Wanted: Clear-cut starter

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Nick Stephens comes from a small town in Texas. He's played football since the 7th grade. However, the sophomore that is a contender for the starting quarterback position at the University of Tennessee had only one year of varsity football in high school before coming to UT. Watch »

From the shoulders down, Nick Stephens and Jonathan Crompton are quite similar quarterbacks.

So as the two battle for Tennessee's starting job Saturday against Northern Illinois (TV: Pay-per-view, 7 p.m.), the competition will have a lot to do with what's going on between the ears.

"It's a legitimate competition for the number one position," UT coach Phillip Fulmer said. "Because physically they both can throw the football, it's the mental part of the game and how they compete."

Stephens said that's precisely where's he improved most since the season began.

"Just being smart and knowing the playbook even more," said Stephens, who was 1-for-2 with a 42-yard completion to tight end Brandon Warren against UAB in the only game action of his career. "You can always get better every day, whether it's checking down quicker (from the primary receiver) or getting the ball out of your hands faster or being smarter with the football."

Speaking to the Knoxville Quarterback Club on Monday, UT offensive coordinator Dave Clawson said Stephens has a quick release and called the third-year sophomore a "gun slinger."

According to coaches, Crompton has performed well in practice. Carrying that over to games has been a problem.

Crompton ranks last in the SEC in passing efficiency among the 14 quarterbacks who meet the NCAA's ranking requirements. He's also outside the top-100-rated passers in the country after completing eight of his 23 passes against Auburn for 67 yards.

Saturday's loss marked the first time in his five games as a starter that Crompton hadn't thrown an interception. However his completion percentage (34.8 percent) was the lowest of his career aside from a 0-for-4 performance in mop-up duty against Vanderbilt in 2006. It also was the fourth time in the six games in which he's taken the majority of snaps that Crompton failed to complete at least half his passes.

Several times against Auburn, Crompton was out of sync with receivers. While it's not all Crompton's fault, Fulmer said, a lot of the miscommunications stem from the junior's difficulty finding anyone but the primary receiver.

"One was a read-route that was misread," Fulmer said. "A couple of them were balls he threw away not to give up a sack. A couple of them were just not good throws or not finding the second and third receiver - second receiver in most cases.

"He wasn't finding his second receiver very well and when he did, he didn't throw it as accurately as we would like to have him throw. That's where we are."

Following Sunday night's practice, Crompton did not elaborate on his play much more than he did after the game Saturday, when he repeatedly said he needed to watch film before evaluating his performance.

"Obviously we didn't win the game, so it wasn't good enough," he said Sunday when asked to evaluate his performance against Auburn. "That's pretty much all there is to it."

Crompton was similarly vague when asked if he missed secondary receivers at times against the Tigers.

"It all depends on the situation - the down and distance, the pressure, something like that," he said. "It all depends on that."

Tennessee's hopes for salvaging the season depend largely on improved play from the quarterback. After Saturday's game, the Vols travel to No. 11 Georgia and host Mississippi State and No. 2 Alabama before playing at South Carolina on Nov. 1.

Regardless of who the starter is this week, both will play. Receiver Gerald Jones, who should see some extended time at quarterback this week in UT's G-Gun package, said the offense will be behind whoever is under center.

"Whoever Coach decides to put out there at quarterback, we're going to ride with him to the end, until the wheels fall off," Jones said. "I've got all the confidence in Nick, B.J. (Coleman) and Crompton. It don't matter who's out there, we're going to play our hearts out."

But after juggling two quarterbacks for much of the 2005 season, Fulmer doesn't want this competition to drag on any longer than it must.

"Hopefully we'll come up with a clear-cut starter," Fulmer said. "Both of them will play some. We may make an evaluation off of that. Really neither one of those guys in 2005 just took the job, either. Hopefully one of these guys will."

Jesse Smithey contributed to this report.

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