Ball security issues

Toney Williams broke free down the sideline. Tauren Poole juked his way into the end zone. Montario Hardesty lowered his head and punched the ball across the goal line.

But Tennessee's tailbacks - and much of the offense - didn't exactly leave Neyland Stadium grinning from ear to ear following a Saturday afternoon scrimmage.

Four fumbles and an interception have a way of doing that.

"I know they feel like crap right now, but not as bad as I do," offensive coordinator Jim Chaney said. "At the end of the day, we'll get better. We'll get that cleaned up.

"Sometimes turnovers are a lot of mysterious things, and ultimately they're horrible. But their effort level is fine. What we've got to do is become a smarter, technically sound football team."

Most of the miscues came in fairly quick succession at the beginning of Saturday's 84-play scrimmage.

On UT's first series, quarterback Jonathan Crompton and Poole fumbled an exchange that linebacker Nick Reveiz scooped up, killing a drive at the defense's 29-yard line.

The first-team offense's second drive ended when Crompton fell on the ball on third down after end Chris Walker broke loose for the sack and forced fumble.

A lengthy drive led by B.J. Coleman ended when cornerback Dennis Rogan jarred the ball loose from receiver Tyler Maples.

Later, Poole fumbled the ball out of bounds at the end of 19-yard run.

"You look at what we did on offense today, and we stopped ourselves three times," running backs coach Eddie Gran said. "You can't do that. If we stop that, then we continue those other drives and it would have been an unbelievable day. But it wasn't because of those mistakes, and we've got to eliminate them."

But as is usually the case during spring practice, turnovers cut both ways. While the offense bemoaned its ball security issues, UT's defense was pleased with its ability to knock the ball loose.

"That's something we strive for every day in practice," said linebacker Rico McCoy, whose six tackles were second only to fellow linebacker Herman Lathers' seven stops. "That's something we talk about every day before we go practice - turnovers, strip, rake the ball out. Our No. 1 key is get the ball. Get off the field, get the ball. I can see it happening in scrimmages."

Defensive line coach Ed Orgeron particularly liked what he saw on Walker's sack and forced fumble.

"That's the best play in football," he said. "We drilled it every day. You create habits and you play that way. That's the way we coach."

If there's a silver lining for the offense, it's that players bounced back from their earlier mistakes.

Despite being a part of two fumbles, Poole rushed for 81 yards on 14 carries, including runs of 21, 19 and 16 yards. The latter went for Poole's only touchdown of the day - and it came after his earlier mistakes.

"What he did is he came back after that second one and made three big-time plays," Gran said. "That's what you're looking for, for somebody to recover."

Williams, an early enrollee, took advantage of increased carries after Lennon Creer left the team earlier in the week.

Williams' first carry went for 42 yards and he added touchdown runs of 4 and 2 yards. All told, the true freshman had 84 yards on 14 carries.

Hardesty, who occupies the top spot on the tailback depth chart, Gran said, had 29 yards and a touchdown on just 10 carries.

"We did not run Hardesty as much today just because he's had a lot of work and feel good with where he's at," UT coach Lane Kiffin said. "Just wanted to see the other guys."

UT's quarterbacks had mixed results, too.

Coleman led the way with 112 yards on 17-for-22 passing. Crompton, meanwhile, was 9-for-16 for 90 yards and an interception. Nick Stephens (wrist) did not participate in the scrimmage.

Crompton's interception came when cornerback C.J. Fleming nabbed an underthrown ball intended for Gerald Jones, who finished with just one catch.

"I know I underthrew him," Crompton said. "I've got to get back and watch the film and see if anything mechanically was there. I don't really know right now."

On his only series after the interception, Crompton guided the Vols into field-goal range, completing two of his three attempts for 31 yards.

Most of Coleman's and Crompton's passes were shorter throws, largely because downfield throws weren't a point of emphasis on Saturday.

What will continue to be emphasized, though, is taking care of the football on offense, even if that means the defense is forcing turnovers.

"It's great to see our defense responding," Kiffin said. "Unfortunately, our backs aren't understanding what it takes. We'll keep sitting them and putting the next guy in and figure out who's going to protect the ball because that's more important than who makes the big runs at times.

"Everything our program's about is taking care of (the football)."

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

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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