I realize it's highly unprofessional for a journalist to pull for a particular player or team. But in the case of Tennessee quarterback Erik Ainge, I can't help it.

My dwindling sports IQ is at stake.

To appreciate that, you need a little family history -- and another UT quarterback.

After the 2001 football season, I commented to my wife that quarterback Casey Clausen would be a high-round NFL draft pick one day. She laughed.

"Are you crazy?" Melinda said. "No one is going to draft him."

I didn't argue much. I just reminded myself that while she loves watching college football, she really doesn't understand it.

Two years later, when Clausen wasn't drafted, Melinda didn't even bother saying, "I told you so." It was as though the prospect of his being drafted was so outlandish, what was the point?

I didn't say anything, either.

Clausen was followed by Ainge, who was bigger, more athletic and had a stronger arm. After three games, including a come-from-behind victory against Florida, I easily judged Ainge as a future first-round NFL draft pick. I was so certain of his ability, I even said so to my wife.

She didn't say anything. She just raised her eyebrows, smirked and walked from the room.

I don't revisit that first-round prediction anymore. I began distancing myself from it last season, somewhere between the Florida and Notre Dame games. But I haven't forgotten what I saw in Ainge as a freshman and how sharply it contrasts with what everyone saw last year.

All sorts of questions have been raised about UT after a 5-6 season. But none looms larger than the one at quarterback. Will Ainge pick up where he left off as a promising freshman or as a struggling sophomore?

The answer will have huge ramifications.

Never mind the revamped offensive line, the injury history of UT's talented running backs or the wide receivers who have failed to live up to expectations. There's more riding on Ainge than anyone.

Head coach Phillip Fulmer's job could be on the line. So could the head-coaching career of offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe.

Cutcliffe already has head-coaching experience. He already has Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Tee Martin and Heath Shuler on his resumA(C). If he resurrects Ainge's career and improves UT's struggling offense, he will significantly improve his chances of returning to head coaching.

Ainge seemed composed and confident at Saturday's UT media day. In fact, he seemed that way as a freshman, too.

Nothing he says can regain the confidence of his teammates, coaches or fans after a 2005 season in which he completed only 45.5 percent of his passes and demonstrated more panic than poise while sharing the position with Rick Clausen. He will have to do it on the field. Or, as Cutcliffe put it to Ainge, "Confidence is earned."

To his credit, Ainge accepts his share of the blame for what went wrong last season. He said the shoulder injury that ended his freshman season in early November didn't affect him last year and that he really doesn't know how much a turf-toe injury hindered him last season.

The uncertainty of whether he or Clausen would be the quarterback clearly bothered him.

"I just know every single day was a competition," he said.

You can look at that two ways. If he couldn't handle the competition with Clausen, why should anyone think he could handle the pressure of a season as crucial as this one? Or, you could conclude that a player who has shared the position for two years will feel so relieved to have the job to himself, his confidence and composure will soar.

You can speculate on that in the preseason. But the games will tell.

Until then, Ainge is preparing for the challenge as best he can.

"Am I where I need to be?" he said. "No. But am I 10 times further than last year? Yes.

"I wouldn't say I was ill-prepared. We did a lot, and we had a very, very smart 23-year-old (Rick Clausen) that could handle it. For me to have handled it, I would have had to do a lot more on my own. And I didn't do that. ... If I had worked harder from the neck up, I think I would have been more successful."

While criticizing his own preparation, Ainge absolves departed offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Randy Sanders, who announced his resignation after a loss to South Carolina, then stayed on until the end of the season. Sanders is now the quarterbacks coach at Kentucky.

"More than anything, I felt bad for him," Ainge said. "He took the rap for a 5-6 season when he shouldn't have taken the rap. Everybody was responsible, but it wasn't Coach Sanders who made us go 5-6."

Ainge indicates he has progressed in the last year, that he has a far better understanding of the offense, now taught by Cutcliffe.

"If any one asks a question about the offense, I can tell them," he said. "I couldn't do that last year."

Despite all that went wrong in Ainge's sophomore season, he didn't shrink and he didn't lose arm strength. He's still 6-foot-6 with a strong arm. And now, he says, he truly understands the offense.

So maybe he will prove 2005 was an aberration and return to college football's fast track to the you-know-where. But since my wife might be reading, I won't mention any initials.