Opportunities created by misfortunes

You can find those words written all over the practice shorts of Tennessee linebacker Omar Gaither.

It works as a reminder of sorts.

During a tough pre-season practice, he'll glance down at the writing just before a play.

Only sometimes, life forgets to follow the "script."

Fortunes, especially in football, often come and go in the 10 seconds it takes to run one play.

Knee ligaments tear. Collarbones are broken. A quiet falls over the crowd.

What now?

Players fall. Another player fills the void.

At Tennessee, players stepping in for injured stars have become legends.

Daryl Dickey did it in 1985. Starting quarterback Tony Robinson went down with a knee injury and the collective Orange nation groaned.

But Dickey responded. He answered the call by leading UT to one of its most memorable victories, against heavily favored Miami in the Sugar Bowl.

It happens over and over again at Tennessee - star goes down, sub comes through.

It's no accident according Vols' head coach Phillip Fulmer.

"That's the way it's supposed to be," he said. "It's the same with people buying insurance policies.

"You don't expect something to happen, but if something does you want to be sure you're prepared."

And the Vols always seem prepared.

In 1998, the injury victim was Jamal Lewis. Travis Henry was waiting in the wings and rushed for 970 yards en route to a national championship.

"Hopefully, we put ourselves in a position where there's not a tremendous drop off," Fulmer said. "It's almost impossible to think that you lose a Jamal Lewis and you have a Travis Henry and Travis Stephens sitting there ready to do such a great job."

Yet, it seems virtually routine at Tennessee. Remember 1990. Remember Chuck Webb suffering a season-ending injury, only to be replaced by Tony Thompson.

All Thompson did that year was rush for 1,261 yards and 16 touchdowns.

"It's a compliment to our recruiting, and it's also a compliment to our planning," Fulmer said. "We're usually planning ahead depth-wise in everything we do two years ahead of time."

That's where the "what-if" sessions come into play.

The Vols' coaching staff works hard in the offseason and preseason avoiding possible surprises.

They have meetings specifically related to planning for potential disasters.

"We start doing all the what-ifs way earlier than (the season opener)," Fulmer said. "This will be our next move and that will be our next plan."

It goes back to recruiting areas of need years in advance. It goes back to developing depth. It revolves around the "what-ifs."

"We have our game-plan sheets, our depth charts and so on, but we also have what we call our answer sheets," Fulmer said. "If we have an issue with a play or formations we're not expecting, we go back to the answer sheet and we've already had it and worked on it.

"If we have an issue with personnel we go back to the answer sheet. It's just something I've always done. I'm a big insurance guy."

The Vols needed more than one policy last season.

When two freshman quarterbacks (Erik Ainge and Brent Schaeffer) went down, there stood third-string backup Rick Clausen.

For Clausen, it was a matter of pride to be prepared. His primary goal was to not let down his teammates.

"Situations like that have happened before," Clausen said. "I knew that if I did get called on, the guys around me expected me to go in and play well.

"I think that's the big thing. When you step in after not playing so much and being the backup guy, you don't want to let those other guys down."

Clausen, like so many before him, didn't disappoint. He delivered a Cotton Bowl victory and earned a most-valuable-player trophy.

Glamour positions of quarterback, running back and receiver get most of the attention. But game-ready backups are even more important in the high-risk areas of offensive and defensive lines.

"We work very diligently to prepare for whatever situation arises," Fulmer said. "Richie Gandy was a savior for us last year being able to play so many positions for us in the line.

"Or Turk McBride last year, who moves from defensive end to defensive tackle and he actually played better at times than the guys that were in there."

Then there was Gaither, Mr. Stick to the Script.

His plan was to start at linebacker for the 2004 season. The script went astray - Gaither wasn't named a starter - but then middle linebacker Kevin Simon went down with a knee injury against Florida.

Jason Mitchell moved to the middle and Gaither was moved into the starting lineup at outside linebacker.

"It's funny, the way the script was supposed to go, I was supposed to start from day one, but I didn't," Gaither said.

"Sometimes it doesn't always happen the way you want it to, but you have to be patient. I was patient and eventually it happened the way I scripted it.

"Nobody comes here to be a backup," Gaither said. "You still have to push that guy in front of you and when it's your turn, you have to take advantage of your opportunity.

"You never know when something's going to happen. In the blink of an eye, you have to go in and start. You just have to be ready."

Mark Burgess covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6277.