GoVolsXtra’s John Adams is riling people up during the off season by predicting, in order, the departure of each SEC football coach. According to Adams, Kentucky’s Rich Brooks will be the first to go (with coach Fulmer on his heels), and Georgia’s Mark Richt will be the last.

John Pennington hates June, but finds something to talk about anyway: the NCAA rule changes (1) intended to speed up the game, and (2) to allow coaches to demand a replay review of a close call, and (3) the rumor circulating that Southern Cal coach Pete Carroll has approached UCLA coach Karl Dorrell to suggest that both teams wear their dark jerseys when they play each other this fall instead of the home team wearing dark and the visiting team wearing white.

My quick thoughts on each: (1) On shortening the games, I’m with Pennington, who points out that there’s only from 36-40 hours of regular-season football for each team. Who wants less? (2) On the coaches’ challenge, okay, fine. Whatever. (3) The anachronistic dark/white rule dates back to the age of black and white television. Who wouldn’t love to see orange and crimson clash on Somewhere Around the Third Saturday of October? Now that’s the color of fall.

All for now.

Coach Phillip Fulmer, hoping to avoid any repeat of last year’s humiliating season, is saying for the first time that he should have made some offensive coaching staff changes “a couple of years” earlier.  He didn’t say which ones.  According to Inside Tennessee’s Randy Moore, though, Greg Amsinger of College Sports TV is predicting more humiliation for the Vols this year starting with its first game against California on September 2, 2006.  More could be on the horizon just two games later if, as It’s a Definite Maybe is satiracally reporting, the Florida Gators’ unveil their new “leave before Chris Leak gets on the bus” wrinkle to the spread offense.  (Hat tip to EDSBS.)

And hearty congratulations to Fanblogs, the Adam of the college football blogosphere, which is joining the Rivals.com network.  Friends forever.  Don’t ever change.  I’ll write every day, etc., etc., etc.

A quick glimpse around Rocky Top:

Fulmer has taken the team behind the woodshed after projected starting linebacker Marvin Mitchell was arrested for disorderly conduct. It’s likely to be the team’s first points in EDSBS‘s Fulmer Cup.

SportsAnimal99.com has new interviews with head coach Phillip Fulmer about the recent NFL draft, former Tennessee linebacker Omar Gaither, and former Tennessee defensive back Andre Lott. On the same note, Inside Tennessee’s Jimmy Hyams (who took part in the SportsAnimal interview) details Tennessee’s recent NFL draft woes, and Inside Tennessee’s Randy Moore tells UT underclassmen to take note of the players who left early and weren’t even drafted.

GoVolsXtra’s John Adams has once again gotten people talking. Today’s column makes several uncomfortable points about head coach Phillip Fulmer, garnering “amens” from many and several “you’re a jerk, Johns” (I’m paraphrasing here) from others. Go read the whole thing — it’s worth the price of admission. Here’s just one excerpt:

A Memphis Commercial Appeal sportswriter asked Fulmer about the contributions of new offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe.

“David has improved the toughness of our team,” Fulmer said. “We’re fundamentally better. He has been very demanding of tempo and execution.

“The daily practice habits improved. Not that we were practicing poorly, but not the cross-your-t’s-and-dot-your-i’s extent that we are now.”

Those comments came on the heels of his spring-game press conference in which Fulmer said, “I think you could describe the spring as a success probably for one reason — the kids learned how to work again, as hard as they’re supposed to and at the tempo they’re supposed to.”

If a 5-6 season were a crime, that quote would be a confession. And if Fulmer keeps bringing up his team’s recently discovered work ethic, someone is going to charge him with stealing about $2 million from the athletic department last year.

Ouch.

My two cents: As Tennessee Volunteer head basketball coach Bruce Pearl recently said, it’s much more difficult to keep a good thing going than it is to get it going. Sort of contrary to the principle of inertia, but I get what he means: it’s easier to get to the top of the hill when you’re one of many aiming for the king, trying to knock him off. It’s another thing entirely when you’re the king and a multitude of teams are trying to knock you off from every angle. So the team believed the hype last year and got a tad lazier than prior years, thinking it could simply flip on a switch and play up to its talent on game day. There’s a creeping effect at work here, and because there is so little room for error, a lot of little mistakes can add up to a negative tipping point, especially when combined with a king-of-the-hill status and a brutal schedule.

I think that by the time coach Fulmer realized things were getting out of hand last year it was too late to do much about it. He would have said these things — that the team has re-learned how to practice, how to work, how to play with tempo, etc. — this year even if he had made no coaching changes last year. I also think that the humility of a losing season makes the players more coachable. Still, Fulmer had to do something more than just re-doubling his own efforts, and re-hiring ahead-to-the-past offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe was, I think, the right thing to do.

But if we do indeed have a better season this year, we ought to be careful not to chalk it up solely to the efforts of David Cutcliffe. It’s the losing season that has led to a lot of changes, all of which, we hope, will work together to get the thing back on track.

Well, that was refreshing. The early morning rain had cleared the air. The sun was warm and the breeze was cool.

And like the local Bradford Pears and dogwoods awaking from a cold, desolate winter to push out new growth, the Tennessee Volunteer offense was showing signs of life.

Robert Meachem had a banner day, catching a pair of touchdown passes, one of which went for 70 yards. Talk about a sight for sore eyes. Bret Smith was, as is his nature, quietly consistent with seven catches for 47 yards and one touchdown. And lo and behold, the tight ends were catching passes, 10 of them to be exact.

Erik Ainge solidified his position as starting quarterback, completing 14 of 22 passes for a total of 210 yards and two touchdowns. Crompton and Hardegree did fine, together completing 24 of 29 passes for 152 yards and one touchdown. Hardegree did throw one interception.

The emphasis on tempo was evident, as Ainge got his team in and out of the huddle quickly. Crompton, on the other hand, got a Jumbotron tongue-lashing from coach Cutcliffe after calling his third timeout early in the first half. Good news, all of it. Still unanswered, however, is Ainge’s decision-making under duress. That really can’t be tested in a green jersey, and he did in fact give up two (I think) sacks due to not getting rid of the ball quick enough.

The defense had its moments as well. Linebackers Rico McCoy and James Turner each had seven tackles.
Uruk-Hai look-alike Jonathan Wade (that’s a compliment; I think it looks cool) had one interception,
and Robert Ayers and Demonte’ Bolden recovered one fumble a piece.

Fulmer on the quarterbacks:

David Cutcliffe has been great for all of those guys. We were in and out of the huddle, especially early. I thought Erik had a really good game except for the two sacks. I’ve been really impressed with Jonathan Crompton, considering he hasn’t played any football since high school. And Bo has had a really good spring.

Fulmer on the receivers:

The receivers were better out there because they are blocking their rears off and catching it more consistently. They are trying to do more things with the football after they catch it.

Fulmer on the offense in general:

If you don’t drop balls, have turnovers and have silly sacks, you have a chance to be successful because we have enough talent to break a tackle or make a play in the passing game that’s going to give us some points. That’s what we did not do offensively last year.

Fulmer on the defense:

We had a really good spring. We closed ground in some areas. We can’t possibly be as experience as we were last year in the linebacker corps but those guys are just really doing well. They are playing with great attitude.

Justin [Harrell] has played well all spring and Matt McGlothlin has pushed himself into position where we’re going to be counting on him. His play since the spring break has been as consistent as anybody on our football team. And the secondary has been a strength all spring.

Fulmer on spring practice overall:

You could describe the spring as a success for probably one reason and that’s that our kids learned how to work again as hard as they are supposed to. If we will stay that course and make the improvements at the positions where we need to improve, we’ll get there.

We’ve just finished phase two of what we’re trying to get done. I think we’ve made some strides. Sometimes before you really appreciate the peaks — and we’ve been on a lot of peaks — you’ve got to go into the valleys. Basically, that’s how I’ve described it to our football team this year. We’re doing everything we can to fight and scratch and take each little step we can to get ourselves back where want to be and that’s at the peak.

The kids have had a good attitude but our summer program will be one of the deciding factors on what kind of football team we will have. We actually moved spring practice ahead by two weeks to give us a longer summer cycle. I’ve seen young people change their bodies during the summer, particularly the young guys and we’re going to be counting on a lot of young guys next season.

My own slideshow is coming soon. If I don’t mow the lawn today, I’m going to need a bush-hog.

UTSports.com has video highlights and audio interviews with coach Fulmer.

For those lucky or early enough to get into Thompson-Boling Arena for Fan Day, it apparently looked like this. I wouldn’t know, because I was number 12,000 or so in line waiting to go through the single door in Thompson-Boling they had opened for the occasion.

Tennessee Volunteer football head coach Phillip Fulmer is warming up to the idea of Erik Ainge as his starter at quarterback, saying that “Erik’s the starter right now because he has the most experience. He should be the starter. Jon [Crompton] is competing hard and learning every day. I think he’s going to be all right.”

Fulmer went on to say that “Erik right now is playing with as much confidence as I’ve seen him. He’s throwing the football and doing things on time. That’s a very encouraging sign.”

The Vols hold their final full scrimmage today before next Saturday’s Orange and White Game. The focus is on tempo, what’s becoming known as “fast break football,” fundamentals, and consistency.

“We’re taking baby steps,” Coach Fulmer said, “but there are some guys at some positions that are too much of a rollercoaster. That drives you nuts. You’d rather have a guy that was average all the time than one that’s good one day and sorry the next. You just can’t plan around that.”

Well, as we found out last year, you can plan . . . it just won’t work. A lot of the news coming out of practice is that they are really emphasizing all of the little things, stressing that it only takes one play to kill a drive. And, again as we found out last year, it only takes one player to kill a play. There are eleven guys on the field at a time. If only one of them eases up a little bit or loses focus for a second, he can kill the play and put the team behind on downs. Getting behind on downs stalls drives, and stalled drives lose games. There’s just not any margin for error.

Fundamentals. Consistency. Tempo.

Hopefully, the players will be hearing those words in their heads all summer.

Tennessee Volunteer head football coach Phillip Fulmer — widely known and often criticized for his forced, agonized grin and hand-clapping after mistakes — is calling names. A few of his more memorable comments overheard at Saturday’s spring scrimmage:

• “You look like an old woman!”
• “We’re not very mean upfront yet. It just looks like two butterflies making love out there to be honest with you.”
• Regarding the many players in green, no-contact jerseys: “It’s not 100 percent their fault but I call them greenie weenies.”

UTSports.com has some video of the Vols’ second day of spring practice. Lots of No. 8 (Jon Crompton, I think) and No. 11 (Slick Shelley, I think).

Is that a leather pracatice shirt Coach Fulmer’s wearing?

Coach Phillip Fulmer and the Tennessee Volunteer football team kicked off spring practice yesterday. Here are some of coach Fulmer’s comments:

Just to get started, I cannot remember being more eager about a spring practice since my days as a player during the spring of 1969. We kicked it off with great anticipation for what was to come. I’m anxious to get on the field with the players and the coaches to start putting the pieces of the team together for 2006. The great thing about it is the players, I think, have the same kind of anticipation toward spring practice.”

“The players have worked hard and their attitude seems to be in the right place. We’ve had a good off-season program, which is Phase I for us. All of us as coaches have studied ourselves and other teams and spent hours and hours and hours evaluating ourselvesa, and looking at new ideas, and preparing practice schedules.”

“As I have expressed to the football team, football is played on the field between the lines and is a physical sport and a contact sport. All the work in the weight room, all the work in the meeting rooms and running around in tennis shoes and shorts is not football. I’m anxious to actually get on the field and play football. It’s hard because the rules require that you have a couple of days in shorts, and we’ll get a lot of good work out of that but I can’t wait until we get a chance to actually go and start our physical contact on Saturday.”

“My mood, my mindset as I said is extremely excited. I think it’s extremely important that we use every day, every minute, every period of our 15 days we are allowed to get our edge back as a football team. I’m ready to turn the page on 2005 and I think everything and everyone has reviewed all that they possibly can on the shortcomings of last year. And more than anyone else, the coaches and players have high expectations for this coming season.”

“It was rare, certainly, that we did not play up to the standards that we established here along with the great tradition of Tennessee football. As I said, we have studied, critiqued, broken down every play, and every phase of our football team even during the recruiting time when we were in the office and had time to do that after the season. From myself as the head football coach down to the scout team and walk-on guys, we have looked at our personnel all the way to where we’re going to stay when we travel and the hotels we’re going to stay in. So everything has been reviewed and looked at. We’ve certainly have learned from our mistakes as we go along, took steps, and will continue to take those steps to fix our shortcomings. Yes, we’ve learned a lot about ourselves and, yes, I do think that we’ll be a much better football team.”

(more…)

Sports Illustrated previews the Tennessee Volunteer football spring practice, which begins tomorrow.