University of Tennessee Athletics
ASUMNU'S LEARNING ON THE FAST TRACK
August 25, 2006 | Football
Aug. 25, 2006
By Austin Ward, UT Sports Information
Sure, he's the last wide receiver on the practice field on a sweltering afternoon in Knoxville. But Stanley Asumnu also just happens to be the last player on the field at all.
It's one night after the Vols last scrimmage, two days after the former UT basketball player was awarded a football scholarship to take the place of his expiring hoops hook-up. Asumnu and a manager-turned-makeshift-quarterback are all alone on the turf at Haslam Field, as the former swingman continues his adjustment to life as a wide receiver. Route after route, Asumnu sprints down the sideline, makes a catch in the end zone and walks back to the 35-yard line.
"Two more," he says.
Who said it was going to be easy?
Asumnu fights off an imaginary cornerback and streaks toward the goal line. His blazing speed hasn't been lost in the transition from the hardwood to the gridiron, and his 42-inch vertical jump and 6-4 frame combine to make a pretty tantalizing target for a quarterback.
But right now, he's Randy Moss trying to make an NBA roster.
The physical attributes are still there, but the learning curve is steep.
"I've had to work my butt off," said Asumnu, who hasn't played any football since eighth grade. "I spent this whole summer just trying to get myself ready and prepared, and even today I'm still trying to get myself ready and prepared because you just never know when they might want to use me and what they want to use me for.
"I've got to just continue to stay humble and work hard and stay positive through everything that happens."
Asumnu has had to go through his share of negatives, and he's certainly had a few humbling experiences learning the ropes.
Wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor called out Asumnu for dropping a few too many balls early in preseason practice, and that particular problem hasn't been completely resolved.
At least one sure touchdown slipped though Asumnu's fingers during the final preseason scrimmage, including a beautiful deep ball after Asumnu had slipped behind the secondary with his fleet feet.
"Oh man. That was one that just should have been mine," he said. "I'm not going to make any excuses. I'm just going to try to go from this point on and just try to make plays.
"Throw that play to me, go deep; I want to try to make a play on it. I put that play behind me, but if I could do it all over again I probably would have tried to run under it instead of try to stretch out for it. But I tried to bring it in. Hey, it happens. That's what it's all about. Just try to get better and try to move forward."
He almost didn't get a chance to move forward with the football team.
After playing four years with the UT basketball team, Asumnu had a little bit different problem than most newcomers to the football team - his scholarship was about to run out. Asumnu came into camp as a scholarship basketball player, but he knew that he needed to be a scholarship football player to stick around long enough for the season-opener Sept. 2 against California.
"I hopefully wanted to know something before school started, and I did," he said. "It feels good. I knew my basketball scholarship was ending at the end of August, so I either needed to have a football scholarship or find out what I was going to do.
"It's taken care of now, because (head coach) Phillip Fulmer and his staff have faith and confidence in me. Now I've just got have confidence in myself and come out here every day and show them that I can help wherever they need me."
Taylor and Fulmer have called Asumnu "a work in progress" and said they are looking for more consistency, but Taylor said anything Asumnu contributes on the field will be a bonus for the Vols.
"Even if he didn't play a single down for us, he's been good for our football team with the way he works and the example he sets in that wide receiver room," Taylor said. "He works all day like a mine mule. All you have to do is say hike, and he's ready to go. If you tell him to do something, he's going to try his best to get it done."
Asumnu goes through those last two reps, but he's not done yet.
"Let's do fades," he urges.
Basketball coach Bruce Pearl had this play, too, and it's one that is essentially a Stanley Specialty.
"Throw it up high," he says. "I'll go get it."
He doesn't have to go up and through it down anymore. Now Asumnu has to worry about holding on and getting himself back down in-bounds.
He makes it look easy: Soaring high, snaring the football and landing softly in the end zone.
There's nobody around, but Asumnu doesn't care.
If he's going to get back in the end zone when there's 21 other people on the field with him, the journey includes a few trips alone.
It starts in the summer.
It starts alone at Haslam Field
It's where his scholarship was won - and Asumnu is doing his best to prove that he earned it.
"I'm just trying to help this team out wherever I can, wherever they need me, wherever they want to use me, and just come to practice and practice 100 percent," he said.
"They were able to give me a scholarship, and now I have to prove why they should give me one."
