IRVING, Texas -- Jason Witten is an established star with the Dallas Cowboys. Rookie Kevin Burnett hopes to be one eventually.

One common link Witten and Burnett share in the Cowboys' locker room is this question:

What happened to the Vols this year?

The former University of Tennessee teammates were as surprised as everyone else by the Vols' collapse to a 5-6 record.

"I thought they were going to be a really good football team,'' Burnett said. "Sometimes things happen.

"I can't speak for what's going on because I don't know the situation.''

Witten, who left UT after the 2002 season, kept in touch through his brother. Shawn Witten, who played at Virginia Tech, was a graduate assistant coach with the Vols last year.

"I talked to Coach (Phillip) Fulmer last week,'' Witten said. "That's always tough to see that happen, but it's a great program and he'll get it turned around.''

Burnett and Witten said they talked to a few of the players during the year, but kept it low key.

"I just told 'em to keep their heads up,'' said Witten.

Burnett's calls generally avoided the topic of football.

"When you're doing bad,'' he said, "it hurts even more when you have someone calling you saying, 'What the heck's going on? Can't you guys win a game?' ''

The experience of being a Vol in Knoxville was good preparation for being a Cowboy in Dallas.

"They're very similar,'' Witten said. "Tennessee fans, they love their Volunteers and that's how they are in Dallas. Being America's team, everybody loves that.''

Said Burnett, "That's playing for two of the more well-known teams in the world.

"The Cowboys have been number one in selling apparel before and so has Tennessee.

"The actual experience of being out there on the field playing for them, there's nothing like it.''