University of Tennessee Athletics
Weekly Press Conference Previews Saturday's UT-South Carolina Matchup
October 29, 2002 | Football
Oct. 29, 2002
Comments from Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer's Oct. 29 press conference preview Saturday's game (3:30 p.m. -CBS) against South Carolina at Williams-Brice Stadium.
* Coach Fulmer's Tuesday press conferences can be seen live each Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. (EDT) during the season on ESPN News.
FULMER PRESS CONFERENCE
FULMER Q&A | OPPONENT COACH Q&A
: "Coming out of the Alabama game, there was a lot of disappointment. It was tough on the players, the staff, and the fans, but this team has shown a lot of fight and I would fully expect it to continue to do that. Yesterday, they went back to practice field and went to work and that was good to see. When you choose to be in athletics, as anything as a profession, you understand that sometimes things are going to be tough. The kids and staff certainly want to do well. There are obviously high standards and expectations here. You're disappointed when you don't reach your goals for whatever reason. It's especially frustrating when you believe that, at this point, we should be better offensively than we are.
"You have basically two choices. You can keep working as hard as you possibly can to get where you want to be and get it turned around or you don't. I certainly choose the work hard and get it turned around avenue. The only way I know for sure how our guys are looking at things is what they do on the practice field. Our effort on the practice field has been good. I would expect them to continue that.
"There are a number of kids who have fought through some injuries and I'm encouraged about having them back out there yesterday, like Herrera, Houston, Demetrin Veal, Munoz. Veal's not quite back out there, but we hope he will be. Then there's Tony Brown and Robert Peace and so on.
"I like that aspect of our team, that they're really trying to get done what they need to do to help the team. We're going to practice and prepare like Kelley Washington is going to be there, but as we did last week, try to prepare in case he's not able to be there. Later in the week, we should know the answer to that. That's something for the medical staff.
"As far as South Carolina, it's a good football team, a very multiple offensive team. They use no-huddle and all kinds of formation adjustment things we've seen plenty of this year. We should be able to adjust to it pretty well. Jenkins, their quarterback, is a real, real special athlete, a strong and very athletic guy with a nice arm. They'll actually play a couple of quarterbacks and give you a lot things to deal with. He and Pinnock are two guys that you better know where they are all the time. The offensive line is big, strong and physical, a good-looking group. The wide receivers are talented. Williamson, especially, is averaging 26-27 yards a catch. We'll have to know where he is.
"Defensively, they're very multiple, three down linemen, three linebackers and five secondary guys and they'll change that up all different kinds of ways. There's a lot of movement and pressure. The front three are good, particularly Langston Moore. He's a really good player. We'll have to get after him and know where he is.
"The kicking game is real solid. For us to win, we'll have to put our best effort of the year together, offensively, defensively and on special teams."
