University of Tennessee Athletics
Tennessee Head Coach Phillip Fulmer's Media Day Comments
October 07, 2008 | Football
Oct. 7, 2008
"It's great to be sitting here with a win under our belts and getting that sick feeling out of our stomach as we prepare for this huge football game with the University of Georgia. As you look at our football team, our defense continues to play really well. I like the development of our young defensive ends, Chris Walker and Ben Martin, and the progress they are making. Gerald Williams is consistently working to get better. Ellix Wilson is playing well for us. Nick Reveiz stepped up big and played well. The secondary continues to give us the flexibility to do a lot of different things. That's exciting.
"We still really have not gotten to the point where we can play enough defensive tackles but those three guys, Dan Williams, Walter Fisher and Demonte Bolden, are being tough and playing well. This is going to easily be their biggest challenge of the year from the standpoint of playing against a very balanced Georgia offense. That group, obviously we hope they continue to make progress and play as well as they play.
"Offensively, we're still fighting for that consistency that we all are looking for. I thought Nick (Stephens) gave us a lift from that standpoint. Looking at it from a realistic standpoint, we missed a field goal and kicked two field goals. You take those and that's 21 points that were reasonable to make. If we do that, we're sitting here feeling a lot better about our production against a good Northern Illinois football team. That's the challenge: to find that consistency offensively and find the personality. That's not just the quarterback and it hasn't just been the quarterback all along. It is different phases at different times. The one thing we did last year is we played very consistently down the stretch.
"Nick, as an individual, the more practice reps he gets, the more game reps he gets, he certainly should improve as we go along and continue to progress.
"Our team focus starting Sunday is to tell them to worry about today; worry about going to the practice field and improving and preparing ourselves for a really fine Georgia football team.
"Georgia offensively has great balance. They have a really fine back; Stafford is a really fine quarterback. They do a good job of using their abilities and stretching the field vertically and horizontally. They're just an all-around fine offensive football team.
"It's the same thing with their defense: excellent athletes out their playing, and they play a lot of folks and do a good job, as well as in the kicking game. When you go into a game like this, our focus, our mindset, our preparation, our feeling of going on the road to a very hostile environment and being the underdog football team, that's very much real and very much how we have to prepare. I'm looking forward to seeing how our team responds in practice, offensively to work toward that consistency that we're all looking for and defensively, to continue to improve on our production. In the kicking game, with Britton (Colquitt) being back, I expect to see a marked improvement. He's a guy that can certainly make a difference in field position."
VOLS SUSPEND MYERS, JOHNSON
Tennessee offensive linemen Darius Myers and Ramone Johnson have been suspended for two weeks and will miss upcoming games against Georgia and Mississippi State.
"Darius Myers and Ramone Johnson are suspended for two weeks of practice and two games for lack of academic effort and violation of team rules," head coach Phillip Fulmer said.
UT-MISSISSIPPI STATE ON PAY-PER-VIEW
The Tennessee-Mississippi State game on Oct. 18 in Knoxville will be televised on a pay-per-view basis across the state of Tennessee. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Eastern time (6 p.m. Central).
The announcing team will be Randy Smith (play-by-play) and former Vol and NFL quarterback Pat Ryan (color analysis).
Cable systems across the state of Tennessee are scheduled to carry the telecast from the VideoSeat pay-per-view service. The game also will be made available as a pay-per-view event to Tennessee Dish Network subscribers and DirecTV subscribers. Channel numbers and ordering information for home dish owners will be forthcoming next week.
ESPN GamePlan is expected to offer the game to fans living outside the state of Tennessee via the ESPN GamePlan package. The game will be blacked out on ESPN GamePlan in the state of Tennessee and cannot be ordered as part of ESPN's package.
