Erik Ainge has reached the “grain-of-salt” portion of his career.

He’s a senior quarterback, apparently at complete ease as team leader for the University of Tennessee.

That’s why he’s not putting much stock in one preseason scrimmage.

He knows better.

“Our first scrimmage we had out here last season was much worse,” Ainge said after going 9-of-17 for 70 yards and two interceptions on Saturday. “In total, it was much worse than it was today because we had three senior receivers (last year) and we weren’t trying to see what they could do. We knew what they could do.

“Those kinds of mistakes that happened last year were different.”

Ainge was 13-of-26 for 120 yards with two interceptions in the Vols’ first scrimmage of 2006.

All he did from there was complete 233 of 348 passes for 2,989 yards and 19 touchdowns as a junior last season.

But that was with the aide of veteran receivers Robert Meachem, Jayson Swain and Bret Smith — all gone this season.

Saturday’s work was more about establishing a running game, setting a tempo with the new no-huddle offense and finding a comfort level with a new crop of receivers.

After missing most of spring practice with a knee injury, Ainge was just glad to get back into the action.

It showed when a 15-play, 68-yard drive for a TD on the first series turned out to be the highlight of the day for the offense.

The offensive line and running back Arian Foster did most of the damage, but Ainge completed a big third-down pass to Lucas Taylor for 14 yards and a first down.

“We’re still finding out who does what best,” Ainge said. “Some guys can do everything. Some guys can do certain things and finding out who does what to the best of their ability is kind of what we’re out here doing.

“Who can run a go route? Who can make guys miss with the ball? We’re trying to figure those out and mistakes are going to happen in that process.”

UT offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe obviously isn’t worried about Ainge, especially with sudden depth issues at running back and a bunch of baby-faced receivers.

“I don’t think it was a great day to evaluate our quarterbacks,” he said. “It was like the deep ball Ainge threw for an interception. I told him we were trying to test our defense deep and I told him I don’t care what it is, double coverage, just go ahead and throw it deep.

“You do those kinds of things in a scrimmage.”

One thing Ainge obviously liked was the flow of the no-huddle offense.

“I think the benefits of the no-huddle showed today,” he said. “Getting on the ball, in and out of the right-run plays. It really allows Coach Cutcliffe to see what they’re doing on defense.

“They have to be a little more generic. They can’t call all the crazy blitzes and crazy stunts by the defense when we can run any of our offense at the line of scrimmage. That was really one of the first times we’ve been able to see the benefits.”

Ainge On New Backs: Foster and Montario Hardesty have the established experience at running back, but the indefinite suspension of LaMarcus Coker has put a premium on finding depth at the back spot.

Freshmen Lennon Creer (11 carries, 84 yards) and Daryl Vereen (13 carries, 41 yards) showed flashes.

“All those new backs will put their shoulders down in a heartbeat,” Ainge said. “They’re not afraid.

“They still don’t know what they’re doing. They’re running around like freshmen always are, but from a physical standpoint, they’re special.”

Ainge On Kenny O’Neal: The highly touted junior college transfer had an up-and-down day that included a scuffle, a dropped touchdown and a 60-yard TD bomb from Nick Stephens.

“He has great speed,” Ainge said. “We’ve just got to get him healthy and keep letting him make progress.

“There’s a good chance he’s going to be making plays for us.”

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.