University of Tennessee Athletics
Terrorist Attacks Alter Vols' Tuesday Schedule
September 12, 2001 | Football
Sept. 11, 2001
Due to terrorist attacks in New York City at the World Trade Center, Washington, D.C., at the Pentagon Tuesday morning, Tennessee football's Tuesday routine was anything but routine.
The regularly-scheduled Tuesday noon Media Day was cancelled and player interviews were conducted after practice. Despite the events of the day, the Vols did work out late this afternoon in full gear at Hudson Field, honing their game plan for Saturday's game at Florida, pending word from the SEC Commissioner's Office.
In remarks after practice, head coach Phillip Fulmer indicated that the events of the day were, "a great tragedy in our country. At the team meeting today," he said, "we had a short silent prayer for the victims and their families. We talked about it for a few minutes about some of the short-term and long-term issues. We need to be able to work through it and try to control what we can control.
"I did ask if there were anybody who had families in the New York and Washington areas and there were a couple who were working on contacting relatives to see if everything is all right. We're very prayerful that will be the case."
Coach Fulmer also indicated he was waiting for the results of a Wednesday afternoon conference call between SEC athletic directors and Commissioner Roy Kramer about the status of Saturday's SEC games.
"Coach Dickey called and said the Conference was going to discuss it, as I would imagine they will around the country. A decision will be made from there. It certainly puts a football game or anything else in perspective as to what's really important. We'll do whatever they tell us to do. We have to go on the assumption we're playing Saturday."
Fulmer added that he was in the office when word came of the tragic events and said he watched a few minutes of network coverage.
In comments about today's practice, Fulmer indicated that, "I don't think today's events had any obvious effects on their focus out here today. It's quite disturbing to anybody, not just the players." He added that it was a good day of practice, especially given the heat on Hudson Field, something he expects Saturday in Gainesville.
FOLLOWING ARE OTHER COMMENTS FROM COACH FULMER ON SPECIFIC AREAS OF GAME PREPARATION:
ON JOHN HENDERSON: We'll have to see how effective he is. He's back and should be able to play. It's Tuesday and he has a couple more days to continue to improve. He improved a lot at the end of last week. We're hopeful he'll be able to give us some snaps, maybe a lot of snaps. I don't know."
ON COACH SANDERS ON THE SIDELINE: I think that went much smoother in the last game and has worked out pretty well for us."
ON PRESSURING THE PASSER: "It always important when you face a good passing team to put pressure on the quarterback. We've been able to get some pressure at times. If you let them throw it on time all the time, you have difficulty defending. We might rush more than four or drop eight or nine sometime. We'll keep him off-balance a little bit. We have to keep them off our quarterback, too."
ON PLAYERS WHO HAVEN'T PLAYED AT FLORIDA: "I like to look at it that the glass is half full. We have a lot of players who have played there, too. It's loud and we've tried to simulate that the best we could. That will be a good experience for the young ones who haven't been there. They have to go sometime."
ON DEFENSIVE BACKFIELD: "I expect us to be better than we have been. Stopping them is one thing. You hope to be able to slow them down some and not allow too many big plays. They're going to get some long plays. I think we're better back there than we have been. You can't just say it's one thing. It's all the things that go with playing defense against a good offensive team."
ON THE GAME: "Usually in a game like this, there's a play that's made somewhere, offensively, defensively or in the kicking game that helps decide a close game. We have to be able to make our share of them."
