Does Anyone Remember The "wing T" Played At Ut?

[TennFan]

I remember watching the Vols in the 60's. Man, am I getting old! Remember any of the players from the early to mid 60's?

[volmanjr]

sorry born in 68 hard to remember anything from the sixties for me

[TNFanBornandRaised]

born in 1983 here i dont remember anyone before Shuler or Graham/Little man Stewart

[OldVol]

Absolutely!

Do any of these names ring a bell?

Tailbak: Charlie Fulton,
Center: Bob Johnson, by far the best center Tennessee ever had, a 2-time All-American
QB: Bubba Wyche, Bobby Scott
FB: Curt Watson
OG: Chip Kell, the best guard we've ever had. 2-time All-American
The linebackers, Frank Emanuel, Pau Naumoff, Steve Kiner, and Jack (Hacksaw-yes, the story is true) Reynolds. We were Linbacker U before we were Wide Receiver U.
End: Yes, that's what they called Wide Receiver back then, Austin Denny. He made All-American in 1966 with just 21 catches for 264 yards. That was back in the day when Ends were used to clear out the linebacker on a toss sweep.

Those were the days my friend.

[Vol67]

I remember all them and a Center at UT by the name of Mike Lucci who went on to star as an MLB for the Detroit Lions.

[JohnsonCityVol]

My dad talks about the Single Wing Offense all the time. He says he'd love to see a major college team incorporate it back into their offense, and from how he's drawn it up I'd tend to agree with him. He said that was what made UT famous in teh 60's, because we were one of the last colleges to still use it. He also said Austin Denny was a hoss, most LB's never had a chance against him.

[GAVol]

Is the single wing all that different from what SC ran under Lou Holtz?

[allvol]

Originally posted by GAVol@Feb 17, 2005 9:12 AM
[b] Is the single wing all that different from what SC ran under Lou Holtz?

Yes. A whole lot different. All-American Hank Lauricella led the Vols in passing in 1951. He had 352 yards on the season, 5 TDs and 5 int. To be fair, he also had 881 yards rushing (a single season UT record at the time) with 8 rushing TDs while averaging 7.9 yards-per-carry. His single-season rushing total would not be surpassed until Haskel Stanback rushed for 890 yds in 1972 and then not again until Johnnie Jones had 1116 yds in 1983.

The Vols were very successful with the single wing in the early to mid 1950's. However, the single wing was not as successful in the early '60s. Bowden Wyatt led the Vols to 10-1 (SEC Champs) and 8-3 records in '56 and '57, but the Vols tailed off into mediocrity starting in '58....
'58 4-6
'59 5-4-1
'60 6-2-2
'61 6-4
'62 4-6
'63 5-5

Then Doug Dickey came along, changed the offense and...
'64 4-5-1
'65 8-1-2
'66 8-3
'67 9-2 (SEC Champs)
'68 8-2-1
'69 9-2 (SEC Champs)




The single wing does not use a quarterback. The backfield consists of a tailback, a fullback, a blocking back, and a wingback. The blocking back lines up behind the guard and tackle and calls the cadence. The ball is either snapped to the tailback or the fullback. The tailback has the option to run, handoff, or pass. Neyland's approach was to have more blockers than defenders at the point of attack and of course out physical the other team. However, the single wing was exposed when playing against a fast defense.... if the linebackers rush from the opposite end of the play and make the tackle from behind. You see, a single wing play takes a long time to develop and all the blockers are in front of the runner. The LB trails from behind, there is no one to block him and the runner is tackled. This is actually how Maryland beat Tennessee 28-13 in the 1952 Sugar Bowl after the Vols had dominated the whole season on the way to the 1951 National Championship.

[GAVol]

I understand all of that . . . but when I watched Dondrial Pinkins in the shotgun with 2 TE's running all of those designed draws, sweeps, options etc . . . it made me think of the old single wing.

[allvol]

Originally posted by GAVol@Feb 17, 2005 10:36 AM
[b] I understand all of that . . . but when I watched Dondrial Pinkins in the shotgun with 2 TE's running all of those designed draws, sweeps, options etc . . . it made me think of the old single wing.

I know you do, I just like to post stats and stuff :D

[GAVol]

Originally posted by allvol+Feb 17, 2005 10:49 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (allvol @ Feb 17, 2005 10:49 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-GAVol@Feb 17, 2005 10:36 AM
[b] I understand all of that . . . but when I watched Dondrial Pinkins in the shotgun with 2 TE's running all of those designed draws, sweeps, options etc . . . it made me think of the old single wing.

I know you do, I just like to post stats and stuff :D [/quote]
I know, I know. It was actually very instructive.

[volmanjr]

maybe we could throw it in once in awhile as a trick play

[GAVol]

Allvol might be able to help me on this one . . . Isn't the Winged T a big play offense in that they played field position and kept running and running and running and eventually thay would pop a long run?

[allvol]

I don't know so much about the Wing T, what little I know about the single-wing comes from my dad who played for former Vol Al Rotella at LaFollette High School in the '50s.

This might help with the Wing T

[dan4vols]

Originally posted by volmanjr@Feb 17, 2005 11:07 AM
[b] maybe we could throw it in once in awhile as a trick play

would make an excellent choice at a 2nd and say 7 inside the 20 yrd line...or even a 2 point conversion play