Vols' Dooley Gaining Control

Sec football

Vols gaining control
Dooley charged with restoring order after two turbulent seasons

Written by SETH EMERSON
semerson@thestate.com

Posted on 07.30.10
TENNESSEE

COACH: Derek Dooley (first season at Tennessee, 17-20 overall)
LAST YEAR: 7-6, lost to Virginia Tech in Chick-fil-A Bowl
PLAYER TO WATCH, OFFENSE: WR Gerald Jones (46 catches for 680 yards, four TDs in 2009)
PLAYER TO WATCH, DEFENSE: DE Chris Walker (six sacks, two interceptions in 2009)
BOTTOM LINE: The Vols can call their season a success if they make a bowl and a degree of stability returns to the program.


One could only imagine what the former football coach at Tennessee would have said about being picked to finish fifth in the SEC East.

Of course, the abrupt departure of Lane Kiffin was one of the main reasons the Volunteers were picked for their lowest finish ever. So when his replacement was asked about it last week, Derek Dooley could only shrug and throw up his hands.

“Generally, it’s based on how you performed last year and who you have coming back next year,” Dooley said. “As a matter of fact, we have a ton of new faces.”

Including Dooley, who in his short time at the helm has infused a bit of calm, if not stability, in a program on its third coach in three years. Dooley, the son of legendary Georgia coach Vince Dooley, has drawn praise in the offseason for his handling of a bar brawl involving Tennessee players, as well as his performance at last week’s SEC media days.

The Tennessee football program has been through a lot the past three years. Most of the team’s players were recruited by Phillip Fulmer, who resigned under pressure in 2008. That led to the hiring of Kiffin, who brought swagger to the team, along with numerous secondary violations and public speaking gaffes. He took his boastful ways, and his coaching staff, to Southern Cal after one season in Knoxville.

“I’d be lying if I said it was easy. It’s been tough,” senior linebacker Nick Reveiz said.

But Reveiz added that the result has been a tighter locker room:

“We’ve obviously, you know, had a lot of things happen to us in the past three years, and it’s just caused us to gel together as a team and say, ‘You know what, the only people that aren’t going to change are the players in the locker room.’”

Well, not exactly.

Ten players left in the transition, the latest being tailback Bryce Brown, a prized Kiffin recruit who rushed for 460 yards as a freshman. Brown kept the Vols hanging nearly the entire offseason before bailing this week without notifying the staff.

So not much is expected this year from the Vols. Tennessee will be starting a quarterback who has not taken a Division I snap, its two top running backs are gone, and the defense lost five starters, including All-American Eric Berry.

The quarterback situation is as worrisome as any in the SEC. Matt Simms, a junior-college transfer, was named the starter after spring practice. He beat out 6-foot-6 freshman Tyler Bray, who enrolled early.

“All I can say is ‘work in progress,’” Dooley said. “They’re young, they’re new, and we’ll see where it all takes it.”

The upside for Tennessee is its pass-catching corps, led by senior receivers Gerald Jones and Denarious Moore and senior tight end Luke Stocker. The running game, however, was muddled by Brown’s departure.

Defensively, the Volunteers return six starters, but Reveiz was the only one named to the media’s preseason All-SEC team, and he was a second-teamer.

So the focus will be on Dooley, whom the players agree is unlike the man he replaced.

“Coach Dooley’s an old soul, I’d guess you’d say,” Stocker said. “Coach Kiffin and coach Dooley, they’re two guys with different personalities. They do things differently. So once you’ve adjusted to the different cultural style of the two, football is football.”