As we thankfully head towards the game next weekend in Berkeley against Cal, some valid concerns are surfacing concerning the 2007 Tennessee Volunteers football team. Through my experience, fans and coaches alike go through paralysis by analysis at this point in the preseason and forget that these young men were all All-State or All-America somewhere in high school. Therefore, most, if not all of these youngsters possess the ability to play this game. With that said, there is validity to the fact that inexperience, injury, and suspension have shone light on some possible deficiencies for Phil Fulmer’s 2007 football team. Here are a few areas of concern that stick out to me.
1. The Secondary – Jonathan Hefney is a coach’s dream at free safety. He is a guy who has gone through the SEC wars multiple times and has been present for the good and the bad, and has persevered through it all. His ability to lead will be tested this year as he will be joined by three new starters. Freshman phenom Eric Berry seems to be locked in at one corner, as he has been everything his press clipping said and more in preseason workouts. The other corner seems to be a battle between senior Antonio Gaines and sophomore Marsalous Johnson. Both have shown steady improvement in their time on the Hill and the coaching staff seems confident in both of their abilities to play well. Whoever loses this battle will almost assuredly play in the nickel, which is pretty much a 12th starting slot with so many teams playing 3 wideouts. Strong safety is the spot of concern that sticks out to me. This position is down to Jarod Parrish, who is a four year guy, but has yet to do much, except on special teams. Antonio Wardlow is a guy who has played well when he has gotten the opportunity, but seems to get into the doghouse at times, Junior college transfer Nevin McKenzie brings the wood on run support, but seems to struggle in coverage. If these guys at SS can step up and be players, this unit could surprise, but there is a lot of inexperience there. I don’t care how talented Berry is, he could struggle early, especially with DeSean Jackson and Andre Caldwell on the schedule in September.
2. Tight End – What looked like a strength just two days ago, has turned into a question mark with one unfortunate fall by Brad Cottom, who suffered a broken wrist in Tuesday’s scrimmage. Lucky for Tennessee, they have the steady Chris Brown, who will shoulder an even heavier burden. Brown, who was already slated to play the hybrid H-Back position in David Cutcliffe’s offense, will probably have to play more on the line in the traditional TE slot, than in the move position. Redshirt freshman Luke Stocker and sophomore Jeff Cottom (Brad’s brother) will both see increased roles with this injury. Don’t be surprised to see walk-on (but impressive) Roy Olasimbo line up at fullback some for the Volunteers, to mitigate the losses at TE. He’s a heavier guy with good ball skills, who wouldn’t hurt you in a ballgame.
3. Wide Receiver – We all knew that this would be a question mark with the losses of Robert Meachem, Bret Smith, and Jayson Swain, but I know that the coaching staff was hoping that a couple of these youngsters would step up and be ready to contribute on opening day. This looks more doubtful now, with Kenny O’Neal struggling with consistency, Brent Vinson struggling with assignment, and Gerald Jones being slowed by a nagging leg injury. Denarius Moore seems like the freshman most likely to make a dent early. The Texas frosh has shown great ball skills and does not seem in awe of the playbook. If I had to bet, he will be in some of the 3 wide receiver packages next weekend. Austin Rogers seems to be the most consistent of the group and the Nashville product will start at one WR. The other slot seems to come down to the trio of Josh Briscoe, Lucas Taylor, and Quintin Hancock. Tennessee has to get immediate production from these guys to be potent offensively.
4. Kicker – It looks as if Daniel Lincoln has bouts of inconsistency, and this will push Coach Fulmer to utilize Britton Colquitt as the placekicker and kickoff specialist, as well as his duties as a all-world punter. What makes this so scary is that Colquitt has had a little problem with his quadriceps muscle and if that was to fester or get worse, this team would be up the creek in special teams issues.
5. Kickoff return specialists – In a perfect world, with Arian Foster as the starting tailback, Phil Fulmer would love to have the experienced and explosive LaMarcus Coker available to get touches as the deep man on kickoffs. With Coker serving a suspension, the Vols are left looking at putting some inexperienced youngsters deep (Kenny O’Neal, Brent Vinson, Lennon Creer) or putting a starter in harm’s way (Eric Berry, Foster, or Lucas Taylor). We all know that Fulmer, like most veteran coaches, does not like to put too much of his fate in the hands of youngsters, but he may not be able to risk injury to a guy like Foster, due to Coker’s suspension, Montario Hardesty’s injury concerns, and the inexperience of anyone behind them at tailback. This is a catch-22 for the coaching staff and may be where Coker’s skill set is missed the most.
With all of this being said, there are many things to be excited about for the 2007 edition of the Tennessee Volunteers football team. Heck, even some of these concerns will turn to excitement if some youngsters step up and play to their capabilities. But in an effort to be factual, these are some issues that need addressing before this team can reach its goals.