The Chattanooga Mocs are finishing spring practice week 5 of 5 in preparation for the 2022 campaign. At the conclusion of each week, GoMocs.com will share a "Friday Focus" feature looking at key areas, stories or whatever the author decides is fun to share.
 
Week 1: O-Line Is in Good Hands
Week 2: Bookend Emerges
Week 3: Academics
Week 4: What Makes Ailym Ford Special
 
Home is a special place. Sometimes you have to put home behind you and strike out on your own to find your way. Sometimes home is where you belong. For linebackers Ty Boeck and Jay Person, home is exactly where they needed to be both in location and their importance to this defense.
 
Boeck is a second generation Moc with both him mom Karin (basketball) and dad Troy (football) playing at Chattanooga. Person started out at Appalachian State out of Cleveland, Tenn., before coming back to his home school after a redshirting in 2018.
 
"I always wanted to play at UTC," Boeck said. "That goes back to growing up and going to games for as long as I can remember. It's comforting to know it's not hard for my family to make all of the games. I'm especially proud to be a second generation student-athlete and build on my family's impact at Chattanooga."
 
Coach Rusty Wright concurred.
 
"I like the fact that Ty is a legacy guy," Wright began. "His dad played here, his mom went to school here and played here, you know, and then he's come here and had a good career. And, you know, I recruited Jay out of high school when I was at Georgia State. We fought our tails off, and he went to App. There was a relationship there already to give him an opportunity to come home, I think it's like it's paid off for him too. At the end of the day, he's played a lot of football here, both of them have.
 
"Both of them are good players. You know, just I think it's real neat when you can have two guys who were good players in high school. I remember seeing both them as sophomores during 7-0n-7 camps, and then watching them grow and progress and seeing them come to where they are now.
 
"It's been a pretty cool process."
 
That's true to the core. It's a special bond the linebacking room seems to have. What brings them together so tightly as a unit?
 
"It's really competitive," Person noted. "We all have the same mindset...we want to get to the ball and play fast. We coach each other up a lot too. We all get better as a whole."
 
 
That work ethic probably stands out most. His head coach echoed that sentiment.
 
"The best part about it is they play their tails off on Saturday, and that's what's fun to watch for me more than anything is they give you everything they have," Wright added. "I mean, they pour all of it into them, and they work hard at practice, too. That's why they're good players on Saturday."
 
It's a home within a home for Person and Boeck. But don't overlook Kam Jones. He transferred from Louisville getting much closer to his Atlanta home. He certainly doesn't feel like he's away from home either. It's just the nature of this room.
 
"You know, my first day here when I first walked in, I just got that home sensation," Jones explained. "Just being two hours away from home, you know, my parents, my dad and my mom get to come back-and-forth way easier than making that 6-hour drive (to Louisville). I think when we discuss Jay and Ty and myself, we all kind of in a sense, all came home.
 
"I think everybody came home, and it just really felt right."
 
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING…
Inside Linebackers Coach Mike Yeager on the impact of Ty & Jay on this defense:
"It's been great that Ty's decided to stay home at Chattanooga, because he's been a huge foundation of our defense since 2019 and only continues to improve. He and Jay are both playing the best football of their lives right now and are a huge part of our defense. Fortunately, Jay returned home, and he's made some big plays off the edge."
 
Person on perks of being home:
"Oh, yeah, it feels good. Being at App State, it was really far. I mean, family would come up, saw them on a weekend every blue moon. But now, being back home, all my family and friends and some old high school coaches get to be there. So that's a good thing. And I can go home whenever I need to."