Defensive back Roshaun Fellows is scheduling surgery today for a torn pectoral muscle and will miss the entire season.

Running back LaMarcus Coker, whose off-season workout regimen in high school consisted of running track, is all about the weight room now. He’s apparently much stronger, tougher, and more mature now than in the past, and still just as fast. GoVolsXtra.com’s Dave Hooker observes that in prior seasons, Coker was as elusive in the weight room as he was on the field. Nice hook, Hook.

Scout.com sort of turns the tables on the Erik Ainge question, offering the flip side to all of the criticism aimed at Ainge after he threw two interceptions during last Saturday’s all-live scrimmage. They pointed out that he actually made quite a few good decisions as well, often dumping the ball off for short gains to running backs or tight ends rather then forcing a pass downfield. Decent point.

Rivals.com has a nice feature entitled McNeil dialed in on little things. Little things. I think I’ve heard that somewhere before.

All for now.

Well, what can be said about the quarterbacks that hasn’t already been said? Very little, but I’m going to mix up the order of the words to make it look brand spanking new.

Erik Ainge drew favorable comparisons to Peyton Manning his freshman year, and for good reason. He completed 109 of 198 passes for 1,452 yards and 17 touchdowns in nine games before a shoulder injury against Notre Dame ended his season. The following year, he got off to a good start, but morphed into a mushroom cloud in the end zone at LSU. The question then became Is There Life After Death Valley for Erik Ainge? By the Notre Dame game, the early returns suggested, well, maybe not.

Enter Ahead-to-the-Past offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe, sensei to the likes of No. 1 NFL draft picks Peyton Manning and Eli Manning, No. 3 NFL draft pick Heath Shuler, and National Championship QB Tee Martin. Job One for Cut is the Reanimation of Erik Ainge Project.

The jury is still out after the first all-live scrimmage, during which Ainge went 13 of 26 for 120 yards, with two interceptions and no touchdowns. Worse than the raw numbers, Ainge displayed some of the same pocket panic that we saw last year, even throwing a sure interception (it was actually dropped by the defender) off his back foot from his own end zone. Cut was “surprised,” and said such a play was unacceptable.

He did not, however, water the blooming controversy. “We are not shaking up or changing anything at this stage based on one scrimmage,” said Cutcliffe. “I evaluate every one of them every day. I grade every practice. They are all held accountable to perform.”

Cutcliffe didn’t, however, completely rule out the possibility of a change. “We are going to keep competition at all positions, including quarterback,” said Cutcliffe. “[Ainge] has to play better than he played from a mistake standpoint. I am sure he is disappointed. He is doing many things well.”

The offensive coaching staff is doing its best to both develop 2nd string QB Jonathan Crompton, a Parade All-American, and ignore the fact that he is nipping at Ainge’s heels. Crompton finished Saturday’s scrimmage 7 of 13 for 97 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. According to Cutcliffe, Crompton is “transferring what I’m telling him and verbalizing it in the huddle and not getting frozen.”

Junior Bo Hardegree is nipping at Ainge’s other heel, and waiting in the wings is true freshman Nick Stephens, who passed for 2,602 yards and 24 touchdowns as a high school senior at Flower Mound, Texas last year.

Best Case Scenario: Erik Ainge improves decision-making under duress and efficiently manages the offense, occasionally hitting big-time, long-distance pass plays, and racking up big early leads that enable Crompton to get healthy portions of game experience.

Worst Case Scenario: Ainge barely holds on to the starting position, hording all of the first string practice reps, through the first game against Cal where he throws an interception from his own end zone for a touchdown while in the arms of a defender and gets yanked for good. Crompton, thrown into the fire without the benefit of any real practice reps struggles and thereafter splits time equally under center with Bo Hardegree, Nick Stephens, Jim Bob Cooter, and defensive tackle Justin Harrell. Tennessee finishes 6-6 or worse, and the University decides to hire Bob Stoops, who brings Rhett Bomar with him.

Best Guess: Cutcliffe will in fact reanimate Ainge and cure him of his poor decision-making under duress by having Ainge take the snap, count to three, and heave the ball into the Tennessee River on thirty consecutive plays (or something like that) to substitute a new panic mechanism for the old one. Ainge will struggle early, fans will holler for Crompton, and Cutcliffe will wisely guide Ainge through the firestorm, molding him into an efficient QB whose game plan consists primarily of handing off to the tailback and throwing short passes.

Pre-game

It was the first game I could remember that really didn’t mean anything at all. Thoughts of the Rose Bowl and the National Championship had been chucked out the window long ago, and with the ugly loss to Vanderbilt the prior week, the 2005 Tennessee Volunteers had lost any chance at post-season play.

With one game remaining, the sole remaining goal was to avoid taking up residency in the cold, damp cellar of the SEC East usually reserved for Vanderbilt or Kentucky.

The Vols had lost to the Gators. Lost to the Bulldogs. Lost to South Carolina. Lost to Vanderbilt.

Only Kentucky remained, and horror of horrors, its offense appeared to be twice as efficient as the Vols’.

The game

NOTE: A larger version can be found on the Animated Drive Charts page.

Quarterback Erik Ainge got the start and played the entire game going 17 of 25 for 221 yards and two long touchdown passes. On UT’s first drive, Ainge’s fifth consecutive completion resulted in a 50-yard TD pass to Robert Meachem.

On Tennessee’s first drive of the second quarter, Ainge hit another: a 32-yard pass to receiver Chris Hannon for a touchdown. All in all, Ainge had a decent, but not spectacular, game. He did not throw an interception, but he did lose two fumbles, and he gave up a safety when called for intentional grounding while attempting a pass from the end zone to avoid a sack.

Arian Foster also had a good game, better even than his 114 net yards on 26 carries would indicate. On UT’s second possession, Foster’s 55-yard dash to the end zone was nullified by a motion penalty. Later, a screen pass to Foster, which he took 78 yards to the end zone was reduced to a net gain of 39 yards due to a holding penalty.

The defense contributed three interceptions, one for a touchdown by Justin Harrell.

Post-game

And that was it. It was all over but the shouting by Thanksgiving weekend. All that was left to do was to further sift the coaching staff, send an apology letter to fans, and say “wait until next year.”

As the Knoxville News-Sentinel put it, it was the End of an Error.

Pre-game

By the time the Memphis game rolled around, the 2005 Volunteer football team, which had just lost four games in a row, was drawing comparisons to the 1988 team that started the season 0-6. Even the Tigers from the other end of the state, who hated the Volunteers with a passion normally reserved for rival Ole Miss, were smelling blood.

Fortunately for the Vols, history was dressed in orange, even under these circumstances:

”As we approached the game site, fans of the Memphis State Tigers lined the street and chanted “Oh-and-six! Oh-and-six! Oh-and-six!” The Vols limped into that ’88 game with an 0-6 record, so MSU’s players and fans were drooling at the prospect of posting their first win in series history. UT had won the previous 11 meetings but this Tennessee team appeared terribly vulnerable. The defense was so bad that coordinator Ken Donahue had resigned one game earlier.”

Vol fans chanted “Oh-and-twelve!” after beating the Tigers 38-25.

Surely even the reeling Vols could beat a three touchdown underdog starting a 4th string quarterback and playing without their Heisman-contending running back in Neyland Stadium.

Couldn’t they?

The game

They almost couldn’t. Erik Ainge got the start and played his worst game since LSU. His first pass was almost intercepted. His third pass was intercepted and returned 37 yards to the UT 25. His fourth pass was intercepted but was nullified by a roughing the passer penalty against Memphis. Barely into the second quarter, Memphis was ahead 13-0.

In came Rick Clausen, who once again ralled the team. On Clausen’s second series, actually connected with wide receiver Josh Briscoe for a 39-yard touchdown pass. On his next series, he led the team on a ten-play, 94-yard drive and capped it off with another touchdown pass, this one to C.J. Fayton.

Clausen guided the team to victory, going 14 of 24 for 209 yards.

Even the special teams got into the action, contributing a 36-yard punt return by Jonathan Hefney.

Post-game

So the special teams and wide receivers had improved, and the four-game, six-week losing streak had ended, but the quarterback controversy had reared its ugly head again.

John Pennington on Tennessee Volunteer Quarterback Erik Ainge:

I have said for a couple of weeks that UT should turn the season over to Erik Ainge. “Ainge has more upside.” “Ainge will be back next year.” “If UT doesn’t want another QB controversy next year, they’d better see as much of Ainge as they can between now and the end of the season.”

Well, as Gilda Radner used to say, “Nevermind.”

All of the reasons for playing Ainge still hold true. Except for the last one. The coaches, after just 4 passes vs Memphis (and an almost carbon copy of his LSU start) should have already seen enough of Ainge to know what they’re dealing with:

A very fundamentally-flawed headcase.

Poor decisions come with 19-year-old QBs who’ve only started and completed 2 games. That’s part of growing up. Not every Vol QB is going to have Peyton Manning’s learning curve.

But terrible fundamentals on top of the mental errors can’t be accepted. A dumb pass might just be a dumb pass if it’s thrown well. A dumb pass thrown by someone who no longer even tries to set his feet… well, that’s death.

Of Ainge’s 4 passes vs Memphis, three times he failed to set his feet before throwing the ball (this includes the non-interception that was brought back due to a questionable “roughing the passer” call). On the other pass, the long, floating duck-like INT, Ainge had someone laying at his feet. So he couldn’t step into the pass. Rather than realizing this, he relied on that big arm of his and shotput a ball 25 yards down field.

Jimmy Hyams says UT must play Rick Clausen, not only in order to win, but to help Ainge recover:

So now what do you do if you’re Fulmer?

You hand the keys to Clausen. He has proven he can beat mediocre teams like Vanderbilt and Kentucky. He did it last year. He did it against Memphis.
You shut down Ainge. If you’ve got the shanks, stay away from the golf course for a few weeks or a few months. Don’t destroy Ainge’s confidence any longer.

Let your new offensive coordinator try to dig Ainge out of his dilemma.

But don’t let Ainge continue to bury himself, his confidence and his team.

But Pennington believes that Clausen won’t be able to beat Vanderbilt or Kentucky unless they’re dumb enough to blitz him.

Indeed, what do you do if you’re Fulmer?

Prepare for Vandy.

All right, I’m finally retiring the Who Should Have Been the quarterback Last Year poll. Pretty hilarious results, if you ask me. Even a year of hindsight later, and fans still can agree on which QB to play. Ainge got 55%, and Clausen got 45%. Me, I voted for Clausen, just because of his leadership and because his numbers were better. Still, that vote, and all of the criticism Ainge is getting from me on my Re-living the Tennessee Volunteers 2005 Football Season Series, does not mean I’m not confident that Cutcliffe and Ainge will get the QB situation turned around this year. Ainge has a few little things to correct, and if he does, he’ll be just fine. Perhaps even great.

Greetings to Burnt Orange Nation readers. If you’ve already read my guest post over at BON, scroll on down for the continuation. For all the rest of ya, you can just start here.

Many thanks to Peter, who was kind enough to grant me some time at the esteemed BON podium to voice some thoughts on two quarterback systems from the perspective of the Unburnt Orange Nation. Perhaps y’all were too busy enjoying your undefeated season last year, but I’m guessing that you probably also noticed the other UT’s agonizing, season-long descent into oblivion.

The Tennessee post-mortem is ongoing, but it’s pretty clear that one of the primary factors in our season of futility was our inability to settle on a single starting quarterback. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been reliving the agony by reviewing last season’s VFRT posts and the articles to which they linked. Out of that sadistic exercise emerged several principles that I feel a need to disseminate as a public service to others in the college football blogosphere.

First up is a list of Rules Governing the Employment of 2QB Systems. Next are the Early Warning Signs, a list of symptoms indicating a vulnerability to full-blown onset of that debilitating condition known as the Quarterback Controversy. After that comes a summary of how these Rules and Signs played out on Rocky Top in 2005.

Rules Governing the Employment of 2QB Systems

1. The Rule Against 2QB Systems. With only two exceptions, 2QB systems should be avoided like the bird flu.
2. The Evaluation Period Exception. A 2QB system may be temporarily necessary to evaluate the available talent in game situations to determine which QB should be the long term starter. The evaluation period should be as short as possible and should under no circumstances last longer than four or five games.
3. The Epinephrine Exception. Use of two QBs may be desirable on rare occasions when a starter is having a bad game and the team needs a change of pace and a kick in the britches.
4. The Waffle Exception to the Epinephrine Exception. You only get one shot of epi, and it should only be used with well-established starters whose confidence will not be shattered by the substitution. Beware of the temptation to use it with recent winners of a quarterback duel. If you absolutely must change your mind once a “final” decision has been made on a duel, YOU CANNOT DO IT AGAIN. If you yank your first “final answer” QB because he’s melted down, he’ll no longer be a viable option, so stick with his replacement as long as he’s anywhere in the vicinity of competent.

Early Warning Signs

If your team exhibits any of the following symptoms, do like Chicken Little and sound the alarm:

• The Sideline Captain. Beware of captains on sidelines. In other words, do not underestimate the power of leadership and experience, and do not overestimate the promise of potential.
• The Early Success. Beware of early success using multiple QBs. It only delays the inevitable.
• The Rotation Scheme. Beware of pre-planned rotation schemes. Getting a backup reps in a game is all well and good, see e.g., D.J. Shockley, but pre-game plans to rotate QBs must be subject to change. Do not commit to any systematic rotation of QBs, whether every other play, every other series, or every X number of series. Never break game rhythm by pulling a QB when he’s hot. A team employing a rotation scheme is not only splitting game reps between two players, but is also surely splitting practice reps, which, instead of preparing both players for games, merely stunts the growth of both.

As you’ll see below, the 2005 Volunteers had all of the warning signs. Sophomore Erik Ainge started the first game while team captain Rick Clausen stood on the sideline. The coaching staff insisted on utilizing a Rotation Scheme “until one of them took the job,” probably based on the Early Success they had with such a scheme during the Evaluation Period the prior season with Ainge and Brent Schaeffer.

In 2005, though, the Evaluation Period Exception was again instituted, but neither Ainge nor Clausen really “took” the job in either of the first two games. Still, the coaches initially did not allow the evaluation to drag on, and they named Ainge “the starter” in the third game of the season against LSU. Unfortunately, Ainge morphed into a mushroom cloud in LSU’s end zone, and Clausen gave the team a much-needed shot of epi. The team then made another mistake by over-waffling, and when Clausen struggled a bit, they went back to the ruined Ainge, ruining Clausen as well.

BON READERS START HERE!

Case Study: Two Quarterback Systems and the 2005 Tennessee Volunteers

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Knowing what we know now, who would you have started at QB last year? There seems to be a consensus that the Volunteers would have been better off if the coaches would have simply made up their collective minds, named one of the quarterbacks the starter, and stuck with him all season.

But which one? That’s the question that plagued the coaches and divided the fans and the team all season last year. I’m not at all sure that the question was ever answered. Clausen’s numbers were better, and Ainge certainly, well, picture a mushroom cloud, but would Ainge have been better if he didn’t have to worry about the competition?

What do you think? Assuming picking and sticking with one would have been better than season-long indecision, and knowing what we know now, who should have been our quarterback? Rick Clausen or Erik Ainge?

Beloved former Volunteer Peyton Manning was on campus Wednesday and Thursday to, among other things, work out with the team. While here, Manning commented on last year’s season-long quarterback controversy:

I think being in a rhythm is important. It may take you one play to get in a rhythm or two or three series. If you are having to come out every two series, that’s not easy to do. Now you don’t use that as an excuse as why he made this throw or made this decision. The thing I always liked when I was here was the loyalty, the commitment I had from coach Fulmer, coach Cutcliffe. Sure you’d like to have some of those throws back … but they stuck with me. I’d like to see that with Erik this year. I think he’s earned it.

Manning won the starting quarterback role his freshman year, but only after (1) Jerry Colquitt’s injury in the season opener; (2) Todd Helton’s subsequent injury; and (3) rotating with Branndon Stewart for a few games. Manning said that Ainge “really threw the ball well” on Wednesday.

More on last year’s QB debacle for Peter and Burnt Orange Nation coming soon, hopefully within the week.

UPDATE: Knoxville media guy Jim Wogan has posted a portion of his video interview with Manning.

Well, PowWeb ran into a “quality control” issue when attempting to migrate the site to a new platform, so it’s still in progress, but I’m going to try to sneak some stuff in quickly.

VolQuest.com helps us get to know the mysterious defensive end Chase Nelson, who is skipping the summer all-star games to prepare for the fall. Gerald Williams is back in limbo, due to the extra scrutiny the “diploma mills” are now receiving. He apparently only took one class there, and while at one point they told him he was eligible, they’re now telling him he’s not. On the radio yesterday, Williams said it was all going to work out and that he’d be on campus in July.

Justin Harrell is on the Maxwell Award watch list. And so is Erik Ainge. Really. That’s more a vote of confidence in David Cutcliffe than anything.

Inside Tennessee has some of its early previews of SEC East rivals up, including Georgia and Florida. They say that Bulldogs’ head coach Mark Richt may not call a pass play until midseason (and may not need to). On Florida, they say that last year’s offense wasn’t as good as people seem to think and that a brewing quarterback controversy might mean that it’s not much better this year. Inside Tennessee also has a nice piece on UT’s history of luring fast players onto its football field and track team, and reminds fans of Stanely Morgan, who was “the type of fast you speak of in whispers, if you speak of it at all.” <whisper>4.15</whisper>

And finally, Big Orange Michael has some advice for ESPN2: dominoes tournament? No. Pre-pre-pre-season college football coverage? Yes.

Pretty quiet over the last several days.  On the blogging front, don’t miss EDSBS’ excellent piece on why we love football.  Orson has way.  Also, have a look at DawgSports‘ link-rich, exhaustive post on the matter of blogger disclosure.

College Football News completed its series on the Top 100 Heisman contenders.  Not only is UT tailback Arian Foster on the list, so is Reanimation Project Erik Ainge (at No. 36), who in the words of Inside Tennessee’s Randy Moore “had the mother of all sophomore jinxes in 2005.”  Uh, yeah.  Like he said.

VolQuest.com takes a closer look at incoming safety Justin Garrett. Unlike most junior college transfers, Garrett wasn’t on campus for spring practice, and he won’t arrive until this fall.  Fortunately, the Vols’ secondary is supposedly one of the strongest on the team, so Garrett will have time to acclimate.  An interesting bit in one of his answers to the interview question is this: <blockquote> “I was already expecting to like [his visit to Tennessee] a lot because of the way the coaches at the other schools were acting about me going up there.  None of them wanted me to take that visit, they were all kind of badmouthing the trip or whatever.  They were all so worried about me going up there that really, they got my expectations up and made my decision for me almost.”</blockquote>  It’s nice to know (1) that opposing coaches are still worried about Tennessee’s ability to recruit, and (2) that badmouthing UT sometimes has the opposite effect of that intended.

SportsAnimal99.com interviewed UT receivers coach Trooper Taylor.  Taylor’s a great interview.  You almost want to chest bump him after some of his responses.

Finally, Sports Illustrated compiled a list of the Top 15 Plays in College Football History.  Prothro’s catch is my favorite.  Hope to see him back in full form this season.  Hat Tip to Heisman Pundit.