If Tennessee’s offense is going to rely on its tight ends in 2007, they’ll have to be much more productive than they were in Saturday’s scrimmage.

Coaches have maintained throughout the offseason that the tight ends would be an integral part of their attack. Yet on Saturday, UT’s tight ends caught only six passes for 24 yards.

Sophomore Jeff Cottam had four catches for 16 yards and freshman Luke Stocker had two catches for eight yards. UT’s two most experienced tight ends, seniors Brad Cottam and Chris Brown, didn’t have a catch.

Moreover, UT’s tight ends tipped two passes that ended up intercepted. Another could have been intercepted had it not been dropped by senior safety Jarrod Parrish.

“We have to get those things corrected,” tight ends coach Matt Luke said.

One of the intercepted passes came off a tip by Cottam, who was fortunate to even get his hands on an errant pass thrown by senior quarterback Erik Ainge.

“We haven’t had a lot of that in practice,” Cottam said of the tips. “I’m not sure why we had so many today.”

Berry Good: Once again, Eric Berry wowed his teammates and coaches with his play. This time, it was Parrish who was impressed.

“He’s doing exceptionally well for a young guy,” Parrish said. “He was highly rated coming out of high school. All the hype is true.”

Berry was one of three cornerbacks to intercept a pass, along with junior DeAngelo Willingham and senior Antonio Gaines. Junior strong safety Nevin McKenzie recorded six tackles in relief of Parrish.

“The secondary is active,” said Parrish, who had two tackles. “We’ve got speed back there. We’ve got experience and the young guys are really good, too. We’re going to be really good in the secondary.”

Berry seems a lock to at least play in UT’s nickel or dime package in the season opener, if he doesn’t secure a full-time spot in the secondary.

Berry played left cornerback for the majority of Saturday’s scrimmage with the second team, then played with the first team later in the practice at right cornerback, in place of sophomore Marsalous Johnson. He also played nickel back with the first team.

O-Line Update: Offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe said he’s not set on his first-string offensive line, but it sure looked like it Saturday. As a unit, senior left tackle Eric Young, junior left guard Anthony Parker, sophomore center Josh McNeil, junior right guard Ramon Foster and sophomore right tackle Chris Scott got all the first-team snaps.

Special Teams: With kickoffs being moved back to the 30-yard line from the 35, coach Steve Caldwell is looking at new methods of kicking and covering kicks.

“This year, I think we have to look at changing it around a little bit,” he said.

That may mean varying where the kicks are targeted. Caldwell said last year’s kickoff man, James Wilhoit, preferred to kick to the right. With Wilhoit’s departure, junior punter Britton Colquitt is expected to handle kickoffs.

One of Colquitt’s first kicks on Saturday landed in the end zone. The rest of his kicks fell around the 5-yard line.

Middle Man Mayo: Senior linebacker Jerod Mayo’s move to middle linebacker from weakside, where he played last season, seems to be going well. Mayo had six tackles and a sack on Saturday.

Mayo credited UT’s defensive tackles for helping ease the transition.

“When you have guys like Demonte Bolden and J.T. Mapu playing that well,” Mayo said, “it makes it a lot easier.”

O’Neal Not OK: A sore hamstring has limited junior Kenny O’Neal for the past week in practice. The junior college transfer pushed through the pain to practice on Saturday. The lack of preparation time showed.

“Right now, he doesn’t know what to do,” Cutcliffe said. “He couldn’t play for us right now.”

Tennessee Tix: California has placed 1,000 tickets for the Sept. 1 UT-Cal game on sale. Fans can purchase tickets by accessing the Cal athletics Web site at www.calbears.com, or by calling 1-800-462-3277

Mike Strange contributed to this report.

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.