HOOVER, Ala. – The past few years have been anything but typical for the University of Tennessee football program.
Friday’s SEC media days appearance was no different.
New Volunteers coach Derek Dooley’s first three questions from his time in the print media room were as follows: Talk about your mother, talk about your father and talk about the recent bar brawl featuring several of your players.
Minutes before, Dooley was asked by a television reporter in a small room about the “lower expectations” placed on UT this season.
“I’ve never had that question,” Dooley said with a chuckle. “I didn’t know we had low expectations.”
Perhaps the Vols haven’t lowered their expectations for this season, but they’d be in the minority with that opinion. Media members present picked UT to finish fifth in the East Division, something the Vols have never done. They were picked behind Kentucky, a school they’ve beaten an NCAA-leading 25 consecutive times, exceeding the lifetimes of almost all of the current Vols and Wildcats.
“Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, I guess,” said Vols senior tight end Luke Stocker, a Kentucky native. “But we haven’t played a game yet. We haven’t played a down yet. We’re not going to give up just because some of y’all don’t think we’ll be any good.”
Dooley, Stocker, senior middle linebacker Nick Reveiz and senior defensive end Chris Walker represented the Vols on Friday, and their front couldn’t have seemed more united.
“This is probably the closest team I’ve ever been on … because of everything we’ve been through,” said Walker, who joined Reveiz and Stocker on some preseason all-conference teams. “We’ve all started saying, ‘We’re all we’ve got.’ That’s our phrase, and we’re living by it.”
UT is playing for its third head coach in three years. The Vols won’t be close to the 85 players who were initially recruited with scholarships. Depending on the final results of a police investigation into their recent bar brawl, they might lose more numbers, at least temporarily.
At the very least, they must overcome the losses of their starting quarterback, all five starting offensive linemen and arguably the program’s best-ever defensive back in Eric Berry.
Preseason expectations haven’t been this low in more than three decades.
“They’re just preseason rankings, though,” Stocker said. “They don’t mean anything.”
He and his teammates appearing Friday were united in optimism.
“The only people that can help us win are the people in the team room right before we walk out to the stadium,” said Reveiz, a former walk-on. “You can take that for what it’s worth, but this preseason stuff means nothing when it comes to game time and kickoff on Saturday. We realize that no one is giving us any respect, and it’s one of those things where you want to play with a little chip on your shoulder. But, hey, I’ve been used to that most of my playing career.
“I don’t listen to that. I don’t put much stock in it. We’re just going to go out there and play as hard as we can and see what happens.”
That said, the Vols aren’t oblivious to the obstacles.
“We head into the season with a lot of youth and a lot of inexperience at a lot of positions,” Dooley said. “But I feel really good about the young talent that we have on our team. I feel really good about the senior leadership that we have. So I’m excited.”
Dooley refused to blame predecessors Phillip Fulmer and Lane Kiffin for the program’s perceived deterioration. He praised Fulmer for his generally successful tenure and noted his invitations to Fulmer and Majors to come back on campus any time. Majors quickly accepted the offer, but Dooley said Fulmer needed more time to overcome his emotional exit.
“(Fulmer) in many ways is still in a painful state, and I understand,” Dooley said. “I told him that I understood, because that was a difficult time in Tennessee.
“I also told Coach Fulmer that he’s a part of the great tradition here. He’ll always be a Tennessee Volunteer, and as that pain goes away over time, I hope he’ll come back.”
Dooley said he hasn’t spoken with Kiffin, but only because the two had no previous relationship. UT’s new coach refused to take the bait several times when persuaded to knock Kiffin.
“I didn’t evaluate the job Lane did, so I don’t know,” he said. “All I know is I got to Tennessee, and here’s the situation, here’s the roster, how do we move forward?
“The changes that we’ve made are not because we’re analyzed the past and said, ‘That’s absurd.’ It’s because I’m more comfortable doing it this way. I know this works, and I believe in it.”
Whether the players believe it enough to achieve immediate success remains to be seen.
“The expectations at Tennessee haven’t changed, and our expectations are to compete for championships,” Walker said. “I expect the team to come out and play like Tennessee should – and that’s to play hard, play physical and win games.”
Other contacts for Wes Rucker are www.twitter.com/wesrucker and www.facebook.com/tfpvolsbeat.