Strange: Early returns on UT freshmen scarce

Tennessee is getting less help from true freshmen than any football team in the SEC.

Considering the Vols are in rebound mode from a 5-6 season, it surprises me.

UT has sent only three true freshmen into action, none in an impact role.

It's still early, of course. We're only three games into the season. Sprained ankles and fractured wrists lie in ambush.

To date, Quintin Hancock made a nice tackle in kickoff coverage. Dorian Davis has played some special teams. Jacques McClendon raised a sweat at guard.

That's it, folks.

No one else in the league has asked so little of its greenest greenhorns. In fact, Auburn and UT are the only teams that haven't started a true freshman.

Given that Auburn is ranked No. 2 in the country, Tommy Tuberville probably doesn't need to start a kid fresh out of high school.

Playing a bunch of true freshmen means one of two things. Either you're desperate or you've had a sensational recruiting year.

Temple has played 16 true freshmen, believed to be the most in the nation, and Illinois is second with 15.

If you've seen either team this year, it's obvious which category applies.

In the SEC, Kentucky and Ole Miss have each played 14 true freshmen. Six have started for the Rebels, four for the Wildcats.

Desperate fits Kentucky. Ole Miss has a cleat planted in each category. The Rebels were lame last year but Ed Orgeron hustled up a strong recruiting class.

Who ranks next in the SEC? Not who you'd think.

Not Mississippi State. Not Vanderbilt.

Florida's Urban Meyer has sent 12 true freshmen into the fray. And anyone who was in Neyland Stadium last Saturday night would vouch that it's not out of desperation.

Florida's 2006 recruiting class ranked No. 2 in the nation, according to rivals.com.

Rivals awards five stars to the best-of-the-best recruits. In the entire SEC, only eight five-star freshmen actually made it to campus this fall. Four of them are Gators.

LSU, another championship contender, has played 10 true freshmen. Rivals ranked the Tigers' class No. 7 in the nation.

Georgia had the No. 4-ranked class and has played seven members of it.

Arkansas had the most returning starters but has found room to play nine freshmen.

At South Carolina, four of the six true freshmen who have played are starting.

Of the SEC's eight five-star freshmen, seven have played already. Four are starting -- Percy Harvin at Florida, Mitch Mustain at Arkansas, Matthew Stafford at Georgia and Andre Smith at Alabama.

Rivals assigned five stars to just one UT signee: junior-college end Walter Fisher.

The Vols are also light on four-star freshmen, a ranking that encompasses the top 200 prospects in the nation. UT signed four, compared to Florida's 17 and 14 each for Georgia and Auburn.

Accentuating UT's plight, attrition has made quantity a concern as well as quality.

Only 14 of the February signees are on the roster, leaving coach Phillip Fulmer the smallest pool in the league from which to pick.

Among the casualties, Fulmer figured Gerald Williams and Stephaun Raines could help. Surely four-star recruit Brent Vinson would have gotten on the field somewhere.

Recruiting rankings, it should be said, aren't the ultimate measure of an athlete or a class.

Hancock, a three-star prospect, looks undervalued. Davis, a mere two-star recruit, has impressed with his athleticism. Defensive lineman Chase Nelson is getting close to playing.

For now, the Vols might not qualify as desperate for freshman help. But if more were there, they'd be better off for it.

It's a long way yet to November.