2021 Tennessee Tech Football News
HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. – Frank Omiyale leaves such an impact on everyone who meets him. Granted, in his days as an offensive lineman for Tennessee Tech and in the National Football League for the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks, that’s what he was trained to do. Walking into T.W. Hunter Middle School on Friday morning and listening to the glowing words of appreciation and what he means to the student body and faculty at the school, you could tell they were excited to have the opportunity to show their gratitude for one of their own.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – As the National Football Foundation announced its 2022 Hampshire Honor Society, the Tennessee Tech football team had three players selected for inclusion as Jarrett Key, Tavin Kilpatrick and Jack Warwick were all named to the roster of 1,559 players from 313 colleges and universities across all levels of the game. Key, an accounting major with a 3.67 GPA, played every game at long snapper and was a crucial part of Tech’s kicking game, taking part in every kick the Golden Eagles had during his career. Warwick, an animal science major with an emphasis in pre-veterinary medicine, posted a 3.41 GPA. He finished the season with 56 total tackles, including 3.5 for-loss, while also breaking up a pass and recovering a fumble. Kilpatrick, the team’s William V. Campbell nominee last fall, graduated with a 3.74 in mechanical engineering and continues his postgraduate work toward a master’s in business administration. A preseason injury kept him from playing in the 2021 campaign. A spring 2021 inductee to the Hampshire Honor Society as well, he was retained for the 2022 selection after electing to return for another season.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – While there are some familiar faces leading the Tennessee Tech football team on the field this spring, Golden Eagle head coach Dewayne Alexander also filled out his coaching staff with some new faces as Wesley Satterfield, Devin Watson and Bryce Brown join the Tech staff. It’s a staff with a lot of diverse experience across the collegiate landscape and building up student-athletes to tremendous achievement. Satterfield joins the staff as the Golden Eagles’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, the same position he held previously at Austin Peay. Watson will oversee the cornerbacks and serve as the team’s assistant recruiting coordinator. Brown will coach the running backs, while also working as Tech’s transfer/junior college liaison. In addition to the new hires, wide receivers coach Lamont Seward will take over as special teams coordinator, a role he held at West Alabama, while tight ends coach Bert Browne will add the director of recruiting/player personnel title.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – As spring practice continues for the Tennessee Tech football team, the Golden Eagles got a taste of game action on Saturday in the first scrimmage, bringing out the referees and getting some crucial reps for the team. It wasn’t perfect – a flag here or there slowing down the tempo – but it was still a good performance for the squad as spring workouts go. Offensively, the Golden Eagles were able to move the ball up the field, collecting four touchdowns on the day. While the defense didn’t have any takeaways, it was still a good day for them, limiting big plays and making a couple of key stops.
FRANKLIN, Tenn. – The resume Seth Carlisle has put together in his time at Tennessee Tech is already impressive as the senior has many honors over the years. Carlisle added another one on Tuesday night as he was named a Charles W. Hawkins III University Scholar-Athlete by the Middle Tennessee chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – This time last spring, the Tennessee Tech football team was in its COVID schedule, playing games. Instead of the annual tradition of spring practice where the team had an opportunity to learn and develop players, the team was focused on trying to win an Ohio Valley Conference championship. So, for the first time since 2019, the Golden Eagles opened its traditional spring practice, the first day in a month’s worth of work to try to lead the Tech squad to the OVC title in this centennial celebration season for the Golden Eagles.
The Big South Conference and the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) announced today that they have signed a letter of intent to create an association of their football member institutions, to begin with the 2023 NCAA Division I football season. The unique agreement combines the two conferences’ football membership to ensure NCAA championship access. It will provide the football member institutions a schedule of games against all the teams in their multisport conference and additional games against schools from the other conference. This new model for FCS football also creates more stability for the multisport conferences.
LOS ANGELES – Six months ago, Carter Crutchfield was opening a whole new chapter to his football career. After years of working with Chattanooga, Austin Peay and Charlotte, an opportunity came open. He had already been working with one of the top young coaches in college football with Will Healy, but when the opportunity arose to work with one of the top young coaches in professional football in Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams, Crutchfield knew he had to take it. Fast forward to present day and Crutchfield, in his role as special assistant to the head coach, is helping the Rams and McVay prepare for the biggest game in the sport – Super Bowl LVI – against the Cincinnati Bengals.
COOKEVILLE -- One of the most important days in the season for any collegiate team is National Signing Day. As the 2022 day rolls around for the Tennessee Tech football team on Wednesday, the Golden Eagles are building for its future and bringing in some spectacular talent. Wednesday's additions so far include:
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – As the 2021 football season is closing the books, another postseason squad was announced as Phil Steele.com announced its All-Ohio Valley Conference team. Tennessee Tech earned eight selections on its all-conference picks as senior defensive lineman Chris Tucker and freshman defensive lineman Devin Squires was named to the first-team roster, junior running back David Gist on the second team, sophomore wide receiver Quinton Cross, senior offensive lineman Kurt Huff, junior defensive back Josh Reliford and freshman returner Tanner Shiver on the third team and sophomore defensive lineman Kail Dava on the fourth team.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Tennessee Tech junior linebacker Seth Carlisle added to his trophy case this week as it was announced that he was selected to the FCS ADA Academic All-Star team, one of three selections from the Ohio Valley Conference. Austin Peay linebacker Jack McDonald and Murray State offensive lineman Levi Nesler were the other two picked from within the conference. Players are nominated by their sports information contacts with no more than two nominees per school. Candidates were required to have a minimum 3.2 grade point average and have been a starter or key player with legitimate athletic credentials. They also have to be in their second year of athletics and have completed one full academic year at their present institution. They must also have participated in 50 percent of the games played at their designated position.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Dedication, perseverance and commitment. Those are three characteristics that describe Tennessee Tech long snapper Jarrett Key to a tee. Throughout his Golden Eagle career, Key, a Livingston product, has answered the call and excelled in his position – one that doesn't really get a lot of attention, but is just as vital when it comes to the special teams group. Those traits made him an easy choice for the monthly Unsung Leader Award.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- National Signing Day is always an important day for a football team as it helps shape the future of the program as the team addresses its needs. For Tennessee Tech, it is no exception as the Golden Eagles added some key pieces. The seven players, spanning Tennessee and Georgia, as well as far away as Oklahoma, bring some depth to running back, offensive line, defensive line, linebacker and defensive end.
Tennessee Tech linebacker Seth Carlisle was named as one of 15 finalists for the Doris Robinson Award, named after the late school teacher and wife of legendary Grambling State coach Eddie Robinson, and presented to a student-athlete who excels both in the classroom and the community. Carlisle is in his fourth season with the Tennessee Tech football team where he has played linebacker and served as a team captain. He finished this year with 67 tackles and an interception after having 50 tackles and earning the team’s Robert Hill Johnson Award as team MVP during the spring season. The year prior (2019), he ranked second on the Golden Eagles’ squad with 88 stops. In the classroom he was a 3.61 grade point average in biology health sciences (pre-dentistry) and earned multiple OVC Commissioner’s Honor Roll selections and was named one of six OVC Scholar Athlete Award winners this Fall.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – For the fourth straight year, the Tennessee Tech football team is coming home with the Ohio Valley Conference’s Team Sportsmanship Award for football. The award is voted on by the conference’s student-athletes and coaches, bestowed upon the teams deemed to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and the NCAA. Included in the areas for evaluation are the conduct of student-athletes, coaches, staff and administrators and fans. “It is always an honor when our football program and players are noticed and receive recognition that is voted on by our fellow competitors,” said Tech head coach Dewayne Alexander. “Football is a great teacher of life’s lessons and I believe strongly in its role as part of the educational process. On behalf of our team, staff and support staff, we are very appreciative of this recognition from the OVC office and our fellow OVC institutions.”
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Kurt Huff had a tremendous career with the Tennessee Tech football team, earning all-conference honors and being a part of an explosive Golden Eagle offense. Now the Tech offensive lineman get a chance to impress scouts this weekend as he was selected to the 2021 FCS National Bowl in Daytona Beach.
