Good viewing at Vols' camp

De'Anthony Curtis from Fairview High School in Camden, Ark. was certainly one of the headliners. The 5-foot-9, 204-pounder has several scholarship offers and is widely considered one of the top tailback prospects in the Southeast.

There were also plenty of offensive linemen in Saturday's camp, including Dallas Thomas from Istrouma High in Baton Rouge, La. and Andrew Wallace from Olympic High in Charlotte, N.C.

The Vols hosted two committed prospects for the 2008 class, fullback Ben Bartholomew from Montgomery Bell Academy and tight end/defensive end Aaron Douglas from Maryville.

UT also hosted some impressive rising juniors last week, headlined by Aubrey Phillips, an offensive lineman from Booker T. Washington in Memphis and tailback Desmond Scott from Hillside High in Durham, N.C.

Scott is one of the most highly coveted underclassmen in the region, if not the nation. He already has scholarship offers from several schools.

Charles Reaves from Stone Mountain (Ga.) High did not make the return trip to Knoxville on Saturday as expected. That would seem to put his recruitment on hold.

Reaves participated in UT's passing camp on June 10. Following the camp, he said he expected a scholarship offer was forthcoming from UT and said he could commit during the senior-to-be camp.

With his absence comes even more doubt that he will eventually be offered, commit or sign with UT.

Family Ties: Former UT players Bill Bates and Phil Stuart were more than just casual onlookers during Saturday's camp. Stuart, who was a UT offensive lineman from 1985-88, has a son that was participating in the camp. Alex Stuart is an offensive lineman at Oak Ridge.

Bates, who played defensive back at UT from 1979-82, was watching two sons/prospects: Graham and Hunter. Both play defensive back at Nease High in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

Graham, who is 6-foot and 185 pounds, has scholarship offers from Air Force, Northwestern and Texas El Paso. Hunter, who is 5-10 and 170 pounds, is receiving interest from several schools.

Bates, who coaches at Nease, said he'd like for his sons to play at UT but is even more interested in both playing at the same school.

Bates played a club record 15 years for the Dallas Cowboys as a defensive back and special teams performer.

Camping: UT's football program has never been better, if you judge it by summer camp attendance.

"We had the largest attendance of any camp ever," head coach Phillip Fulmer said during a brief interlude between workout sessions during Saturday's camp.

The weeklong event began on June 9 with the adidas passing camp, which hosted schools from several states, including Ohio, Florida and South Carolina.

Area schools fared well. Oak Ridge won the passing camp by beating Farragut. By making the finals, both teams win a trip to Los Angeles to compete in the national championships in July. Fulton made the semifinals.

Saturday's senior camp hosted representatives from almost every state, including California and Alaska.

Also At Camp: Among the other noteworthy visitors were offensive lineman Michael Spurlock from Riverdale in Murfreesboro, quarterback Aramis Hillary from Strom Thurmond High in Johnston, S.C., offensive tackle Alex Hurst from Arlington (Tenn.) High and defensive end Jomarcus Savage from J.O. Johnson in Huntsville, Ala.