WRCBtv.com | Chattanooga News, Weather & SportsSenior day to stir emotions across the South

CHATTANOOGA (WRCB) -- Saturday will be a big day for various reasons at Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Chattanooga, but one in particular will have the coaches of each team a little more worried than usual.

"We make such a big deal out of senior day," said UTC coach Russ Huesman. "It's important and I understand that, but you see all the crying and the tears and the talking and the moms and the dads.

"Just go play."

The final farewell for a senior on his home field is often an experience five years in the making on the college level, but rarely is a player truly ready to go through it.

"I've never really felt like this before," said Mocs' senior linebacker Ryan Consiglio. "It's weird to know that after Saturday I'm never going to play football again. It's a tough pill to swallow."

For some coaches, the experience isn't as dramatic.

"I'll be back next year, so it's really not," Huesman said with a smile. "I know I've still got a lot of game ahead of me here in my career."

But that's not to say all coaches are without emotion as their veterans take the home field for the final time.

Last year's senior class at Tennessee exited after one of the most tumultuous five-year stretches in the program's history. They suffered through three losing seasons, two coaching changes, and a disappointing senior year, yet each one was genuinely sad to put Knoxville in their rear-view mirror.

"I got choked up that last game, just watching them," said head coach Derek Dooley of his first Senior Day at Neyland Stadium. "It hit me seeing how emotional they got, seeing how much they enjoyed their experience right here, as bad as it was."

In Tuscaloosa, it's quite the opposite for Nick Saban's outgoing class.

"This group has won 45 games in their career here in the last four years, which I think puts them right up there with everyone and everything," he said earlier this week.

The Tide's departing group claimed the national title in 2009 and has a shot at a second this year, capping one of the most dominant stretches for one program in SEC history."

"I'm happy they get a chance to get recognized and give everyone a chance to realize what they've done since they've been here," Saban said.

In Athens, many thought Mark Richt's seniors would go out more like Dooley's group than Saban's at the start of this year.

An 0-2 start left the program at 14-and-14 overall in its last 28 games, by far the worst stretch of Richt's decorated career. However, the Bulldogs have rallied to win nine straight games and can claim the SEC East title with a win on Senior Day against Kentucky.

"I can't believe it's the last time they've played between the hedges, or in Aron White's case, in the hedges," Richt joked, referencing his senior tight end's trip into the famed Sanford Stadium brush after a touchdown catch three weeks ago. 

"But they've been a good bunch. I'm glad those guys have been able to experience the ride anyway, and hopefully we'll finish it."

Huesman hopes the same for his Mocs this weekend against Wofford. Finishing strong with a win would mark the program's third straight winning season after an 1-11 record in 2008.

Local products like quarterback B.J. Coleman, receivers Sloan Allison and Joel Bradford, and fullback Thomas Greene, along with fellow veterans like linebacker Ryan Consiglio and defensive backs Jordan Tippit and Chris Lewis-Harris have been instrumental in UTC's turn-around.

"I will miss this group," Huesman said. "This is as good a group of kids that I've ever been around. They're all going to graduate and not one of them have been in my office for anything negative.

"We've never had to go talk to them about being in class. They're not headaches. They're great kids and great football players. I'm going to miss seeing them around and seeing them in preparation."

But that doesn't mean Huesman will get worked up when he says goodbye to them this Saturday at Finley Stadium.

"I'm just not a very emotional guy, I guess," he said with a shrug.