Adams: Scrimmages offer peek of future

Scenes and outtakes from the Vols media day

As Tennessee held its annual football media day Sunday afternoon, the media was reminded that it rarely has been so detached from the team it's covering.

Aside from warm-up drills leading into spring and preseason practices, the media's only viewing opportunity has been the spring game. It's limited to the assessments of first-year head coach Derek Dooley, comments from players, and statistics provided by the UT sports information office.

And that's not all bad.

I vividly remember how good Peyton Manning looked as a freshman in a preseason scrimmage. Running back Chuck Webb, wide receiver Carl Pickens and defensive tackle John Henderson also made dramatic impressions in scrimmages.

Had I seen UT's Saturday scrimmage, I might have been similarly impressed by freshman wide receiver Justin Hunter. That doesn't mean I would have been right.

I remember the guys I was right about. I forget most of the others, who might have been just as dazzling in one particular scrimmage, then either faded into mediocrity or at least fell short of the future NFL stardom I envisioned.

While scrimmages are designed to emulate games, the difference between the two is significant. My evaluations haven't always adequately accounted for that difference.

"You practice against each other all the time, so you start learning the body language, the calls," Dooley said. "You have such a great understanding of who you are going against - better than you ever would an opponent. You can get a little bit of an advantage that way."

The familiarity and comfort of a scrimmage is lost on game day. And some players seem lost without those advantages.

But there's more to it than that.

"There's something about when you hit the stadium, the lights are on and it's national TV," Dooley said. "It's always been that way. I don't know if it's the anxiety, the pressure or what it is, but there's always a few guys who play better than they ever practice, and a few guys who don't play (as well as they practice).

"My experience is it's 80 or 90 percent when they play pretty good in a scrimmage, they're going to play pretty good in a game. But you can't just look at one scrimmage."

So that was my problem. I didn't account for one-scrimmage wonders.

"All of these guys here have the ability to impress you on certain plays," Dooley said. "They all have it. But to have the ability to impress you for 70 plays is a big difference."

Despite such logic, it's still difficult to dismiss a great play or a great scrimmage.

One of the joys of sports is witnessing the emergence of new stars. That's why one sensational performance by a freshman can have such an impact.

And it can affect fellow players as much as media and fans.

UT players were still commenting Sunday afternoon on Hunter's play in the previous night's scrimmage. He caught five passes for 128 yards and did so in spectacular fashion, according to all accounts.

You can't discuss scrimmage stars without mentioning junior running back Tauren Poole. Never mind the year or time of the year. He has distinguished himself in one scrimmage after another. Finally, in a few weeks, he will have a chance to prove himself in a game as UT's starting tailback.

Dooley doesn't believe Poole's showings are misleading.

"Tauren Poole has had a good scrimmage every single one," Dooley said. "So I will be surprised if he doesn't do a good job for us."

Hunter doesn't have Poole's track record. But he has more than one head-turning scrimmage. A few days earlier, Hunter caught three passes for 56 yards in UT's first scrimmage. His two-scrimmage totals: 8 catches, 184 yards.

It's just as well I missed that. Or I might have challenged UT publicists to initiate a Heisman campaign.

John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knoxnews.com.