Asked to evaluate Jonathan Crompton's performance on Saturday, Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer settled on "solid." Streaky might be another word that applies.
Tennessee's starting quarterback was more effective against UAB's defense, which dropped to dead last in Division I's Bowl Subdivision overall after surrendering 548 yards to the Vols in UT's 35-3 victory in Neyland Stadium.
But with No. 4 Florida heading to Knoxville on Saturday (TV: WVLT, 3:30 p.m.), the Vols will face a much stiffer test, and that means Crompton must be more consistent to give the Vols a shot at winning their SEC opener for the first time since 2004.
"I thought Jonathan made some plays yesterday," Fulmer said during his weekly teleconference Sunday evening. "He's still working at it. Inexperience shows up every now and then. I think a solid game would be the right word."
That was the case at times, especially early.
Crompton opened the game by completing six of eight passes for 119 yards and a pair of touchdown passes to Gerald Jones.
From there, though, he was just 8-of-15 for 67 yards and two interceptions on his next four drives before the Vols began to lean on the running game and pull away from the Blazers.
"All of us need to be more consistent," Fulmer said. "There were some really, really outstanding plays made by Jonathan and by our football team as well, but we've got to be more consistent at every position. The quarterback is the one that's most magnified. His is going to show up quite a bit more. He runs the show offensively. I hope all of us are more consistent."
Crompton, who finished the game 19-of-31 for 240 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, said he felt more comfortable than he did in a Sept. 1 loss at UCLA.
"I think I did OK at times," Crompton said following Saturday's game. "I felt more of a rhythm today."
Fulmer also wants to see Crompton take less time to throw the ball, which should result in less pressure.
"He'll get rid of the ball quicker," Fulmer said. "I can promise you he'll get rid of it quicker. He did a better job (Saturday), but that ball will get out. You can book it. He may throw it to me, but he's going to get it out of his hands."
Offensive coordinator Dave Clawson said Crompton must get better quickly if the Vols have a chance at upsetting Florida this week.
"(Crompton was) better, but it's also relative to who we played," Clawson said Saturday. "We're certainly very aware that it's got to get better for next week."
No Nametag Needed: Asked during his teleconference about Florida return specialist Brandon James, Fulmer said, "I know who Brandon James is, believe me."
James returned a punt 83 yards for a touchdown against the Vols last year in Gainesville.
"He's not the only one on their team that's capable of taking it the distance," Fulmer said. "We've got to make sure we do a fantastic job covering kicks and making it as hard on him as we can."
James ranks 14th nationally with a 20.6-yard average per punt return this season, including a 74-yard touchdown return against Miami. UT, meanwhile, ranks 118th in net punting, due in large part to a blocked punt return for touchdown at UCLA.
Foster On The Move: With 100 rushing yards Saturday, tailback Arian Foster has 2,589 career rushing yards and is just 19 yards shy of passing Jay Graham for sixth on UT's all-time list. That leaves Foster just 490 yards to become UT's all-time leading rusher, surpassing Travis Henry's 3,078.
With 122 all-purpose yards against UAB, Foster moved past James Stewart for third all-time with 3,374.
Still, Foster says records aren't on his mind.
"I only think about it in these interviews when it's brought up, honestly," Foster said after the game.
Injury Update: The Vols came out of UAB without any significant injuries.
Safety Demetrice Morley, however, appeared to miss a few tackles largely because of a cast on his injured right hand.
"He couldn't play (Saturday)," defensive coordinator John Chavis said. "He couldn't tackle. That's tough. Hopefully he'll be a week better next week."
Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.
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Comments » 396
coaltrain1300 writes:
1st!
Volsfan75 writes:
1st
LargeOrange writes:
3rd!!!
Volsfan75 writes:
ha! not quite.
TommyJack writes:
Solid. Hmmm
tnmantravel#531151 writes:
by saturday early evening Mr. Crompton will be a broken young man.
Volsfan75 writes:
Crompton will be OK. If he had played consistent football we would have beaten UAB 55-0. He has to play good for whole games instead of just stretches
coaltrain1300 writes:
Omg im finally a first! Id like to thank my sponsors coca-cola, taco bell, country fried chicken, bass pro shops,dodge, rocky boots, duke energy, bellsouth, hp pavillion, beretta usa, realtree camo, walmart, lipton ice tea, rainbow fertilizer, old spice soap, redman tobacco co, lysol, and little debbie for this opportunity to win this race. I couldn't have done it without you. I ve been workin hard for some time to have this honor and it wouldn't have been possible without your support.
Ok now that ive had my one moment of fame i'm going to read the story in search for hopes to beat Florida.take care!
tenuscvol writes:
Me thinks that if we lose to Florida (likely,unless Crompton plays his butt off and we win)otherwise I think it'll be time to start looking at the backup. He just seemed to have a swagger to him that is missing with Crompton...GoVols!
Volsfan75 writes:
This is my first time trying to be first and I finished second. I am 0-1 but hey, slow starts and mediocre records is considered the standard of excellence for Tennessee Football
not_on_the_rug_man writes:
Work like Heck
Quality opponent
Fine young men
Bow your neck
Take care of business in the classroom
Wide receiver screen
Cover 2
Solid performace
8-4
gobigorange writes:
The only (solid) I seen was; I have solid believe that Crrompton should not be the leader of this team on offense.I dont know who should be I hope they can find a way to get Stephens and Coleman some playing time.
coaltrain1300 writes:
ya know its almost like something outside of football is bothering crompton. family issue or team issue or something he just cant get his whole self in it. he has lost a swagger he developed in ow game. he lost momentum. im still rooting for him he'll snap and get agressive and make things happen sat. he is what we thought he was hes a lil side tracked right now or something he'll come around
Volsfan75 writes:
Fulmer and Chavis are the starting wideouts for next week's game. I bet Fulmer has good hands. Dave Clawson is going to sneak in a few plays at quarterback!
BigVolinCarolina writes:
I can't remember a game against Florida that I wasn't looking forward to watching. But, that time has arrived. I just don't see how we're going to beat UF unless they self-destruct.
I hope our Offense and Defense was intentionally "vanilla" the past 2 games. I'd like to think we have something up our sleeve for the Gators, but I'm not holding my breath.
jcrewvol writes:
big phil has always promoted from within his own program (coaches). now, it's starting to look like crompton is only starting b/c he's been at UT longer than stephens. big phil, promoting players is not a good strategy. if crompton throws 2 picks in this game, yank him and we'll roll the dice with stephens. p.s. run the rock!
not_on_the_rug_man writes:
Stay the course
We've got good momentum heading into Fla week
Nice tackle
Excellent Special Teams coverage
Darn penalties
7-5
ctownvol writes:
Fulmer said "he may throw it to me, but he's going to get it out of his hands."
Uh oh. I thought that was Ainge's favorite place to throw it. Seriously. I hope Crompton is "getting it" and can continue to get it. A great junior season and a Heisman senior campaign would be great actually. Hear Hear?
vtvol#210290 writes:
The "woe is me" whining by my fellow Vol fans is pathetic. Fulmer is great at "circling the wagons" when his team is down in the standings. I don't think that UTK showed anything on offense purposely. There were no G-Gun or wildberry packages. Against UAB it was straight up and down football; my best eleven against your best eleven and Tennessee ran the ball at will. I am looking forward to some sets and formations which we have not seen this year. The players still have to execute. They have the talent to prevail. It's Florida week folks! Let's rally 'round our boys to victory!
bluechip68 writes:
Talent to prevail? TN has had the "talent to prevail" for 15 years. It's utterly amazing we haven't won more SEC championships or national championships with the amount of talent this team has had. The difference is coaching.
Nobody does less with more than Fulmer.
not_on_the_rug_man writes:
Stay the course
3rd & 6
4th & 8
Nice punt
A punt is a good thing
Breakdown in coverage
We'll get that corrected
Field position
6-6
Go4Two writes:
Hire Skip
Why?
Go4Two writes:
Jon will be better each week adds more to his resume. Remember he's only had 4 starts takes a while to build confidents
Go4Two writes:
Vegas Line has Fla -7, sounds like most of the fans on this site will get rich.
whistlinwingman writes:
I guess if your are talking about "phooey", solid is better than being runny!
Sorry, frustrations are getting to me. As doubtful as it looks I hope like heck we can hang with Florida.
Reasonavol writes:
Until we get someone who can do something like this we are in trouble.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3vsfU...
Nuff said
not_on_the_rug_man writes:
Keep Phil
Why?
5-7
utkedu writes:
"Solid" would not be the word that I would use, but Crompton should not be the centerpiece of this offense. TN has three solid running backs, several good receivers (no Robert Meachum level receivers) and better than usual tight ends (despite the drops against UAB). Using the pass to set up the run as UT has this year just doesn't seem logical. Can UT stretch the field with this QB and these WRs? Maybe, but not without the threat of a consistent running game first.
marinevol writes:
Take away all the drops, and Crompton had a pretty good performance. The 3 drops by Stocker and the big one by Rogers would have killed us against a quality opponent. Hopefully, Warren will get more playing time.
Ironcity writes:
If Crompton continues to telegraph the snap counts it could be ugly. I am a disappointed that after four years at UT Crompton seems to make silly errors usually associated with Freshman like pulling away from the center before EVERY snap. He hold the ball to long and seems to have some sort of hitch in his throws. Hopefully we will run the ball a lot and use Crompton on ore design rolls and some play fakes. If we establish the run then maybe we can take advantage of Cromptons ability to throw the deep ball (which he really throws well).
el_duderino writes:
Hire_Skip_Holtz is my hero.... keep em comin buddy
volthrunthru#658770 writes:
Crompton threw INT's against the next to worst defense in D-1 football, and against a team that lost 59 to 0 to a traditional mid-major school.
He may indeed be throwing to Coach Fulmer, soon; unless he improves greatly.
He has been a disappointment, even though not many are surprised by the fact that he has.
ccram writes:
I think JC could be a little more consistent if Luke doesn't drop 3 balls and Rogers catches the pass thrown his way. Looks like JC could have been 23 of 31 if those were caught. One of the dropped passes by Luke might have went for 6. JC hit him in stride across the middle with no one around. That hurt. I'm not saying JC is playing great, but a little more help from his team mates could make him look better.
primetimevol writes:
Look, I know it's an unsurmountable task we have before us, but did we give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? I'm telling everybody I work with that I'm flying down from CT to my own funeral. When in reality, for us to have any chance in this game, we need to control the clock and put together some long drives. That means getting off the line, punching them in the mouth and then running the damn ball down Florida's throat! We don't need Crompton to be Superman. All we need is for him to make some quick timely throws to keep them off balance. Miami provided the blueprint on defense. The front 4 has got to pressure Tebow, and the secondary has got to play smart. Yes, all of these things are easier said then done, but stranger things have happened. Anybody remember 2001? Oh yeah, please mark us down as a 21 point underdog! There have many times when TN has been favored, that they have underperformed and not shown up. However, I'm hoping this will be one of those times that Fulmer surprises us all (Anybody remember Georgia and Arkansas last year)!
Outdors21 writes:
A) Crompton has poor throwing mechanics. And he cannot look off receivers.
B) Why isn't Warren getting the throws that went to Stocker? Warren is an elite-level TE. GET HIM THE BALL.
C) Still not impressed by the defensive line at all.
D) Chavis just doesn't know how to handle modern offensives.
utkedu writes:
Primetime, I agree with everything you are saying, except Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
volsbandit writes:
I'm afraid that we will be lambs led to the slaughterhouse Saturday. Mr. Fulmer, if you're reading this, PLEASE act like a head coach and take control of the game. Please over rule some of the calls that community college Clawson is making; it's killing us. It's fixing to be a l-o-n-g season if you don't. By the way, Mr. Overstreet, if you're also reading this, the fans had every right to boo at the end of the half after a performance like that. A fan goes to the game to cheer good things that happen, and boo the bad things. The Vols performance in the first half deserved every boo that was given against a 117th ranked defense. Please coach, take back your team. You're performance on the sideline against UAB was a start. Keep it up before it's too late.
primetimevol writes:
2000Volgrad I hope you know that was a reference to Animal House...
How about this everyone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqcSk7...
primetimevol writes:
Then maybe we'll get this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_lKiZ...
ANGRYWOLF writes:
The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, lol....
I don't see them winning without divine intervention...
utkedu writes:
Primetime - Woops, a little slow tonite. That's what I get for trying to do work, watch TV and post. I still agree with everything that you said.
ZacharyUTK writes:
UTKEDU -- nice Animal House quote.
Fulmer -- RUN THE BALL, RUN THE BALL, RUN THE BALL, RUN THE BALL, RUN THE BALL, RUN THE BALL, RUN THE BALL, RUN THE BALL, RUN THE BALL.
rblakeh writes:
@primetimevol
Fulmer can motivate. I hope he works on a good speech for this weeks game. Heck... maybe he can just do this one again...
volsbandit writes:
LACK OF DISCIPLINE!!!
MrBamSeydu writes:
Jon Crompton = 5* flop
Man, if only Terrell Pryor had committed to UT. He could be starting right now.
MrBamSeydu writes:
primetimevol: You are a retard=== "when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor".........
Are you kidding me? This is why people make fun of Tennesseans.
cdonsbach writes:
GO VOLS!
caskew#218608 writes:
Take a look at this: http://www.secsports.com/new/sports/f...
The leader in the Total Offense category may shock some of you.
caskew#218608 writes:
It looks like we're about as balanced as you can get between rushing and passing. 443-471 ypg
caskew#218608 writes:
yards, not ypg
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