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Big Orange bon voyage
Pads packed, players pumped as Vols head to SEC Championship
University of Tennessee football equipment managers Tommy Phillips, left, and Chris Woolsey load a custom tractor-trailer with gear Thursday for the trip to the Southeastern Conference Championship game in Atlanta.
University of Tennessee football equipment manager Tyler Roberts walks past a custom tractor-trailer adorned with billboard-size photos of UT football and logos. The team’s gear was being loaded Thursday for today’s send-off to Atlanta for Saturday’s Southeastern Conference Championship game.
University of Tennessee football equipment manager Tommy Phillips checks off items on a list in the back of a tractor-trailer Thursday while loading gear for this weekend’s trip to the SEC Championship in Atlanta. Over the years, UT equipment managers have signed their names on the trailer’s interior wall.
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The other students call him "Alaska," and that's fine with Paul Hufford.
" 'Alaska' has been good luck for UT," said the exchange student from the University of Alaska, who hasn't missed a University of Tennessee home game this year.
Hufford, a senior from Anchorage, hopes he's good luck Saturday when the Vols play the Louisiana State University Tigers for the SEC Championship in Atlanta.
"I've actually been a Vol fan since I was a little kid," said Hufford, who was home-schooled way up north. "I think it started with the checkerboard end zone, but also the flashy colors - the orange and white."
Students will see off the Vols today when the Orange Nation, a UT student pep organization, gathers on Johnny Majors Drive between Stokely Athletics Center and the Neyland-Thompson Sports Center.
"We're gonna have a huge blowout," said Samantha Preshong, a senior pre-law major and president of the Orange Nation. "We're going to have a pep rally for the team as we send them off to clinch the championship."
The send-off is open to the public and scheduled noon-12:45 p.m. today.
There won't be a "Big Orange Tailgate Tour" in Atlanta this weekend, but the University of Tennessee Alumni Association is endorsing SEC FanFare at the Georgia World Congress Center, 1-9 p.m. today and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. It's food, it's fun, and it's games for the kids, said Kris Phillips, UT alumni program director.
The Tyson Alumni Center on the Knoxville campus has fielded a steady stream of phone calls and e-mails asking about tickets and tours. "Do you have tickets?" alumni ask. "The answer is 'No,' " Phillips said.
Hufford said he only recently got a ticket through a fellow student, and he's planning on making a weekend of it. This is what his semester has been about at UT. He does well with his studies, but he said he came to Knoxville for a season of Vols football.
"I'm not sure where I'm sitting, but I'll be there," Hufford said. "That's what matters."
Darren Dunlap may be reached at 865-342-6334.
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