University of Tennessee Athletics
VOLS PREPARE FOR SATURDAY SCRIMMAGE WITH GAMEPLAN ADJUSTMENTS
December 15, 2006 | Football
Dec. 15, 2006
It was a typical Tuesday for Tennessee, even if it was Friday morning.
The Vols practiced for two hours indoors and without full pads at the Neyland-Thompson Sports Center, following the typical routine of an early-week practice during the season.
"We did some really good work today," offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe said. "We took the full pads off, because we've got two days in a row coming up in full pads. We kind of went through our Tuesday routine from a preparation standpoint."
The first of those two sessions will be a scrimmage on Saturday night at Neyland Stadium at 7 p.m. The Vols, who are well into their game plan for the Outback Bowl against Penn State on Jan. 1 in Tampa, Fla., will mix in some young guys with their veterans as they both prepare for the future and the Nittany Lions.
"The effort has been outstanding," Cutcliffe said. "We've split up the squad, and we're letting everybody get in there. We're getting a lot of quality reps, and we've gotten off to a great head start with the young guys.
"I think it's been the best returning squad and young guy's work that I've been around, so that'll be a bonus for us -- particularly coming off a year when you missed it last season."
The Vols focused on special teams and the schemes they will face at Raymond James Stadium. The UT offense and defense has been facing "almost exclusively Penn State stuff," and Cutcliffe said the Vols are "pretty deep into their gameplan."
"We got a good start on the kicking game, and we will scrimmage all evening tomorrow with some kicking game looks from Penn State," Cutcliffe said. "We're going to get everybody involved - first-team offense, second team and the threes - so we'll get quite a few stats tomorrow evening.
"Saturday night we won't be really looking much at Penn State stuff, we'll be just be looking to go at the speed of the game and seeing who's going to compete and who's going to get what done."
