starts with DJ England-Chisolm at wide receiver?
When he's healthy, it was easy to put DJ England-Chisolm and his track level speed on the outside for the Blue Raider wideouts in 2022. But with the graduation of Izaiah Gathings and Yusuf Ali, plus the departure of Jaylin Lane, there are three starting spots open on the depth chart for MTSU heading into the fall.
Some of the pieces (former Memphis tight end Jeremy Tate Jr. likely taking over Gathings' inside receiver role as a quasi-tight end) are easy to see heading into the fall. Figuring out who else will end up alongside the speedster wide receiver that blitzed Miami a season ago offers far more variables.
There are folks like Bryce Bailey and Elijah Metcalf, who have developed mostly with the second unit during their time in Murfreesboro but are starting to get a chance to show that talent with the 1s in the spring. There's someone like Javonte Sherman, who missed much of last season due to injury, having a spring that clearly impressed nearly everyone on the offensive staff. And then you have transfers like Holden Willis (USF), who went through spring practice, as well as Kalani Norris (Georgia Tech) and Justin Olson (UNC), who arrived in the summer, all three of whom have shown flashes at their previous schools.
The good news is that Stewart and outside receivers coach Shane Tucker will have plenty of options to choose from. The hope, on my end at least, is that a few of those guys mentioned play so well in camp that it makes the choices easy for their coaches come game day.
Who's the new edge rusher in a post-Jordan Ferguson world for the defensive line?
Reading and listening to as many CUSA season previews as possible from the national podcasts, magazines and media outlets, one common refrain from those national reporters checking in on the MTSU program sticks out: "The defense will be strong with eight returning starters, but replacing Jordan Ferguson on the defensive line will be a big task."
It's an obvious point, as many of those national observations are, but the point is a salient one when assessing the front seven of the MTSU defense this fall. Ferguson's 68 tackles (third on the team, first among linemen), 16 tackles for loss (double the next closest teammate) and nine sacks (three more than the next closest teammate) will have to come from somewhere, to say nothing of his ability to force turnovers (two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and one interception in 2022).
Ideally, those numbers are made up in the aggregate, with returning starters on the line like Marley Cook, Zaylin Wood and Jordan Branch each increasing their production slightly to make up for the loss, with perhaps additional help from a deep linebacker core that's finally healthy heading into the fall.
But the battle for Ferguson's spot on the right side of the defensive line specifically will be very fun to follow, with Richard Kinley and Quindarius Dunnigan as the two most likely options to take over at edge rusher. Kinley has the edge on experience, starting all 13 games as a redshirt freshman in 2021, but he missed half of the 2022 season due to injury. Dunnigan, meanwhile, might have the highest ceiling as a speed rusher of any player on the Blue Raider defensive line, just go watch the tape of his 2.5-sack game at Colorado State last year. Two really strong options for defensive coordinator Scott Shafer and defensive line coach Tommy West, with both likely to see plenty of playing time regardless of who gets the starting nod.
Which defensive back will break out opposite Teldrick Ross at outside corner?
The starting secondary for the Blue Raiders will be filled with names fans will know in 2023. Teldrick Ross, a second-team All-CUSA selection in 2022, will start at corner. Tra Fluellen, who's been named on countless preseason award watch lists, will man free safety, while breakout defensive back Jakobe Thomas, second on the team with four interceptions in 2022, is back at strong safety.
But opposite Ross at the other outside corner sport? That is a big question mark after the departure of Decorian Patterson.
Deonte Stanley and Jalen Jackson both bring starting experience, while Emmanuel Mann and Chris Johnson are younger players with some position versatility to play outside, in the slot or even at safety if Fluellen or Thomas were to drop down to slot corner in Nickel sets. James Shellman IV also fits in that category, earning lots of praise from Shafer after the spring.
For a unit that gave up the most yards in the air of any CUSA team a season ago (in part because hardly anyone could run the ball against the Blue Raiders last season, forcing opposing teams to lean heavily on the pass), finding a second corner that can be the type of ballhawk Ross and Patterson ended up being a season ago will go a long way to continuing the success that unit has had in takeaways of late, and it will be the role I'm following closest on defense this fall.