Britton Colquitt's first punt in an SEC game could not have been better.

Tennessee faced a fourth-and-13 situation at the Vols' 15-yard line after their first drive at Florida stalled. Colquitt boomed a punt 54 yards.

"I remember thinking, 'I could be leading the SEC or something like that after this,' " Colquitt recalls. "And then, it's funny how God humbles you real quick."

His next two punts sailed 38 yards (for a touchback) and 40 yards, respectively.

His humbling experience came in the third quarter.

Tennessee trailed Florida 10-7 when its first second-half drive stopped at its 32-yard line. The Vols were 9 yards from a first down.

Colquitt, a freshman from Bearden, looked to his right and saw Inquoris Johnson lined up wide right, nobody on him.

"I looked out and saw the guy, the defender (Florida safety Tony Joiner) coming in, and I saw that it (the pass to Johnson) was open," Colquitt said. "And then all of a sudden the ball was right there at me and I turned and caught it and didn't really have time to think, so my body just did the last thing I was thinking which was looking out at the receiver."

At the last second, Joiner broke back toward Johnson. Colquitt threw to Johnson. The pass was slightly under-thrown, and Joiner batted it down.

Florida took possession and drove for a field goal and a 13-7 lead.

Colquitt sometimes has an option to audible to a pass, but not in that situation.

"It's kind of just a known thing that you don't try it inside the 35 or when we had a quick snap, and we had both those," he said Tuesday. "It was really just my mistake and I got caught up in the moment."

Colquitt says the mistake left him shaken.

When the Vols' next drive stalled, Colquitt shanked his next punt 8 yards and out of bounds at Florida's 40. The Gators started at their 30 after being called for holding, then drove for a field goal and 16-7 lead.

It was the final score.

"I was definitely rattled (after the faked field goal)," Colquitt said. "I was selfishly thinking, 'How am I going to get myself out of this hole?" instead of going, 'All right, we're still in this, the team needs me to put us in good field position', and that's how those kind of things happen."

Colquitt's last punt against Florida was for 42 yards.

On the flight home, Britton got a call from his brother, Dustin, who punted for the Vols last season.

"He basically said he was there and he's done worse things and really not to worry about it," Britton said, "because if you sit there, I mean, if I sat there thinking about what I did in the Florida game I'm going to have a terrible year and I'm not going to help my team, and really (Dustin said) forget about it."

Britton will get more chances, starting Saturday at LSU.

It's a chance for UT's special teams to redeem itself after the Florida game. In addition to Colquitt's botched faked punt and shank, the Vols had a field-goal attempt blocked and lost a fumbled punt.

"I think everybody has a bad game," Colquitt said. "Certain teams, like special teams, offense and defense, everybody has their little phases. It's good that we did it early, but yeah, we can be such a big part of this game.

"There's probably going to be a game down the road where we win the game because of us (special teams). That happens all the time. We just have to, because of this (Florida game), we're going to do a lot better, and then probably next game have a positive impact."