orange+white=heaven
VN GURU
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2005
- Messages
- 30,513
- Likes
- 3
Spring football...:rock:
All this talk of no huddles and spreading the field really has my batteries charged!
Welcome to a Spring edition of TheNotes...
tfpOnline:Gentry Estes
Tennessean:Chris Low
God I love it when we actually talk football!!!!
Go Vols!!!
All this talk of no huddles and spreading the field really has my batteries charged!
Welcome to a Spring edition of TheNotes...
tfpOnline:Gentry Estes
What in the world is happening to Tennessee football?
Youve got to try to pick what you think is the right time to take that step, offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe said, and I think this is the right time.
Tennessee opened the earliest spring practice of the Phillip Fulmer era Thursday with grand blueprints for the offensive side of the football.
First off, the Volunteers will go nohuddle this spring. The move is a nod to the improvement and experience of senior quarterback Erik Ainge, who will read and direct from the line of scrimmage.
We have the ability to go to the huddle if we needed to, Fulmer said. Were going to take our shots at seeing what we can do with it as an offense. It will give us a chance to get more plays, perhaps.
Several teams in pro football are doing it. Weve studied it, and we think were ready to try it.
Weve wanted to do it for a long time, Ainge said. Weve caught ourselves in games the way we used to do it running out of time, pushing the limits with the 25-second (play) clock. This will really give us an opportunity to see at the line and make decisions and get us in the best possible play.
the only two true fullbacks on the Vols roster have been moved to other positions. David Holbert is now listed as a tight end and walk-on Nick Reveiz is a middle linebacker. Currently, there is no fullback position on Tennessees depth chart, but two tight end starters Chris Brown and Brad Cottam
This is something thats kind of been in the back of my mind, I think, as the next step for us offensively, Cutcliffe said. I fiddled with it a little last spring, but I knew we had too many challenges from a system standpoint learning. Theres no way we could have taken that challenge on, too.
Thats not all. The Vols have apparently taken notes on Floridas use of receiver Percy Harvin or multi-purpose tailback Darren McFadden at Arkansas. Yes, Tennessee intends to spread the defense and send shotgun snaps to players besides Ainge.
Potential quarterback duty, according to Fulmer, could fall to two true freshmen signees who arent yet on campus: Eric Berry and Gerald Jones.
Its not the option really thats so effective, Fulmer said. Its just the whole perimeter game. You get good players in space, and we certainly want to do that.
Tennessean:Chris Low
Tennessee's football team opened spring practice Thursday, and Erik Ainge was wearing a pretty big smile. That's because offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe plans to give him the keys to a no-huddle attack next fall, and they're using the spring as a test run.
"I love it," Ainge said. "It's going to make me learn and take my game to the next level. From the neck up, it's going to make me know that much more about the game. In order to get it to where me and Coach Cut want to get it to, we're the functional part. I am. The quarterbacks are; so we need to be able to handle everything."
"We did it some with Peyton (Manning) and would go into it anytime we wanted to and would just basically let him have it within the realm of what the formation was," Cutcliffe said. "He always liked it and responded to it. You've got to pick that time when you think it's the right time to take that step, and I think this is the right time."
Receivers coach Trooper Taylor said his guys would be ready.
"You've got to remember," Taylor said. "I came from Tulane, and they didn't even know how to get into the huddle there. I'm like a pig in slop right now. I'm happy, because to me, it gives us the pen last. We can put ourselves in a good position. Based off what they show us on defense, we can change it."
"The summer is where you can make or break a passing game," Ainge said.
"I'll take that personally, getting those new guys up to speed and making sure all the receivers know what they have to do."
Even though there will be some degree of adjustment for everyone on offense, Ainge thinks his teammates will pick it up quickly.
"A lot of the stuff, we already do," he said. "It's not all brand new. A lot of the terms and a lot of the stuff we do, we already use in our two-minute drill. It's essentially just slowing it down and taking it to that next step."
God I love it when we actually talk football!!!!
Go Vols!!!