Like Tennessee Vols last year, Tide using freshmen

KNOXVILLE — Relying on true freshmen isn’t typically the best formula for Southeastern Conference football success.

These must not be typical times.

One season after the University of Tennessee used several newcomers during an SEC Eastern Division championship run, Alabama is on course to a similar outcome in the West.

The Volunteers probably wouldn’t have played in the SEC championship game without boosts from Eric Berry, Dennis Rogan, Brent Vinson, Gerald Jones, Denarius Moore and Lennon Creer. The Crimson Tide have played 16 true freshmen this season, and many have played significant roles in keeping them undefeated.

“I don’t know if it’s odd,” Rogan said. “It’s just a good situation for (Alabama), like it was a good situation for other people in the past — like us last year.”

Julio Jones starts at wide receiver for Alabama and leads the team with 22 receptions for 341 yards and four touchdowns. Tennessee native Dont’a Hightower starts at weakside linebacker, and he’s third on the team with 30 tackles. Mark Ingram has rushed for 430 yards and a team-high six touchdowns as the No. 2 tailback.

Jerrell Harris is the Tide’s second-team strongside linebacker, and Marcel Dareus is a second-team defensive end. Strong safety Mark Barron and cornerback Robby Green are second-stringers in the secondary, while Nashville’s Chris Jordan backs up Hightower.

B.J. Scott backs up Mike McCoy at the “H” receiver spot. John Michael Boswell, Tyler Love and Memphis’s Barrett Jones are second-team offensive tackles.

“Probably with Alabama’s situation, those guys are very talented and have a lot of energy,” Vinson said. “They probably bring a little different flavor to the team. That’s always good. We’ve got a bunch of young guys playing, too.”

But not many really young guys. Four true freshmen have played for UT this season, and one of them — linebacker Herman Lathers — will probably be redshirted after having his tonsils removed.

Tailback Tauren Poole is the only first-year freshman to have played in all seven games, and he has just 42 rushing yards and two special-teams tackles. Fullbacks Austin Johnson and Ben Bartholomew had their redshirts removed Saturday against Mississippi State, and Johnson was the lead blocker on Creer’s fourth-quarter touchdown run.

Vols coach Phillip Fulmer said more players from that class could suit up this season —especially promising offensive tackle Preston Bailey from Nashville — but he’d rather keep them redshirt eligible.

Fulmer said using true freshmen generally requires at least one of these three things: a special talent, an atypically mature young man or a dire need at his position.

“You’ve got some guys that have very unusual athletic ability that come along that are also mentally prepared to make the transition,” Fulmer said. “They’re not intimidated by the speed of the game. They’re not intimidated by the crowds or the environment, the competition.

“Those guys are rare to find. Over the years, we’ve had some guys that have done that at almost all positions.”

Alabama’s receiving corps wasn’t as bare as the Vols’ quarterback cupboard before the 2004 season — when true freshmen Erik Ainge and Brent Schaeffer were co-starters — but Tide coach Nick Saban opened the season with the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Jones in the starting lineup.

“You look at Julio, and you would never know that he is a freshman,” UT secondary coach Larry Slade said. “He makes adjustments. He’s physical. He goes and gets the ball. He does all the things that great receivers do.”

Fulmer said “big, physical receivers” such as Jones and Georgia’s A.J. Green are easier to get on the field than most young players because of all the press man-to-man coverage that modern defenses play.

“Those guys can make a tremendous difference this day and age in a football team because of their ability to make a big play,” Fulmer said, “to go up and snatch it away from a defensive back or athletically turn and catch an underthrow.”

Rogan, who doesn’t look like the 5-10, 185 pounds at which he’s listed, is an example of smaller freshmen making impacts, too.

“Good young players don’t always come with that good size like (Jones), but you always can just tell if they’re good,” Rogan said. “And he’s one of those you can just tell. He just looks like it.

“But you don’t have to be big if you work hard and come to camp in good shape and learn as much as you can, as fast as you can. If you do all of that, your coach should feel comfortable enough to put you out there.”