What will the upcoming 2006-07 off-season hold for the the Tennessee Volunteers? Robert Meachem is likely to leave early for the NFL, decimating a receiving corps that will already lose top talent to graduation. UT Quarterback Erik Ainge will certainly have to find some new targets in 2007.

Will this be the time for Associate Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator David Cutcliffe to make a move back up the coaching ladder to the head coaching ranks? Talk is swirling that UT Athletics Director Mike Hamilton might offer Cutcliffe a $1 million annuity bonus if he stays around another 5 years, something that would also surely have to be offered to Defensive Coordinator John Chavis, too.

If Cutcliffe were to leave to take the open North Carolina job, for instance, he might try take a bunch of the UT staff with him, including stellar recruiter and defensive line coach Dan Brooks, who is from the area. Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart might fear losing Cutcliffe to UNC and dump their head coach, Rich Brooks, and try to woo him to the Bluegrass.

It is certain that Cutcliffe has brought a whole new mentality to the UT offense this season. He has settled Ainge down and made him into a top SEC QB. He has doubled the point production of the Vol offense, which averaged only just over 16 points per game last season through its first 8 games and is now averaging over 32 points points per game against quality competition at the same point this year. He has instilled discipline in the entire team and has been innovative in his play-calling.

If UT Head Coach Phillip Fulmer were to lose Cutcliffe again after only a year back on The Hill, it would be very critical to replace him with someone else that knows the Tennessee system that Fulmer will undoubtedly want to continue to run. Would Walt Harris be given a call? He has a wealth of head coaching experience, has West Coast recruiting ties, and appears to be on his way out at Stanford, where he is winless this season. Perhaps most importantly and critically, he could keep Ainge settled and productive as a signal-caller. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Head Coach Jon Gruden says Harris may be the best quarterbacks coach in America.

For now, Fulmer and the team must be focused on beating LSU at home and then get motivated to play a huge game on the road against Arkansas in Fayetteville. That one a week hence will be a big hurdle to clear, as the Hogs are steadily climbing in the polls and may even be in the Top 10 by the time UT gets them. Arkansas has won every game since their opener and lead the SEC West with an undefeated conference record. Even if they lose to the Vols, they could still win the SEC West and play UT again for the SEC Championship in Atlanta, since they own the tiebreaker with Auburn.

A famous professional barber-turned-wrestler from Upper East Tennessee, Ron Wright from Kingsport, who is now an icon in that sport, used to brag that he was going to put a good ole fashioned East Tennessee dog-whupping on his opponents in the ring. I thought of that last night when the Tennessee Volunteers and their famous bluetick coonhound, Smokey, who predates Georgia's bulldog mascot by 3 years in tradition, absolutely astounded Georgia's football team, outscoring them 44-9 down the stretch on their hallowed home turf between their fabled hedges to win over UGa for the second time in a row in Athens.

With the so-called experts like me predicting a defensive struggle between two stingy defenses, the Vols turned the game into an offensive rout. A Georgia team that had given up less than a touchdown on average in each of their previous games yielded 7 of them to Erik Ainge & Company, proving that David Cutlcliffe's offense may indeed be the best in the South & perhaps the nation. UT scored 51 on the Dawgs, only the second time they had ever had that many points put on them at home, in the highest scoring game in the entire series between the 2 teams.

The Big Orange improved vastly offensively since it's heartbreaking home loss to a Florida team that may prove to be the best in the nation this year as far as discipline and toughness is concerned. The offensive line, while it may not move the chains to effectively rush against top team, provided Ainge perhaps the best pass protection ever. The defense still has holes to fill, but with punt and kickoff return yardage taken out, they only gave up 19 points,  which is enough to win most any game in the Southeastern Conference.

Special teams, the hallmark of General Neyland's football dynasty that he built on The Hill for a quarter century, simply still aren't "up to snuff," to use another East Tennessee expression. Placekicking and punting are good, but there has been virtually no improvement from last year's disasters in covering or returning punts, nor in getting any consistently good yardage at all in kickoff returns, either. The long kickoff and punt returns that Georgia had, both for touchdowns, simply aren't acceptable for UT fans.

Florida had to come from behind to beat UT and is a legitimate national title contender laden with talent. The Vols, with all of their shortcomings, are now ranked in the Top 10 nationally, and have cashed in on their chance at redemption in the SEC Championship race.

The Vols were able to pull off a surprise victory at Georgia the last time they went to Athens in 2004, the first time they had won there since 1998. This time UT beaten an SEC team that was ranked in the Top 10 since 1999, something they had to start doing that if they are to be able to win championships themselves again.

Georgia had won 5 of the last 6 against Tennessee, after the Volunteers had won 9 in a row against the Dawgs. Now Tennessee has won 2 of the last 3, and perhaps the game may still determine the SEC East Champion.

For Tennessee, this Georgia win may determine the course of the season. They still have a fighting chance of winning their first championship of any kind whatsoever since they won it all nationally nearly a decade ago.

John Majors lost 4 SEC games in a row twice in his career as head coach at UT, in his first year in 1977, after the program had hit rock bottom under Bill Battle, and in 1988, when he fired some coaches in mid-season and went 5-6, the same record as Fulmer had in 2005. The following year, Majors bounced back to win 2 SEC Championships in a row, and won the Cotton Bowl and Sugar Bowl in consecutive years with his revamped staff, in addition to achieving Top 10 national rankings both seasons in 1989 and 1990.

Fulmer, who has now been at the helm nearly as long as Majors was, lost 4 SEC games in a row for the first time in his career as head coach last season. After a similar coaching staff revamp to Majors', he may be headed back to championship football again himself, and recruiting ought to look up in talent-laden Georgia after the drubbing he put on them.

No one has ever questioned Fulmer's work ethic, his loyalty to his alma mater, and the fact that he is a great ambassador for the University both statewide and nationally. Everyone wants him to succeed. Cutcliffe, his right arm on offense, is back to run that side of the ball. The Chief, Chavis, is still scheming well enough to stop most offenses.

Thus, there are no excuses for not having vast improvement in 2006 over last season's disaster. Fulmer appears to havfe found a way to win again and show that a foundation has been laid to turn the program around and get things back on track in a storied program with solid support still behind it.

There is a still a lot of Tennessee Pride on The Hill that must be salvaged. The donors that are starving for championships must be fed. Fulmer simply must get the main ship of the Vol Navy righted and on course again. It appears he may have done so. There is no other substitute for victory. In the big game of substance that really mattered in the teeth of barking Dawgs, he passed a test with flying colors.

Now the Vols can enjoy a week off and prepare for archrival Alabama to come to Neyland Stadium, followed by a trip to Columbia to take on Steve Spurrier and his South Carolina Gamecocks. It will be a chance for Fulmer to avenge 2 devastating losses from last season and get the program back on track before LSU,  a team themselves bent on revenge from last year, comes to Knoxville. Perhaps the biggest game still looming, however, for UT,  is the visit to Fayetteville to play the SEC West-leading Arkansas Razorbacks.

For sure, the SEC race is certainly anyone's to win in either division now, and Tennessee is just as poised and ready as anyone to make it to Atlanta again. They need some help, and Auburn might just provide it with a win over Florida this coming Saturday night. If that happens, Vol fans just might be able to make some BCS bowl plans, too. At the very least, they will have something that they can point to, as a championship may be on the horizon once again.

 

 

The Tennessee Volunteers make their biennial trip south across the Great Smoky Mountains with Smokey, their Blue Tick Coonhound, to tussle with the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens this Saturday night. It is a make or break game for UT in terms of the Southeastern Conference football  championship race in 2006.

A loss by the Big Orange will be the death knell for any championship hopes they may hope to have, as that would make the Vols 0-2 in the SEC with October barely starting, and with a gauntlet of 6 straight league games to follow, front-end loaded with the best teams remaining on the schedule for 3 consecutive Saturdays, Alabama at home and South Carolina on the road, both of whom beat UT last year, and then revenge-minded LSU back at home as November begins.

On the other hand, a win against their conference rival in Athens could propel the Vols to a chance at their first SEC Championship since 1998. It has certainly been a long and arduous road back to prosperity for Tennessee, and they must make this step this weekend if they are to make it back at all this season.

Now that David Cutcliffe is back in Big Orange Country directing the offense, things have noticeably improved on that side of the ball, with the intensity and mental toughness to match what the defense has had for some time. No longer is the offense inept and plodding, even though there were 3 key turnovers at Memphis last Saturday that a team like Georgia that is much more talented than the Tigers would surely take advantage of if those mistakes are repeated this coming weekend.

Poor showings in the kicking game still plague this year's edition of the Volunteers and are  perhaps the most glaring hangover from last year's losing season. UT is virtually last in the nation in kickoff return yardage and their punt returns aren't much better. They were continually pinned deep in their own territory in Memphis, giving the field position advantage to their opponent.

Erik Ainge will certainly be under more pressure in Athens Saturday night in front of a national TV audience on ESPN than he was since the last time he had such prime time exposure in Baton Rouge last season. That was when he made an ill-advised toss deep in his own territory that resulted in an easy LSU touchdown that almost got the Vols beat. It was the only big game they finally won last year, once backup QB Rick Clausen, now a UT graduate assistant coach, bailed him out.

Ainge has yet to be tested in tough battle conditions on the road since last season. Memphis was absolutely no match for the Vols. None of their players would have a chance to start at Tennessee. Their talent was simply outclassed at every position.

That will certainly not be the case with Georgia. While the Bulldogs may be having quarterback woes and uncertainty of their own with youthful signalcallers at their helm, they still boast a stout defense.

Tennessee's failure to punch in a touchdown on several consecutive tries inside the 2-yardline against Memphis proves that the offensive line still doesn't have the necessary punch to rush the ball at will against good teams. A one-dimensional air attack won't win championships at any level.

The Vols are blessed with perhaps the best wide receiver tandem in the nation with Robert Meachem and Jayson Swain. That has made Ainge's life a lot easier so far this season. The emergence of tailback LaMarcus Coker to replace the injured Arian Foster, who may or may not be able to play Saturday night, has helped give them necessary speed in the backfield, but fellow TB Montario Hardesty has not proven himself as a power back as yet.

A look at the UT roster shows the importance and necessity of the nationwide recruiting that Head Coach Phillip Fulmer has established on The Hill. Of the starting 22 on the team, only 4 are native Tennesseans, David Ligon on the OL from Memphis, Coker and LB Ryan Karl from the Greater Nashville area, and Corey Anderson, who played only sparingly at FB Saturday, from Knoxville. All of the rest of the top players on the squad hail from several states coast-to-coast. Without the stellar recruiting that Fulmer has achieved in the past, UT's dropoff in talent would be enormous.

Tennessee still has an opportunity to have a great season. It all rests on the outcome of this upcoming game. With a win, there is a real possibility of running table and going 13-1, with an SEC Championship and BCS bowl win. Even the National Championship would be an outside possibility with some luck. A loss Saturday night, however, could mean a mediocre year barely better than last season, which would be wholly unacceptable to Vol faithful.

Longterm, recruiting appears to have been not up to par last season and not off to the best of starts this year, either. Whether Fulmer's changes made in his offensive coaching staff were too little too late to get his program turned around may indeed be shown by the outcome of this one big game in Athens. It has more riding on it than probably any Tennessee-Georgia game in UT football history.

One of the big feathers in Fulmer's cap as Tennessee's head coach had been the string of 9 consecutive Vol victories over the Dawgs, begun by his predecessor Johnny Majors, from  1989 to 1999. However, since that time, Georgia has won 5 of the last 6, with UT's only win coming in the last game in Athens 2 years ago, a surprise victory to say the least.

You can bet that those in red and black will be ready and waiting when the Big Orange comes calling Saturday night. It could very well be a classic game and defensive struggle that will decide the SEC East's representative in Atlanta on December 2 a few miles down the road in the Georgia Dome.

 

It was a night of magic, filled with electricity. Neyland Stadium was rocking with excitement. It was Tennessee vs. Florida for supremacy in Southeastern Conference football, just as it has been so many times over the course of more than a decade.

The venerable old stadium on the banks of the Tennessee River was filled to overflowing on a cool, clear September night. The crowd was worked into a frenzy and got as loud as anyone who has been there for the last 40 seasons, as I have, could remember. I had a 50-yard line seat to witness the action in Section U on the west side of Shields-Watkins Field.

As the game began, it was obvious that this was going to be an epic gridiron struggle. When speedy wide receiver Lucas Taylor , a Louisiana recruit, hurled a 50-yard touchdown pass to tailback and Antioch native LaMarcus Coker, on a fake reverse, for what looked to be the touchdown that would put the Volunteers on top for good in the contest in the first half, 10-7, the thunderous earthquake that erupted was so loud that it surely was felt in General Robert R. Neyland's grave in the Old Grey Cemetery a few miles away, just north of Downtown Knoxville.

Yes, all of the elements for a monumental Big Orange victory were there. The crowd certainly was perhaps the most boisterous and vocal that has ever witnessed a game in the historic 80-year-old stadium. The players were absolutely playing over their heads emotionally, too. Everything was at a fever pitch.

It was also Urban Meyer vs. John Chavis, David Cutcliffe vs. Charlie Strong. It was the first time Meyer and most of his Gators had ever faced such a hostile environment. His talented team was on the precipice of being upset on the road and perhaps being eliminated from the SEC race in their very first league game of the young 2006 season.

The courage, bravery, and desire of Justin Harrell, wearing Vol Hall of Famer Reggie White's Number 92 on his chest for the last time, was undeniable. Playing with a heavy cast on his left arm in advance of season-ending surgery, he played like an NFL lineman in shutting down the Florida attack.

Alas, the ending wasn't colored in Orange. Just as Air Force had done a week ago against UT, Florida roared back from a 10-point deficit and won the game, 21-20, under extreme duress in enemy territory in the final quarter of the contest, proving they had superior talent, and executing their game plan to stay the course and come out victorious. The Vols valiant effort at an upset fell short at the end.

The ending came swiftly and perhaps predictably, sucking the lifeblood out of the Vol faithful. Fans who had been unbelievably vocal just a few moments earlier in the evening, filed out as midnight neared in silent disbelief. They knew that it was their team that is now on the outside looking in when it comes to the conference championship race.

Now Tennessee is faced with some stark realities. Urban Meyer has joined an elite group of college coaches who have now beaten Phillip Fulmer two seasons in a row. That group includes Mark Richt and Steve Spurrier, both of whom Fulmer will definitely have to face next month and both on the road, and Tommy Tuberville, whom he will most likely have to face if somehow the Vols were to play their way back into a chance to represent the SEC East in Atlanta.

The Big Orange, while improved offensively as far as discipline and toughness is concerned, simply doesn't have the horses on the offensive line to move the chains to effectively rush against top teams. The defense has two big holes that may not be able to be filled adequately with the troops on hand, with the loss of both Harrell and DB Inky Johnson for the balance of the year.

Most glaring, however, is the fact that special teams, the hallmark of General Neyland's football dynasty that he built on The Hill for a quarter century, simply still aren't "up to snuff," to use an East Tennessee colloqualism. While the kickoff cover team is better and placekicking is still good, there has been virtually no improvement from last year's disasters in covering or returning punts, nor in getting any good yardage at all in kickoff returns, either.

Also very troubling is the fact that the Vol defense, while it finally collapsed out of sheer fatigue from being on the field most of the night, was unable to stop backup QB Tim Tebow even when they were fresh. Tebow is Meyer's quarterback of the future, the signal caller who will run his coach's spread option offense for the next 3 seasons, 2 of which will see him be able to play UT in Gainesville.

The good news for Tennessee is that the team that came from behind to beat them Saturday night is a legitimate national title contender laden with talent. The fact is that UT, with all of its shortcomings, is still ranked in the Top 15 nationally. It has the chance to move up toward the Top 10 through attrition over the next two weeks with weak opponents for Homecoming against Marshall and against Memphis on the road upcoming before they have to go to Athens to face a team that has as good a defense as the Gators have. That one will be a chance at redemption in the SEC Championship race.

The Vols were able to pull off a surprise victory at Georgia the last time they went to Athens, the first time they had won there since 1998. There is virtually no question that the Bulldogs will be ranked in the Top 10 when the Big Orange arrives on October 7, as UGa faces token opposition in Colorado and Ole Miss leading up to that date. UT hasn't beaten an SEC team that was ranked in the Top 10 since 1999, and they must start doing that if they are to be able to win championships themselves again.

Georgia has won 5 of the last 6 against Tennessee, after the Volunteers had won 9 in a row against the Dawgs. Richt still smarts from the only one he's lost against Fulmer. You can bet he will have his team ready when UT arrives for what shapes up as perhaps the game that may determine the SEC East Champion.

For Tennessee, the Georgia game will determine the course of the season. If they can win that one, they still have a fighting chance of winning their first championship of any kind whatsoever since they won it all nationally nearly a decade ago. If they lose it, then the rest of the slate looks very daunting.

If the Vols can't get revenge over Alabama for the loss they suffered in Tuscaloosa in 2005, they might very well limp into Columbia to face Spurrier and his South Carolina Gamecocks already mired in 4th place in their own division of the SEC with virtually no hope to rise higher. After that, a hungry LSU Tiger team bent on avenging a stinging loss from last season to the Vols, will be invading Neyland Stadium to begin the November schedule. And don't forget, a trip to Fayetteville to tangle with Arkansas will still loom after that.

Truly, the Georgia game is make or break for this year's Vols and perhaps for Fulmer's career. His recruiting, which has always been his strong point, has been on the wane recently. If he can't re-establish superiority in nearly a decade in his own backyard, he may face the point of diminishing returns with a declining program.

A coach that by his own admission lives and dies by "pounding the rock" and running over teams with a smashmouth style that he calls simply "Tennessee football" was stopped cold with a deficit of 11 yards in the running game against Florida. It was the worst showing on the ground that any Fulmer-coached team had ever produced.

How much more time does Fulmer truly have to win another championship at Tennessee? If not this year, it will have been a decade since he won his last one. Is that good enough for donors that pour money hand over fist into the program that are being asked to fund $100 million in Neyland Stadium improvements?

John Majors lost 4 SEC games in a row twice in his career as head coach at UT, in his first year in 1977, after the program had hit rock bottom under Bill Battle, and in 1988, when he fired some coaches in mid-season and went 5-6, the same record as Fulmer had in 2005. The following year, Majors bounced back to win 2 SEC Championships in a row, and won the Cotton Bowl and Sugar Bowl in consecutive years with his revamped staff, in addition to achieving Top 10 national rankings both seasons in 1989 and 1990.

Fulmer, who has now been at the helm nearly as long as Majors was, lost 4 SEC games in a row for the first time in his career as head coach last season. To do that again this year, after a similar coaching staff revamp to Majors', would be a very disappointing encore, and would not bode well for the future.

No one has ever questioned Fulmer's work ethic, his loyalty to his alma mater, and the fact that he is a great ambassador for the University both statewide and nationally. Everyone wants him to succeed. Cutcliffe, his right arm on offense, is back to run that side of the ball. The Chief, Chavis, is still scheming well enough to stop most offenses.

Thus, there are no excuses for not having vast improvement in 2006 over last season's disaster. But Tennessee could easily lose 4 or 5 in a row in that murderous stretch of Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, LSU, and Arkansas that is upcoming.

If that scenario were to take place, UT Athletics Director Mike Hamilton would have no choice but to begin searching for a new head football coach. Surely, however, Fulmer can find a way to win at least 2 or 3 of those and show that a foundation has been laid to turn the program around and get things back on track in a storied program with solid support still behind it.

There is a still a lot of Tennessee Pride on The Hill that must be salvaged. The donors that are starving for championships must be fed. Running out of gas at home in front of over 100,000 fans each time two weeks in a row is unacceptable.

Fulmer simply must get the main ship of the Vol Navy righted and on course again. There is no other substitute for victory. The next big game of substance that really matters is next month in the teeth of barking Dawgs. It is a test that must not be failed.

- XXX -

VOLUNTEER MEN'S HOOPS FUTURE IS BIG ORANGE BRIGHT AND PEARLY WHITE
By John Mark Hancock
Monday, May 1, 2006
Copyrighted - All Rights Reserved 

KNOXVILLE - Now that this fairytale men's basketball season has come to a close for the Tennessee Volunteers, it's time to take stock of where the program is and where it is going. This was certainly a group of over-achievers, and by any measure, it has to be viewed as an outstanding team in UT hoops history. 

Coach Bruce Pearl took a team with less talent than it had last season and molded it into a group that was able to play above their abilities both individually and as a group. He rightfully was named National Coach of the Year for taking a team that had been picked next to last in its division to the SEC East Title, and to within one game of the school's second Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament appearance in school history.

Pearl's full-court pressing defense and up-tempo offense has never been run before with less than eight or nine players in the rotation. This group of Vol hoopsters basically made it work with only seven people playing any significant minutes. 

A great deal of help is on the way for the 2006-07 edition of the UT men's team. Pearl and his stellar staff have recruited the first Top 10 recruiting class in the history of the program. Very much needed is some beef inside, and that will be found in Duke Crews and Wayne Chism, to go along with guards Marques Johnson and Josh Tabb. The late addition of point guard Ramar Smith has some people mentioning this group in the same breath as Michigan's "Fab Five" of several years ago that won the National Championship, and it has caused this class to be ranked as high as #3 nationally.

Remember that you heard it here first that both Steven Pearl, the coach's oldest son, and Tony White, Jr., the son of former UT star guard Tony White, both All-State players and now at West and Bearden High Schools in Knoxville, respectively, with become Tennessee Vols. Expect both to walk on at UT, even though they will both get scholarship offers elsewhere. Steven has been working out on his own at UT already and attended most every Vol practice after his team was eliminated in the state high school playoffs. White, a runnerup for AAA Mr. Basketball in Tennessee, will go the prep school route first in Virginia to bulk up. 

Of course, this also means that Bruce Pearl will in all likelihood remain in Big Orange Country for the next several years. This will squelch all of the talk that he is going elsewhere and will establish a solid base for recruiting. He has never liked moving around as a coach and appears to be very happy and satisfied in Knoxville.

Look for the Big Orange to put together a long string of NCAA Tournament runs under Pearl. Once he gets a few recruiting classes under his belt and gets the talent he desires to run his system, UT will be a force to be contended with for many seasons to come.

UT Athletics Director Mike Hamilton happily told the Tennessee Board of Trustees this past month that revenue from men's basketball was up nearly a million dollars over last season. There is still plenty of upside in the areas of concessions, especially souvenirs, as men's basketball apparel has been scarce up to now. A UT men's basketball highlights video and DVD was produced for the first time in decades. 

A new basketball practice facility to be built just west of UT's arena, along with the renovation of the north sideline upperdeck into luxury box suites, are just two of the exciting things that will be happening on campus. The program definitely has momentum and is on the move.

The Big Orange Tipoff Club, under the leadership of President Lloyd Richardson, former UT Lettermen's Club President and Captain of the 1972 Vols under legendary Coach Ray Mears, had an outstanding inaugural season, drawing overflow crowds to their gameday midweek luncheons at Calhoun's on the River in Downtown Knoxville, just across Neyland Drive from the campus. Expect that group to continue to grow and prosper as it brings in entertaining speakers and contributes to local charities. Plans are in the works to make the club the premier sports booster organization in the South. 

A book on the Ray Mears years in Big Orange Country, titled "Big Orange Memories", co-authored by yours truly and TriCitiesSports.com Publisher Ron Bliss, is set to roll off the press this year. That will certainly revitalize interest in honoring Coach Mears, who had a banner with his name on it permanently raised in the arena that he was responsible for building at the season finale game this year.   

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