Photo Gallery
Knitting Mill gets new owner and plansAntique mall on North Shore to close by end of August
Tennessee's Jalen Hurd runs against Arkansas State in this file photo.KNOXVILLE - Another game. Another win. Another test for all those first-year Tennessee Volunteers, more than 30 total.
Just don't ask senior linebacker A.J. Johnson to critique his teammates' inexperience.
"I don't see them as young guys anymore," Johnson said after the Big Orange beat Arkansas State 34-19 on Saturday to improve to 2-0 for the season.
"They're just playing, having fun, doing their jobs."
A lot of them. Second-year head coach Butch Jones started four freshmen against the Red Wolves. The depth chart listed 11 others as second-teamers. And that doesn't include junior college transfers such as offensive lineman Dontavius Blair, wideout Von Pearson, linebacker Chris Weatherd or defensive lineman Owen Williams, who flooded the defensive stats with two sacks, one pass breakup and five total tackles.
Said sophomore linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin of that performance: "We trust those guys 100 percent. Throughout the summer we put them to the test and they responded well. All those young guys you see out there, we have a lot of trust in them. We know they won't fold. And Owen, Owen can go. He kept the pressure on all day."
On paper, nothing went quite as flawlessly as it had during last Sunday night's 38-7 rout of respected Utah State. Arkansas State pulled within 17-12 at one point in the first half, finished with 331 total offensive yards and averaged 4.2 yards a play.
Beyond that, Tennessee again looked mediocre on the ground, averaging 3.7 yards per carry to ASU's 3.4.
But true freshman running back Jalen Hurd did gain 83 of those yards, as well as scoring a touchdown and delivering a twisting, turning, tackle-breaking 12-yard run in the shadow of his own goal line late in the third period to earn a crucial first down.
Beyond that, juco tranfer Pearson led the Vols in receiving with 71 yards before leaving with a leg injury. Freshman tight end Ethan Wolf caught five balls before also leaving with an injury.
But Hurd said none of those achievements have come easily.
"The speed of the game," he said when asked the most difficult adjustment. "I came in early, though, so I have been able to get used to that some already. But it's different than high school."
Different, yet learnable.
"We're going to be able to learn a lot from this game," said senior quarterback Justin Worley. "Everything went relatively smoothly last week, and we came out feeling great. This week, we had our ups and downs and we were able to perseverere and push through it. It's definitely a great opportunity to learn, especially with how young we are."
Especially when all that youth is now 2-0 on the season heading into Saturday's visit to Oklahoma.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.