Friday, August 04, 2006

Tennessean: Vols set for first '06 step

Fulmer, players welcome start of fall practice

By CHRIS LOW

Read the entire article here.

 

KNOXVILLE — The 2005 season for Tennessee's football team was turbulent enough.  And now this past week, which produced two arrests that led to one dismissal and one suspension. Think Phillip Fulmer is ready for practice to begin? He gets his wish today, as the Vols set out to prove that last season's 5-6 disaster was merely an aberration as Fulmer contends and not a crack in the Big Orange foundation. The Vols will practice in shorts and helmets today and Saturday. They'll put on shoulder pads for their Sunday and Monday practices and go to full pads on Tuesday. There's no getting around the fact that this is the most pivotal season Fulmer has faced at Tennessee. In the world of Tennessee football, they're all pivotal. But this is Fulmer's chance to prove that his grasp on the program is as strong as ever and that he hasn't let Mark Richt, Urban Meyer, Tommy Tuberville and even his old nemesis, Steve Spurrier, pass him by. "We all felt like we weren't getting everything out of the program last year," said Fulmer, who turned to his old pal, David Cutcliffe, to take over the offense. "But we had just won the division the year before, so it wasn't like everything was broken. Sometime between that Eastern Division championship and a really good-looking football team coming back — with all the distractions, with the injuries, with the schedule, with the surgeries and with too much assuming on my part — we lost something. "We've all worked really hard since January to get that back." 

Here are five questions the Vols need to answer this preseason if they're indeed going to get it back:

2. Can the offense be potent enough, early enough, to win a scoring match if it has to against California in the opener?

The Vols, thanks to the defense, squeaked by 17-13 in the opener last season against Alabama-Birmingham. Expecting the defense to shut down an explosive Cal offense in similar fashion is probably unrealistic, meaning it might take 30-plus points to beat the Golden Bears. There won't be any time to ease into things. The Vols will need to be in midseason form on Sept. 2.

No comments: