Jones sees cast as a help

KNOXVILLE -- Gerald Jones, like any college football player, never wanted to undergo offseason surgery.

Tennessee's leading returning pass-catcher certainly didn't want to wear a wrist cast for the first few weeks of the Volunteers' first preseason camp under coach Lane Kiffin, who vowed to open nearly every starting position on the depth chart to encourage competition.

But Jones has become convinced that playing wide receiver until Thursday with a hard cast covering most of his left hand was a blessing in disguise. He said moments after Thursday's practice that just a few hours in a softer cast already showed that silver lining.

"The cast, even though it's slowed me down, has actually kind of helped me out a lot with my fundamentals," Jones said. "Getting used to catching with a cast on, and now taking it off and having so much freedom with the whole hand, it's helped me out a whole lot with just looking the ball all the way in.

"Really, now, it should be easier."

Jones went through several early-camp drills trying to catch passes one-handed, but he claimed to use both hands always in team periods. Even if he hadn't, though, his mere presence in pads meant a lot to a depth-depleted, extremely inexperienced corps.

"It's a team game, and winning or losing as a team is the only thing that matters ... but obviously (Jones) is one of those guys who has proven he can make big plays," senior quarterback Jonathan Crompton said. "It's great to have him out here every day, even though he's been banged up."

Freshman receivers Nu'Keese Richardson, Marsalis Teague and Zach Rogers have spent hours in Jones' preseason camp dorm room -- past midnight, on some occasions -- plucking his brain for route-running and other tips, but Jones' on-field presence has sped the learning curve.

"He's like a big brother," Richardson said earlier in camp. "He always knows what to do, where to be and all that, and he's just a great guy, too."

Jones also is a loud, opinionated guy but said he won't ask coaches to take a second look at his "G-Gun" quarterback package. His recently improved wrist led many to believe that would be the next step, but Jones said he'd be OK with coaches leaving Richardson in that special-package role.

"I think I'll just play it cool," Jones said. "Like I said, I trust every decision that these coaches make. I think they make the best decisions for this team. Whether I'm back there, or whether Nu'Keese is back there, I'm going to be happy.

"I'm going to be at wide receiver regardless, and I'm going to tear it up out there."

But would Jones complain with being thrown back into the G-Gun?

"Oh, no. No, no, no. Not at all," he said.

Stephens smoother

Junior quarterback Nick Stephens admitted he pressed too early in preseason camp because of the starting battle with Crompton, but he said he sorted out the issue before last Saturday's scrimmage.

"I was pressing too much and trying to make too much happen," Stephens said. "I realized that that's not going to win me this job. What will win me this job is showing that if the deep ball's not there, just check it down. That's what I feel like I've done this past week, and I feel good about it."

Stephens couldn't pinpoint precisely what calmed him, but he knew that missing spring practice with a fractured wrist caused the problem.

"I try not to even think about that, but naturally that's going to come in your mind, that I wasn't here for spring," he said. "Maybe that did hurt me. Maybe I did try to make too much happen a couple of times, and it hurt me. But I've gotten through that and I've gotten better."

Kiffin said Stephens' scrimmage performance statistically mirrored Crompton's, but penalties and up to five dropped passes -- most of them on third down -- made Crompton's day statistically superior.

"Just this past week, I've been relaxed," Stephens said. "I'm just going out on the field, and I'm just in my mind saying, 'Relax, relax, relax. Go through your reads. See the defense, and just relax. Don't be tensed up. Just be relaxed in your drops and let the game come. You've been playing a long time. Just let the game come to you.'"