Ad Disclosure
Georgia Tech back, Knoxville native, had Tennessee game ‘marked on my calendar’
By Keith Farner
Published:
Nathan Cottrell is expected to figure prominently in tonight’s Tennessee-Georgia Tech game.
One subplot, though, is Cottrell, a Knoxville, Tenn. native, will face his hometown team in Mercedes-Benz Stadium to start the season. He’s a third-year sophomore who suffered a preseason knee injury as a freshman. He played in 11 games last year, but registered just one carry for six yards. He returned nine kickoffs for 187 yards.
Cottrell could see time tonight at the A-back position given the injury to Clinton Lynch.
In an interview with ramblinwreck.com, Cottrell said he’s excited about the matchup.
“I’ve had this game marked on my calendar since it was announced,” Cottrell said. “It’s exciting. It’s going to be a big game . . . I’ve learned a lot over the years. Freshman year, torn ACL and all that. Then I had to play kick returner some, but that whole time, I got to practice with the A-backs and learn all the drills and get everything down.”
In high school, Cottrell was once clocked at 4.33 seconds in the 40-yard dash. He rushed for 1,956 yards as a senior on Knoxville West High School, and finished his prep career with 3,974 yards and 48 touchdowns. What’s more, he had an average of 11.8 yards per carry.
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
