Bypassing Huddle

Tennessee's offense spent last spring learning how to practice at its new offensive coordinator's speed. Now he's putting the pedal to the floor.

During the first of their 15 spring practices Thursday on Haslam Field, the Vols went to work experimenting with the no-huddle offense.

"I always love the two-minute drill, getting up on the ball," quarterback Erik Ainge said. "It's not the two-minute drill because you're not in a hurry, but it's essentially the same thing."

Cutcliffe has been intrigued by the no-huddle for a while and thought about putting in elements last spring, his first back at Tennessee since leaving in 1998 to become head coach at Ole Miss. Getting back to fundamentals was challenging enough then, but he kept the idea bouncing around.

After productive offseason meetings with his quarterbacks, a rising senior starter in Ainge and an able backup in sophomore Jonathan Crompton, Cutcliffe decided to take the no-huddle from his legal pad to the practice field.

"This is something that had kind of been in the back of my mind as the next step for us offensively," Cutcliffe said. "I've always fiddled with it. You've got to kind of pick what the right time is to take that step. I think this is the right time."

There are still plenty of challenges ahead for the Vols' offense before the Orange and White game marks the end of spring drills on March 31.

Chief among them is solidifying the offensive line without All-American Arron Sears at left tackle and David Ligon at left guard.

Finding some new playmakers at wide receiver to replace Robert Meachem, Jayson Swain and Bret Smith is a priority as well.

Even with those losses, Ainge says the Vols could be better in the passing game.

"We might not be able to just throw it up and let Robert go up and go jump over somebody and catch it," said Ainge, who completed 67 percent of his passes last fall to set UT's single-season completion percentage mark. "But I think we had a lot more plays last year where the offensive line and the quarterbacks and the tight ends blocking had a lot more to do with guys catching balls and making plays. It's not just the receivers that can make the passing game go."

That's where the no-huddle fits in.

"It gives us a chance to get to the line of scrimmage with more time on the clock and be able to see what the defense doing," UT coach Phillip Fulmer said. "It gives you a chance, if you communicate well enough to change the play and gain some advantage."

That advantage can extend to those young receivers, too. While there will be a few more mental responsibilities, the no-huddle has the chief benefit of putting the offense in a position to succeed by creating favorable matchups.

That's what happened in 1997, the last time Cutcliffe used the no-huddle. Of course his quarterback was a future NFL MVP named Peyton Manning.

This time around, Cutcliffe will ease the transition for his quarterbacks — one Ainge thinks sounds tougher than it will be to execute — by going slow at first.

And if the progress isn't up to Cutcliffe's tempo, he won't be afraid to stop fiddling.

"Saturday, if any of you all are still around when practice is over, I may say, 'Huddle, huddle, huddle,' " Cutcliffe chuckled. "We'll see. Right now, I think this is the approach to take to make us better."