University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley speaks to the press during an event.KNOXVILLE - As if the Tennessee football team's 33-23 loss at Florida over the weekend wasn't enough to anger Derek Dooley, the Volunteers' Tuesday morning practice did the trick for their second-year coach.
Dooley didn't do post-practice interviews for the first time as UT's coach after lighting into his team in a passionate, profanity-laced speech to his team that was loud enough for the media assembled outside UT's practice field to hear.
"It was pretty bad today," said starting left tackle Dallas Thomas. "We didn't do nothing that Coach Dooley had set out for us to do. But we've got to come out tomorrow and do way better than we did today."
The Vols (2-1, 0-1 SEC) have their open date this weekend before hosting Buffalo on Oct. 1. Dooley treats the bye-week practices like those in training camp, but how the team performed today clearly didn't please him. The Vols will practice Wednesday and Thursday before taking the weekend off.
ODDS AND ENDS
Right tackle Ja'Wuan James said freshman Antonio Richardson worked with the first-team offensive line as the Vols try to figure out how to fix their struggling run game. Freshman Marcus Jackson worked with the first-team line as well, taking Alex Bullard's left guard spot during the open portion of practice.
Receiver Da'Rick Rogers was limited during practice and wore a sleeve on his left leg. The sophomore said it was just a bruise and expects to return fully on Wednesday. UT is still adjusting to life without star wideout Justin Hunter, who will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL suffered Saturday.
More coverage online and in Wednesday's Times Free Press. Follow Vols beat writer Patrick Brown on Twitter for more continuous updates.