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Two Cottams are better than one. Tennessee can vouch for that.
The Vols are also glad to have a Stocker in stock.
Tennessee’s football team began fall camp planning to use five tight ends in the rotation.
"Now we’re down to three,’’ offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe said Wednesday, digesting the news that Brad Cottam is out two to three months because of a wrist injury suffered Tuesday in a scrimmage.
After David Holbert, a converted fullback, suffered a season-ending knee injury earlier this month, tight end still seemed to be a strength for the Vols.
Brad Cottam’s injury tweaks that projection — at least for now.
The fifth-year senior underwent surgery Tuesday night on his left wrist. UT announced he’ll be out until late October or even November.
One Cottam’s misfortune is another’s opportunity.
Sophomore Jeff Cottam, Brad’s younger brother and almost physical twin, moves up to join senior Chris Brown as the top two at the position.
Jeff played in every game last year but did not catch a pass.
Luke Stocker, a redshirt freshman, becomes the third man in the rotation.
Quarterback Erik Ainge summed up the squad’s reaction to Brad Cottam’s injury.
"You hate to see it for the team,’’ said Ainge, "but more so for him.
"He’s been battling a lot of stuff all summer, with his knees and hernia surgery, then he was finally getting healthy and playing good. Then something likethis happens.’’
The 6-foot-8, 270-pound Cottam has already redshirted. Head coach Phillip Fulmer said applying for a hardship sixth season is an option to explore if Cottam can’t play until late in the season.
"We’ll go through the process,’’ Fulmer said. "That’s not an easy thing to get accomplished.’’
Brown is the leading returning receiver on the team with 31 catches in 2006. Brad Cottam had 14 receptions last year and was ticketed to be a major part of the offense.
"He’s got exceptional speed,’’ Cutcliffe said. "He can stretch the field as well as anyone I’ve been around at tight end. That’s something that is a little bit of a concern.’’
"Jeff is our most physical (tight end) on the line of scrimmage,’’ said Cutcliffe.
Jeff, who is 6-8, 260, said Wednesday that his brother is disappointed but will still be around, helping the younger tight ends on a daily basis.
"I feel bad for my brother,’’ Jeff said, "it being his senior season and everything, but I guess if I’m faced with an opportunity I’m going to make the best of it while I can.
"I feel like I had a good camp and I think I’m ready to go play and compete with anybody in the SEC.’’
Stocker, at 6-6, 235, is UT’s most versatile tight end in terms of blocking and receiving.
"Catching the ball and running routes, that’s where I was good when I came in,’’ he said. "Blocking is slowly catching up with that.
"Right now I’m pretty even.’’
Cutcliffe said one repercussion from Brad Cottam’s absence is that true freshman Kevin Cooper will probably play before the year is over. He’ll work mostly at fullback, a position that has become interchangeable with tight end in UT’s package.
"We have a very versatile offense as far as personnel groupings,’’ Cutcliffe said. "It’ll open up a couple of other things we intended to look at anyway.
"(But) It’s different when you haven’t played a whole lot to go play 60 plays and play effectively from start to finish. ’’
Tennessee's signing class for 2012
National Signing Day 2010
Signing day celebration at Neyland…
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 42
inquiry writes:
Oh boy
tigervol9802 writes:
Big loss.
My best guess as to what we should do is go to a hybrid of the 3-receiver I formation. Line Brown up as the H-back/FB as the situation calls. Put Rogers in the slot to loosen up the box a little because I think at this point he will draw more respect than anyone else out there. I think we also might see a little more of sets with 2 RB on the field at the same time as well. Creer has some speed. Any chance of some split back sets with Foster/Hardesty and Creer out there to give us an inside/outside threat?
The young receivers have to step up now more than ever.
BOASoldier writes:
We'll be fine ... we always are especially right out of the gate. Jeff was solid during practice he'll just have to step it up a bit.
txsvol#372416 writes:
Bonzai, you're just not the same as sjt18! Do you grow little trees, or did you lead a charge up a hill? Injuries happen--it's time for those lower on the depth chart to step up! Go Vols! SAVol
mdvol writes:
If it's the same doctor who diagnosed Ben Martin then Cottam probably only has a bruise. Hope he wont need surgery to discover that.
bigbluevol writes:
Does anyone know if Brad has already redshirted? Seems to me that if he hasn't, he might as well now. Back at the end of October or beginning of November is not much of a senior year.
bigbluevol writes:
Nevermind...I found out on utsports that he has redshirted. That sucks for him. I hope he gets well soon. We'll be ok in the interim.
juicetke#226846 writes:
I can hear it now.
"Coach how do you explain another losing season?"
"Well, we had some key injuries and suspensions of players we couldn't afford to lose. Injuries happened at positions where we lacked depth and it was just too hard to overcome."
This is a really bad sign.
tnmantravel#531151 writes:
just another opportunity for someother young man to step up and fill the tight ends shoes....Go Vols Slam Cal
bigbluevol writes:
Another losing season? He's only had one. Let's not act like he's barely above 500. People, we play in the toughest conference in the country. We've got good athletes. We've got good coaches. Try to remember how fortunate you have to be in order to win the conference and the national title. It's not easy and Fulmer wants to win. After all, it's his butt on the line. Breathe everyone. Just breathe.
agentorange writes:
we have two Cottams. no need to sweat.
bigbluevol writes:
I just need to flesh out what I was talking about a little bit. Think here Tebow's junk...I mean jump pass. All the losses Florida needed to even get to play Ohio State. Remember our bit of fortune with Stoerner's fumble. Let's also not forget that had we beaten Arkansas in 1999 and LSU in 2001, we could have potentially had 4 conference titles in 5 years and maybe 2 national titles in the same time period. We're talking about a sport where you have to be virtually perfect to even play for the top prize, much less win it. That's a tough task, especially in our conference. Do I like 9-4? Not so much. Can I see that things are somewhat cyclical and we are in a bit of a rut? Sure. But, I do believe we are on the way back to prominence. Even if we lose to Cal ( I don't think we will), we can still win the East and perhaps the overall conference. People, there are other fans who would die for our level of success. Let's try being grateful and enjoying it a little more. I know I certainly need to.
BOASoldier writes:
I agree ... I Love Being a VOL fan... regardless of the ulcer I should be nursing due to the close games... at the end of game day regardless of the outcome I still wear my orange t-shirt on fridays and my orange tie on Sundays
juicetke#226846 writes:
Let me educate some of you. Once you have 1 losing season every losing season after that becomes ANOTHER one.
I wasn't cracking on Fulmer. I am one of the few that like him. It's hard to dis on coach that has the highest winning percentage in the SEC over 10 years.
I was merely trying to get the point accross that the losing season 2 years ago was mared by injuries and was a major contributor.
Calm down!
GreerVol22 writes:
year in, year out, we have a top 10 recruiting class. Injuries happen, that's why we recruit. Good coaches that have injuries happen to players coach-up, adapt, and win inspite of it. Look up the injury stats to USC(Trojans) last few years. I never hear them using injury as an excuse. I really hate it for Cottam, but we shall overcome!
Hunter writes:
If we had to lose someone up front, best that it's a tight end. That equals about 5 less catches this year - no matter what the coaches say they will not throw to a tight end consistently. If you go back and look at Witten's tenure here, the biggest catches he made were audibles by Clausen. This is almost a non-factor.
DadwasaVol writes:
Yes, bigbluevol, we just need to breathe. Think Tennessee is the only team with injuries? That's why we recruit depth. Breathe, people, the sky is not falling.
vol4jesus writes:
CRVOL you get the award tonight for the best impression of Coach Fulmer. Gosh darnit Billy Bob I wanted to say that first. Maaaaa he did it again! PETA is on the prowl(like that) to protect the bears so watch that musket VOLUNTEERS.
ThurmondEppy writes:
I officially just had a stroke.
apark#208735 writes:
Maybe I missed something, but I haven't seen a glowing report on our TE's yet. What's the buzz re: our big loss? Sure, we would be better with Brad. Yes, he has game experience. But his brother was said to be pushing for his playing time. Well, man up. Let's see what you got. Now, beyond this, is everyone else getting as excited as I am? I can't wait. Word out of connected folks in Ktown is that o-line is for real - disciplined and mean. I like the earlier comments on putting two of our RB's in the bfield at the same time - a la Cadillac/Ronnie a couple of years ago. I like it, especially behind a tough o-line.
thevol writes:
In the big picture this is just not a big deal. I feel bad for Brad and he would have played a lot but this is a deep position still. How many teams play 3 tight ends anyway. We have been relatively injury free compared to most years.
CR- you started out being reasonable and contributing to the football discussion. Even your buddy JW(aka Ralphie)dissed you, thinking YOU were a Fulmer backer. But, by the end you reverted back to your childish smart axx ways. No matter the results it will be a long season for you. Just try to enjoy the GAMES somewhat. You obviously know and love football, but what's the point if it makes you so negative all the time. Although the posts would be boring without you. Go Big Orange!
thevol writes:
Never mind, I thought JW comments were directed to you but is was sjt. Should have known better. How could I get you 2 confused. Anyway, Go Big Orange!
cwisenhower#637741 writes:
I know we've been hearing the coaches handing out info about how we're going to do this or that with TE's, but do you think they would truly want that info published for teams to feed off of?
Yeah, it sucks to lose a senior TE with all we've heard about the use of TE's, but I don't think we have a serious drop of talent at TE. We'll be fine!
I hope the elder Cottam gets better.
andy112382#209793 writes:
We'll be fine. Jeff can play as well as Luke Stocker. We still have Chris Brown. Not like we aren't use to having Brad hurt, he has had an awful lot of injuries throughout his career at Tennessee.
I do feel bad for him, and it will just help that much more when he comes back healthy, but we shall move on and luckily Cutcliffe has designed this offense to be flexible with personnel losses, injuries have been and always will be a part of football, it is what you make of it and how you react and recover from those injuries, I think we have the guys in place to do just fine! GO VOLS!!!
agentorange writes:
hard to even read some of these posts. not only do we have the same record as UF in the past decade (cbsporstline laid it all out) but we own the overall record. so, why is the sky fallin'? Eff ya'll. I'll be in Cal with a few hundred '98 grads watching a beat down. keep watch on the sky in k-town if you a sucka. da vols will be on da west coast. wooooooord.
hueypilot writes:
Witten was nearly our entire offense? I seem to remember a few guys named Washington, Stallworth and Stephens that contributed a few plays in '01, Witten was almost always the beneficiary of Stallworth and Washington taking the corners wide and if the opponent was in cover two (most memorably Michigan) Witten would run a fly up the middle and no linebacker and darned few safeties could stay with him. All you Clausen haters remember how well Casey could deliver that pass over the middle to Witten in stride. Anyway,we'll be fine. Chris Brown is a seasoned receiver in posession situations (Ainge had confidence enough in him to throw a safety valve pass to him to keep the clock running in the last minute vs Alabama last year) and the other kids, well heck, that's what they came to the Hill for. To play. Added benefit that Cottam's brother is ready to step in. Not many ties closer than brothers and lil' brother and the Vols will benefit.
Sheepscape writes:
Witten certainly seemed to be all our offense in that wholly awful 8-5 campaign in 02. Ugh.
Colliervol writes:
Bigblue, not sure if anybody answered your question about Cottam or not. Article in the paper this morning said that he had red-shirted and Fulmer said they would have to apply for a medical hardship if the injury prevents him from playing most of the season.
DaveVol writes:
What was the injury? Did I miss it in the article?
Chainsaw writes:
Are the receivers wearing those @#$% gloves again or what?
andy112382#209793 writes:
Anyone here recall the ESPN commercials from earlier this year where they showed the guys rear and he was blurting out something off the wall like Albert Pujols is such a bad batter, hinting the guy was talking out of his you-know-what? I think of that commercial almost everytime I read through comments on here... not naming names! Everyone here knows who I am talking about, but I was just wondering who knew which commercial I was talking about and if that reminds them of some of the comments found on here when people think they know a wee bit more than they do.
Whatever the case.... GO VOLS!!! 9 Days, 8 Hours, 45 mins away!!!
DaveVol writes:
Could be me sometimes Andy! Was the wrist injury ligaments, tendons, or a break?
DaveVol writes:
Who all did Cal lose from last years team?
BOASoldier writes:
Their strong running back is 5'9 and 185 pounds how long will he last getting hit by our DL, and last year only ran well against poor Pac-10 defenses.. Their wide receivers are good but nothing we didn't see and stop last year ... its gonna be good but we'll win
BOASoldier writes:
I agree with you marc last year means nothing for this year ... we weren't as good as we seemed in that game and Cal wasn't as bad as they seemed... They walked into Neyland stadium unprepared for that kind of crowd noise with a shaky quarterback at the helm ... The Vols had a chip on their shoulder and would have probably beaten anyone that night given the momentum and atmosphere ... this year it will be a completely different ballgame but I still like our chances.
BOASoldier writes:
Why does someone have a cracker?
orangebloodgmc writes:
Though I had earlier picked that we might lose to Cal in a close one, I will revise it to this: IF we do a creditable job covering punts and kickoffs, then I think our balanced offense rocks their green defense, worse than their less than robustly blocking offense occasionally burns our not-bend-too-much-and-seldom-break defense. UT 27 Cal 18.
Sheepscape writes:
Eh...our running numbers against Cal were a little misleading. I remember Mike Stowell cautioning people last year on Pennington's show about not getting too caught up in those statistics, and he was right as the season wore on. We didn't really match those yards in SEC play.
Hardesty's big run helped our overall total(and it does count on the box score I won't deny that), but I remember a few times where it looked like we struggled in short yardage. By nearly all accounts the line is better this year, so if we can get a good YPC average with Foster and co., I think we can win by a decent margin.
Sheepscape writes:
"Like I've declared, talent doesn't mean a "W", thats for sure."
Amen to that. Our recruiting class rankings aren't translating into similiarly high rankings for the team when its all said and done. I don't put much stock in those recruiting numbers, but I do know we've finished out of the top 25 more than I like this decade and it's safe to assume we've got top 25 recruits.
orangebloodgmc writes:
"What matters is he is better than anything we've got."
But marc_ash, as you know, Jackson does not line up against our wr's, he would be going against the likes of Berry (4.28?), backstopped by Hefney, while his qb is being pressured by Xavier Mitchell, Mapu and Mayo. Conversely, our green wr's are going against Cal's young corners, while being thrown to by senior Ainge, protected by a line that gave up not too many sacks last yr and is very likely improved over that. I'd say the cup is half FULL.
orangebloodgmc writes:
Hey, marc_ash, I read that Nate Longshore/Patton article. Looks like SpikeVol represented us well and nailed 'em with pithy comment.
BOASoldier writes:
Well Coker isn't playing against Cal this year ... nor did he last year ... and the GREAT o line Cal put up last year is gone .. and our D should be better than last year against a worse O line... plus their number 1 RB Lynch put up 74 yards and Tedford exclaimed that they had never seen a D as fast as ours and IMO this years D is quite a bit faster overall.
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