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.
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Comments » 33
mpm80#1357758 writes:
cool
littleorange writes:
A real confidence boost for the offense!
TnScooby writes:
Sounds pretty goos so far.........
DooleyBall2012 writes:
I expected our defense to be ahead of the offense at this point of the season.
TnScooby writes:
good even
vol4gzus writes:
Way to go Shane! Showem what heart and Tennessee pride translate to on the field....a player with higher credentials than you being thwarted by your desire for excellence!
flytnn writes:
OH MY GOODNESS!!! I can smell it in the air...
Sounds like the QB's had a great day. Sounds like something that they needed from the week they have had. We will probably be rotating all four backs throughout the games! What a nightmare for the opposing defenses!
28 days and counting!
volman91 writes:
Time to forget the past!! This is our TEAM lets show these boys we are behind them. ALL OF THEM.
Go VOLS!!!!
TSNSD4UT writes:
Good to here the offence lookin better today realy good to here.
TSNSD4UT writes:
oops offense
Coach_Joe writes:
The scary thing is that the defense gave up big yardage on the ground. I know a lot of them were 2nd stringers, but still. If everyone remembers Tampa last year their defense gave up a lot of yards on the ground later in the season.
Glad Monte's here, but still worried about that.
Volstate writes:
Makes one wonder if the defense didn't slack off a little "in secret" to try and give the offenive side of the ball a little confidence. Food for thought...
tngivem6 writes:
4 RBS for 4 qrts?!?!?..sounds good to me.
Fresh legs ..pound the rock, control the clock, keep our defense fresh, creating turnovers..if UT can keep the game close and wear down opp. D..we may shock a few teams on the road.
Love our home schedule...
NoMoreWooAfterGoodOleRockyTop writes:
Everybody needs to calm down. We will suck this year and next. Then CLK and Co. will get this thing turned around. CFP ran this program into the ground and almost put us 6' under. Thank you Hammy for at least giving us all hope that this nightmare may finally end....someday.
Waldorf writes:
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
WESTHIGHLB96 writes:
defense has been dominating all this time it is going to be the strength of the the team i bet monte put a muzzle on his defense so the offense can get some things done just like he did in the o and w game
txvolsfan writes:
You are dead wrong about it taking 2 years!!!
Greer_Vol_22 writes:
Coach, not familiar with the Tampa 2 defense? It gives up a lot of yards between the 20's....always has. Its strenghts are built around excellent corners and safeties that allow LB's and ends to run blitz and while they cover routes that are much shorter and easier to defend. Check out the number of field goal attempts against Tampa....even if you make 'em its hrd to win kicking FG's.
halloffamebowler writes:
It was really good to here?{hear}.
mdvol writes:
Yep. Was time for a change but I respect Fulmer 100%.
Waldorf writes:
I'd dare say Andy Holt, Joe Johnson, and a few others like them have done more for UT than Foolmore.
I'm sorry, a lot has happened in the last 11 years and I've forgotten all he did from 92-98. I apologize.
papavol writes:
Montario Hardesty anyone??
writer#358485 writes:
I too am worried about the defense. Defense wins championships. Not sure how well a pro-style defense will do when it runs up against some of the uniquely college offenses out there. And, of course, if our pro-style offense ate it up like in this scrimage, we might be in a lot of shoot-outs, not a good place to be. But then we had a very good defense last year, so maybe Monte was cutting the offense some slack. Can't wait for Sept 5, I think we may surprise some people. Go Vols!
PHIVOL writes:
Let's be honest. This staff is smart enough...so smart that there is no way that anything is revealed in this scrimmage. We won't even see our playbook on both sides of the ball until the UCLA game...if then.
writer#358485 writes:
Good thought--you are right. It's very early, we really won't know what we've got until about Sept. 19. There's where I think some people might be surprised at what we do have. I stand corrected--to early to be making judgments.
writer#358485 writes:
Should have written "too" early.
writer#358485 writes:
I am happy. I was a Fulmer fan. Now I'm a Kiffen fan. I'm an Orange-bleeding VOL fan and have been since Gen. Neyland--yeah, I'm that old. Let's get it on and show all the prognisticators that two teams get on the field and no game should be considered an automatic loss! We're the Vols. We'll come to play. There's no one on our schedule we can't potentially beat. We didn't start playing this game recently. Tradition goes a long ways. Go Vols.
VolFanNC writes:
Good to see the O clicking....Don't get too worried about the D, EB, Rico, Wes Brown, Vinson, were all sitting out most of the day....
Vol_FAN_atic writes:
I'm not certain about what type of defense Monte is running. I do know this, none of you "KNOW" if Monte is running the actual Tampa 2 D. I'm sure it is a variation of it, but I have confidence that they are smart enough to look at film from other teams and see whats best.
Get off the Tampa 2 comments and relax. We are all going to be surprised about was is to come. That being for the better!!
CoastGuardVol writes:
This sounds awesome. Hopefully a sign of things to come. Go Vols!
give_him_6 writes:
Me too!!! Work it on the ground and play keep away. Shorten the game for the other team and make them stop you. You have to be able to pass alittle bit to keep them honest and to set up the play action. Home schedule is pretty good. I think it could be good for 8 wins!! And that sets the stage for next year!!!
deadheadvol writes:
Agree, go vols
Craneman0426 writes:
sounds like the same BS we heard LAST year about Crompton. Hope he can actually walk and chew gum at the same time this year.
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