This group has shown up every day in camp.”

Derek Mason

The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders held a post-practice media session on Tuesday morning, and with less than 25 days left until Week One kicks off at home against Tennessee Tech, the excitement was palpable on the practice field all the way through the final whistle.

With 59 new faces to incorporate into the program, first-year head coach Derek Mason has avoided all the excuses possible to ensure that his team is focused and prepared on attacking every day to get ready to compete in Conference-USA this upcoming season. It’s also been pretty easy for Mason to incorporate all 59 players because according to him, they all have “been pure additions” as opposed to having to weed through a few bad apples.

“When you have 59 new players, you have to make sure you don’t leave anybody behind,” Mason started off the media availability period by saying. “They’ve added so much value to our team.”

Mason also has stressed to his team that even though this is not a rebuild at MTSU – everyone that talked to the media made sure to reiterate that very point – it is a team working on building towards something bigger than just themselves.

“We as a team are under construction right now, but like I tell the guys, this is not a rebuild. MTSU is not a rebuild,” he said as he pointed to the construction actively taking place at Floyd Stadium. “They picked us to finish fourth [in C-USA]; why finish second when first is available? The guys know every day is a job interview.”

“We have as good a chance as anybody, so let’s get to work.”

Sophomore transfer wideout from Auburn, Omari Kelly, expressed the exact same sentiment almost verbatim, and this vibe was backed up by both coordinators and both Nick Vattiato and Abdul Muhammad when it was their turn to speak to the media as well. 

Omari Kelly (1) is excited with the potential of him and his fellow wide receivers this season.

Of course, that’s a good thing to say, but the team has backed up that sentiment with the work they have put in on the field. That starts with returning starting quarterback and member of the Preseason Wuerffel Tropy Watchlist, Nick Vattiato. 

“Nick, Curtis and BH have been paramount to this football team,” Mason said after a loud chuckle when asked about what his quarterback has meant in the leadership department. “They assured me we were going to be a player-led, coach-fed football team, and that is how it’s been every day.”

“This group has shown up every day in camp.”

The 2024 Blue Raiders becoming a player-led team is never more paramount and on display than at the very end of practice where up until and past the final whistle, the players are hooting and hollering in reaction to some portion of the end-of-practice competition period.

“That’s not a coach thing, that’s a player thing,” Mason said when asked about the abundant energy from his players even at the very end of practice in the extreme humidity. “This group has a different type of bounce to it, and you can’t fake that. I think they understand the importance of moments.”

Nick Vattiato was gracious enough to expound a bit more on what exactly being a “player-led” team means to this iteration of Blue Raiders. 

“A lot of those player-led practices in the summer were really key to building that chemistry,” he said. “Out on this field, we compete and make each other better, but off the field we’re all best friends.” 

“We’re a brotherhood.”

Nick Vattiato (11) talks after practice about preparing for the upcoming 2024 season.

That brotherhood feeling is conveyed by seemingly every player that is available to the media to talk, and it seems genuine every single time. Both Kelly and JUCO transfer Abdul Muhammad talked about that aspect of Middle Tennessee in their short time in Murfreesboro so far.

“I got here in the summer,” Muhammad said, “but I have to say that out of any team I’ve been on, this one has had the quickest bonding ever. It’s like a family feeling, nobody is above, people helping you out and reaching out to hang out, so it’s like a family feeling immediately.”

This is exactly the kind of vibe that a coach could only hope for in any one year, but to get this in year one? That is a testament to not just the staff that Mason has built around him, but the players that stayed away from the transfer portal to trust the process in Murfreesboro like Vattiato.

“Nick has made probably one of the best impressions since I have been here,” said Omari Kelly. “From welcoming me in, because I didn’t know anybody here on the team, but he was one of the first people I met, and the way he kind of brought me in, I think it’s helped me get a better connection.”

“Me and Nick actually hang out outside of football; I consider Nick a friend. It’s not just a quarterback-wide receiver relationship.”

As a whole, Kelly believes the wide receiver room this year has the potential to be extremely dangerous along with the offense as a whole, calling it “very dynamic”. 

Of course the dynamism of an offense starts and ends with the quarterback position, and fortunately for the Blue Raiders and first-year Offensive Coordinator, Bodie Reeder, they have a good one.

“ definitely comes with the position,” said Vattiato. “Obviously you have to be a team leader and be accountable to set an example on and off the field, and you’ve got to show guys the correct way for things to be done.”

Reeder comes over to Murfreesboro after two seasons as the OC at Northern Iowa where he led a Top-15 passing offense both seasons. Reeder is optimistic about the prospects of his passing attack succeeding at Middle Tennessee as well.

“In passing games it takes trust and timing and there’s some relationships that have to be built,” Reeder said. “In the spring, our passing game was not very good, but we challenged the guys in the summer to gain trust and create that timing, and they did a great job of that. What we have to improve upon going forward is we have to string together plays in which we are protecting at a high rate, and that will too come with reps.”

Reeder also touched on how important it is that Vattiato is such a great leader, and how he can unite an entire locker room, not just the offense. That’s the biggest sign. 

Defensively, the Blue Raiders struggled last season. After forcing 30 or more turnovers in 2021 and 2022, MTSU took a step back last season by only forcing 16. Thus, new Defensive Coordinator, Brian Stewart, is focusing on, among other things, getting back to forcing turnovers.

“We point it out every day,” Stewart said, referring to film sessions stressing moments during a play when the defense needs to focus on trying to strip the ball away or come away with an interception.

However, everything starts and stops with the ability to stop the running game.

“Teams run to control the tempo of the game,” Stewart explained, “so if we can stop them from running, and the only opportunity they have to move the ball is by the pass, then we can let loose in our pass rush and coverage. We want to stop the run first so they can’t control the game, but we can control the game and set the tempo and bring pressure.”

The Blue Raiders’ first game is at home on Saturday, August 31, against Tennessee Tech with kickoff slated for 6:00 p.m. That’s immediately followed up with a road trip to Oxford, Mississippi, to take on the preseason Top-10 Ole Miss Rebels, before returning home to play rival Western Kentucky and Duke back-t0-back weeks. After taking on the Blue Devils, MTSU then travels out west to take on the Memphis Tigers in the Liberty Bowl. 

It’s an absolutely brutal opening month-plus for a first-year head coach incorporating 59 new players into a program, but nobody in Murfreesboro is shying away from the challenge. They know the tough non-conference schedule will get them ready for C-USA play with all their goals still out in front of them.