VolNotes:Tough Decisions and Opportunities

[orange+white=heaven]

When a young life is quite literally at stake, making decisions like the one that affects LaMarcus Coker is item number one on the list of why I would not want to be a college football coach.

We lead off today with some candid comments from David Cutcliffe to GVX's John Adams...

GVX:Not quitting on Coker

UT’s coaches often find themselves weighing one responsibility against another in these matters. In Coker, they have a talented runner who offers more breakaway speed than any one else in their backfield. In Coker, they also have a player who could help undermine the discipline of a program that too often has been lacking in discipline.
As disappointed as Cutcliffe and Fulmer might be in Coker, they obviously haven’t reached the breaking point. So they’re giving him another chance.
And they’re taking a chance when they do.

“Young people will disappoint you,” said Cutcliffe, who was a head coach at Ole Miss for six years in between coordinator jobs with UT. “That’s the first thing you learn in this business.”
“In these decisions, you do what you believe in your heart is right. If it’s to dismiss one, that’s what you do.”
“When a guy is totally wrong and what I consider a bad apple to the rest of the team, then you get rid of him as fast as you can. The program is always bigger than the individual.”
He doesn’t put Coker in that category.
“I don’t feel that way right now at all,” Cutcliffe said. “I know some things about him that maybe a lot of people don’t know, that are his private business.”

GVX:Ball Security

Cutcliffe comes to every preseason practice with a handful of areas in which to improve. No. 1 is always the same.
“The first one is always ball security because without the football, you can’t win games,” Ainge said.

“Things are going to happen,” the senior said. “We’ve got new receivers. We’ve got new guys running routes. We’re not all on the same page yet.”
The key to improvement, Ainge said, is learning from each mistake.
“Every interception has a story,” he said.
Ainge said he’s pleased with the number of passes the Vols are completing and how the offensive line is protecting the pocket. Still, he’s far from satisfied.
“It should be pretty good right now, (since the offense is) pretty basic. We’re not doing a whole lot,” Ainge said. “We’re not even close yet, but you never are right now.
“I like where we are right now. From the first scrimmage to the next, should be where the most improvement is. That’s what we’re going to have to practice for.”

Junior Adam Myers-White is getting a good amount of first-string snaps with starting senior Ryan Karl still being held out of contact with a sore back.
With junior Ellix Wilson working as a backup to two linebacker positions, Myers-White said his knowledge has improved at strongside when Wilson is working at middle.
“It’s a faster pace when you’re with the first team,” Myers-White said.

UT’s two junior college defensive backs are trying to adapt to their surroundings as quickly as possible.
Junior strong safety Nevin McKenzie is working with the second-team defense as he tries to push senior Jarod Parrish.
“I feel pretty good as long as I keep my mind right,” McKenzie said.
Cornerback DeAngelo Willingham is working with the third and second team as he tries to improve his patience, footwork and ability to read the quarterback.
“I appreciate everything I get,” the junior said.
Fulmer said both players are adjusting, but maybe not as quickly as he would like.
“Both of them need to understand this is not junior college,” Fulmer said.
“They’re going to be playing against guys that have one foot in the National Football League.”

TNsean:Run Defense

The offseason has seen teammates getting into each other's faces, coaches getting into the players' faces, and every other tactic with the goal of improving the mediocre run defense from a year ago.
"It's no different than any other year as far as the pressure we're putting on ourselves," senior defensive end Xavier Mitchell said.
The coaches don't quite agree. This offseason, they said, has been different.
"We've certainly hammered away at them," Coach Phillip Fulmer said. "We're not going to be a passive team when it comes to committing people to the run."

"A defense is really judged on their run-stopping ability," said senior linebacker Ryan Karl, who prepped at Battle Ground Academy.
"You can have all the finesse DBs in the world and stop the pass, but if you go up
against a good, hardcore running team, they are
just going to dominate you.
No team can be one-dimensional."

There are still questions on the defensive front for 2007, but Mayo is back healthy to lead the linebackers, and All-SEC safety Jonathan Hefney is a superb tackler who will be relied upon.
And don't blame Hefney if he has his own selfish reasons for stopping the run.
"If you stop the run and put them in bad situations, they have to pass the ball and that's when we get our interceptions," said Hefney, who was sixth in the SEC with five picks in 2006.
"If we do that and get our interceptions, we're going to be nasty on defense."

tfpOnline:Opportunity at RB

UT running backs coach Kurt Roper made sure his rookies knew an opportunity is here.
"I told those guys they're on the stage," Roper said. "We're evaluating and making decisions."
The indefinite suspension dealt Tuesday to last season's leading rusher LaMarcus Coker has opened the door for a trio of true freshmen to perhaps play immediately in his place.
Between Lennon Creer, Josh Hawkins and Daryl Vereen, one would likely be called on as the Volunteers' No. 3 tailback if Coker isn't cleared before the Sept. 1 opener at California.

"The obvious is we're going to have a make a decision pretty quickly, going into the opening game, about who's ready to play," UT offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe said. "That's a whole bunch of stuff when you get into pass protections and everything else. ... If we have to simplify things, we'll simplify things."

A little more from Fulmer on Coker...

Meanwhile, Coker will not practice with the Vols while serving a suspension thought to be a violation of the athletic department's drug policy. Coker could return in as little as one or two weeks, Fulmer said, but that reinstatement must go through athletics director Mike Hamilton in addition to Fulmer.
"It depends a lot on his approach and his attitude and how I see him responding," Fulmer said of Coker. "It's been a challenge at different times, but also he's responded each time in a good way. I'm hopeful that he'll do that this time."

Have a good day folks, and.... let's be careful out there.

Go Vols!!!

 

[tdtnvols2004]

Thanks OWH.

 

[vol4eva]

Coker could be back in one or two weeks. So its not doom and gloom everybody. He will be back soon enough.

 

[SWIL]

C'mon Coker- do what you gotta do and get back in those pads!! :rock:

 

[SCSmokey]

Coker could be back in one or two weeks. So its not doom and gloom everybody. He will be back soon enough.

Coker is certainly a loss, but if losing one guys is going to devistate our offense, we're in trouble. I think we'll find the guys to get the job done.

 

[tidwell]

I know it's really none of our business, but I'd really like to know more about the Coker situation. How often do you hear of a guy being suspended indefinitely, only to return in a week or two?

 

[Vercingetorix]

I know it's really none of our business, but I'd really like to know more about the Coker situation. How often do you hear of a guy being suspended indefinitely, only to return in a week or two?

There's something weird about this whole situation. I wish they were able to say more about it. If it's a garden-variety drug violation, it's going to look bad if he plays in the Cal game (and most of us would be hypocritical if we thought that he should). But if it's something else and there are extenuating circumstances somehow, it doesn't look like we're going to find that out -- and so most people will assume it's a garden-variety drug violation, but he's playing anyway.

As always, OWH, thanks for the notes.

 

[jakez4ut]

you know, and i don't want to discount what the coaches are saying about coker, cause they are right, they know more about him personally than i do, but at the same time........when i see "It's been a challenge at different times, but also he's responded each time in a good way" I have to ask......if he responded in a good way, wouldn't that also indicate that there shouldn't be any future issues going forward???

 

[govols182]

I think they were talking about his problems before the Outback Bowl.

 

[vols2345]

seems all types of jacked up to me. well sounds like he will be back for the cal game, even then i dont think he will be out for the flordia game which is the first game i really want him to be in anyways.

 

[VOLracerx]

It might just be my line of thinking but by fulmers comments on Coker and it relating back to his medical issues, I wonder if he has a problem with pain meds?

 

[TennTradition]

It might just be my line of thinking but by fulmers comments on Coker and it relating back to his medical issues, I wonder if he has a problem with pain meds?

there has been speculation to that effect ... regardless, we are wasting our time speculating about it. I doubt that we will hear clearly definitive word unless he (Coker) wants us to.

 

[volley]

It might just be my line of thinking but by fulmers comments on Coker and it relating back to his medical issues, I wonder if he has a problem with pain meds?

Yeah, that makes the most sense to me. It explains (if there is some lingering pain...Or even if he got hooked on them while being treated for an injury) why they are being so lenient and understanding with the situation. They can accept the pain meds as addiction, whereas failing multiple tests for weed is just being stupid.

 

[vol4eva]

Anybody have any practice info for today? Just checking.