The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team travels to Macon, Ga., on Saturday for a 4 p.m. ET kickoff at Mercer inside Five Star Stadium. The game is carried LIVE on the Mocs Sports Network (WFLI 1070 AM / 97.7 AM) and ESPN+.

Below are excerpts from today's press conference with photos.  The full videos are attached to the story.  Today's press conference included remarks from head coach Rusty Wright, senior offensive lineman Malcolm White, and sophomore linebacker Ty Boeck.

Rusty Wright, Head Coach
Recapping 60-36 win over Western Carolina on Homecoming.
"Good Homecoming win. Anytime you can win on Homecoming and keep the alums, administration happy, that's a good day. I don't think the score was indicative. We could have played a lot better. We played well, offensively, but defensively we struggled. It's hard when you get to the end of a stretch of a month like we had the last three weeks, I knew it was going to be hard for our guys. We were slow, slow reacting, defensively, but I was proud offensively. We did make some stops defensively when we needed to and we need to build off those things. Just looking to build upon that. We'll have our hands full Saturday."
 
On confidence of offensive moving forward.
"I hope a lot. That's what I said before. I thought we were close to doing some good things offensively. It's hard for our players to see at times because they see the end result, the final score at the end of the game. We had some guys doing good things and a lot of times when you play good teams, there's a direct result of you not being able to do some good things. Hopefully they understand, if we're prepared, we can go do things and compete against anyone with the players we have."
 
On the play of Mercer QB Robert Riddle. 
"He's a good player and from right here in Chattanooga. He can make all the throws. He can run it when he needs to run it. We'll have our hands full with him. He's a good football player and is just now starting to play. You can see him progress with each game and we'll have our hands full with him. They'll be fired up."
 
On starting fast and competing in the SoCon.
"Every week in this league, it usually comes down to the last quarter and it's tight. We are going to have to go down there and play well in the kicking game, not turn the ball over, and find a way to stop them defensively to give ourselves a chance. We need to start faster. We didn't start fast on Saturday. We're trying to find the right combination and the right answer, but we'll figure it out and be OK."



Malcolm White, Sr.-OL
On anchoring a 400 yard rushing attack.
"We had a really good game plan. We took what they gave us. We followed our roles and our running backs had a really great day."
 
On protecting the quarterback and running backs.
"It's a big deal. Nick [Tiano] is one of my best friends on the team and he's really close to the offensive line so you don't want to let him down. You don't want them to hit your quarterback or your running backs, so it's one of those things you focus on and do everything you can to prevent that."
 
On scoring 60 points during Saturday's win.
"That was a lot of fun. I'm not sure if I've ever helped put up 60 points. It was probably the highest scoring game since I've been here. It was just a lot of fun being out there with my teammates. It was a really good feeling going home that night after a win."
 
Ty Boeck, So.-LB
On gaining comfort after first couple weeks.
"I was nervous the first couple games, but after the first few snaps I realized it was just like any other game I have played. It's just football for me now and that's a good thing."
 
On returning some players back from injury.
"It'll help a lot. We look forward to having Kam Jones back, he's a really good player. We're looking forward to having that depth and that ability. It'll really help us especially with having competition in practice this week and the weeks moving forward."
 
On adjusting to different styles of opponents. 
"Some of the things the teams that we've played, have been difficult to read. A lot of things they have done were complicated. Mercer is a little more simpler in comparison to what we've seen, but they're a really good football team. After seeing the complex things James Madison and Jacksonville State have done will help us a lot in conference play."