Vols' Foster plans to be picture of concentration

In Arian Foster’s locker, you’ll find all the things you’d expect — and one thing you wouldn’t.

Tennessee’s junior tailback has a picture of his lowest point in his playing career displayed prominently, the moment he fumbled during the Outback Bowl in January as he and the Vols were driving for what could have been a decisive score.

“I make sure I look at it every single day,” Foster said during an interview Thursday. “So I don’t forget and it won’t happen again.”

The play didn’t just stop a potential scoring drive for UT. It also gave Penn State all the momentum it needed. The Nittany Lions returned the turnover 88 yards for a touchdown. Penn State won, 20-10.

“After the bowl game, I was down but I wasn’t discourage,” Foster said. “I got really hungry again. My buddies aren’t going to let me forget that play. I went to the film guy and said I need a picture of that play. Everybody kind of looked at me funny.”

If Foster didn’t take to heart all the criticisms before the Penn State play, he surely has now.

Foster said he’s determined not to fumble this year, but won’t divulge just how he’ll go about improving ball security.

“I can’t tell you all my secrets,” Foster said. “It’s really mental.”

Foster’s mysterious ways don’t stop there. He also won’t divulge what his personal goals are.

“Can’t tell you yet,” he said. “It’s a secret. I’ll tell you when I graduate.”

That may not be a bad plan for a player that admitted he wasn’t pleased with how he handled the game mentally last season amid competition from fellow tailbacks LaMarcus Coker and Montario Hardesty.

“My mental game wasn’t there like it was before,” said Foster, who said he was thinking about making big runs too much. “As a running back and as a football player, you have to have a mindset and I didn’t have that. The mindset is physical, aggressive, anything goes. I lacked that.”

Off the field, Foster was arrested after a nightclub fight with two teammates in November and suspended for the first half of the Arkansas game. On the field, Foster averaged 3.5 yards per game carry in 2006 after averaging 4.8 in 2005.

“Maturity level is the thing when you talk about where Arian is,” running backs coach Kurt Roper said. “He’s been here a while now, and he’s one of the leaders of the group. He made a very conscious and direct decision to be a more focused, tougher-minded football player after the season he went through last year.”

That tougher mindset should payoff early. As part of a three-headed backfield once again, he’ll be fighting for playing time in preseason practice.

“I feel like we’re one of the best backfields in the nation,” Foster said. “I can say that with confidence.

They better be. UT’s running backs could be the key to UT’s the team’s offense this season as the Vols replace their top three receivers from 2006.

UT offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe studied the New Orleans Saints this offseason, in part to determine how best to utilize his backs. That could mean playing more than one at the same time and lining up any of the three at wide receiver.

“We were under Trooper Taylor at one point,” Foster said of UT’s one-time running backs coach who now coaches receivers. “He was a receivers coach so he taught us how to run some routes and stuff.”

Even though Foster can be somewhat coy when he discusses his goals, there’s no question they exist. And there’s no question they’re important — to Foster and the rest of the Vols.

“He has goals he wants to accomplish,” Roper said, “and I think you see him attacking those goals.”