If things had gone as planned, Patrick Byrne would be gearing up for his second start at quarterback for The University of Memphis.
As it is, Byrne, who broke his leg in two places last week against Ole Miss, is out for the season.
Because of the unexpected injury, redshirt freshman Will Hudgens was forced to take over the reigns of the team for its second offensive possession of the season. Considering that he had never taken a snap in college, the situation was not ideal for him or the Tigers.
The ESPN attention and the mere anticipation of the game that had been festering all summer did not make things any easier.
But that is all in the past. Hudgens has had 10 days to properly prepare now that he knows he will be the starting quarterback on Saturday when UT-Chattanooga comes to Memphis.
"I feel that I've progressed a lot," Hudgens said. "It's about getting confidence and reps. The more confidence you have the better you are going to be."
Coaches have been working long hours with Hudgens trying to help him read defenses and learn the system. Although the 6-3 freshman is more of a pocket passer than Byrne, the offense will not be tailored around his abilities.
Rather, it will be Hudgens who will be the one adjusting to the offense.
"We're not going to change the whole offense just for one person," Hudgens said. "It's more or less me fitting in and understanding what's going on. We're going to run the same general offense."
While it will be Hudgens' responsibility to learn the system, the coaching staff knows they have to help him along in the process.
Assistant coach Clay Helton said they have been doing what they can to simplify the playbook to ease Hudgens into the wide-open system run by offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner.
"Right now he's trying to work on his accuracy and learn the system in a matter of 10 days," Helton said. "One of the things Patrick (Byrne) had over him is being in the program three years. We need to keep things simple for Will."
The Tigers will head into the Saturday matchup against UT-Chattanooga with a similar game plan to what they ran against Ole Miss. The focus for The U of M will be on execution and sharpness instead of a new philosophy.
"We're a box count team," Helton said. "And if you load the box, we're going to throw the ball. We've been doing the same stuff for four years and we're going to continue to do the same this week."
Tiger receivers will play a big role in helping Hudgens run a successful offense. Senior Maurice Avery knows that the unit underperformed last game and that things will have to change Saturday.
"As a unit I would rate us a five (out of 10) because we didn't block good enough," Avery said.
The situation against Ole Miss, he said, caught everyone off-guard, but the last 10 days have been big. Because the receivers have had a chance to get comfortable with Hudgens, their timing and sharpness, as well as the offense itself, should be better.
As for running back DeAngelo Williams, he should touch the ball at least 25 times against UT-Chattanooga, according to Helton. Hudgens will look to Williams to take some of the load off his shoulders.
"Whenever you have a player like that you want him to get the ball as much as he can," Hudgens said. "It's just going to be me trying to get a playmaker the ball."
