Like many of his Tennessee teammates, tailback David Yancey needed the days off from football last week.

Yancey, however, needed it to stay ahead in his area of studies, nuclear engineering.

"It is a little challenging,'' said Yancey, a sophomore who at 5-foot-8 has become accustomed to overcoming challenges on the athletic field. "My grade-point-average is 2.89. I'm wanting to get that up to a 3.0.''

On the football field, the Vols' diminutive backup tailback is averaging 5.2 yards on his 11 carries this season.

Yancey would like more work, and he figures to get his wish against Vanderbilt and Kentucky the next couple of weeks. But you won't hear him complaining if it works out that he doesn't.

Yancey, in his third year with the Vols after walking-on as a defensive back, is just happy to have been placed on scholarship last fall.

"It's been a matter of will and determination,'' said Yancey, who has gotten the majority of carries against UT's hard-hitting first-team defense the past two spring practice sessions. "You see something you want, and you go after it.''

Yancey said one of his goals is to have an opportunity to return kicks or punts.

"I've worked on both in practice,'' he said. "It's something I did in high school that I would like to do.''

Yancey said he hasn't been too vocal, though.

"I try to let my actions speak louder than words,'' he said. "I try to make clean catches in practice and show the coaches they can trust me.''

Yancey has earned every yard and every opportunity he has gotten since leaving Norfolk, Va., and heading south to Knoxville.

East Carolina was the onlyDivision I school to offer him a scholarship, but he passed on that opportunity to walk on at Tennessee.

"They (East Carolina) didn't have a good engineering school,'' Yancey said. "Another reason you come here is you're with the top athletes in the country.''

Yancey said even when things got rough, when he was spending his March and April days taking shots from UT's defense, he never considered quitting.

"You've got to have a love for the game,'' Yancey said. "You have to enjoy it, because you can't do it forever.''

Hence, Yancey taking advantage of the off-week to solidify his classroom status.