KNOXVILLE – Derek Dooley insists the state of his Tennessee football roster has improved dramatically in the past 25 months of his tenure.
The Volunteers’ makeup, in particular, has the third-year coach excited.
When the rest of UT’s 2012 signing class arrives on campus and the Vols open training camp in August, Dooley will have only 17 players he didn’t recruit comprising his team. Eight players remain from Phillip Fulmer’s 2008 class. Lane Kiffin’s lone class in 2009 has just nine players left.
That means it’s an important year for Dooley’s first class, most of which will be juniors this fall, to put their stamp on the program in a greater fashion.
“This is the key year for them,” Dooley said during his 30-minute interview with the Times Free Press earlier this week. “This is the time to grow up and take ownership of the football team and take responsibility for the things that don’t go well on the team and go make it happen. They’ve shown a willingness to do that so far.”