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HUNTER’S POTENTIAL ‘SCARY’
Vols Polish Up Saturday’s Gameplan
KNOXVILLE - With more
than a month to spare before Halloween, Tennessee sophomore wide
receiver Justin Hunter is doing his best to scare people.
But
he’s not using a costume. He’s displaying potential, instead. Hunter
put on a dazzling performance in UT’s season-opener against Montana
with career-highs of six receptions and 146 yards, while finding the
end zone once.
“I think Justin (Hunter) is
maturing at a fast pace,” wide receivers coach Charlie Baggett said. “I
can say that his improvement from the end of last year to the present
is tremendous. If he continues to improve, the sky is the limit for
him. I’m very excited about what he can do and what he could be.
“The
good thing about him is that he listens and he studies the game. He’s
going to get better and that is exciting for me. The more he lifts and
the more he is around the weight room and good eating habits, he’s
going to get stronger and bigger. That’s scary to think about.”
Baggett, who has coached the likes of Randy Moss and Cris Carter, is cautiously optimistic about Hunter’s future.
“I
think his capacity is unlimited, I really do,” Baggett said. “I hate to
get too excited about young guys too early, but he is a guy that really
excites me. I think he can handle a lot. He has played a lot of ball,
but if you look at him he is really young. He is a sophomore, coming
off a freshman season. I’m excited about the fact that we can give him
more, we move him in the slot, put him outside, put him in the
one-receiver set. He can do a lot of things.”
The
owner of UT’s freshman-record of seven touchdowns, Hunter’s ability to
play at any receiver position has made him invaluable to the offense.
“He’s
fast, he’s long and he’s really worked hard at becoming a complete wide
receiver,” head coach Derek Dooley said. “He blocks. We’ve started
moving him around, putting him in the slot, putting him at Z and
putting him at X. He’s shown an ability to make plays at all those
positions. We’re going to keep trying to feature him as long as he
keeps giving us production back. He has the chance to be a really good
one.”
Tennessee practiced at Haslam Field for the
final time Thursday morning, as a Friday walkthrough is the only thing
standing between the Vols and their second opponent, Cincinnati.
CONTAINING COLLAROS
Tennessee’s
defensive coaches are all well aware of Cincinnati senior quarterback
Zach Collaros and his dual-threat ability. Defensive backs coach Terry
Joseph even went as far as to make a comparison to a future NFL Hall of
Famer.
“The guy (Zach Collaros) does a great job
of extending the plays and we got to do a great job of matching them up
in coverage,” Joseph said. “Scramble drills are something that we are
really stressing this week in practice because the guy extends plays a
ton.
“He’s a kind of Brett Favre type of guy.”
While the secondary will have its hands full with the Bearcat signal-caller, everything starts upfront.
“The
big thing with this kid is when you rush him you can’t take your eyes
off of him,” defensive line coach Lance Thompson said. “You have to
have your eyes on him and you have to be in front of him. You can’t be
high and be by the quarterback because he kills people. He’s a very
good player and he causes you a lot of issues with his feet and his
arm.”
FBI
While Tennessee’s goals are high
for 2011, the Vols are playing with 14 starters that are either
freshmen or sophomores. UT is searching for advancement in its FBI.
“We
got some good help inside out, but we are trying to teach them
football,” Thompson said. “We get guys to have what we call FBI, be
smart guys playing with football intelligence, but like I said it’s a
good start.”
The first game of the season is an
important indicator of where the team is at. Like all units, the
offensive line is using it as a learning experience.
“The
first game is really important that they learn from it,” offensive line
coach Harry Hiestand. “I don’t think we played like we’re capable but
that’s why you practice and it’s why you compete. We’ve got to keep
busting out butts through practice and move forward.”
OL FOCUSED ON C’S
Tennessee
rushed for 128 yards against Montana, but the offensive line is focused
on two things heading into game two: communication and consistency.
“It’s
critical for the success of the unit to play well together,” Hiestand
said. “That the unit understands what the other guys are doing, and
that they can count on each other with positive communication and
getting things done the right way. We’re inconsistent with that. We
have to build our consistency.”
The Vols’ front
five will look to avoid cluttered communication as they look to win the
battle in the trenches against a Cincinnati defense that allowed 127
yards rushing in the Bearcats’ season-opening win against Austin Peay.
“They
all have to see the same thing and take responsibility for what the
fronts are doing, and what the defenders are doing,” Hiestand said.
“It’s a combination of sometimes focusing to much on one thing and then
something else happens.”
QUOTABLE
Wide receivers coach Charlie Baggett
(On Tennessee’s young receivers’ playing time)
“I
was telling the young guys that I would like to see them play more, but
they are in the same situation that Da’Rick (Rogers) and Justin
(Hunter) were in a year ago. We slowly brought them along and got their
feet wet, then at the end of the year they had a little bit more
playing time. I think it is going to be a very similar situation as a
year ago with Vincent Dallas and DeAnthony Arnett and some of the other
young guys that are trying to get playing time.”
(On having a balanced offense)
“The
one thing that helps when you have two good receivers outside is to be
able to have a running game. It’s hard for the defense to concentrate
on all three – two receivers and then a running back. What we are
hoping is that our running game comes along and our passing game
continues to improve. Just from experience, over the years when I’ve
had two good receivers and we have a good running game or a good
running back, it’s hard on the defense. That’s what we are hoping is
going to happen here.”
Quarterbacks coach Darin Hinshaw
(On sophomore Tyler Bray)
“Coach
Chaney and I always talk to (Tyler Bray) about one play at a time. You
can’t worry about that kind of stuff (pressure). You are a quarterback.
You are a quarterback in the SEC. In that process, you just take one
play at a time, you don’t worry about anything else but what you have
to do. Get the ball to the playmakers, go execute the offense and go do
your job. If you think like that, there won’t be any pressure being put
on you and you won’t think about outside things because you have to
take clutter and all that kind of stuff, wash it away and take it
outside your mind.”
Defensive line coach Lance Thompson
(On defensive lineman Maurice Couch)
“Mo
(Couch) did some really good things, especially for a first time out on
this kind of stage and I was really pleased. He’s a force.”
(On Cincinnati’s offense)
“These
guys have three talented players, their quarterback, running back, and
wide receiver. They are big time. This is a good football team and we
are going to have our work cut out for us.”
Defensive backs coach Terry Joseph
(On taking advantage of defensive scoring opportunities)
“We
feel if we can score on defense our chance of winning goes up
tremendously, so we do it in practice and we reward them. We make a big
deal out of it.”
(On defensive back Byron Moore)
“I
think right now, especially with Byron (Moore), it’s about getting
snaps as he continues to develop. He allows us to do a lot of different
things at the nickel position. He can maybe open up some options as far
as the corner, because Prentiss can always go over there.”
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