Will Ofenheusle and Omari Hand
photo by UT
Tennessee held its second major scrimmage of fall drills Tuesday under the lights at Neyland Stadium. With piped crowd noise in the background, the Vols covered a variety of topics as they begin to look ahead toward game preparations for Wyoming.
In the scrimmage, C.J. Leak had a 57-yard TD pass to Baker, who, along with Mark Jones, saw duty on both sides of the ball, in the secondary and at wide receiver. Alex Walls had a 29-yard field goal. Dustin Colquitt punted 10 times for a 42.7-yard average, two punts exceeding 50 yards. Seth Reagan punted four times for a 36.8-yard average and James Wilhoit kicked twice for a 44.5-yard average.
Casey Clausen completed nine of 16 passes for 64 yards, Leak seven of 10 for 143 yards and one TD, and James Banks three of six for 71 yards.
Defensively, Jason Allen was in on five tackles. Omar Gaither had four tackles on the night, including a tackle for loss (-4). David Ligon had three sacks (-18) and Julian Battle had four tackles and a pass broken up. Wesley Holmes had two sacks (-8) and Parys Haralson and Jason Hall each had two tackles.
Among those either held out of the scrimmage or limited were TE Jason Witten, LB Kevin Burnett, and LB Eddie Moore in addition to injured players announced after Saturday's scrimmage.
COACH PHILLIP FULMER'S COMMENT: "I'm sure the players are glad two-a-days are over because I'm darn sure the coaches are glad two-a-days are over. We came through it in pretty good shape. Hopefully, Constantin, the trainers and the doctors will let us know how significant that is. We won't know for a few days until the swelling goes down, but that's a concern because he's one of our best pass-rushers. Derrick Tinsley's got a little bit of a neck and shoulder sprain, he should be fine. Other than that, we came through the scrimmage in pretty good shape. We held a bunch of people out tonight, particularly on defense. A lot of guys playing really well in the last couple of scrimmages we've had and we didn't want to risk injury here just 10 days before the first game. We got a lot of positive work in, although it got really sloppy at the end. That was not much fun at the end. I'm still not sure what we're going to do a backup quarterback. It's a situation where C.J. knows quite a bit more - he played better tonight - but he's still got to make better decisions and play backyard football a little bit, throw it and catch it, when they're open. James Banks is an exciting prospect. We obviously won't be able to stand in the huddle with him at game time so I hope we'll keep him coming along. But Casey Clausen came to play. He's had a great summer, a great fall camp, out there directing traffic. I thought he had an excellent scrimmage for us tonight, so I'm pleased with that. We took a good look at those two defensive backs, Rashad and Mark. We'll teach them as much as we can and get them in the game in certain situations to take some of the pressure off our tight ends and Kelley Washington. They're going to have to be in great shape to play both ways a little bit along the way, but I appreciate their unselfish attitude to get out here. Right now, we need to get our legs back from two-a-days and really start focusing on who's going to play."
Starting Lineups
Here's the way the Vols lined up offensively and defensively to start tonight's scrimmage
On offense, it was Michael Munoz, Jason Respert, Scott Wells, Anthony Herrera and Will Ofenheusle up front, Aaron Kirkland at tight end, Casey Clausen at quarterback, Cedric Houston and Troy Fleming in the backfield and Kelley Washington and Leonard Scott at the wideouts.
Defensively, it was Omari Hand, Demetrin Veal, Constantin Ritzmann and Edward Kendrick up front, Jason Mitchell, Eddie Moore and Keyon Whiteside at linebacker, and Jabari Greer, Julian Battle, Rashad Baker and Corey Larkins in the secondary.
2002 Captains Named
Coach Phillip Fulmer announced after Tuesday night's scrimmage that the team has elected linebacker Eddie Moore, defensive end Omari Hand, and offensive tackle Will Ofenheusle as the captains for the 2002 season.
"I'm really pleased with the team's selections," Fulmer said. "I don't think they could have selected three better than those guys. I'm looking forward to their leadership along with the rest of the seniors."
Moore, from South Pittsburg, led the 2001 team with 81 total tackles. Hand, from Tallahassee, Fla., is one of six seniors expected to see action on the defensive front and had 21 tackles and three tackles for loss in 2001. Ofenheusle, from Martin, is the only senior on the offensive front and has quietly become a team leader since starting all 13 games last season.
Moore is the third Vol captain from Marion County, joining Eddie Brown (Guild 1973) and Eric Westmoreland (Jasper 2000). Hand is the first from Tallahassee and Ofenheusle is the second from Martin, joining Chad Clifton (1999).
"It's a great honor because it's something everyone works so hard for," Ofenheusle said. "To be elected to represent the whole team is awesome, especially since I'm from Tennessee. Chad Clifton and I played on the same junior high team, the same high school team and now at Tennessee and we were each a captain. Whenever I first came here from Martin in 1998, I was trying to make the team. Being a captain was a goal that seemed almost unattainable."
Scrimmage Statistics
Aug. 20, 2002
PASSING Cmp-Att Yards TD INT
Casey Clausen 9-16 64 0 0
C.J. Leak 7-10 143 1 0
James Banks 3-6 71 0 1
-
RECEIVING Rec Yds TD
Rashad Baker 1 57 0
Montrell Jones 2 46 0
Ryan Boswell 2 44 0
Tony Brown 2 26 0
Gerald Riggs 1 17 0
Derrick Tinsley 2 14 0
C.J. Fayton 1 14 0
Chris Hannon 2 11 0
Cedric Houston 2 11 0
Sudan Ellington 1 11 0
Troy Fleming 1 10 0
Jomo Fagan 1 7 0
William Revill 1 6 0
-
RUSHING Att Yds TD
Jabari Davis 4 13 0
Keldrick Williams 5 13 0
Gerald Riggs 3 6 0
Troy Fleming 1 3 0
Cedric Houston 1 -1 0
Casey Clausen 1 -2 0
C.J. Leak 4 -26 0
James Banks 6 -9 0
-
PUNTING Att Made Long
Alex Walls 2 4 48
Phillip Newman 1 3 42
James Wilhoit 1 3 42
-
-
DEFENSIVE BIG PLAYS
DE David Ligon (1 Tackle) 3 Sacks (-18), 1 Fumble Recovery
DE Wesley Holmes 2 Sacks (-8)
DE Jonathan Mapu 1 Sack (-8) 1 Fumble Recovery
DB Julian Battle 1 PBU
DB Rashad Baker 1 INT
LB Omar Gaither 1 TFL (-4)
LB Marvin Mitchell 1 TFL (-2)
LB Jason Mitchell 1 TFL (-1)
DT Greg Jones 1 Sack (-6)
DE Constantin Ritzmann 1 Sack (-2)
DE Ovince Saint Preux 1 Sack (-8)
DT Andre Taylor 1 TFL (-1)