University of Tennessee Athletics
VOLS FIND STRENGTH IN AN EMPTY STADIUM
September 04, 2006 | Football
Sept. 4, 2006
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Tennessee players stood in an empty Neyland Stadium and watched clips of themselves on the Jumbotron. They saw scenes from last year's 5-6 finish, spring practice and preseason camp.
There were no coaches at this meeting Thursday night. This signaled the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006.
The Volunteers set the tone early Saturday night against ninth-ranked California, knocking out one of the Golden Bears' toughest players on the kickoff en route to a 35-18 victory. No. 23 Tennessee hosts Air Force this week.
"We just got together as a team and went down to the stadium and watched some stuff we had been through as a team during spring and during fall practice and listened to a little passage from a movie mixed in with some highlights from last season," cornerback Jonathan Wade said Monday.
"We prayed as a team and we looked around at an empty stadium and we looked at ourselves and told each other that this is our family, this is us. People in here right now are the people that believe in us."
The movie was Oliver Stone's "Any Given Sunday."
Quarterback Erik Ainge said he and receiver Jayson Swain asked Tennessee's video coordinator to put together a highlight - or in this case a low-light - reel for the players. The video included shots of the scoreboard after some games last year.
"To put things into perspective and show everything we had worked for and that it was all coming together on Saturday. ...Thursday night on, it was all focus," Ainge said.
"Guys were walking off the field jumping up and down like they were ready to go play a football game, and it was on Thursday. That kind of focus and intensity for two days until we played is always good."
The focus showed on the very first play of the game when defensive end Robert Ayers charged into Cal tight end Craig Stevens on the opening kickoff. Stevens was slow getting up, and his legs were wobbly as the trainers helped him off the field. He did not play the rest of the game.
"We were thinking 'Oh, man, these guys are probably in trouble today,"' said linebacker Jerod Mayo, who had all three of Tennessee's sacks.
Before the game Saturday, the players gathered at midfield, many still wearing suits and ties. They lowered their heads while some spoke.
"We're a lot closer than last year," Mayo said. "We just went out there with the mind-set that, 'Hey this is business time now. No time for jokes, no time for playing around. It's time to get the job done."'
