Getting Antsy

He's had that itch since January.

With a little over a month left before the 2005 football season starts, the Tennessee senior defensive back is itching to get back on the field.

"I've been excited since after we played Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl," said Allen, who was named Wednesday to the SEC coaches' preseason first team. "Ever since I started the off-season working program I've been ready. It really bothered me missing spring practice

"I look forward to practice just like a game, I really enjoy it."

Allen missed spring practice following reconstructive surgery on his right shoulder. He said he's nearly 100 percent after spending the summer rehabbing and working out in Knoxville.

"I've just been working on getting bigger, faster and stronger, It's usually what I work on every off-season," Allen said.

A co-captain in 2004 and again for this season, Allen has high expectations for the Vols. Amidst many preseason predictions and accolades many of the Vols are getting, Allen said it's all for naught if goals aren't reached.

"It really means nothing if we don't go out there and produce," he said. "Once you win a championship, that's when stars are made.

"I have to go out and prove myself each and every Saturday, and each and everyday with my teammates. That's the mentality I have to have as we head into two-a-days and into the season."

But on a hot and humid day Thursday inside the Neyland-Thompson Sports Center, Allen and several other Vols took a break from the norm as they hosted approximately 75 children from a local YMCA who spent a day as a Vol. The children were able to participate in drills, catch passes, watch the Vols work out in the weight room and tour the facilities.

"It's a good time when you're around these kids," Allen said. "A lot of these kids look up to us, they see us on TV and they want to play for the University of Tennessee.

"They also get the chance to say, 'Hey, these guys are working hard and if I work hard one day I can be in the same position.'"

For UT quarterback Rick Clausen, it was a welcome change from what otherwise has been a routine summer.

"Just to see these kids is always fun," Clausen said. "It lets us kind of step out of being the 'football players' or the 'stars' and it lets us have some fun."

Clausen said the kids asked him for more than his autograph. They wanted to know if the Vols were going to win it all and even the status of the quarterback situation with rising sophomore Erik Ainge.

"I just told them whatever Coach (Phillip) Fulmer decides is going to be the decision," Clausen said. "Coach Fulmer is going to do what's best for the football team.

"We're trying to win every game. We have the talent. We have everything we need. We just need to go out there and play."