Audio
Tennessee Stat Book
Event Details
- What: Tennessee at Kentucky
- When: Saturday, Nov. 24, 2007, 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
- Where: Commonwealth Stadium
- Cost: Not available
- Age limit: All ages
Since Tennessee began practicing on Sunday night following a loss to Alabama more than a month ago, Monday has become a day of rest for the Volunteers.
These days, they can certainly use one.
Heading into Saturday's game at Kentucky (TV: WVLT, 1:30 p.m.) with a trip to the SEC championship game hanging in the balance, 19th-ranked Tennessee expects to have all of its significant players ready to go.
Only some will be a little more banged up than others.
The list of bumps, bruises, nicks, sprains and strains after 11 football games is long.
But none is enough to keep anyone off the field.
That was the case Saturday, when Tennessee eked out a 25-24 victory over Vanderbilt.
"We've got a laundry list of guys, like everybody else. That's Southeastern Conference football," UT coach Phillip Fulmer said. "Everybody else in this league has guys that have different things. We've pushed through it."
An abbreviated version of that laundry list reads something like this:
n Defensive end Xavier Mitchell returned to the game shortly after suffering a shoulder stinger.
n Defensive tackle Demonte' Bolden played as long as he could against the Commodores with an injured toe.
n Defensive tackle Walter Fisher played for the final three quarters after spraining a ligament in his right knee during the first quarter.
n Wide receiver Austin Rogers and cornerback Brent Vinson have both struggled with shoulder injuries.
n Wide receiver Lucas Taylor has played with a steel plate in his shoe for the last four weeks as he deals with turf toe.
And then there's offensive lineman Ramon Foster.
During pregame warm-ups Saturday, Foster broke his right thumb when it got pinned between his helmet and that of defensive end Wes Brown.
Foster knew immediately the thumb was broken, but he never dreamed of missing a snap.
"I knew we had to win this game," he said. "It's playoff time now. Had to get a win in. Needed to be out there."
So while his senior teammates were being introduced one-by-one for the their final game in Neyland Stadium, UT's training staff put a cast on Foster's hand.
It's not even the only cast a Vols player played with Saturday.
Tight end Brad Cottam has played the last two weeks with a small cast protecting his injured left wrist.
"Our team has some toughness about it," Fulmer said. "I hope it's passed down to the younger guys as they see it. They know there's a difference between pain and injury. And you try to play with the pain.
"Over the years we've done a pretty good job of (managing injuries). Our training staff's very good; our doctors are very good. We're not going to put a young man out there that's at risk in any way, but they're going to try and go."
Foster learned that mentality from former UT All-American left tackle Arron Sears, who played several games last season with assorted injuries.
"To see the injuries Arron had went through and the stuff he played through," Foster said. "Having a broken thumb, I knew I was going to play through it. The fact of the stuff Arron had going on last year. He actually showed me how to play through a bunch of stuff."
Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.
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Comments » 22
tnfanincali writes:
Yeah!!! GO VOLS! we are going to win the next three games!!! count on it.
alfrizzle097 writes:
Seems to me I can remember multiple times that a player shouldn't have been on the field but played anyway. Not a good job of looking out for the players.
MariettaVol writes:
Can you be more specific Alfrizzle or are you just criticizing for the sake of criticizing?
GreerVol22 writes:
These guys will play through their physical pain, its their mental state that everyone questions. Does the year of the YoYo continue? Is this an upswing week or another Bama week?
Physically, the team is where it is and coaches can't improve that by Saturday, but can they find a way to put fire in their belly? This game will be won based on who wants it more. How bad do you want a piece of LSU boys? Huh?
bigbluevol writes:
That's the point of the article, sanders. They are sucking it up and playing.
DSaVol writes:
Ahhh..here come the pre-emptive strike excuses. You know, just in case. Funny how when teams have guys play with injuries and lose, it's because "we're beat up, etc etc" but when they play and win they are warriors and courageous, etc etc. Seems the outcome shouldn't dictate how that's viewed.
jweaver3#395614 writes:
DSaVol, I wish you would change your name, I don't want people to know you live in San Antonio.
Vol Fans there are true Vol fans in the Alamo city not all are idiots!!!
GO VOLS
TX VOLSFAN
BEAT THE KITTYS
thevol writes:
DSA- Only someone, such as yourself, with a loser mentality would draw that conclusion from this article. Go back in your hole. Thanks.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
"Vols are slowed,et al" - naw, we were slow on defense before the season. Now we may be hurt or nicked up, but we couldn't get much slower at LB! DDbs are fast, but big gap 6-11 yds downfield hurts us bad (remember Bama)! I can't watch Woodson wearing this area out Saturday if we don't adjust! Some folks think the last adjustment we ever made was to let our belt out! Maybe the Lord will let us keep stumbling toward Atl! Underdog, huh, well let's show them how a underdog wins at Commonwealth! Don't know how, but Vols roll 34-17!
yeavols#228407 writes:
Jessie Palmer former QB turned ESPN OPINION MAKER thinks Kentucky will win f or various reasons, Georgia believes they are going to the SEC championship game in 2 weeks because they deserve to be there, Others think VOLS don't deserve to go because everyone else helped them, lastly, Kentucky would love nothing better than to take out 20 years of frustration and spoil Tennessee's hopes at Atlanta. With all this going on, it should be enough motivation to get any cripple dressed in orange onto the field. I am mad as hell now, GO VOLS..SHOW em what you got..
GreeneVol writes:
To win out, Vol defense must be 'Nasty & Mean' - as in the hit Eric Berry put on Earl Bennett & knocked him out of the game. Don't know if he was out of the game for good or not, but it sure was a mean lick!
Dem Wildcats are banged up too...like everyone in the country is this year...we're no doubt deeper...just bring the heart and the 'Nasty & Mean' sauce & we'll win the battle of attrition.
asleep#212036 writes:
I real tired of the media referring to us as possibly getting to Atlanta with "help". What is that? Did someone help us beat Georgia and Arkansas? Did some outside force help us make gutty and very improbably last minute pushes against SC or Vandy? If we beat Kentucky on Saturday, who helped us there? If we win, we are the East champs because we won the games we had to win and the other contenders didn't, period. Our losses, as glorious and well-documented as they were, don't matter now. Help - my a**! If we win Saturday, we deserve the East as much as Florida deserved it last year or Georgia the year before. We should never make excuses for a loss, nor should we ever make excuses for a win. Last man standing gets the prize in this business and right now, that's us. One game at a time boys. Go Vols!!!
UT_Tim writes:
It’s football, when don’t you play hurt and in pain?
UltraVolDavid writes:
Well said, asleep. Kind of a pointless article, though.
Volchaz writes:
Sounds like sour grapes for Jesse. Sounds like Florida is a bit peaved they aren't being talked about, as UGA and UT are. The red-headed step child this year.
zbbb10#212690 writes:
asleep, i like u. GO BIG ORANGE! c u n the N.O. sugar vols 07
DennisVols writes:
Week 13 approaches and what have we found out about these Vols?
They can come back from big loses, and big points. They are in place to win the eastern division of one of, if not the toughest conferences in the country. And well....... see for yourself
http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/Denn...
1974Vol writes:
Stumblin',bumblin', Chris Burmenlan' towards Atlanta! Just beat the Cats! All I want for Christmas is an SEC Chanpionship!
gohawks1 writes:
So is the game at 12:30 like the govolsxtra homepage states, or is it at 1:30 like this article says?
gohawks1 writes:
Atta boy, asleep! My sentiments exactly. Go Vols!
pdhuff#552644 writes:
IPOrange, the game will be when Phil gets thru eating! Go Vols!
invisiblekid writes:
I am kind of ashamed of you guys for spending any time discussing the opinion of Jesse Palmer. He is yet another in a long line of marginally talented, pretty-boy, talking-head ex QB's that ESPN has trotted out over the years. Of course, anything is better than Lou Doltz. BTW, nice post asleep, the only thing that matters is the score at the end of the game and who has the most wins at the end of the season. I do believe there is still plenty of room for improvement from the Vols, but this year has proven you take a win any way you can get it.
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