Knoxville: Humbled junior shines in UT scrimmage

KNOXVILLE — Demetrice Morley is more mature and humble than he was two years ago, when academic deficiencies seemed to derail a promising football career.

He didn’t throw his talent out with the brashness, though.

Morley was arguably the best player in Neyland Stadium on Saturday, intercepting two passes despite playing only about 20 plays in Tennessee’s first major preseason scrimmage. One pickoff was on a tipped pass from quarterback Jonathan Crompton that stopped the first-team offense inches from the goal line.

Technically, the other interception — seconds before that — came after Crompton was ruled “down” with defensive end Robert Ayers credited with a sack in the no-contact rules involving quarterbacks. It was debatable whether Ayers was close enough to corral Crompton in a real game.

Morley, meanwhile, closed on the intended receiver, slashing in front of him to make a diving catch near the sideline.

Two years ago, Morley likely would have made a spectacle after such a fine performance. When he signed with the Volunteers out of high school as one of the country’s top prospects, he said he wanted to be “the biggest thing to hit Tennessee since Elvis.”

Now the fourth-year junior presents himself as one of the many parts in a secondary that could be one of the nation’s best.

“I’ve been working hard,” Morley said, almost inaudibly. “I just want to always get better, every day. That’s how it goes. We want to be an elite group, so we’ve got work hard and learn things every day.”

He deflected several questions about himself. Even in talking about the entire secondary, he stopped short of boasting.

“We need to get better at all aspects: coverages, blitzes, everything we do,” he said. “There’s not just one particular thing that we want to be better at. We want to be better in all areas.”

Pressed harder about his performance, Morley said, “I’m just coming out here and working hard. I came out here and played a good ... I mean, our coaches put us in the right spot to make the right plays, and we just played good, hard defense — good Tennessee defense.

“That’s what we practice hard for and watch film for. We want to be an elite group, so we’ve got to work hard.”

Coach Phillip Fulmer said his focus was not on whether the offense or defense “won” but on finding the depth the Vols will need for a championship run.

Crompton’s statistics were solid — 12-of-16 passing for 114 yards — but his six possessions resulted in zero touchdowns. Two of his drives started inside the defense’s 20-yard line, two more reached the red zone and the other two crossed midfield.

“We made some plays, and we did some good things, and we made some mistakes,” Crompton said. “I don’t want to say too much before seeing the tape, but I do know that we need to take better care of the ball, especially in the red zone.”

Montario Hardesty, who started for senior tailback Arian Foster (sore foot, precautionary), lost a fumble that Ayers forced and recovered near the 35-yard line on Crompton’s first possession. Crompton’s fourth drive ended on a fourth-and-7 sack from sophomore defensive tackle Victor Thomas.

First-year offensive coordinator Dave Clawson said Saturday was “cleaner” than any spring scrimmage other than the Orange and White game, but he added that “obviously turnovers and red-zone offense are two things that we need to work on.”

Fulmer concurred.

“I thought at times we operated extremely well,” Fulmer said. “We managed the clock, we got the ball out fairly quick most of the time, and guys made some good plays on offense.

“But the objective is to have more points than your opponent. We’ve got to not turn it over and not let people get their hands on the ball and live to play another down ... or get the ball in the end zone.”

Seniors Adam Myers-White and Nevin McKenzie continued their competition for the starting strongside linebacker spots by leading the team with five tackles each, and McKenzie added three tackles for loss — two being sacks. Thomas and Langley, the team’s only viable options to add depth at defensive tackle, each had two tackles for loss.

Sophomore tailback Lennon Creer had two 1-yard touchdown runs against the reserve defense, and junior Nick Stephens connected with redshirt freshman receiver Tyler Maples for a 7-yard score against the third-team defense. The first-team defense simply allowed field-goal attempts.

“It was not as sharp as I wanted it to be, but there were a lot of things that were encouraging,” defensive coordinator John Chavis said. “It’s never going to be good enough (for me), but we made some plays.”

The Vols will meet and study tape today before returning to the field Monday, with Tuesday beginning two-a-day practices.