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University of Tennessee: Vols begin rebuilding after embarassing loss

By: Wes Rucker
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KNOXVILLE — The University of Tennessee football team practiced Wednesday for the first time since Monday’s season-opening loss at UCLA.

Blue skies and few clouds highlighted Haslam Field, but Vols coach Phillip Fulmer was no ray of sunshine.

“I guess we have the luxury of feeling like (junk), because we don’t have to play again this week,” Fulmer said.

Asked what he told the team Wednesday, Fulmer’s answer was long — so long that he eventually stopped himself for a small chuckle.

Make no mistake, though. He’s mad. He went directly to his office when the team flight returned from the West Coast on Tuesday and basically hasn’t stopped working since.

“I’m really honest with them,” Fulmer said. “The one thing I told them was, ‘It’s not all right.’ Everything is not all right. Somebody can say that, but it’s not.”

Junior tailback Montario Hardesty said the team’s mood improved slightly as practice continued, but not too much.

“We’ve got too many things to improve to be wasting any time,” Hardesty added. “We’ve got to get a lot better at a lot of things, and soon.”

Fulmer said he actually fed off the players a little bit, because “youth bounces back sometimes better than we do.

“They’ve had class and other things,” Fulmer continued. “I’ve had nothing but that film that I’ve soaked over for two days.

“You cannot imagine how many hours we’ve spent on getting the snap on third and short and how important it is that you ride the center and stay with the center. Whether it’s the center’s fault or the quarterback’s fault is irrelevant. It happens. Not to take a sack when you back up. Not to take an interception. You guys are out there in the first four periods. Nobody spends the time that we spend on kicking.

“For some (junk) like that to happen to us, (it makes you) angry. It makes you mad. I’m not blaming the kids. The bottom line is it starts with us. It starts with me and starts with us as a coaching staff, and we’ll go from there.”

Not just Jon

Fulmer said quarterback Jonathan Crompton’s Monday performance was “just OK,” but he said the offensive line and receivers also left plenty to be desired in the passing game.

“He didn’t get much help from the protection,” Fulmer said. “He got hit entirely too much. He needs to throw the ball better on rhythm. That’s a combination of route-running and protection and him.

“UCLA did a good job with the movements and twists, and we didn’t do a good job of handling it and getting the ball out on time.”

The Vols’ pass-blockers have been showered with praise since allowing an NCAA-low four sacks last season.

“But right now, our pass protection just isn’t where it needs to be,” junior center Josh McNeil said. “We let our quarterback get hit a bunch.”

Crompton accepted plenty of responsibility, though, saying “I need to be a lot more consistent.”

No secondary adjustments

As UCLA quarterback Kevin Craft spent the fourth quarter dominating a defense that intercepted him four times in the first half, it looked like the Bruins made adjustments to which the Vols didn’t respond.

That was correct.

“We didn’t play a lot different,” Fulmer said. “They just started throwing the ball short and in front of us and in seams, and we didn’t get them stopped. They just were throwing it quick, and (we) couldn’t get the balls either rushed or batted down or get in the seams that we needed to be in.

“Looking back, we probably should have gotten up in there and challenged them a bit more.”

Fulmer said sophomore cornerback Dennis Rogan’s second-half departure with a “pulled or strained muscled in the side” caused some concerns about using more bump-and-run coverage.

“We have certain techniques that we’re going to play, and there were some that we would like to have a played a little closer up, obviously, in certain situations,” secondary coach Larry Slade said. “You take one situation, and a guy’s up there bumped up on another guy, and the guys can’t get off.

“And then two or three plays later, you make the same kind of call, and they play off a little soft, and (the quarterback) will throw it to that guy.”

Block blame shared

Fulmer said poor blocking and poor spacing from Chad Cunningham led to the blocked punt UCLA returned for a first-quarter touchdown.

“(Cunningham) needed to stay behind the shield a little bit better, and we needed to protect better up front,” he said.

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