Lots of offense in UT's first scrimmage

The offense struck early and often Saturday as Tennessee scrimmaged at Neyland Stadium on its first day in full pads.

Both quarterbacks, Jonathan Crompton and Nick Stephens, had valid reason to feel good about their work and sophomore tailback Tauren Poole stole the show.

Crompton, working mostly with the No. 1 offense, was 11 of 14 passing for 178 yards. He hit his first nine attempts and didn’t throw an incompletion until he worked with the No. 2 offense.

Stephens was 9-of-13 for 100 yards, mostly with the No. 2 offense.

Poole overshadowed celebrated freshmen tailbacks Bryce Brown and David Oku with three big plays.

He scored on a 20-yard screen pass from Crompton on the opening series against the No. 1 defense.

He later broke touchdown runs of 75 and 44 yards, in each case eluding non-scholarship defensive backs.

Brown scored on a 3-yard pitch play, showing good speed around the edge. Oku scored on a 3-yard scamper.

Crompton hit Brandon Warren for a 1-yard TD pass. Two plays earlier he had found Gerald Jones for 68 yards to the 2-yard line.

The only turnover was an interception off third-string quarterback Nick Lamaison by linebacker Jake Storey.

Daniel Lincoln hit his only field-goal attempt, from 47 yards.

All-American safety Eric Berry played only one series as a precaution.

The defense was missing two other potential starters because of injuries, linebacker Rico McCoy and cornerback Brent Vinson.

Corner Art Evans suffered a knee injury during the scrimmage but was walking under his own power with an ice pack on his left knee.

The defense did get one big stop when Shane Reveiz hit Oku in the backfield on fourth-and-goal at the 1.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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