Tennessee: Ayers setting tone in his play, vocally

KNOXVILLE — There’s no formal process by which college football teams find their leaders.

Sure, captains are named every season. But by that point, teams typically know where to turn when problems surface on the field, in classrooms or off campus.

The process starts anew after every bowl game. Leaders start to emerge in spring practice, build on that momentum in the weight room and take charge in preseason camp.

Senior defensive end Robert Ayers took another step toward cementing his University of Tennessee leadership role during Wednesday’s first practice in full pads. When the horn signaled the start of sixth period — The Tennessee Drill period — Ayers jumped to the front of the line for a shot at the offense’s main man.

Ayers quickly shed offensive tackle Ramon Foster’s block and popped tailback Arian Foster at the line of scrimmage, and he quickly turned around to bark at his defensive mates.

“Let’s go, man!” he yelled.

Senior defensive tackle Walter Fisher decisively defeated junior offensive tackle Chris Scott in the second matchup, and the message was sent. The defense had overcome two of the top six players in UT’s ballyhooed offensive line, and Ayers and Co. made sure everyone in the 37916 zip code knew about it.

“I pride myself on being the tempo-setter for this defense,” Ayers said. “There’s guys on the offense that do the same thing. As a fifth-year senior, coaches expect that of you, so that’s what I come out and try to do. I try to set the tempo, be a leader for the younger guys.

“If I just come out and give my all, hopefully the young guys will follow the direction of my leadership ... if I do good.”

Freshman defensive ends Willie Bohannon and Steven Fowlkes also made big plays in the 58-play, practice-ending scrimmage. True freshmen aren’t allowed to speak with reporters, but second-year end Chris Walker said it certainly was possible they fed off the seniors’ intensity.

“I love the tone they’re setting,” Walker said. “They’ve been here. They’ve played more SEC football than I have. They know what it takes to get it done in this league. Robert Ayers and those guys are just showing us the way.”

Coach Phillip Fulmer has made countless references since spring practice to his hope of finding five or six leaders on each side of the ball, and he publicly encourages All-SEC players such as tailback Foster and weakside linebacker Rico McCoy to work harder in the classroom.

McCoy was one of six Vols who missed January’s Outback Bowl with academic deficiencies, but he and several others who made that mistake responded by making the spring semester honor roll.

“Rico loves football,” Fulmer said. “He loves to practice. He loves to work out. I think he’s taking along, after the absence of Jerod Mayo, some of that leadership role. ... I wish he liked school a lot more than he does sometimes.

“We have a lot of guys that do well in school, but Rico ... you have to motivate him a little bit. But he’s really matured as a young man, and as a player.”

McCoy and Ayers can be heard all day on the practice field, as can most of the defensive backs. Tailback Foster and senior receiver Josh Briscoe lead the offense’s mouthing.

“We’re just having fun with that stuff,” Foster said last season about the talking between units. “We’re teammates. We’re brothers. It’s all in fun. We’re just out here to make each other better, and football is supposed to be fun, anyway.”

Some of the team’s veterans are much more stoical. Senior Lucas Taylor talks with his play — he had 1,000 receiving yards last season — and first-year offensive coordinator Dave Clawson said that is fine.

“I think leadership is about, first of all, guys taking care of their own business and what they need to do to play well,” Clawson said. “It’s hard to respond to a verbal leader who’s out there not doing the things he needs to do from an effort standpoint, from a production standpoint. I think a lot of our seniors have taken that to heart.

“On good football teams, that needs to happen. The seniors, it’s their last go-around. They’re the guys that need to make it important and make sure everyone else on the team knows how important it is. From that standpoint, I’m really happy right now.”

Walker said he doesn’t need to follow a vocal leader but noted that most of the team’s boisterous players back up their talk on the field.

“Everybody that’s saying something has played a little ball in this league, and they know what they’re talking about,” Walker said. “So guys like me listen up.”