Derek Dooley plans to make his first preseason camp at Tennessee as tough as he can. But that's not easy these days.
The Vols open practice today, building toward the Sept. 4 season-opener against UT Martin.
Between now and then the Vols' third coach in as many years intends to instill as much character as he can - within the constraints of school calendars and NCAA rules.
"Camp is not what it used to be,'' Dooley said Tuesday in a media session to launch the 2010 season.
There will be only two days when players face the trial of two-a-day practices. The short transition between summer school and the start of the fall semester is one factor. NCAA restrictions are another.
"It's hard as a coach to say no two-a-days,'' Dooley said. "You used to go stay in a bad dorm with roaches on the wall and there was good team-building.
"It was miserable, but that was good. That was healthy. Now, we're in the dorm a week-and-a-half tops.''
Even though the Vols will work only once per day, they won't ever be confusing practice with an afternoon at Splash Country.
Dooley promised tough, physical practices.
"Because I don't know any other way to develop a tough football team,'' he said, "without going out and hitting and making it hurt a little bit.''
The first three days are split squad: players in the two-deep depth chart work in the afternoon and newcomers and other young players in the evening.
"I've found when you throw 'em all out there together, they get lost,'' Dooley said. "This way gives me a chance to really evaluate our freshmen and see who we need to invest in a little further.''
The pads go on Sunday. Dooley's philosophy is to minimize injuries by keeping players upright, much as NFL clubs do in practice.
"It takes more athleticism, being more disciplined, using your feet and better tackling technique,'' he said. "So we won't really take guys to the ground but about three or four times.''
O-Line: The offensive line depth chart starts the way it ended in the spring: Ja'Wuan James at right tackle, Jarrod Shaw at right guard, Cody Pope at center, JerQuari Schofield at left guard and Dallas Thomas at left tackle.
Only Shaw has ever started a game.
"I think we have a talented offensive line,'' Dooley said. "I do.''
Scholarships Given: Three walk-ons have been put on scholarship, Dooley said.
Nick Guess, a junior from Farragut, won the long-snapper job. The others are Tyler Wolf, a senior defensive back from Cookeville, and Minor Bowens, a senior defensive tackle from Memphis.
Beep, Beep: Evander Wells, an All-American sprinter who has completed his track eligibility at UT, has joined the team as a receiver.
"They said he was a fast guy,'' Dooley said. "I don't turn down fast guys.''
Surgery Report: Defensive ends Chris Walker and Ben Martin will be initially limited after arthroscopic surgery in June.
But Dooley was pleased with how the procedures went for both and expects them back at full speed soon.
Freshman defensive back Naz Oliver had ACL reconstructive surgery in May.
Dooley hopes to get some late-season help from Oliver, who redshirted in 2009.
Nick Reveiz, Art Evans and Herman Lathers are full speed after being limited in the spring.
Social Media Policy: After extensive discussion with his staff, Dooley will inform the team of a policy for social media such as Facebook and Twitter, which have become extremely popular with athletes.
"They're tough issues,'' Dooley said. "To sit here and say you can't do something that is very common for that generation is pretty restrictive.
"I'm more from the mold you have to learn how to manage what you do. Manage it, and if you can't manage it, then you can't do it.''
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Comments » 36
Blue_Smokey writes:
Man, I am ready...GBO!
bigorangetrain writes:
We must be patient but I think Dooley is getting us headed in the right direction... But its going to take time but we must support him and give him the chance to turn our program around.
GO BIG ORANGE!
rockytopatl writes:
I hope they hit as much as you know who's team did. Say what you will about him, his team came out of camp tough and ready to compete, especially in the fourth quarter.
Pullingguard writes:
You know, Dooley really seems to have his phooey together. I wish him much success .. He leaves no doubt that he is in charge, and he has the players up front in all his plans.
Bloodrunzorange writes:
I heard Wells is very fast! Can he catch? We need all the help we can get! A speed threat would be nice!! GBO!!!
gaj619 writes:
Played at Bradley down in Cleveland back in the 60's and had the same things as you guys. Our head coach would walk on our stomachs as we did leg lifts in warm ups. Ahh for the good ole' days. GBO
OldSmokey writes:
He played football in high school. Check out this vid. of him.
http://utsports.tv/featured/evander-w...
GooglyMoogly writes:
I'm stoked! GBO!!
gatorhator4eva writes:
looks to be very fast and well-rounded. we need more guys like this. a speed threat is a wake up call for a any opponent. this is good news.
OldSmokey writes:
Yea here is his track times for the 60m 100m and 200m. I'm not big on track but look like world class times to me.
Indoors
60m 6.61 (2009)
200m 20.78 (2008)
Outdoors
100m 10.01w/10.08 (2008)
200m 20.25 (2008)
And a link to his bio.
http://www.utsports.com/sports/m-trac...
NeylandWest writes:
I must say, I like the practice format. It makes sense to me and I can appreciate CDD's philosophy on letting his men have things like FB and Twitter. He's right, you can't be too restrictive, but at the same time, if you're gonna misuse it, then you lose it.
I like that.
keepitreal4vols writes:
Him and Justin Hunter line up on the outside and just sprint down the field every passing play. Meke em wear down the DB's and when the DB's get lazy on coverage, throw a bomb for 6.
DannyVol writes:
We were still doing it in the mid-80's with the temps in the upper 90's/low 100's; dust storms on every play and one 10-minute break (never inside) per session where we used a faucet to rinse then fill our helmets with drinking water. We did it all over again in the late afternoon/early evening and people passed out all the time. At the end of the second session we were rewarded for our hard day's work with a bunch of 50-yard wind sprints, which we had to do until the coaches believed every man had put forth mamimum effort in running...and more importantly whether or not the leaders had properly "encouraged" the slackers to get with the program.
In retrospect, I'm still undecided if that was a good idea and if I'd want my kid put through that. I was also in the military and I never felt quite that bad once during any of my training. On one hand, it made us hard as nails. On the other hand, it was without question dangerous and made a good number of linemen lose too much weight prior to the season during a time when so little focus was on nutrition and hydration.
10volunteers98 writes:
Would love to see this Evander Wells kid burn Florida for a couple of long TD`s.He is definitely fast.Watched the video of him.He bears a striking resemblance to Nu`keese Richards.I just hope he has more discipline off the field than Richards had.GO,VOLS!!!
richvol writes:
I played in the 60's. I almost died on the practice field from heat stroke and lack of water one August afternoon and the coaches didn't even bother to ask if I was OK as I lay there unable to move. Most coaches were morons at that time and their idea of good coaching was who could yell the loudest...and I was considered a really good player.
Football has come a long way since then but it is still a brutal game. I do love it however.
gnm53108 writes:
I dont like this talk about not being physical in practice...I hate missed tackles almost as much as fumbles.
With our depth I guess we have no choice.
OTPVol writes:
"Trying?! Are you trying?! There's no trying in football! Go out there and win!' (apologies to Tom Hanks)
licknpromise777#651578 writes:
Wells is certainly a work in progress;but you are right Hunter and Wells would smoke pretty much every corner in the sec
licknpromise777#651578 writes:
I think your right; we have no choice and 75% of our defense are good tacklers already..For whatever reason it's hard to get thru fall practice without someone having a twisted knee;high ankle or hamstring injury.I think we have some good trainers and hopefully aren't reading some bad headlines 2 weeks from now
vol88 writes:
What was General Neyland's Twitter policy?
gnm53108 writes:
Practice the same twit one hundred times before trying it in a game.
FearTheVols1252 writes:
As I recall Leonard Scott was a speed demon as well. His only problem was when the ball would actually hit him in the numbers... couldn't seem to catch those consitantly. :-/
orangecountyvols writes:
Danny,
You guys had water? Water..........what was that?
I know, you could get some coaches in trouble now putting players through such conditions.
But our coach was a former drill intructor and there were two things we could not do, or have. One was water and the other.........we could never take off our helmets. Notice now when players come off the field and head to the sideline, first thing is to take off that helmet.......that way everyone can see them.
Yep, times have changed.
Mr_Brownstone writes:
even coaching great jimmy johnson was 1-15 and 7-9 in his first two years with the cowboys.
DenverVol writes:
Hilarious!
DenverVol writes:
Great info in this article. I'm so ready for some football!! Go VOLS!
Mobbdeep4life writes:
Maybe they can put him on kickoff return. Trindon Holliday anyone.....
41_14gbo writes:
Back in the 60's we played in snow waist deep...
41_14gbo writes:
Funny. Milk came out my nose.
Smokey_Told_Me writes:
...and the snow was 32 feet deep, when father was a boy.
...Smokey knows where the bones are buried.
jyvolsfan writes:
man that would be great to have a speed threat like Evander Wells im glad UT got a guy like that.now UT wont be the team getting burnt like they did against Ole Miss.We will be the ones burning them!GO VOLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
murrayvol writes:
Football is tougher than golf Duke.
murrayvol writes:
:). And walked to school....uphill both ways.
Volunatic writes:
Back in the '50's, we had to deal with all that, plus coach had the cheerleaders standing on the sidelines in bikinis. If any of us ever got caught looking at the cheerleaders, coach would make us take off our helmets and he would hit us in the head with a large rubber mallet. Kept us focused.
After practice, we weren't allowed to drink water. We ate sand instead.
jcherrie#219531 writes:
Back in the '40s we had to fight Nazis with one hand and try to catch the football with the other. But we didn't have a football so we used a hand grenade. When we heard incoming mortor fire - it was instant grass drills.
sm1 writes:
Exactly. I also remember Leonard Scott bobbling and dropping more than a few kickoffs: nullifying any attempt at a return. Thankfully, I do not remember him ever losing one of those muffs. Maybe he did, but I don't recall it.
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