University of Tennessee Athletics
Busy Saturday for Popular Vols
August 06, 2005 | Football
Aug. 6, 2005
| Photo Gallery | O. Gaither | P. Haralson Fulmer's Comments | Fulmer with Kesling | Gaither with Kesling |
Nearby lightning chased the Tennessee football team indoors for its final half-hour of Saturday afternoon practice to conclude a busy day on campus. The Vols practiced 21/2 hours for the second straight day in shorts and helmets after staging their well-attended Media Day at Neyland Stadium.
More than 50 newspaper, radio and television outlets had representatives on hand to gather head coach Phillip Fulmer's take on prospects for the upcoming football season. Assistant coaches and the rest of the Volunteers contributed their early-season opinions during the three-hour session.
Tennessee returns to the practice field Sunday afternoon, adding shoulder pads to their workout attire for the first time. The first practice in full gear is set for Tuesday.
MEDIA DAY COMMENTS FROM HEAD COACH Phillip Fulmer: "It's good to see everybody again. We are really, really glad to get started with this football team. Obviously, a lot of things have been said in the off-season about the team and what should be expected from them and it's very difficult to argue with the folks who think we have a chance to be good. I think we can be.
"Fifty-two lettermen are returning. Depending on how you look at it, 16 or 17 starters are returning. We were able to keep our two juniors who looked at pro football - Jesse Mahelona and Jason Allen. That was a real plus for us.
"It's a talented group of guys with a lot of guys who have played. I think we used spring practice to help us because it was really hard with all the guys who were not participating. We were able to build, I think, some good depth in spring practice by using the negative with all the guys who were out and trying to turn it into a positive by getting a lot of guys work and building that depth.
"The challenges we have are numerous and that's the reason you practice and prepare. One is, obviously, getting the pieces of the puzzle put together so we can be our best. We're going to have to be as battle-hardened as we can be at the beginning of the year because of how the schedule falls. I don't know that I've had in my time at Tennessee a more important challenge as we do this year and as big a need for our team to be ready to come out of the box really playing well vs. UAB and then obviously on the road for the next two weeks.
"The schedule is really tough. The plus side of it to this point is that our doctors, trainers, our strength coach and the kids have done a heck of a job getting themselves ready for this season. With as many surgeries as we had during the off-season, we would have been really behind the eight-ball if some of those kids hadn't been able to do a great job and get themselves back.
"It looks like we're going to be nearly at 100 percent of the guys we expected out there and in a couple of cases, Richie Gandy and David Holbert were actually ahead. Cameron Mayo probably is the only one right now that won't be participating in the early part of the season that had either a surgery from last season or an injury in spring practice. So we're ahead of the schedule from a conditioning standpoint.
"There's going to be a tremendous emphasis on the part of our coaches on conditioning because of the early schedule - that's always the case. I know our practice schedule will reflect the fundamental emphasis on being as good fundamentally as we possibly can be. If you were there Friday you saw the early parts of practice dedicated to just the fundamental things.
"We had really good carryover from spring practice if Friday is any indication as far as a mental carryover. I'm very hopeful and feel strongly that our quarterbacks, receivers and running backs will take very seriously what we're coaching as far as ball security. That's going to be crucial for us as a team not to put our defense in problems that way, and then also on the other side of the ball with takeaway.
"There's also a great emphasis on our kicking. Fortunately, our snapper's back and our kicker's back. We'll have a new punter and Britton's off to a new start and has had a good summer. We will have a new holder and that position is still in a competition stage but Casey Woods has gained the confidence in the off-season of James, so that's a plus.
"Depth-chart wise, as we go through these two-a-days there are a number of things that could change. I think we've got a very competitive situation at a number of positions and I'm really pleased with that.
"If you look at our football team, we have very good leadership and are building chemistry. A lot of that has carried over from last season. In this conference, you've got to have depth and we're certainly going to work at that. At times last year on both sides, we played really, really well. At times we showed our youth and didn't play as well. I mentioned earlier the mental and physical toughness we're going to have to have as a team in facing our schedule."
