QB a disruption for Vols? Bring it on

Video

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 »

Tennessee's coaches aren't worried about upsetting their offensive rhythm by opening up a quarterback competition.

After all, that's the problem.

"It's not like we're in a rhythm now so it's not like you're disrupting something that's going really well," offensive coordinator Dave Clawson said during Tuesday's weekly press conference. "We need a disruption right now.

"We need a spark and we need to get things going."

Therefore the Vols will open up a quarterback competition between Jonathan Crompton and Nick Stephens this week as they prepare to play host to Northern Illinois on Saturday.

Clawson admitted that such a drastic practice change - which began on Tuesday - has its challenges.

Cadences vary. Receivers have to adjust to different passes. Tailbacks have to expect variations in how they're handed the ball.

Even junior center Josh McNeil knows that snapping the ball to two different sets of hands can be an issue.

"Quarterbacks put their hands under there different sometimes," McNeil said. "You've just got to make sure that ball security is the most important thing.

"You can't take that for granted."

Injury Report: Senior middle linebacker Ellix Wilson seemed optimistic he could play against Northern Illinois. Wilson suffered a dislocated right shoulder last week against Auburn.

"They just popped it right back in," Wilson said.

Saturday wasn't the first time Wilson suffered that type injury.

"It happened all the time in high school so it wasn't a big deal," said Wilson, who was limited in Tuesday's practice.

Former Farragut High School star Nick Reveiz has been UT's second-string middle linebacker throughout the season, although Wilson has taken the majority of snaps.

"Nick's done a great job," defensive coordinator John Chavis said. "He's taken advantage of his opportunities.

"We've kind of rode Ellix as far as we can go, but I feel comfortable with Nick being in the game."

To provide more options, Chavis said sophomore reserve outside linebacker LaMarcus Thompson has been moved to the middle.

"LaMarcus is going to move in and get some work inside to create some more depth there," Chavis said. "That's going to be important for us.

"If we need to move Rico McCoy inside," Chavis said, "we've worked him some there."

If UT's coaches were forced to play McCoy inside, that could mean more playing time for backup sophomore Savion Frazier. Reserve Herman Lathers is another possibility.

"I fully expect Ellix to play this week," Chavis said. "I think he'll be fine to go, but we're going to have some answers in case he can't."

Assistant coach Steve Caldwell said he hasn't decided which sophomore defensive end will play on the left side if junior Wes Brown can't go. Brown left the Auburn game, his latest setback in a season-long battle with a sore right knee.

Caldwell said he'd either play Ben Martin or Chris Walker. Martin has typically played on the right side this season. Walker has manned most of his time at left end.

Junior tight end Jeff Cottam returned to practice Tuesday, his first action since undergoing back surgery in August. Cottam was wearing a green, non-contact jersey.

"Jeff's the pounder at the point of attack that can do some things in the passing game," tight ends coach Jason Michael said.

Junior offensive guard Vladimir Richard did not practice Tuesday. Richard has been hampered by a sore knee. He was limited throughout practice last week before playing at Auburn.

Sidelined?: Clawson said he's considered moving from the press box to the sidelines during games.

"When you're playing like we're playing, you think of everything," Clawson said. "I thought of coming down. But I'm going to hold off on that this week.

"I'm going to stay in the box. Being able to see things (from the press box) and communicate, that is important."

Completely Dominant: Chavis, who was sitting in for head coach Phillip Fulmer during Tuesday's weekly press conference, didn't mince words about his defense's dominant performance last Saturday.

"We were- really for the first time - complete in terms of our coverage and our pressure up front being in kilter," Chavis said.

Drew Edwards contributed to this report.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
Want to use this article? Click here for options!