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Article published Apr 20, 2008 Orange Whited Out: Starters end spring drills on high note
By Ryan Callahan of The Daily Times Staff
KNOXVILLE -- It didn't necessarily matter that the Tennessee football team's spring-ending scrimmage allowed starters to face backups on both sides of the ball.
For once, the Volunteers did almost exactly what they were supposed to do.
That was enough.
Starting junior quarterback Jonathan Crompton passed for 266 yards and three touchdowns, and Tennessee's first-team defense didn't give up a touchdown in the White team's 38-16 victory in the Orange and White Game on Saturday at Neyland Stadium.
A crowd of 28,898 watched the Vols' starters dominate from start to finish for the White team against an Orange team that primarily consisted of reserves and walk-ons.
Crompton completed 13 of 20 passes and threw a 74-yard scoring strike to Denarius Moore on the first play from scrimmage, while the No. 1 defense intercepted two passes and held the Orange team to a pair of field goals despite using a limited playbook.
Coach Phillip Fulmer admitted that the offense "executed extremely well" early and that the defense got its "hands on some balls," but he did his best not to get too excited.
"We've still got some real challenges in front of us," Fulmer said. "(We have) to get through the summer, and we hope to get some of the (incoming) freshmen in the mix really, really fast that can help us.
"We're not where we need to be."
The Vols finally showed signs of getting there, though, even if it took the help of some favorable matchups.
Tennessee's offensive starters led the White team to scores on all three of their first-quarter possessions and added another pair of touchdowns in the second quarter despite having starting tailback Arian Foster held out for most of the day as a precaution against injury.
The only noticeable mistake of the day by Crompton, who will enter fall camp as the undisputed starting quarterback, was a third-quarter interception by linebacker LaMarcus Thompson on a pass intended for tight end Luke Stocker.
"I threw that interception at the end, which always hurts," Crompton said. "But I think leaving spring on a high note was a good way. I think I did a decent job, but I can always do better."
Senior wide receiver Josh Briscoe hauled in Crompton's other two touchdown passes, an 18-yarder at the end of the first quarter and a 31-yarder just before halftime.
Sophomore receiver Gerald Jones added another dimension to his so-called "G-Gun" package at quarterback with a 17-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Moore in the second quarter.
"We were just having fun with it," new offensive coordinator Dave Clawson said. "I don't know if we're going to do that next year or not."
On defense, starting safeties Eric Berry and Demetrice Morley wrapped up an impressive spring with an interception each, both of which came on passes by backup sophomore quarterback Nick Stephens.
"The chemistry's been good, and we've been working hard since the offseason," Morley said. "We're still not finished, and we're still not where we want to be, so we're still going to keep working hard.
"As a secondary unit, we've just been working hard. We're an elite group, we can feel like we can be an elite group, and we're going to keep working hard to be that elite group."
Junior defensive end Wes Brown, one of two new starters at defensive end, also recorded a pair of sacks, as did sophomore defensive tackle Victor Thomas.
The Orange team's only touchdown, an 8-yard pass from redshirt freshman B.J. Coleman to freshman running back Tauren Poole, came against defensive backups.
The Vols will reconvene for fall camp in August in preparation for their nationally televised season opener Sept. 1 at UCLA.