University of Tennessee Athletics
Vols Name Six Captains for Saturday
September 06, 2007 | Football
Tennessee head coach Phillip Fulmer announced Thursday that captains for the Southern Mississippi contest are seniors Erik Ainge, Chris Brown, Antonio Gaines, Antonio Reynolds and Jerod Mayo, and junior Ramon Foster.
INJURY UPDATE (Southern Mississippi) -- Probable: P Britton Colquitt (quadricep); Out: DE Ben Martin (knee).
InSIDe the Vols -- THURSDAY Q&A WITH DEFENSIVE LINE COACH DAN BROOKS
Thursdays of every game week, UTsports.com sits down with a member of the Vols team or coaching staff to preview a key element of the upcoming game. This week, sports information graduate assistant Tony Williams speaks with defensive line coach Dan Brooks about Southern Miss running back Damion Fletcher, the zone blocking scheme used by the Golden Eagles and the personnel changes on the defensive line this week.
What have you learned about Damion Fletcher from film this week?
???He is a really good back. I am not that good at comparisons to other backs, but for a freshman to come out and do what he did last year is very impressive. We are going to have to do a great job of hemming him up. He is not a guy that is going to let one guy tackle him. We???ve got to do a great job of swarming to the ball. He is a great back. He will play on Sunday someday.???
You moved Dan Williams into the starting lineup and took J.T. Mapu out. How have the two of them practiced this week?
???They have both done well, done some good things. We???re going to continue to let them compete and play both of them. Each of them had a good week.???
Will Southern Miss approach the run differently than Cal?
???They will. Every team has its own unique aspects. They are a very good zone run team. They recruit good zone running backs. (Fletcher) does a great job with the zone, cutting back and finding open gaps and that sort of thing. Their offensive line obviously does a really good job with a difficult concept. The two tackles have played a lot of football, and the other guys are experienced also. We???ll see a lot of zone run, but (Fletcher) gets the ball up and down the field and that???s impressive.???
Will the zone blocking scheme be a challenge for the front four?
???It will be. We prepare for what we see on tape. They are not going to change a lot. (Head coach) Jeff Bower has been there a long time and the staff has been together. But you are always going to get little wrinkles here or there. The players are prepared. They have gotten four good days of work in this week.???
After struggling to stop the run last week, were any major adjustments made in practice this week?
???No. We do what we do. We???ve been together a long time. Obviously, some things didn???t go exactly right last week, but we played a very good football team. We???ve gone back to work. We have a good scheme and we???ve got to make it happen. We missed tackles and made mistakes last week. We have to get those things corrected. You never know what is going to happen in that first ball game. You scrimmage against yourself but you don???t have that opportunity to play and experience a game day, so we feel like we will be a lot better come Saturday.???
DISH NETWORK AND DIRECTV CHANNELS RELEASED FOR UT-SOUTHERN MISS PAY-PER-VIEW
Can???t make it to Neyland Stadium for Saturday???s opener? Don???t forget pay-per-view options made available by the Vol Network for the 7 p.m. Eastern time (6 p.m. Central) kickoff.
Cable systems across the state of Tennessee are scheduled to carry the telecast. Fans may contact their local cable system to order the game and receive price information. The game also is available to Tennessee Dish Network (channel 462) and DirecTV (channel 698) subscribers as well as C-band dish owners.
Dish Network and DirecTV customers should order the telecast by going to the designated channel before kickoff and following the ordering instructions on their TV screen using their remote. Home satellite dish owners with large C-band dishes located outside the service areas of the participating cable systems in the state of Tennessee may order the game by calling (800) 887-8277.
The announcing team for Saturday???s game is Randy Smith (play-by-play) and former Vols and NFL quarterback Pat Ryan (color).
Rules and guidelines regarding pay-per-view telecasts:
*The telecast is available only in the state of Tennessee to participating cable systems and home satellite owners. Not all cable systems in the state of Tennessee may have the event available.
*Per Southeastern Conference rules, ESPN GamePlan has the option to offer the game to fans outside the states of Tennessee via the ESPN GamePlan package.
***VideoSeat pay-per-view telecasts are a production of HOST Communications Inc., with the authorization of the University of Tennessee.
