KNOXVILLE – Within the last week alone, Derek Dooley used the words “terrible,” “abysmal” and “nonexistent” to describe both phases of the University of Tennessee football team’s young offense.
All that negative attention from the coach had a positive effect Saturday afternoon.
“You have a mindset of what you want to see, and it’s hard for everybody to look good,” Dooley said after the Volunteers finished their second scrimmage of spring practice at Neyland Stadium. “I had a mindset: We’ve got to start showing some things on offense with consistency, and we did that today. It doesn’t mean we’re any good – it just means today we improved. We’ll see if we can build on it.”
UT’s defense controlled the first spring scrimmage last Saturday as both the passing and running games floundered. Projected to start just one senior (Tauren Poole) and one junior (left tackle Dallas Thomas) on offense, the offense’s spring growing pains aren’t surprising, but it was important for the group to show signs of improvement heading in the final week of spring practice and next Saturday’s Orange and White Game.
“I know Coach Dooley holds us to a standard, and we’ve got to continue to hold ourselves to a standard to become a better team,” Poole said after following his nine-carry, 21-yard performance in the first scrimmage with 70 yards on 13 runs Saturday.