KNOXVILLE – The first bragging rights of Tennessee’s spring practice went to the defense.
But there wasn’t much winning from any of the Volunteers in the eyes of coach Derek Dooley.
“You always have some early conclusions when you scrimmage, and the first one is we’re really a bad football team,” Dooley said after the Vols’ first scrimmage of the spring on Saturday afternoon in Neyland Stadium.
“I was really disappointed in the first half how the offense came out. It was a total dominating first half by the defense, and it was strictly because of more effort, more toughness, more enthusiasm, more spirit – all the intangibles.”
Backup tailback Rajion Neal had the most impressive afternoon according to the stats released by UT’s sports information department. Neal ran 14 times for 152 yards and three scores, outproducing starter Tauren Poole (nine carries, 21 yards).