Tennessee Volunteers

Sept. 1
UCLA 27 ... Tennessee 24 OT
A wild finish ended when Tennessee PK Daniel Lincoln missed a 34-yard field goal in overtime after UCLA's Kai Forbath nailed a 42-yards on the Bruins' possession. Both offenses struggled through most of the game with UCLA getting its first touchdown on a blocked punt for a touchdown from Sean Westgate, while Tennessee picked off Kevin Craft four times with Nevin McKenzie returning a pick 61 yards for a touchdown with 23 seconds left in the first half. And then the quarterbacks got hot in the final eight minutes with UCLA marching 70 yards in nine plays with Ryan Moya catching a three-yard touchdown pass for a three-point UCLA lead with 27 seconds to play. But Tennessee would come back with Daniel Lincoln nailing a 47-yard field goal to force overtime.
Player of the game: UCLA QB Kevin Craft completed 25 of 43 passes for 269 yards and a touchdown with four interceptions
Stat Leaders: Tennessee - Passing: Jonathan Crompton, 19-41, 189 yds, 1 INT
Rushing: Arian Foster, 13-96. Receiving: Gerald Jones, 4-40
UCLA - Passing: Kevin Craft, 25-43, 269 yds, 1 TD, 4 INT
Rushing: Raymond Carter, 15-14, 1 TD. Receiving: Ryan Moya, 7-6,5, 1 TD
Whoopty doo. What does it all mean, Basil? ... The defense picked the wrong time to start struggling. After dominating UCLA for roughly 53 minutes, the pass rush was a half-step too slow to get to Kevin Craft, and the coaching of Bruin offensive coordinator Norm Chow beat the Tennessee coaching staff. The game could've gone either way and there's no reason to get hung up on the loss. If anything, the play of QB Jonathan Crompton to get the team in a position to force overtime at the end was a major breakthrough. The running game will be tremendous all season long if Arian Foster and Montario Hardesty run like they did against the Bruins.

2008 Recruiting Class

Star of the Class

E.J. Abrams-Ward WR 6-5 210 Thomasville, N.C. (Thomasville HS)
Named Associated Press All-State as a senior in 2007 and sophomore in 2005 ... 2007 All-Southern team ... Named to the Atlanta-Journal-Constitution Super Southern 100 team ... North Carolina Offensive Player of the Year for Class 1A as a senior ... Three-time All-Conference and All-County selection as a senior, junior and sophomore ... Two-time All-Region selection as a senior and junior. ... As a senior in 2007, rushed for more than 1,200 yards and totaled better than 800 yards receiving ... As a junior in 2006, threw for 596 yards and six touchdowns.... Four-year letterman and three-year starter in football, starting at linebacker as a sophomore and junior as well as three-year starter on offense ... Also a standout basketball player, scoring topping 1,000 points in his career as a three-year starter ... Earned All-State, All-Conference and All-County honors in basketball as a junior ... A standout baseball player, earned All-Conference honors as a sophomore and junior as a pitcher and centerfielder ... Senior team captain for football and basketball.

Potential Instant Impact Players

Herman Lathers LB 6-0 210 Baton Rouge, La. (Scotlandville HS)
As a senior in 2007, tallied 114 tackles with 18 tackles-for-loss and five sacks ... Also had two interceptions ... As a junior at Istrouma had 96 tackles and 14 sacks. Played two years at Istrouma high school in Baton Rouge.

Stephaun Raines DB 6-0 180 Dalton, Ga. (Dalton HS/Coffeyville C.C.)
Class 4A All-State as senior ... Two-time All-Area and All-TriState ... Chattanooga Times Free Press 2005 All-North Georgia. ... As a senior in 2005, accounted for more than 1,700 all-purpose yards and 15 touchdowns ... Caught 41 passes for 704 yards and seven touchdowns to go with 947 rushing yards and eight touchdowns ... As a junior, caught 49 passes for 912 yards and eight touchdowns ... Also in 2004, carried the ball 12 times for 187 yards. ... Originally signed with Tennessee in 2006 and has four years to play four years ... Three-year high school starter at wide receiver ... Offensive captain and offensive MVP senior season ... Also started at defensive back as sophomore in 2003 ... Three-year letterwinner in track and field ... Events included 100M, 200M, 4x100M and 4x400M ... Top time in 100M was 10.5 seconds ... Redshirted 2007 season at Coffeyville Community College

Rest of the Class

Carson Anderson OL 6-3 275 Florence, Ala. (Florence HS)
Preston Bailey OL 6-5 320 Nashville (Montgomery Bell Academy)
Ben Bartholomew FB 6-3 235 Nashville (Montgomery Bell Academy)
Wille Bohannon DL 6-3 230 Mobile, Ala. (Blount HS)
Aaron Douglas OL/TE 6-6 245 Maryville (Maryville HS)
Steven Fowlkes WR 6-5 213 College Park, Ga. (Banneker HS)
Montori Hughes DL 6-5 275 Murfreesboro (Siegel HS)
Austin Johnson LB 6-3 235 Hickory, N.C. (Hickory HS)
Casey Kelly QB 6-4 195 Sarasota, Fla (Sarasota HS)
Tauren Poole RB 5-10 194 Toccoa, Ga. (Stephens County HS)
Dallas Thomas OL 6-6 260 Baton Rouge, La. (Scotlandville HS)
Prentiss Waggner DB 6-2 180 Clinton, La. (Clinton HS)
Marlon Walls LB 6-4 230 Olive Branch, Miss. (Olive Branch HS)
Rodriquez Wilks WR 6-2 205 Smyrna, Tenn. (Smyrna HS)
Gerald Williams LB 6-4 240 Lauderdale Lakes, Fla. (City College of San Francisco)

2008 Lookahead
Why to get excited: Considering the league the Vols play in, the schedule isn't all that bad, especially late. Road trips to UCLA, Auburn and Georgia, along with the home date against Florida, makes things nasty early on, but if Phil Fulmer can get through 4-2, things get as good as can be reasonably asked for playing Mississippi State, Alabama, at South Carolina, Wyoming, at Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Ten starters return on offense including the entire offensive line that led the nation in fewest sacks allowed. RB Arian Foster's decision to come back for his senior season was a big plus.
Why to be grouchy: Yeah, most of the key parts are back on offense, but the two biggest parts, offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe and QB Erik Ainge, are gone. The defense was shockingly average, and now it has to replace three starters on the line, heart-and-soul playmakers Jerod Mayo and Jonathan Hefney, and solid tackling LB Ryan Karl.
The number one thing to work on is: Getting into the backfield. Outback Bowl win over Wisconsin aside, the Vols had a nightmare of a time getting to the quarterback and struggled way too much to stop the running game behind the line. With only two starters coming back on the defensive front seven, the coaching staff needs the off-season to figure out how to manufacture more of a pass rush.
Biggest offensive loss: QB Erik Ainge
Biggest defensive loss: LB Jerod Mayo & FS Jonathan Hefney
Best returning offensive player: OG Anthony Parker, Sr.
Best returning defensive player: SS Eric Berry, Soph.

2007 Recap
Recap: The Volunteers won 10 games, the rugged SEC East, and the Outback Bowl over Wisconsin, which wasn’t half bad for a program that was given up for dead at least twice last fall.  After hitting bedrock on Oct. 20 with a 41-17 loss to Alabama, Tennessee rallied for five wins in-a-row, including a couple of wild ones in overtime.  The Vols hung with eventual national champ LSU in the SEC title game, getting rare help from the defense, before bowing on a couple of inexcusable Erik Ainge interceptions late in the game.         

Offensive Player of the Year: QB Erik Ainge

Defensive Player of the Year: LB Jerod Mayo

Biggest Surprise: Winning the SEC East.  After the 24-point loss to ‘Bama, a game that was every bit as lopsided as the score indicated, Tennessee looked incapable of becoming bowl eligible, let alone beating out Florida and Georgia for the division.  With a break here and there and a timely stretch run, the Vols ended up in Atlanta on Dec. 1, ending speculation about Phil Fulmer’s future in Knoxville.       

Biggest Disappointment: When Tennessee lost in the regular season, it never was pretty.  On Sept. 15, for instance, the Vols got dressed down by Florida, 59-20, in one of the worst showings ever in this heated rivalry.  UT helped QB Tim Tebow get his Heisman campaign off the ground, allowing the sophomore to throw for 299 yards and two scores, and rush for 61 yards and two more touchdowns.

Looking Ahead: Former Richmond head coach Dave Clawson has been hired to replace David Cutcliffe, who is trying to breathe life into Duke.  Cutcliffe’s knack with quarterbacks will be missed since Ainge is out of eligibility, and likely to be replaced by junior Jonathan Crompton.  Defensive coordinator John Chavis will be putting out an APB for pass rushers after his unit finished eighth in the SEC in sacks.