Fulmer, Danielson disagree ... somewhat

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Coach Fulmer talks about starting the season 1-2 and how to overcome the mistakes they've made as an organization. Watch »

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Coach Fulmer addresses the topic of negative comments regarding his coaching and the Vols' playing ability following the loss to Florida and the effects that it has on the players. Watch »

Tennessee's football team responded to criticism of a different sort during the weekly press conference on Tuesday.

This time, it came from CBS analyst Gary Danielson, who said UT didn't have enough star power on offense during the broadcast of last Saturday's 30-6 loss to Florida.

Sophomore receiver Gerald Jones disagreed, sort of.

Initially, Jones pointed out that tailback Arian Foster was projected to be a second-round pick by the NFL Draft Advisory Board in January.

Then Jones began to think.

"Then again he's kind of right," Jones said of Danielson. "We don't have stars. Sometimes that's good for a team. We have a team. That's what you need to win."

"As long as we've got a lot of people that can get together and get the job done, that's fine with us."

Jones also maintained that there are plenty of future NFL players on UT's roster.

UT coach Phillip Fulmer said he respected Danielson, but disagreed with the former Purdue standout who played 13 years as an NFL quarterback.

"I would disagree to some significant extent that we don't have playmakers," Fulmer said. ". . . It's not like we're a bunch of non-athletic guys out there.

"Would Robert Meachem make a difference in this team? He'd make a difference in any team at any level wherever he is, or Donte' Stallworth. But I think those guys are pretty darn good that are out there."

Danielson also claimed that UT quarterback Jonathan Crompton is not ready to win a championship.

"Who knows that yet?" Fulmer rebutted. "We're very early into the season and Jonathan's made a lot of good plays for us.

"Does he need to continue to improve like the rest of our team? Yes. He needs to continue to improve."

Jones Wants to Throw: Jones, who saw six snaps at quarterback against Florida, says the Vols need to throw the ball out of the G-Gun package to keep defenses honest.

"I don't think it can work if we don't at least throw one or two passes out of it," Jones said. "We have plays where I pass the ball, but just got to have confidence in me passing it.

"I've got to pass the ball to keep them honest, otherwise they're going to stack eight men, nine men in the box and just bring it. We got to keep defenses honest."

Jones, who earned player of the year honors in Oklahoma as a high school quarterback, completed a touchdown pass out of the G-Gun in UT's spring game.

He has yet to throw a pass in a game at UT.

Cunningham the Guy: After saying he'd look at walk-ons at punter this week in practice, Fulmer hinted that Chad Cunningham would likely start Saturday against Auburn.

"We'll see," Fulmer said. "I'm not sure this a game to take a young man that's walked on to your program and never been in a game and say go out there and punt. But we'll see what happens. "

Cunningham has started all three games this season while Britton Colquitt serves a suspension for an offseason arrest.

Not Tight: Fulmer backed off a postgame statement after the Florida loss in which he speculated that his team was uptight before the game.

"I said that kind of in emotion," Fulmer said. "Everything was running through my mind. We had good practices. Thursday was good and loose. Everybody was fine.

"I didn't feel any of that in the pregame. When we hit the thing it was a lot of energy and emotion when we came out of that tunnel. I probably overspoke there."

Being Mindful: Jones said UT's offense has the right mindset despite a myriad of problems in its first three games. But Jones admitted that a mistake can affect the Vols' outlook.

"You see our head get down," Jones said. "It's like, 'Oh, Lord, here we go again.' That's not the attitude we need."

Jones said the Vols are done making mistakes on offense.

"I think we're going to make a statement that we're not going to beat ourselves anymore," he said. "We could be 3-0 right now if we just do the right things.

"It's going to be a lot more focused during the week."

Injury Report: Defensive back DeAngelo Willingham said his sore left index finger didn't affect him against Florida.

"I never thought about the finger," the senior said.

That's saying something.

Jones suffered a compound dislocation while tipping a pass in practice last week that left his bone exposed and his finger hanging on by skin and tendons.

Drew Edwards contributed to this report.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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