KNOXVILLE -- Tennessee concluded its final practice preparations for Saturday’s home opener against UAB. The Vols worked for better than 90 minutes at Haslam Field.
Head coach Phillip Fulmer said the Vols are relatively healthy heading into the upcoming nine-week stretch of consecutive games. One player who was injured slightly in the UCLA contest, cornerback and return specialist Dennis Rogan, could split return duties with Gerald Jones.
"We'll probably start with Gerald, because Gerald had a nice ballgame,''” Fulmer said of the sophomore's efforts at the Rose Bowl. "But we will play them both.''”
Jones compiled 160 all-purpose yards against the Bruins, finishing with 11 yards rushing, 40 receiving, 33 on punt returns and 76 on kickoff returns. Jones tallied 169 all-purpose yards for his entire freshman season.
Three of Tennessee's captains for Saturday are juniors -- defensive end Wes Brown, tailback Montario Hardesty and center Josh McNeil. They are joining two seniors in defensive tackle Demonte’ Bolden and linebacker Adam Myers-White.
VOLS AMONG TOPS IN NFL OPENING-DAY ALUMNI, LEAD IN D-TACKLES
NFL figures released after this week's kickoff to the 2008 season had 34 former Vols on the team rosters of 20 different franchises. Only six college programs had more representation in the NFL's Opening Weekend than the Big Orange.
Miami (Fla.) led all schools with 44 players, followed by Florida State at 37, Georgia, Michigan and Ohio State at 36 and LSU at 35. Texas tied with Tennessee at 34, with Southern California’s 32 and Florida’s 30 closing out the top 10. Auburn was 12th with 27 players.
The Southeastern Conference placed 259 of its former players on opening weekend active rosters, leading all NCAA conferences. The SEC has led the nation in the number of players on opening weekend rosters since 2001.
All 12 SEC schools were among the top 64 colleges. Alabama was sixth in the SEC with 18, followed by Arkansas and Mississippi State with 16 each, South Carolina with 15, Ole Miss at 14, Vanderbilt with 10 and Kentucky with eight.
In a breakdown by positions of all colleges with the most players on 2008 NFL rosters, Tennessee led with five defensive tackles -- Aubrayo Franklin (49ers), Albert Haynesworth (Titans), John Henderson (Jaguars), Tony McDaniel (Jaguars) and Darwin Walker (Panthers). Another former Vol defensive tackle, Justin Harrell of the Packers, is on the physically unable to perform list but could return this season.
The NFL Kickoff Weekend numbers were furnished by the National Football League.
InSIDe the Vols Blog -- Don't forget to check out the 2008 NCAA Football Officiating video about the new clock rules this year in college football. Go to "InSIDe the Vols" on the UTSports.com Web site, scroll down to Sept. 10 and check out the instructional video explaining all there is to know about the 25- and 40-second play clock.
Football Schedule Magnets -- The first 5,000 fans to enter Gates 10 and 21 Saturday for the Tennessee-UAB game are receiving 2008 UT football schedule magnets, courtesy of Image Matters.
SELECT TICKETS AVAILABLE; NON-RENEWABLE SEASON PACKAGES SOLD OUT
Individual game tickets for five University of Tennessee home football games, including Saturday's home opener against UAB, remain available for purchase online at utsports.com, via phone at (800) 332-VOLS and at Thompson-Boling Arena. Tickets for the UAB game are $50.
Other games available are Northern Illinois (Oct. 4), Mississippi State (Oct. 18), Wyoming (Nov. 8) and Kentucky (Nov. 29). Tickets for Northern Illinois and Wyoming are $40 each plus shipping and handling. Tickets for Mississippi State and Kentucky are $50 each plus shipping and handling.
Non-renewable season tickets for the 2008 season are sold out.
(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)