Foster plays, stars in UT scrimmage

KNOXVILLE — Arian Foster is OK, after all.

Tennessee’s All-Southeastern Conference tailback quickly quieted speculation about his sore knee in a Saturday night scrimmage.

Starting quarterback Jonathan Crompton fired an incomplete pass on the first play before Foster gained 39 total yards on the next four plays. He made defenders miss on 11- and 4-yard runs and caught consecutive screen passes for 18 and 6 yards, taking the offense inside the 40-yard line.

“Thank God he’s healthy,” sophomore receiver Gerald Jones said.

Six plays later — one of them a pass interference on cornerback Dennis Rogan — Crompton fired an 8-yard touchdown pass to Jones.

Foster didn’t scrimmage last Saturday and sat out several practices with what coach Phillip Fulmer called a bone bruise. Foster and his coaches maintained all week that his absences were precautionary and he wouldn’t have missed a game.

“I’m not 100 percent, but I didn’t feel any pain,” said Foster, who had 42 yards on five touches. “I felt good. It was the first contact for a while coming off the injury. I wasn’t hesitant, but I was curious to see how my knee would do.

“Injury-wise, game speed and practice speed are two different things. You can’t substitute that ... but the knee feels OK. It’s working process, but I’ll be good to go by Sept. 1 (at UCLA).”

Jones finished with six catches for 82 yards and the score. Crompton was 8-of-12 for 101 passing yards.

“I don’t know what Jonathan’s numbers were, but I thought he looked really sharp,” Fulmer said. “I thought he had a really good night.”

Crompton completed three of four throws for 32 yards and the score on the opening possession.

Second-team quarterback Nick Stephens went under center on the next possession, driving the offense inside the 30. Sophomore Daniel Lincoln capped the drive with a 43-yard field goal.

Berry takes a snap

All-SEC sophomore safety Eric Berry lined up at quarterback for one snap, wearing a noncontact jersey.

He ran around right end and got touched “down” by junior college transfer linebacker Gerald Williams, who continues to show impressive speed for a 6-foot-4, 260-pound player.

Fulmer has said Berry could take some game snaps at quarterback this season in the “Wild Berry” package.

Williams led the defense with seven tackles (two for loss) and a sack. Middle linebacker Ellix Wilson added six tackles and a sack, while weakside linebacker Rico McCoy and defensive end Robert Ayers had five stops each.

Goal-line guts

The scrimmage started after 8:30 p.m., and the first several possessions started inside the offense’s 5-yard line.

The first-team offense failed to get a first down in two possessions, and the second-team defense shut down the No. 2 offense’s first try with Stephens under center.

Former McCallie School star B.J. Coleman led the first successful attempt, but he didn’t do much of the work. He simply gave the ball to freshman tailback Tauren Poole, who burst through the line and bounced off several defenders on a 21-yard run to the 23.

Coleman completed 15 of 24 passes for 170 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions. Stephens was 5-of-11 for 48 yards and one interception.

“It could always be better, but I’m pretty pleased with what we got done,” Coleman said. “I think we improved from last week, and that’s the biggest thing.”

Closing notes

Senior Adam Myers-White started over senior Nevin McKenzie at strongside linebacker again Saturday, but coaches haven’t named a starter at the position. McKenzie sacked Stephens later in the scrimmage, though a “sack” in a noncontact jersey isn’t always a sure thing.

McCoy and junior guard Vladimir Richard got into a brief altercation early in the scrimmage, but no penalty flags or punches were thrown. Fulmer said he “loves fire but hates silliness” and said both players’ actions could have gotten them ejected from a game.

True freshman defensive back Prentiss Waggner made several big hits, one forcing a fumble from tailback Lennon Creer. Sophomore defensive end Ben Martin pounced on the ball, stopping a promising drive. ... Coleman threw a 36-yard pass to redshirt freshman receiver Ahmad Paige against the third-team defense. ... Senior defensive tackle Demonte Bolden from Tyner sacked Coleman for a loss of 5 yards on the first play of a drive that started near midfield.

Lincoln was 8-of-9 on field-goal attempts, going 6-for-7 from beyond 40 yards. Sophomore punter Chad Cunningham made from 43 but missed twice from 41.

Fulmer said “eight to 11” first-year Vols could contribute this season.

Correspondent Will Woodbery contributed to this report.