Articles:VolNotes, ThUGAday Edition

[orange+white=heaven]

Good Morning Nationals!
The truth about the quality of our season stands one day closer to coming into focus.

The truth is out there....

Tennessean Parker Questionable/Other Notes

"He's very questionable," Fulmer said. "How much he really got done is just limited. I'm hopeful that it'll be a lot better (today)."
If Parker is unable to play, he would likely be replaced by Ramon Foster or freshman Jacques McClendon, but Fulmer said he isn't ready to make that decision.
"Ramon's had more experience," Fulmer said. "Jacques is ready to play."

Practicing punts: Receivers Austin Rogers and Lucas Taylor are expected to be the Vols' punt returners on Saturday, but receiver Robert Meachem has worked as the deep man on punts in recent weeks.
Fulmer said he'd like for Meachem eventually to get comfortable enough to try it during a game, but it likely won't happen this week.

Top defense: Georgia enters Saturday's game ranked No. 1 nationally in scoring defense, but the Bulldogs haven't exactly faced a murderer's row of opposing offenses to this point.
Of Georgia's four I-A opponents, three rank 108th or lower in scoring offense. The Bulldogs' only opponent in the top 100 is South Carolina, which ranks 80th.
South Carolina also leads the group in total offense at 64th. Ole Miss is 99th, with Alabama-Birmingham 106th and Colorado 109th. Georgia's other game was against Division I-AA Western Kentucky.
The Bulldogs have allowed a combined nine points in their two SEC games.

Rogan picks Vols: Running back Dennis Rogan of Fulton High in Knoxville is the latest home-grown prospect to commit to the Vols.
The 5-foot-10, 165-pound Rogan is the 13th player overall to commit for the 2007 class and the sixth player from the state. He has rushed for more than 3,500 yards in his career and scored 56 touchdowns.
Rogan is rated by Rivals.com as the ninth best all-purpose back in the country.

[
Reserved Richt: Georgia Coach Mark Richt was especially complimentary of the Vols on Wednesday, calling Saturday's game "one that I'm not sure we can get by."
The Bulldogs have beaten their last two opponents, Colorado and Ole Miss, by a combined six points.
"It's going to be tough to defend our turf this week," Richt said. "They've really looked strong, and we're sputtering around. I don't know what it's going to be like this weekend. … They're really hitting on all cylinders."
/QUOTE]

Ruling the road: Tennessee remains the SEC's best road team since divisional play began in 1992, with a record of 43-13. Fulmer said he's put an emphasis this week on teaching the Vols' younger players about going on the road in the SEC.
"I don't want our guys to go down there and get shocked in any way," he said. "Understand the intensity of the game, understand the crowd and understand that it's the 70 of us and a few loyal fans. Everybody else will cut your heart out to win the game. That's the way you have to play."

tfpOnline:Cedric Wilson's Scolding Helped
I love it when the old guys come back and help...

For about two hours, Cedrick Wilson didn’t hold back.

The former Tennessee star wide receiver took the current ones into a room and brought each of them down a peg or two, or three.

"He got crazy on us that day," UT senior Jayson Swain said. "He said what he felt. It was the truth, and we needed that."

After a dismal 2005 season, few positions on Tennessee’s team took more heat than a talented group of receivers who didn’t play up to their abilities. Along with shuffling quarterbacks, the passing game suffered as the Volunteers offense became a shell of its previous self.

Receivers coach Pat Washington was fired after the season ended without a bowl trip. Wilson, a UT star in the late 1990s now with the Pittsburgh Steelers, had seen enough.

So he came back to campus to let the receivers know.

"He told us, ‘I hope you g uys don’t think you’re good. You guys better get humble, because you just got your coach fired,’" Vols junior Robert Meachem said. "At the time, you didn’t really take it like that, but once we realized it, we took it on ourselves as receivers — me, Bret (Smith) and Swain — because we were here.

"We don’t want to be known as the group of receivers that, ‘Oh, they’re getting their coaches fired. I’m scared to go down there,’" Meachem said. "We don’t want that. We want Coach Troop to be pressureand stress-free.

"We want him to go home at night and be able to play with his family and get up and go to work tomorrow and know them boys are going to give it all they’ve got."

tfpOnline:Commentary:Ainge's First Visit to UGA A Highlight

"Oh, I remember everything about that (Georgia) game," Ainge said Monday during a break from his political science classes. "I remember the crowd was loud, but not the loudest I’ve ever heard. I remember getting on top early. "And I remember that when we got on the bus to leave for the game, every player on that bus absolutely knew we were going to win."

"(Ainge) made some really good throws," Georgia defensive coordinator Willie Martinez, who was the defensive backs coach in 2004, said Tuesday. "But on that first drive, we blew coverage. I think we did that on our own, but he made the plays."

The bigger difference in this year and that year, according to Martinez, is that Ainge is now making those plays all the time.

"We’ve always liked Ainge, and think he was outstanding two years ago," he said. "He made some big-time plays, but obviously he’s a lot better now. Obviously more seasoned and more experienced, and it shows."

"I don’t know if we’re better than that 2004 team," McGlothlin said. "But we’re capable of beating Georgia. This is our season, and we’ve been getting ready for them for a long time. We were watching film on them back in the summer."

Ainge feels the same way.

"Our offense was pretty basic that day," he said. "We probably do three times more things than we did against Georgia two years ago."

tfpOnlineropped Passes Plague UGA Recievers

"Last year, Tennessee’s guys were going through the same thing we are now," Bulldogs sophomore split end Mohamed Massaquoi said. "I’ve had a chance to meet a lot of their guys like (Robert) Meachem and (Jayson) Swain, and they’re extremely talented. They were younger last year, and that’s a group of guys that have found their spring. They’re doing a lot of great things because their hard work has paid off.

"We just to have to continue working and improving. We’re going to hit our spring sooner or later."

Nobody has stopped Tennessee’s receivers to this point, while Georgia’s receivers have done an excellent job stopping themselves with dropped passes. The tally is 14 and counting.

"It’s been interesting to say the least," Bulldogs coach Mark Richt said. "If a guy makes a play, then things kind of loosen up and everybody seems to feel better. When you don’t make a play, then guys get tight, so if you drop one, the next one is even more important. They just have to turn it loose and try to enjoy the doggone thing. I might have to tell them, ‘You can drop five balls before I get mad,’ just to maybe ease the pain for them.

"I can’t ever remember it being this much of a struggle to this point."

Go Vols!!!

 

[tidwell]

"I don’t know if we’re better than that 2004 team," McGlothlin said. "But we’re capable of beating Georgia. This is our season, and we’ve been getting ready for them for a long time. We were watching film on them back in the summer."

Hopefully they'll come out and play like it. :rock2:

Thanks again, owh. Good stuff.

 

[vader]

As always, great post OWH. Much appreciated.

 

[tmodaniel]

Thanks

 

[bigorange]

Go Vols!!!

I'll drink to that!!! Great read, thanks...

 

[#10_Ainge_#10]

I have to say that I like the fact that we've had Meachem back there in practice returning punts, how about trying him in a game returning punts? I really hope we don't do what we did against Memphis last weekend and let punts hit in front of us and bounce 10-15 yards backwards and make our offense dig itself out of a hole because against a good defense like UGA's that's going to be really hard...So I hope they've got that aspect fixed

 

[volinbham]

As always, great post OWH. Much appreciated.

I concur :clap: