Oku needs gas for longer returns

David Oku still hasn’t made it all the way to the house yet.

But the Tennessee kickoff returner is at least starting to get in the right neighborhood.

The struggling special teams are beginning to show signs of life and deliver the game-breaking plays Oku has been waiting for, and he nearly had one last Saturday against Memphis. He’s set his sights a little bit further than the 69 yards he covered against the Tigers, but coming up short might have given the freshman a better idea of what it will take to get in the end zone Saturday against Mississippi.

“I probably could have got it — I’ve got to work on conditioning a little more,” Oku said. “I got a little gassed, couldn’t make it close, but the field in college is a lot further than in high school.

“It feels like you’re running a 400 or something on the track trying to cut it all the way across the field. We’ll get one before the season is over.”

The Vols may be running out of time, but they’ve clearly shown some improvement in the return game lately.

There haven’t been as many issues fielding the ball, returners are generally making better decisions and receiving better blocking, but one thing is still missing. With or without a touchdown though, it’s no longer confidence.

“We’re really working hard towards that,” Oku said. “The returns are starting to come, and in terms of kickoff and kick return, I think it’s just about getting confidence. I think that’s what we’ve done so far, and it allows us to do a lot better at it because we have a lot of confidence.

“I think it’s more of just coming along, (special teams) coach (Eddie) Gran made a few changes to things, but I think it’s just about us basically finding our identity on special teams. You know, Coach (Lane) Kiffin said we found it on offense and defense, but we really never found it on special teams. I guess we’ve really found it now.”

The Vols are still looking for a few more pieces for its field-goal unit, including a healthy kicker. Penalties have been a problem on occasion lately as well, and touchbacks have been rare from specialist Chad Cunningham.

But UT might have definitively settled on a regular to handle kickoffs now.

“To me, I feel like we do have the confidence on special teams to get a lot more done and put coach Kiffin in better position to do whatever he wants in play-calling,” Oku said. “I think you just have to adjust to the game speed, and I wish it didn’t take that long, but sometimes you just have to be patient with things.”

With only three games left in the regular season, there’s a clear limit to how much patience Oku can have though.

Bumps And Bruises: The Vols were obviously short three players — with the arrest of freshmen Janzen Jackson, Mike Edwards and Nu’Keese Richardson — and have a handful of others out for the season, but heading into the weekend they’re about as healthy as they can be.

The only real concern for Kiffin on Thursday was Darren Myles and his hip and back injuries, but he practiced and could start at safety against the Rebels. Kicker Daniel Lincoln is also a bit of a question mark, but UT was already planning on waiting to find out his status until Saturday.

“(Lincoln) feels OK,” Kiffin said. “It’s going to be, once again, the same thing. We’re going to have to go Saturday see him kick and see how well he feels out there. … Those guys (Lincoln and Cunningham) have been up and down all year it seems like.

“Darren Myles moved around today, he was really the only big question mark and the rest of the guys are ready to roll.”

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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