Florida Gators
An MRI conducted Tuesday on Tennessee quarterback Jonathan Crompton's right ankle revealed no structural or serious ligament damage.
Crompton returned to practice Wednesday, saying his ankle is merely sore and he expects to practice the remainder of the week leading up to Saturday's game against No. 4 Florida (TV: WVLT, 3:30 p.m.).
"It knew it was fine," Crompton said. "It was just sore. They wanted to make sure and let me know that it was (fine). I did what they asked. Having that insurance was good, but I knew that I was fine because I know my body."
On Tuesday his body - and likely UT's training staff - told him to rest.
UT coach Phillip Fulmer received a call from a trainer, who said Crompton reported swelling and soreness in the ankle Tuesday while the junior was in class, Fulmer said Wednesday.
"He's sitting in class and got up and his ankle's kind of sore, swelling," Fulmer said following Wednesday's practice. "Took care of it yesterday, and he did fine today. It was good to have him back out there."
Crompton, who wore a protective boot around the ankle when speaking with reporters early Wednesday afternoon before practice, spent at least the first four periods of practice Tuesday receiving extra treatment on his ankle. He said he was on the field for part of UT's Tuesday practice, however he did not physically participate in drills.
"The mental reps are just as big as the physical reps because you see the looks you're going against and kind of see why we do what we do," he said.
Crompton, who is 38-for-72 passing for 429 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions this season, has intermittently missed practice since August because of soreness in the ankle.
He missed both days of practice during an open date following UT's season-opening loss at UCLA on Sept. 1, although he appeared to be unaffected by the injury in UT's 35-3 victory over UAB on Saturday. Crompton said his ankle has not been a factor in either of Tennessee's first two games.
"I think you all are kind of making my ankle thing out to be more than it is, it's just sore," Crompton said. "It's not like it's really that bad of an injury. It just gets sore. So I took the day off (Tuesday) just to get some rehab time to make sure it wasn't sore today so I could go. During the games, it doesn't bother me at all. During practice, it doesn't bother me at all when I go."
When asked how he suffered the injury, Crompton said, "That I do not know."
Tailback Arian Foster said Wednesday that the offense must be prepared in case Crompton can't play.
"He's pretty tough, but you never know how someone's going to feel the day of the game, or if it gets tweaked, if it feels good," Foster said. "You're never going to know. As an offense, you have to be ready for whatever happens."
Should the ankle force Crompton out of Saturday's game, Tennessee would use some combination of backups Nick Stephens and B.J. Coleman under center.
Both saw their first game action against UAB. Stephens, a sophomore, completed one of two passes for 42 yards and scrambled once for 5 yards; Coleman, a redshirt freshman, did not attempt a pass.
Wide receiver Gerald Jones also is an option at quarterback, although likely on a limited basis.
The sophomore has taken several game snaps at quarterback over the last two seasons in the "G-Gun" package, all of which have resulted in handoffs or rushes. He completed a touchdown pass in UT's spring game, but he has yet to attempt a pass in a regular-season game.
Dave Hooker contributed to this report.
Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.
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Comments » 103
coaltrain1300 writes:
2nd
Txvol57 writes:
Can anyone say "pinky"
Silent_Fulmer writes:
CUE THE FOOLMER EXCUSE MACHINE, I smell contract extension!!!!!!
rblakeh writes:
@DC
What do you propose he says? "Ah yeah, I'm in terrible shape... I'll probably play on Saturday, but man, my ankle sure is sore..." Then everyone on this board would be blasting him for not being tough enough. He sucks it up and says that he is fine, and he gets blasted for that, too.
Rockytop4life writes:
DC,
U a gator fan but I feel u. John crompton talent equals no talent. U might b a undercover UT fan on this site. U on here more than me.U undercover or denail one of the two.
GO VOLS!!!!!
tripper writes:
DC
you are on every post in every article. why? and i don't get your analogy to seven heads? are you saying he is the devil; if so you should have included the 10 horns!
Rockytop4life writes:
I typed that wrong I don't feel u about being a gator fan. I feel u about crompton.
orangebloodgmc writes:
Crompton will have Gator poo all over his shoe this weekend from the butt kickin's he will be dealin out. Thank you, KNS, for providing this site for Tennessee fans. Geaux Vawls!
orangebloodgmc writes:
They used to be called the Florida Tors but Spurrier got the more descriptive part added on.
tripper writes:
You still didn't answer the question about your moronic statement about the 7 heads!
rblakeh writes:
@DC
What you propose is much more eloquent, but it's essentially what Crompton said, anyway. He's what, 21 or something? He's a qb, let him be arrogant and tough. I don't see any harm in handling it the way he did. You ask any other athlete how he is physically and you're going to get the same answer imo. Either way, probably none of this matters. As long as he can handle the snap and give the ball to Foster/Hardesty et al, I don't care :)
Rockytop4life writes:
Dc u will be MIA when we win Saturday.
tripper writes:
DC - I gues you are still googling to find the answer to my question! idiot !
redneckerson writes:
gotta call BS on this one. Starting qb doesn't miss any practice during gator week if something's not going on. He's practicing the "rest of the week" - yeah, Thursday and then Friday's walk-through. What's a mental rep? Can't tell how he did it??? "Be ready for whatever happens"! Protective boot for a "sore" ankle??? "You're never going to know" - the only fully truthful statement in this article.
hcjournals#206623 writes:
DC
Did you just call one of my Vol brothers an idiot? Be careful or we will have you removed............
Try us..................
I hate the Gators...............
Chomp..........
WeLoveTennesseeVols writes:
the Gators put on their pants just everyone else, they are not God.
tripper writes:
ease up HC - I called DC an idiot but thanks for covering my back chomp chomp
tripper writes:
evidently, WeLove, DC thinks we are Satan.
hcjournals#206623 writes:
Any time Tripper............
We stick together.........
tripper writes:
hc- DC is runnig from us, he's on the Adams article now!
IBleedOrange444 writes:
DC you punk azz gayter. It's pretty clear what's going on here and it's pretty clear that you don't get it. The only thing that Crompton's done wrong here is maybe not answer the media's question's very well. His ankle was sore and the UT trainers, coaches, etc... told him that he needed to get an MRI and to stay off of it until they got the results. He's just repeating what the coaches told him about the "mental reps" (which are at least better than nothing). Now the MRI comes back ok and this is him kind of telling everyone
"I told you so".
It's a really bad time for something like this and you're right about the live snaps, but I think that the staff would rather err on the side of caution than send an injured player out there when there's a possibility that the injury could be made much more severe.
Anyways, I'm glad to hear he's alright. I hope he goes out and has great practices the rest of the week and comes out and torches the Gayters all afternoon. UF can talk poop and doubt the Vols all they want, but they've still got to lace 'em up on Saturday. Don't be surprised if you see the Big Orange come out and wipe those poop talkin smiles right off of Spikes, Doe, Stamper, Dunlap, Major Wright, Cunningham, et al's faces! There'll be no quit in the Vols on Saturday. You can take that to the bank.
tripper writes:
Amen IBleed !!!
newtonrail writes:
I'm afraid this may be bad enough he'll be on the sideline, a la Ainge in LSU in 2006. And no one one outside of the coaches has any idea what to expect from Coleman or Stephens. Oh yeah DC, I can recommend several Croc sites, and get your John Adams mouth off Tennessee's......
bluetick writes:
I'd rather listen to DC than some of the so called 'vol fans' if that is what you call them. I have a hard time keeping up with all of the articles here this week BECAUSE I WORK.. not sure though how some of the gators seem to find their way to every column written and still find time to read their own.. must have nothing else to do. :-??
tripper writes:
bluetick- will you still listen to DC next week?
snafu14u#241639 writes:
Should have done a CAT scan on this guys brain. Interesting to see what would or would'nt be found.This is just amazing. Can't belive I'm reading this. bonzaivol
dvols writes:
see yall on saturday weaein ur jorts
BahamaVol writes:
first of all, what was he doing in class on game week...what a distraction...wasn't Beanie Wells' MRI negative? Time to man up JC!!!
ravensearay writes:
This is a planned distraction. And it's working.
Everyone is so caught up in the "Crompton ankle injury" that their not focussing on the real issues of the game. Defense wins championships!! Don't make any mistakes on offense, pound the rock, stay aggressive, Vols win!!!!!!!! I'm telling you.....Vegas knows something....Is there anyone here that thought TN would only be a 7 point dog to the Gators after how we started the season?? They want all the serious money to go on Florida and give up the points. I smell upset here big time. If only we can finish and not go in to a prevent.
nbt44 writes:
Bench Crompton and start Nick Stevens.
Crompton is another Joey Mathews. Mathews showed he couldn't cut the mustard and was benched after his first game.
Stevens can fire the ball, and can get yardage with his legs when need be. Crompton is a dud.
yeavols#228407 writes:
put some ice on it, take 2 aspirin, and we'll get back with you..Where's Nick?
TVT1 writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
leedsvol2007 writes:
Crompton has been chosen to play based on his performance in the spring and fall camps.
I liked what I saw from Stevens on Saturday but his performance was against a tired defense ranked 118th in the country.
I thought Crompton showed progress last Saturday. He threw the ball accurately and only had a couple of bad plays.
He has some things to work on but he appears to have a good arm and the confidence of his teammates. His performance the first two weeks to me looks very similar to the process Tee Martin went through in 98.
When Crompton came in for Ainge against LSU he looked terrific in the fourth quarter of that game. Later against Arkansas he wasn't nearly as effective.
Stevens looked great in his cameo but was not good enough in the spring and fall practices to come close to winning the job. He apparently is a work in progress.
It would appear that at present Crompton gives us the best chance to win and that we have a back-up that can play well if needed.
GoVols!
Volalumnus writes:
Where I come from they call this lieing.
Just resting soreness and getting an MRI are 2 different things.
I think too much credit is given for the integrity of our coaches when they just flat out lie.
It might be "part of the game" in regards to injuries but they still did it and shows you just can't take these guys at their word even if in the end it didn't change the status, because what they said and the why was a lie.
ThurmondEppy writes:
rockytop4life, why are you "feeling" on other dudes?
99gator writes:
since a bunch of animal house quotes were used yesterday.......
"remain calm. all is well." "ALL IS WELL!!!!!!"
now, he has an MRI done and they are seriously trying to play this off like it is a minor thing.
for tenn's sake, i hope this has no effect on his play or the outcome of the game. but, i have to believe this is a problem at least at a small level, if not more.
Volalumnus writes:
Even with the injury crompton could run all through our defense
dirtdobber1 writes:
DC FLORIDA- Just wait til basketball season!
DadwasaVol writes:
DCflorida - calm down a bit while on this site. 99gator shows how visitors can be respectful, and therefore welcome, here.
Waldorf writes:
So bad it needed an MRI?
We're back to 45-7.
Fire Fulmer.
Fire Hamilton.
wkjq#213863 writes:
i think dc and the Gators suck just about as bad as crompton.
auttat writes:
It will definitely be used as an excuse when WE LOSE!!!!!
GreerVol22 writes:
ninety something thousand chanting "Nick...Nick...Nick...Nick" could tell the tale on Saturday...Could he really play that much worse?
sampears writes:
Stay the course, work like heck, were kinda banged up right now, were putting in a whole new offense (yea right), playin a lot of young guys out there........sound familiar?
GOVOLS082859 writes:
DCflorida I kinda feel emphathy for you. If you had to only communicate with only reptile fans, that would limit you to about 175 that can read, and maybe 40 that have computers in the trailer parks across the vast sand beds of Florida.
Boring at best.
As old Charlie Pell used to say, FLA is the best team money can buy. If you guys win, maybe Tebow will give you a teabag, bwahahahahahah.
Concerned_Mother_Focker writes:
Crompton = pants Tebow = jorts
drwfocus writes:
Crompton is not the guy. Nick Stevens from Flower Mound Texas has been the best QB on the hill since he arrived 3 years ago. Don't believe it? - ask the players and the assistant coaches. Fulmer has always and will always play the senior guy rather than putting the best players on the field, i.e., Creer, et.al. That is the way he was raised under Dickey and Majors. Short of an injury we will not see Nick much until 2010. Then we will see B.J. in 2011 even if he improves and is better than Nick in 2010.
conchybong writes:
I believe Compton will throw at least 3 picks against the Gators.After his poor play in the UCLA game this kid is gonna have a very bad day Saturday.As for the UT defense,not being able to stop a 3rd string UCLA QB,what exactly do you think the Heisman trophy winner is gonna do.This game will be a Rockyflop blowout.
dvols writes:
nothing worse than gator fans that live in tennessee! anybody know what i mean. little thug rats!
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Could we please, Phil, turn to the business at hand? The whole world knows Crompton has a sore ankle.
The business of facing a top 5 team in Neyland. Something we don't have a very good track record against.
Getting antsy facing the Gators with a coach with a 51% record against the current SEC coaches.
Lordy, let us come out and play the game of the decade or something. Don't let the Pride of the Southland, do "Eve of Destruction" pregame.
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