UT Notebook: December 29

• UT To Reggie White: Tennessee players and coaches will wear an orange cross with the number "92" on their helmets and hats to honor Reggie White, who died Sunday. UT is also considering other ways to remember the former UT defensive lineman.

"Reggie’s legacy is the type of person he was and what he did at Tennessee and the NFL," said UT athletic director Mike Hamilton. "Whatever we do or whatever anyone else does, it will never supercede that."

Hamilton and other athletic department employees will fly to Charlotte, N.C., today to take part in the funeral proceedings. UT coach Phillip Fulmer will not be able to attend because of his Cotton Bowl commitments.

• SEC Rings For Vols: Senior Cedric Houston said the Vols were split as to whether they should receive championship rings for winning the SEC Eastern Division.

"I don’t think any of the underclassmen were for it," Houston said lightheartedly.

Fulmer said he allowed UT’s seniors and captains to pursue the concept of championship rings because UT’s senior class have made two SEC championship game appearances and shared the SEC lead last season although they lost the tiebreaker, and championship game bid, to Georgia.

UT ordered the rings after players voted on whether to accept them in place of an annual institutional bowl gift.

• Just In Time: Freshman quarterback Brent Schaeffer and junior defensive tackle Jesse Mahelona returned to practice Tuesday after battling illnesses earlier in the week. Schaeffer was running a high fever Sunday and Monday and of the few players in Dallas that caught the flu, he was hit the hardest.

Fulmer said it was imperative that Schaeffer practiced Tuesday in order to be available to play Saturday against Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl. Mahelona was sidelined by a cold.

• Bed Check: Senior wide receiver Tony Brown said UT coaches are taking more of a business like approach to this year’s bowl game as compared to UT’s last two bowl trips, when the Vols lost two consecutive Peach Bowls.

Brown said the approach includes an early week curfew that began at 1:30 a.m. last Sunday and continues to move up earlier in the evening until it reaches 10 p.m. Friday. Kickoff is 10 a.m. CDT.

"We’re focused on the game," Brown said. "It’s a whole different aspect of approaching the game since I’ve been here. Coach Fulmer just took everything under control this year. It’s still an honor to be here, but we have a game to play."

Said Fulmer: "It being a very early game I didn’t want to get worn down."

UT also held a 30-play scrimmage Monday split evenly between the first and second team. Fulmer said he has only held two bowl week scrimmages in his 13-year tenure at UT.

Anxious: Junior offensive guard Cody Douglas was slightly tardy as UT began practice; so the Texas native ran 60 yards to the team huddle. That’s a good sign for Douglas who has battled a severe foot sprain for most of the season.

• Meachem Impressive: Among a group of talented receivers, freshman Robert Meachem has impressed his teammates.

"The thing that separates Robert from most guys is his ball skills, his ball awareness, and the ability to jump for the football and alter his body," said UT junior quarterback Rick Clausen. "He makes some unbelievable catches.

"His hand-eye coordination is something a lot of people don’t have. When the ball is in the air, Robert takes it personal that he is going to get the ball."

• Notebook: Freshman Sinclair Cannon is acting as Texas A&M quarterback Reggie McNeal. Cannon worked extensively at defensive back last week. He has mainly practiced at wide receiver this season. ?Fulmer said the Vols will not hold any full speed contact for the remainder of bowl practice.