Mixed results, feeling for Vols

During Saturday night’s scrimmage at Neyland Stadium, Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe asked himself a question.

His wide receivers and tight ends dropped the ball more than they have in all of fall camp.

In UT’s first five drives alone, they combined for four drops and a running back missed a ball that could have been caught.

From his perch in the press box, Cutcliffe wondered what changed.

“I’m sitting up there wondering, ‘Is it that different?’ We haven’t practiced under any lights,” Cutcliffe said. “Is it that different when you’re playing out here in front of people? I’m trying to figure out what’s going on. There was obviously some thing that happened out here tonight.”

Plenty of things happened Saturday night, good and bad.

From an injury standpoint, the Vols were without Ryan Karl (back) after the starting strongside linebacker had hoped to see his first full contact work of the fall Saturday. Freshman defensive end Ben Martin’s status is unknown, pending an X-ray on his left knee.

Sophomore receiver Austin Rogers had four catches for 56 yards and seemed to be quarterback Erik Ainge’s favorite target. But in the two-minute drill portion at the end of UT’s nearly three-hour workout, Rogers missed a ball thrown slightly behind him.

True freshman Denarius Moore hauled in a 27-yard score from Ainge to cap a 75-yard touchdown drive against the first-team defense.

Moore also took back a kickoff nearly 90 yards for a touchdown — but that was two plays after fellow freshman Eric Berry muffed a kick near the 20-yard line.

On defense, Berry made an athletic interception of an Ainge pass. But then he whiffed on a one-on-one, open-field tackle that allowed freshman running back Daryl Vereen to break a long run.

The Vols’ running game was the highpoint, with Arian Foster averaging 5 yards on limited carries and Montario Hardesty averaging 6 yards a carry.

Freshman Lennon Creer led UT’s rushers with 57 yards on 11 carries, most of which came against the second-team defense.

But Tennessee’s inconsistency extended even into the kicking game.

Britton Colquitt suffered a minor quadriceps pull in his right leg on the opening kickoff, allowing Daniel Lincoln to handle all the kicking and Chad Cunningham the punting.

Cunningham finished with an average of 43.5 yards on 11 punts. Lincoln was 5-of-8 on field goals — all while missing three consecutive attempts and then hitting his next three in a row.

“Both of them struggled, both of them had their moments,” coach Phillip Fulmer said. “Chad hit a couple really good kicks, and then he had some that looked like some eighth grader punted it. Daniel misses three in a row and then comes back, to his credit, he hits three in a row.”

Without question, though, the biggest concern was the dropped passes.

“I don’t think it’s a lack of concentration,” Cutcliffe said. “I know it’s not a lack of work at catching the ball. It was disconcerting to see it.”

Receivers coach Trooper Taylor saw the drops. But he also saw his players make strides from last week’s scrimmage in other areas of the game.

“There were a couple drops, and there’s no drop that’s acceptable,” Taylor said. “But I was proud they were where they were supposed to be and they were playing fast. The quarterback did not have to hold the football tonight, and that’s important to me.”

With another full scrimmage set for Tuesday afternoon, the Vols have one more chance before the season-opener at California on Sept. 1 to become more consistent in a game-like setting.

“There was more consistency (Saturday),” Fulmer said. “You take away the drops, and offensively you had a pretty good day. I’ve been on both sides of this coin. Tomorrow it could be completely different.”

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