Kiffin: UT needs to recruit better to account for injuries

Add another linebacker to the season-ending injury list.

Give one more defensive back questionable status for the next game.

Continue to monitor the starting kicker and his availability.

Tennessee obviously isn’t immune to injuries, but given the seemingly relentless way they’ve piled up, at this point coach Lane Kiffin hardly seems fazed by them. Heading into the regular-season finale at Kentucky on Saturday (TV: ESPNU, 7 p.m.), he might be short two more starters, but that’s really nothing new for the Vols.

“I don’t know that it’s part of a reason for the injuries, but anytime you’re not a very deep team, anytime your numbers are down, that’s going to show up at the end of the season,” Kiffin said. “It’s really going to show up if you have as many injuries as we’ve had, especially at a specific spot like (defensive back) and Mike (position) linebacker. Then with the two kids not here right now from the incident, it’s really starting to show up and reminds you why you’ve got to recruit so well from top to bottom.

“We’ve had 14 kids that were on scholarship that aren’t here anymore, then you take six season-ending injuries, that puts you at 20 right there. When you’re 20 scholarships short, that’s eventually going to show up.”

It’s been particularly evident on defense since UT (6-5, 3-4 SEC) hasn’t been able to rotate as much as it typically would, and the losses might be even more glaring against the Wildcats (7-4, 3-4).

Freshman linebacker Greg King chipped a bone in his elbow in the first start of his career on Saturday night and will have surgery that will cost him the rest of the season.

Cornerback Art Evans dislocated his shoulder in the win over Vanderbilt and might not play this week. Kicker Daniel Lincoln apparently is still feeling the effects of a sore quadriceps and wasn’t available against the Commodores.

The Vols found a replacement for Lincoln in walk-on Devin Mathis, and they might be getting back a couple players who could fill the void of the other two players. But normal starting linebacker LaMarcus Thompson is still questionable as he recovers from a stinger and there’s no guarantee defensive back Marsalous Johnson will return from his thumb surgery as planned.

UT has at least picked up a lot of experience scrambling to deal with holes in the lineup, though.

“It reminds what we’re here to do, and that’s go get a lot of really good players so we don’t have this issue again,” Kiffin said. “It’s not just the top players you sign, the five-stars that everybody knows, but all the way to the bottom of your roster. We spent all morning recruiting. This morning we had some great prospective student-athletes in here on our campus, and we’ll continue to hit the road, hit the phones.

“We have some guys stepping up for us to play well, but this is not a problem we want to ever have again.”

Kiffin is already working on fixing it — both in the short-term and long.

Familiar Stripes: The number of penalties was clearly higher than Kiffin would have liked on Saturday. But perhaps the more troubling issue was the amount of different ways the Vols found to draw flags against Vanderbilt, which seemed to puzzle Kiffin more than anything else.

“I hope it’s out of character, that nine penalties,” he said after the game. “We were the least penalized yardage team in the SEC coming into the game, I think we were fourth in the country, so we are very disappointed in that. A lot different type of fouls today. A lot of fouls right at the whistle where some guys were playing through the whistle, and we can’t make those kind of mistakes.

“Then we get a turnover and there’s a pass interference on it. Then we fake a punt and make it and get a hold that’s past the first down. Then we stop them and they punt, we’re in punt-safe and they call us for hitting the center. I asked the refs if they had called that this year and that was the first time they had called it. It was good to see those guys. We’ve had that crew before.”

The last time the Vols had seen umpire Wally Hough was at Alabama, which wasn’t such a friendly meeting.

Team sources confirmed that UT had contacted both SEC commissioner Mike Slive and coordinator of officials Rogers Redding about that crew’s work involving the Vols in the past. But Kiffin is unlikely to comment publicly about them again since being reprimanded after the loss to the Crimson Tide.

Jackson Action: The Vols are still waiting for more information on safety Janzen Jackson before deciding on his future with the team after his arrest for attempted armed robbery. They could get what they need as early as today with the freshman scheduled for a preliminary court date.

“We have no new information for it,” Kiffin said. “Obviously we hope this gets resolved very soon. We’re waiting to get all the information in, so I have nothing new for you. I hope to soon.”

Tougher Tackling: Kiffin finally gave a definitive number for missed tackles in the loss at Ole Miss, and it proved how markedly improved the Vols were one week later.

“Missed tackles went down from 24 to eight from the game before, so we did improve that way,” Kiffin said. “We improved assignment-wise, but we have a long ways to go to play like we did during that four-game stretch earlier in the year.”

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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