Marcus Satterfield

Marcus Satterfield, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s new offensive coordinator, is showing off his multi-tasking skills this week. Not only is he out recruiting players to the program he joined last week, but he’s also busy evaluating the offensive players on the Mocs’ roster.

“I will take every game tape on the road with me, and I’ll sit there at night and make recruiting calls and eat pizza and watch Chattanooga tape and try to evaluate as much film as I possibly can,” Satterfield said last Friday, following UTC’s news conference to introduce Russ Huesman’s assistant coaches.

Satterfield, who spent the past three seasons at UT-Martin under former Mocs offensive coordinator Jason Simpson, said he’ll be studying details big and small in the game tapes, from the agility of the offensive linemen to the types of throws the quarterbacks can make to the types of running backs UTC has.

What the Mocs do on offense next season will depend in part on Satterfield’s evaluations during his on-the-road video-study sessions and on what he sees during spring practice. Satterfield’s pro-style, two-back offense will take advantage of the talents of the players UTC has, rather than trying to make them do things they can’t.

“Our offense is one that can run it down your throat or we can spread you out and throw it,” he said. “This season (at UTM), we ran for 400 yards in a game and we threw for 400 yards in a game. If you’re Navy, you can run for 400 yards but you can’t throw for that many. If you’re Hawaii, you can throw for 400 yards but you can’t run it for 400.”

During their 8-4 season in 2008, the Skyhawks were 34th in the Football Championship Subdivision in rushing offense and 35th in passing, and their average of 405.6 yards per game was 16th in the nation. That’s a balanced attack, but it’s not the kind Satterfield thinks of when envisions a balanced offense.

“A coach once told me ... a balanced offense is when I have to run the football I can run it well and when I have to throw it I can throw it well,” he said. “That’s a balanced offense, and that’s what we’re going to try to be.”

Huesman said he wants an offense much less conservative than the one Richmond ran this season. The Spiders were 46th in the country in total offense (366.8 ypg), with the rushing and passing yards split almost evenly, and didn’t take many risks — in part because they didn’t need to thanks to Huesman’s defense, which was 10th in the country in total defense.

“I want it sideline to sideline,” Huesman said. “I want to spread the field, I want to throw the football, I want it to be exciting — those types of things I want here.”

While more and more teams are going to the spread offense, Satterfield said it’s not something he’s ever seriously considered, in part because he hasn’t had a quarterback suited for it. You don’t have to run the spread to have an exciting, effective offense, he said.

“If you recruit an Armanti Edwards (Appalachian State’s speedy quarterback), you’d be stupid not to run the spread, but we’re going to do what our players allow us to do,” he said. “We’re going to recruit drop-back passers like Matthew Stafford (at Georgia) that can get the ball to players on the perimeter and then if the pocket collapses they are still agile enough to run and get 6 or 7 yards.

“If the defense puts six players in the box, we want to run it down their throats. If they put seven, we want to beat them throwing the ball. To do that, our guys have to be better than their guys, and that comes down to recruiting.

“With us, whatever the defense gives us, let’s rock-and-roll with it.”