KNOXVILLE – Carlin Fils-aime probably thought the week was never going to reach Saturday.
The freshman running back played a part in a costly fourth-quarter turnover in Tennessee’s upset loss at South Carolina, but the departure of star back Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara’s ongoing injury absence meant Fils-aime was going to get a chance to atone for the mistake.
One of the many freshmen to have extended action in a blowout, Fils-aime scored on a pair of short touchdown runs in Tennessee’s 55-0 rout of Tennessee Tech.
“That was a bit tough on me,” Fils-aime said of his mistake last week. “Just going in for that one rep – we have the momentum – and as a freshman, just messing up on the first play, it kind of got to me.
“My teammates just walked up to me and said, ‘Hey, man, head up, next play. Stuff happens, but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.’ When they come up to me and told me that, that’s when I thought to myself that this is a real family. I kept my head up and got prepared for this week.”
At Columbia, S.C., John Kelly had broken a 34-yard run to midfield with the Vols down three when Fils-aime, forced into the game by Hurd’s mysterious absence and Kamara’s injury, raised his arm to take a handoff and knocked the ball out of quarterback Josh Dobbs’ hands as he threw.
South Carolina recovered and took a 10-point lead a few plays later.
“It’s going to be a long year, that’s all we were telling him,” Kelly said. “You make mistakes being a freshman and everything, but we’re not going to hang our head on that one mistake. We’ve got confidence in him, and he was able to go back out there and pretty much make up for it. Today was a good day for Carlin.”
It was a good day for multiple players in the 2016 recruiting class.
Safety Nigel Warrior led the Vols with seven tackles and showed his elite speed and closing ability, while cornerback Marquill Osborne recorded a sack and linebacker Daniel Bituli played a lot.
“They didn’t allow any points,” cornerback Rashaan Gaulden said. “When I used to get in when I was a freshman, we usually would give up seven points. For them to come in and continue playing dominant defense, getting off the field on third and fourth down, that’s definitely a confidence boost.
“I like seeing Marquill, D.T. (redshirt freshman defensive end Darrell Taylor), Nigel and those guys excel in their roles when they got a chance.”
The Vols, still tinkering with their best combination, made a change on the offensive line with Coleman Thomas at center and Dylan Wiesman sliding to right guard in Jack Jones’s place, but redshirt freshmen Drew Richmond and Venzell Boulware played extensively on the left side, as did freshman tackle Marcus Tatum at right tackle.
Freshman receiver Brandon Johnson made five catches for 64 yards, but he was overshadowed by fellow rookie Marquez Callaway, who returned one punt 52 yards and broke his second for a 62-yard touchdown.
“He’s a natural at catching punts,” Vols coach Butch Jones said. “He just has a knack for it. It was great, obviously, that he was able to do that, and we take great pride in our return game.”
Callaway said he returned punts in high school but never scored a touchdown, and Jones said he’ll continue to get reps at a spot where the Vols sorely have missed Cameron Sutton and Kamara.
“I can always improve,” Callaway said. “Hopefully I can get some more of those.”
Fils-aime entered Saturday’s game with just four carries, all in the final moments of the second-game win against Virginia Tech, and he waited nearly two months for the eight carries he got against Tennessee Tech.
“At practice, getting those reps that I’m able to get, I try to do the best I can with them and make sure that I act as if I’m in a game and go 100 miles an hour,” he said. “If I mess up, I mess up, but I learn from my mistakes and do better.”
“When my time was up, I was not nervous. I knew that I had to step it up and be prepared for if the team needed me.”
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.