JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Carson-Newman head football coach Mike Clowney has completed his coaching staff for the 2023 season with one promotion and four new hires.
Clowney announced the promotion of receivers coach Justin Zimmerman to a full-time role and the added duties of recruiting coordinator. Zimmerman will continue coaching receivers after tutoring Braxton Westfield to an NFL free agent contract in his first year with the program.
"We're excited to be able to transition Coach Zimmerman into a full-time role," Clowney said. "He did a phenomenal job with our receivers last year, and has definitely aided with kicking our recruiting into gear this spring."
Meanwhile, Clowney has also added former football players Mike Peppin and Caleb Goins as offensive and defensive quality control assistants working with the offensive line and linebackers, respectively. Ben Housewright returns to his alma mater after a year at VMI to be the offensive graduate assistant aiding the inside receivers. The football program also gets another Atchley in Jonathan Atchley, who will be the defensive graduate assistant working with the defensive line.
Zimmerman has tutored five All-American receivers in his coaching career, with Carson-Newman's Braxton Westfield the most recent of the bunch.
Westfield earned All-American honors from Don Hansen's Football Gazette as a senior, becoming the football program's first All-American receiver since 1978 and its 128th All-American all-time.
Considering Carson-Newman's four decades of option football, it should come as little surprise that Westfield is only Carson-Newman's fifth All-American wide receiver and the first since Tank Black (1978). Black, Tim George (1972) and Tom Jones (1968 and 1969) would all also go on to sign with NFL teams.
Westfield also went back-to-back as a first-team All-SAC selection and all-region honoree. He is the only Carson-Newman football player in program history who has three consecutive 100-yard receiving days.
Peppin and Goins join the coaching staff after both earning all-league honors as players last year.
Peppin recovered from an early knee injury to start the final six games of the season for Carson-Newman. The Florida native helped clear the way for four Eagles to rush for more than 400 yards and two to earn All-SAC honors.
"For a young guy," Clowney said. "Coach Peppin has a wealth of knowledge and experience. We look forward to see how he works with Joe Ray to produce great offensive linemen."
Additionally, Carson-Newman ranked second in the SAC in fewest tackles for loss allowed and only gave up 1.5 sacks per game on the season. Peppin wrapped up the year with an average grade of 86.66 and 30 knockdowns. He graded out with a season-high 91 against Emory & Henry and had a season-best seven knockdowns against Tusculum.
Goins earned postseason accolades for the first time in his career after finishing fourth on the team in tackles. He finished the year with 46 tackles and four tackles for loss. His top performance was against Emory & Henry (10/29) when he had eight stops playing just outside his hometown.
"Caleb makes an easy transition," Clowney said. "He was more a less a graduate assistant as a player and certainly gets to coach a position that he knows."
That was one of five days on the year for Goins where he had at least five tackles. He also had a seven-tackle day against Franklin Pierce in the Eagles home opener on Sept. 10. Goins concludes his Carson-Newman career with 112 career tackles and 13 tackles for loss.
Housewright rejoins the program after a year as the offensive quality control coach and assistant wide receivers coach at VMI. He served two years on the staff at C-N as a student assistant working with quarterbacks. He was also assistant recruiting coordinator in his last stint at C-N.
"He's advanced for a guy his age," Clowney said. "He's worked with us for ages thanks to his time as a student assistant. He worked at VMI, and we are thankful to have him back to work with our inside receivers."
In his year at VMI, he organized cut ups and assisted the offensive coordinator in organizing drawings for the playbook, inputted games into XOS with opponent game information, maps formations and bunch formation tendencies, specializes in down and distance, formations in opponent breakdown and printing and distributing scouting reports to the offensive coaches.
Prior to his time at Carson-Newman, Housewright served as the head football coach at Daniel Boone Middle School in Gray, Tenn., from 2018-20, and as an assistant football coach at Daniel Boone High School during the same time frame.
Housewright earned an associates' degree in sport management from Northeast State Community College in Blountville, Tenn., in May 2020, before going on to achieve a bachelor's degree in business administration with an emphasis in sport management from C-N in May 2022.
Finally, Atchley becomes the fourth member of his family to become affiliated with the Carson-Newman football program. His brother Harrison was a wide receiver for the program from 2012-15. His father DJ played from 1982-86. Finally, a cousin Reed Atchley played in the early 2000s.
"He understands this program," Clowney said. "His ties to Carson-Newman run deep through his family roots. He'll do a great job for us working with Johnson Jamison on the defensive line."
Atchley wrapped up his degree in Kinesiology and Exercise Science from East Tennessee State University. He has spent the last four years as an assistant coach working with wide receivers and defensive backs at his high school alma mater, The King's Academy.
