University of Tennessee Athletics
UT Hosts Hargrave Acadamy in JV Game Thursday
September 25, 2007 | Football
The Tennessee athletics department announced that, for the first time in 15 years, the Vols are hosting an official junior varsity football game on Thursday.
Hargrave Military Academy from Chatham, Va., provides the opposition Sept. 27 in a 7 p.m. kickoff at Neyland Stadium. Admission to the game and parking are free, with space available in the G-10 garage located between the stadium and Thompson-Boling Arena.
Not since a 26-13 victory over UT-Chattanooga during the 1992 season has a Tennessee junior varsity squad taken the field in organized competition.
???We saw an opportunity with a lot of young guys on this year???s team to get them some playing time against a quality opponent,??? head coach Phillip Fulmer said. ???Hargrave has an excellent program. It will be nice to see them on our campus and give Coach (Robert) Prunty and his players a chance to see us up close.???
Fulmer said NCAA rules prohibit playing in more than 12 regular-season games, so student-athletes who have not played in all of UT???s early-season games could see action. Redshirt candidates for the 2007 season are not allowed to play and maintain their redshirt status.
UT???s history of JV and freshman games dates to 1922, when the Vols began a 21-year run of at least two freshman contests per season. After World War II, junior varsity play started in 1946 and skipped only the 1954 season in a run of competitions through 1987. A pair of games in both the 1991 and 1992 seasons were the most recent playing dates until next week???s contest.
Fans should enter the stadium next Thursday through Gate 21.
