Tennessee quarterback Erik Ainge spent the early part of this week helping his girlfriend and her roommate move into a new apartment.

Starting today, Ainge will be working on a moving project of a different kind.

The Vols open fall camp this afternoon with the first of 21 preseason practices, all with the goal of moving up in the SEC standings.

Tennessee finished 9-4 and second in the SEC East behind national champion Florida last season. This season, the goal is to play for an SEC title and more.

Ainge, who is fully healthy after undergoing minor knee surgery in the spring, is ready to get started after a long offseason.

“There’s not a lot of time off,” Ainge said Wednesday. “From the Penn State game ’til now, you get a week here, a week there. You go from one offseason to the next offseason to the next program to the next program, all building up to the first practice on Friday. That anticipation kind of creeps on you.”

It’s certainly creeping up on fans.

Their eyes — and those of UT’s coaches — will be focused with the most intensity on the Vols’ defensive tackles and wide receivers.

Losing Jayson Swain, Bret Smith and Robert Meachem, the Vols are without their three best receivers from a year ago.

A talented group of incoming players earned praise for their showing in offseason workouts, but the true test begins today.

“I feel like we’ve done a good job preparing them up to this point, considering we’ve had to get ourselves ready, too,” Ainge said. “I’m anxious to see what it’s like. Are they going to go slow and baby guys along, or are we going to get into it and get cracking? I don’t know what kind of approach they’ll take.”

But for Ainge and UT’s other leaders, their approach is certain.

When David Cutcliffe returned as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator last season, he taught the virtues of practicing with purpose and tempo. Now it’s up to Ainge and teammates like Arian Foster, Jonathan Crompton and others to teach those incoming players by example.

“Not just practicing with good tempo, but practicing well,” Ainge said. “Those first couple days, no matter how long you’ve been playing are usually a little bit rough just because you’re getting back into all the little things again.

“But even if I go out and don’t have a great day of practice, my attitude and tempo still needs to be there. If Arian goes out and drops a ball or misses a block, his attitude and tempo still need to be up. Guys feed off that.”

Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.