Thursday’s circus at SEC Media Days turned out to be more of a lesson on attorneys and law rather than football. When all was said and done, I sat back and realized I hadn’t heard a word of what coach Fulmer said about the team. The only quotes I could recall were regarding the subpoena.
After going back and reviewing the transcripts of coach Fulmer, here are a few things that stood out to me.
1. Fulmer is not happy about being picked by the media to finish third or fourth in the SEC East.
The Vols are the defending champions of the Southeastern Conference’s Eastern Division yet aren’t getting any consideration from the media as a preseason pick to return to Altanta. The loss of key players like Erik Ainge and Jerod Mayo accompanied with the departure of David Cutcliffe may be a contributing factor in the minds of some. Regardless, Fulmer doesn’t sound particularly happy about his program being picked to battle South Carolina for that third spot with the loser falling to the league’s bottom half.
I am excited about the fact that you’re always looking for ways to motivate your football team any way that you can. I appreciate y’all’s help picking us third or fourth in the East. Has served us pretty well at different times. We’ll certainly use that.
I’d a lot rather be playing for the SEC Championship in December than to be picked first in July in Birmingham. So we’ll see if we can make that happen.
I mean, we were picked third in ’98 when we won the National Championship.
2. Erik Ainge was a leader and had similar stats to Peyton.
Erik Ainge statistically had a nice career at Tennessee, ranking third in total passing yards behind only Petyon Manning and Casey Clausen. However, even though I understand the context in which it was used, I cringe at the comparison.
Erik Ainge, who was an exceptional leader for us, particularly from the standpoint of matching up numbers, numbers very similar statistically to what Peyton had accomplished when he was there.
3. What’s the deal with Morley?.
Most of you probably recall the rumors that have circulated the past couple of weeks about Demetrice Morley. The rumors were vague and conflicting and were never confirmed publicly. However, there was a lot of smoke coming from many different sources on this one and because of that, the following comments from Coach Fulmer caught my eye. We don’t know exactly what is involved here, but it’s obvious that Morley still has work to do in order to cement is place on the field this fall.
Demetrice is back on the team. He’s done well in football. He’s had a great spring practice and off season. You know, still I’m gonna reserve the right to get him to the practice field in the fall, that he’s done everything that he’s supposed to do to be an accountable football player and to be a guy that we know that we can count on on a daily basis.
If he does what he’s supposed to do, it would certainly be a benefit for him, and it would be a great benefit for us, as it could give us the best pair of safeties that I’ve had at Tennessee in my time at Tennessee, which is a pretty big statement.
He’s a very gifted young man. I’m proud of him getting himself back in good graces, what he’s done. Don’t let my silence about him during the off season confuse that he’s done anything wrong. That’s not the case. I’m just kind I want him to prove himself over a long period of time, not for one or two semesters or half a year.
7 responses to “Did Someone mention Tennessee Football?”
Great stuff, especially the Morley part. I am glad to hear Fulmer talk about him, as I was a little worried. Let’s hope he can keep doing the things that we need him to do to play football for the Vols. I really REALLY want to see him and Berry lining up back there. That would be scary for any quarterback or receiver coming their way.
watched the spring game. off. line still inferior in run blocking. very slow in getting out on pull asignments. running plays to slow to develope. this off. line not getting it done on running plays. def. tackles look weak and slow. def. ends having trouble getting off blocks. rico mccoy could take up rodeo calf wrestling after football. he wonts to jump on their backs and ride them down. didnt see any hard hitters at lb. maybe if fulmer watches them play he will see why he is predicted third or fourth. i am a vol fan, but this team has a long way to go to be good.
This is the best line in college football, I don’t know what your seeing, but every starter is coming back from a line that not only paved the way for a 1,000 yard rusher, but only gave up 4 sacks all season, the fewest in college football. Crompton should have enough time to take a 5 step drop, eat a sandwich, and text Tim Tebows girlfriend before he has to get rid of the ball. Here’s to another 10 win season.
nick. i wasnt referring to pass blocking. foster picked up 1193 yards. this must have been against lesser quality teams.he didnt do it against fla., ala.,or s.c.. that also is over 14 games and a lot of overtime stats. it was just my opinion after watching the spring game that they dont run block well. pass block .yes. this was also against #2 defense. maybe they will get better in fall. only scott was finishing his block consistently. tenn. running plays take a while to develope and blockers must hold and finish block. they do seem to have the ability, i didnt see it in spring game.
I agree with Carroll here – the OL was pretty average in run blocking. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good. A lot of reaching in their run blocks.
we may miss cutcliff. we only gave up 4 sacks because cutcliff had ainge throwing after a 2 to 3 second drop. tenn. only had one pass play over 50 yards. the fact that crompton can scramble may help the situation. if you cant run, you cant run play action. we will see how they have developed in the third game. i dont see ucla or uab beating them. vinson will be the sleeper. he looked good in the bowl game.
most of what you all say makes alot of sense, but the fact that we have so many new personnelcan’t help but scare the daylights out of our opponents.there will still be al saunders some where in our offense, but nobody knows stan draytons additions to it. i’m excited for something new and un-ainge like.go vols