Two Tigers prepare for Music City homecoming

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – T.J. Carter and Obinna Eze have been doing their best to downplay Saturday's scrimmage. They've been attempting to treat it like any other spring practice scrimmage, just another of the 15 workouts allowed by the NCAA.

But Saturday's 3 p.m. scrimmage at Brentwood Academy, located just outside Nashville, will be different for Carter and Eze. They'll be returning to the Nashville area where they made a name for themselves – and developed their recruiting stars – before signing to play for the University of Memphis.

Carter, a freshman All-American last season, and Eze, a highly regarded offensive lineman who redshirted last season, will be scrimmaging Saturday before considerably more family and friends than their teammates.

Without a mid-state non-conference opponent on the UofM's upcoming schedules, this will serve as a rare trip home to play football.

"Saturday is homecoming," Carter said. "Some of my family and friends who don't get to see me play a lot, who don't get to travel a lot, this should be a chance for them to come out and see us play, see us scrimmage, see what Memphis is all about."

Starting each of the team's 12 games at cornerback a year ago, Carter set a UofM freshman record with five interceptions. A consensus Top 20 player in the state, Carter played for both Hendersonville High and Stratford High. As a senior at Stratford, Carter was rated the top prospect in the state by one recruiting service.

Eze, a native of Nigeria, originally came to the United States to play basketball, but chose football and quickly developed into a top prospect at Davidson Academy. The same recruiting service that rated Carter the state's No. 1 prospect rated Eze No. 2.

Listed at 6-8 and 315 pounds, Eze has been working this spring at left tackle behind All-American Athletic Conference first-team performer Trevon Tate.

Eze played only two seasons of high school football (2015 and 2016) after arriving from Nigeria. Still, returning to Nashville is special.

"I'm excited because I've never played college football in Nashville," Eze said. "A lot of my friends have never seen me play in college. I think it should be a fun experience playing football in the 6-1-5."

Eze said he is familiar with Brentwood from his time in Nashville. He also said he trained in the area. When Memphis held a similar mid-spring scrimmage in 2016 at Father Ryan, Eze said he didn't attend, but was aware of the practice.

He said among those watching him will be his foster parents and friends from high school, including a close friend who is interested in playing college football at Memphis.

"It's going to be good to go back to Nashville," Eze said. "But it's not a big, big deal. It's going to be a turf field. The rules are going to be the same. The play calls are going to be the same. The blocking assignments are going to be the same.

"I'm not going to be looking around to see who knows me. It's still going to be nice to have people there you know, but when the scrimmage starts it will be no different than being in Memphis."

As for Carter, will appearing before family and friends motivate him to elevate his play Saturday?

"I'm always juiced up," Carter said. "Just because my family is coming out, that's not going to make me more (motivated). Every time I step out on the field, what I see is opportunity. I look at it as an opportunity that can be taken away any day. So I want to take advantage of every opportunity coming on (the) field."

University of Memphis Athletics

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T.J. Carter

Obinna Eze

Trevon Tate

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