Article on Tennessee spring practice!

[Sequatchie]

Play of Swain, Parrish highlights Tennessee scrimmage

Sunday, April 04, 2004

 

By BILLY DIXON

Kingsport Times-News

 

 

KNOXVILLE - Tennessee football coach Phil Fulmer put his team through a more strenuous workout Saturday afternoon at Neyland Stadium as part of the team's ongoing spring practice.

 

An informal scrimmage pitted the team's top squads against one another in a test to see where each stands.

 

"It's always a double-edged sword in a scrimmage," said Fulmer. "I saw good effort out there and good play on both sides. This gives us something to look at on film and hopefully we'll be better on Thursday."

 

The Vols looked shaky at times, especially on the offensive side of the ball, but a look at the final numbers proved it might not have been so bad after all, especially considering the number of players sidelined due to injuries.

 

Among others, receiver Bret Smith, quarterback/receiver James Banks and tailback Corey Larkins sat out.

 

Redshirt freshman receiver Robert Meachem saw his first live action since undergoing knee surgery. Meachem wore a green jersey to prohibit contact, but looked ready to go. He caught three passes for 45 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown reception from C.J. Leak.

 

"We wanted Meachem to scrimmage," Fulmer said. "We're not quite ready to turn him loose so we put a green jersey on him, but he looked good for his first day."

 

Meachem wasn't the day's star receiver, however. Sophomore Jayson Swain was the one constant for the offense, hauling in seven passes for 122 yards. He had grabs of 35, 26 and 17 yards.

 

"Today, I ran my routes, looked up, and the ball was there," said Swain. "It was catch it or get hit in the face. I was able to keep my hands on it and the quarterbacks put the ball right there."

 

Although it seemed they missed as many potential plays as they hit, the quarterbacks finished with respectable numbers. Leak hit 13-of-23 passes for 154 yards and two TDs. He also threw an interception. Clausen was 10-for-20 for 105 yards.

 

"Today was a learning day," Clausen said. "The defense blitzed more than usual. It was good to see everything coming at me. I threw it better at times, but made more mental mistakes than usual."

 

Leak was up and down as well.

 

"I got a little greedy today," he noted. "We hit a couple downfield, but I had some miscues as well. I rebounded well, I just have to keep getting better."

 

Although not upset, overall Fulmer was not happy with the play of his signal-callers.

 

"Our quarterbacks obviously need the 11-on-11 play," he said. "They made some good plays, but not with enough consistency.

 

"We missed some, we made some, but there's a lot of work to do."

 

The Vols' running game also came up short of expectations. Jabari Davis carried 13 times for 56 yards, but 18 of those came one play - one that ended in a fumble recovered by defensive end Turk McBride and returned 51 yards. Davis fumbled twice on the day.

 

"I claim one of the fumbles as my fault. The other one was on the exchange. Rick hit me on the hip with the ball and I had to try to turn back and keep control. Hopefully, we'll learn from this and not let it happen again," said Davis, who had several good runs.

 

"Today I was more patient," he said. "I let the play develop, saw the hole in the open field and hit it."

 

David Yancey opened his coach's eyes, rushing for 35 yards on 14 carries.

 

"David Yancey showed he's one of the toughest guys on the football field," Fulmer said. "I'm going to help him with a scholarship as soon as possible."

 

Last year's starter, Cedric Houston, was limited to minus-3 yards on five carries.

 

"We've got to run better and ideally we'd like to finish runs with possession of the football," Fulmer said. "We'd break off big runs and have the ball out at the end. That kills you. We've got to hold on to the ball."

 

Part of the offense's struggles, though, can be directly attributed to the Tennessee defense.

 

Several defensive players had big games - none bigger than Jarod Parrish, a sophomore battling for a safety position.

 

Parrish recorded seven tackles, including one for loss, had an interception and an 11-yard return, and broke up another pass.

 

"I feel like I stepped up, let it go and made some plays," he said. "I know the system now and can react quicker. I just pulled the trigger, that was the difference today."

 

"The safety positions are interchangeable and the best two are going to play," said Fulmer. "Jarod put himself in position for a spot today. I didn't notice anyone else, but I noticed him."

 

Along with McBride, linebacker Kevin Burnett also recovered a fumble to go with two tackles, an assist and a tackle for loss. Defensive back Corey Campbell tallied five stops and broke up two passes.

 

"The defense caught up and passed the offense the last two times out," said Fulmer. "But like the offense, they weren't consistent enough. They made some good plays, but then they gave up some big pass plays. We've got a lot of work to do before we go at it again Thursday."

 

Although keeping score wasn't on the agenda, the Vols struggled to put points on the board. In 18 offensive possessions, only two TDs and four field goals were recorded. The scrimmage ended with a series of field goal tries.

 

James Wilhoit hit 7-of-11 overall, making from 45 yards twice, 42, 29, 27, 31 and 41 yards. He missed from 46, 43, 41 and 36.

 

Ryan Fusco connected from 46, 29, 27, 31 and 36 yards. He missed from 42 and 41.

 

Punter Dustin Colquitt took a couple of shots, missing from 42 before hitting a 29-yarder.

 

Fulmer praised Colquitt's efforts during a stretch of punting drills.

[Sequatchie]

Redshirt freshman receiver Robert Meachem saw his first live action since undergoing knee surgery. Meachem wore a green jersey to prohibit contact, but looked ready to go. He caught three passes for 45 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown reception from C.J. Leak. We wanted Meachem to scrimmage," Fulmer said. "We're not quite ready to turn him loose so we put a green jersey on him, but he looked good for his first day."

 

Meachem wasn't the day's star receiver, however. Sophomore Jayson Swain was the one constant for the offense, hauling in seven passes for 122 yards. He had grabs of 35, 26 and 17 yards.

 

"Today, I ran my routes, looked up, and the ball was there," said Swain. "It was catch it or get hit in the face. I was able to keep my hands on it and the quarterbacks put the ball right there."

 

If Meachem can get & stay healthy and James Banks can get his school work done then Tennessee could be looking at the top WR corps in the SEC and one of the top groups in the country with these three guys.

 

 

Although it seemed they missed as many potential plays as they hit, the quarterbacks finished with respectable numbers. Leak hit 13-of-23 passes for 154 yards and two TDs. He also threw an interception. Clausen was 10-for-20 for 105 yards.

 

CJ Leak is trying to nail down the QB spot in a earlier scrimmage he was 12-of-18 for 133 yrds. Clausen is trying to make a race of it he was 12-of-20 for 119yds. 1 Td & 1 Int.

[DeepBall]

Man....quatchie, you can almost read the desperation in your posts. You are praying hard, that someone will be able to play qb next year, or the season will go down in flames.

[KevB1990]

Oh my misguided brother DeepBall...

 

How bad will it be for you when your Mildcats cough up yet another hairball when they play the Vols this season? UT will get things squared away...UK will continue to wallow in mediocrity.

 

But I guess if it makes you feel better to see that we're in "desperation" mode down here seeing if we're going to win at least 10 games, while you're dying for 10 wins in 3 seasons, then so be it.

Edited May 2, 2004 by KevB1990

[KevB1990]

Redshirt freshman receiver Robert Meachem saw his first live action since undergoing knee surgery. Meachem wore a green jersey to prohibit contact, but looked ready to go. He caught three passes for 45 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown reception from C.J. Leak. We wanted Meachem to scrimmage," Fulmer said. "We're not quite ready to turn him loose so we put a green jersey on him, but he looked good for his first day."

 

Meachem wasn't the day's star receiver, however. Sophomore Jayson Swain was the one constant for the offense, hauling in seven passes for 122 yards. He had grabs of 35, 26 and 17 yards.

 

"Today, I ran my routes, looked up, and the ball was there," said Swain. "It was catch it or get hit in the face. I was able to keep my hands on it and the quarterbacks put the ball right there."

 

If Meachem can get & stay healthy and James Banks can get his school work done then Tennessee could be looking at the top WR corps in the SEC and one of the top groups in the country with these three guys.

 

 

 

 

CJ Leak is trying to nail down the QB spot in a earlier scrimmage he was 12-of-18 for 133 yrds. Clausen is trying to make a race of it he was 12-of-20 for 119yds. 1 Td & 1 Int.

Hey Sequatchie,

 

I'm wondering what your thought process is on the freshmen. Obviously Leak has the bigger upside than Clausen but we don't want to alienate the Clausen family while we still have the best shot to get Jimmy. I don't think either one of them will be the starter at the end of the season.

 

Would your money be on Ainge or Schaeffer?

 

Also, I love our receiving corps! It's back like it ought to be at Wide Receiver U. Now if our backs will get more consistency...

[TnVols23]

I hope that Schaeffer will get the job. It would be great to have a mobile QB again with an Arm. If only he has a brain, then we'll be set. I agree with you about the WR's and I think that the ole RB's will come around this year. Think Chavis will do anything with our defense though?

[Sequatchie]

Hey Sequatchie,

 

I'm wondering what your thought process is on the freshmen. Obviously Leak has the bigger upside than Clausen but we don't want to alienate the Clausen family while we still have the best shot to get Jimmy. I don't think either one of them will be the starter at the end of the season.

 

Would your money be on Ainge or Schaeffer?

 

Also, I love our receiving corps! It's back like it ought to be at Wide Receiver U. Now if our backs will get more consistency...

I think it could be either one but unless Leak does something really bad I think he will be given the chance to stay the starter for the year. Scheaffer is able to avoid a pass rush more than Ainge but he is not slow.

 

Next spring should really be interesting?

 

From what I have heard about Jimmy Clausen he plans on comming to UT as long as Coach Fulmer is the head coach so if UT gets Crompton (sp?) the QB out of North Carolina who will be a top 5 Qb this fall he haas attended a lot of spring practice he says he will be a vol and will redshirt so he can start for two years. If Clausen comes to UT he would be able to start for what 3 years?

 

 

The recieving corps does look good I would think UT will only go after one Wideout this recruiting season and I think it will be the kid from Goodpasture in Nashville!