Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer named the first game captains for the 2007 season following Friday’s practice.
Quarterback Erik Ainge, safety Jonathan Hefney, defensive end Xavier Mitchell and offensive tackle Eric Young will lead the Vols into the season opener against Cal on Sept. 1.
This is the second season UT will name game captains instead of season-long captains.
“It gets more leadership growing on the football team rather than people just standing around waiting for someone else to lead,” Fulmer said.
Following 22 preseason practices, Fulmer said his players are plenty ready to get to game week.
“They’re ready to hit somebody else and see what kind of team we’ve got,” Fulmer said.
For Kicks: Fulmer said he doesn’t expect junior punter/kicker Britton Colquitt to participate in Saturday’s kicking scrimmage. Colquitt has been sidelined this week with a sore quadriceps muscle, but is expected to play against Cal.
“I don’t think we’re going to risk that,” Fulmer said. “There’s still some soreness there.”
Fulmer said freshman punter Chad Cunningham has been great in scrimmage situations, but not nearly as consistent at other times.
“He drives you nuts during practice,” Fulmer said.
Fulmer said he would like to have Colquitt handling kickoffs against Cal, as previously planned, but wasn’t ready to commit either way.
Fulmer said he would announce who will handle kick returns on Saturday.
For Safety’s Sake: Freshman Eric Berry saw some practice time at safety on Friday. The move is not thought to be permanent. Berry is competing with senior Antonio Gaines and sophomore Marsalous Johnson for UT’s two starting cornerback positions.
“Erik is like a starter for us,” Fulmer said.
Berry played safety in high school.
Sticky September: Fulmer said practicing in a heat wave will help the Vols — eventually.
“Cal probably won’t be nearly this hot and humid but we come back for Southern Miss and certainly when we go to Florida, we know what’s coming,” Fulmer said. “I’ve explained that to the guys and asked them to continue to push.”
Game-Like Conditions: Fulmer said the Vols benefited from The Pride of the Southland Band moving indoors to UT’s practice facility, well within earshot of UT’s practice field.
“It really turned out to be a tremendous lift for our football team,” Fulmer said.
The Vols also piped in crowd noise to simulate road conditions.
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Comments » 14
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
Look. last year, Cal had no chance. The vols were angry and focused.
This year. we better watch out. Cal knows Foster and Hardesty are plodders. Look for them to force Ainge to throw, and bring the house at him. Cal believes UT has no receiver who can get open.
On offinse, look for Cal to run until UT stops 'em.
Mark it, Cal will be the angry team. You can bet they used 'UT' in the weight room and summer drills.
jforte#270419 writes:
Strike first and we own them. All the bad memories will come back. They didn't face our no huddle last year. Anger only lasts five minutes. GO VOLS
thevol writes:
Excellent choices for captains. This is the type of senior leadership we need because we will be relying on a lot of young players being our playmakers. Chris Brown would also deserve it at some point this season. Go Big Orange!
tnmantravel#531151 writes:
our Vols will romp over that california girl football team they have in berkley...watch out cal, Tennessee is coming and bringing that SEC swager with them....Vols defense is going to be down right nasty and smashmouth offense will follow
it's great to be a Tennesse Vol
volfaninchattanooga writes:
O-line and receivers are what bother me about Tennessee's offense. If the receivers can't get open, the line has to block, and I'm not sure they can.
invisiblekid writes:
Mebane and several other players for Cal had that deer-in-headlights look when they came out for warm-ups and checked out the stadium last year. That won't be an issue in the game this year. Factor in no Meachem to abuse their CB's along with the motivation factor and I see no reason to expect another blowout. I still think the Vols win being the better team top to bottom though.
AllVol writes:
I'm with jforte. Anger lasts about five minutes. After that it's really a letdown for Cal to deal with. They can't play on emotion the whole game, and one big play from us puts them right back on their heels--where they will stay until the game is over. I forget who the guy is who keeps saying 34-17, but I tend to agree. If Cal can score that much. So they make us pass--the O line protected Ainge last year and they'll do it again and he'll light them up again.
Bigger_Al writes:
It will be interesting to see if Cal uses a similar defense - stop the run, press-man coverage on the outside - as last year, or if they play more honest. Face it, teams did that to us in 2005 and our WR's/QB's couldn't capitalize. Last year, Meachem and Ainge ripped them. We still have Ainge, but we'll have to see if we have a WR that can burn them.
SFOrange writes:
OK tnmantravel--take the cheerleading uni off and get real with the comments---"california girl football team" (10-3/2006); berkley? (Berkeley); smashmouth? (lets hope so).
who is coming west to witness this?
go vols.
raynochonspeed#212632 writes:
mparker12, "look for Cal to run until UT stops 'em"?
Cal has the #1 ranked set of receivers in the nation. QB Nate Longshore is on the Walter Camp watch list. UT is very unproven in the secondary.
If they're smart (and at Berkeley, they are), they will throw until we stop them.
By the way, I know a lot of Berkeley grads. They feel very confident about their team's chances next Saturday. And Les Miles' comments about the SEC and its superiority could very well come back to haunt UT, not LSU.
I'm not negative - quite the contrary - but I have a strong sense that this may be an unpleasant game for the Vols. If we were playing them in November, it may have been a different story, but too many factors lean in Cal's favor this time.
Still, I'll be there Saturday, hoping and cheering for the Big Orange.
tnmantravel#531151 writes:
SFOrange.....my comment is real, ty for the reply.....the last time Tennessee went out to la la land they played UCLA, the bruins picked to finish first or second in the pac 10 that year....beat them like a drum....same will follow, people...... the Vols will be taking SEC football to northern calif. ...come on....
Vols 31 cal 10
SFOrange writes:
31-10? kidding, right.
whats the rational for a 21 point away victory.
I'm with raynochonspeed (shorten that will you?), UC will be tough, its the first game, its away in a very different envionment that UT traditional plays in...but the Orange will be out in force--I suspect we'll have strong fan support inside Memorial Stadium.
Go Vols.
raynochonspeed#212632 writes:
tnmantravel-
The last time the Vols went to Los Angeles was 1997. We played UCLA and did not "beat them like a drum".
If I remember correctly, and I do, we had Peyton Manning, Jamal Lewis, Al Wilson, Leonard Little and Peerless Price and won by less than a touchdown, blowing a huge halftime lead (24-3) and having to hold off a UCLA drive in the final minute for the win.
This Saturday will be a very interesting day, as well. Go Vols.
Timed_vol (Inactive) writes:
raynochonspeed:
You could be right, but I'm thinking Cal will use the pass only for 3rd down conversions, ala Peyton in the Supper Bowl.
I am seriously looking for a tough game. We have questions at receiver, d-line, secondary, placekicker...and Erik Ainge has a knack for getting tough injuries.
Enough negatives!!! Being a Senior, Ainge can carry the vols thru if his guys play smart (and catch the ball).
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