Foster 'came to Tennessee to win,' will stay

Photo by Michael Patrick

Arian Foster

After a few sleepless nights, Tennessee’s laid-back tailback finally made a decision about his future with the Vols.

But at a Tuesday press conference in the Neyland-Thompson Sports Center, junior Arian Foster announced he would return to Tennessee — but not without a subtle bit of his trademark humor.

“With all said and done, I’ve decided to forgo,” Foster said with a slight pause, “my opportunity to play in the NFL and stay for my senior season.”

Foster, who this season became the 13th player in UT history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season, received a second-round grade from the NFL’s college advisory committee.

That projection gave Foster plenty to think about, he said, but ultimately a chance to play behind five returning starters on the offensive line and a goal of winning a championship helped tip the scales in favor of another year in Knoxville.

“The most important thing to me is I came to Tennessee to win,” Foster said. “I truly want to win the national championship. If I didn’t think the team coming back wasn’t qualified to do that, I probably wouldn’t be coming back, but I think we can.”

Another factor for Foster is the potential to set UT’s career rushing-yardage record.

After gaining 1,193 yards and scoring 12 touchdowns this season, the San Diego native is seventh on UT’s all-time list.

He trails Travis Henry, UT’s all-time leading rusher and the only player to top 3,000 career rushing yards, by just 684 yards.

“That had a little bit to do with it also,” Foster said. “There’s been so many great running backs who have come through this place — Jamal Lewis, Travis Stephens, Travis Henry, I could go on and on. To just have the opportunity to lead that pack, that’s special.”

Stan Drayton, hired last week as UT’s running backs coach after three seasons at Florida, also played a role in Foster’s decision to return for his final season, as did newly hired offensive coordinator Dave Clawson.

Foster said he spoke with both before reaching his final decision Monday, one day before the NFL’s deadline for underclassmen to declare for the draft.

“I told him what his strengths were, and I told him what his weaknesses were,” Drayton said. “I’ve been watching film on him, did some studying on him. I just told him what I thought.”

That included a frank discussion of the things Foster could do to improve himself — and possibly his draft status — in addition to helping the Vols win.

“I told him there were some things from a fundamentals standpoint, from a playing standpoint that I thought that he needed to be concentrating on studying defenses, be able to get himself in a situation as a running back to be able to anticipate situations a little bit more,” Drayton said. “There were times when I thought he looked hesitant on the football field last year. I thought those were things that were correctable things, that within a year not only will they improve his play but could potentially improve his draft status.”

That struck a chord with Foster, who wanted to see who the Vols brought in as running backs coach and coordinator before making his decision.

“I like that about him,” Foster said of Drayton. “He told me some of the flaws he sees in me as a running back, right off the bat. I don’t know this guy from a wet can of paint. I like that. I like a challenge, I like to be challenged.”

Foster said he’s hopeful he can improve on his second-round grade, but that he didn’t feel too far apart from some of the other elite juniors like Arkansas’ Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, Rutgers’ Ray Rice and Oregon’s Jonathan Stewart, who declared early.

Foster also thought his versatility (he caught 39 passes for 340 yards this season) and smarts helped earn him that second-round grade.

“You get to talking on the phone with some people, they have you right in that mix,” Foster said. “I believe I was right in that mix. I think when a fan looks at my play, they look at, ‘Oh he’s OK.’ But when a coach looks at my play, they see I don’t make mistakes. I know what’s going on on the field. I know what other people are doing on the field. It’s like having a second quarterback in the backfield, not to blow any smoke. But I know what I’m doing on the field.”

Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.