Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley looks on while wide receivers run a drill during a warmup session prior to a team scrimmage at Neyland Stadium.
Freshman Marlin Lane poses for a photograph during the University of Tennessee’s football media day at Neyland Stadium on Sunday. The Volunteers play Montana to open up the season.KNOXVILLE – No college football coach ever gets comfortable playing freshmen, but Derek Dooley had plenty of practice at it last season.
The University of Tennessee football coach inherited a returning roster in his first season last year with plenty of holes throughout the depth chart. Mostly because he didn’t have much of a choice, Dooley did what he had to: play more than a dozen freshmen in contributing roles.
The situation hasn’t changed much in Dooley’s second season with the Volunteers.
“We’re so used to playing freshmen around here, we don’t know what it’s like not to have to get a freshman ready to play at a position,” he said after the Vols’ first scrimmage of preseason camp earlier this month.
“We’ve gotten pretty good at it, I guess.”