Published April 5, 2011 - 2:25pm
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Derek Dooley was not too happy with the way Tennessee came out during their first scrimmage this past weekend. Last Saturday, the offense struggled against the Vols’ defense, notably sophomore quarterback Tyler Bray.
Dooley had this to say about his team after their last scrimmage:
“Well, the one thing, you always have some early conclusions when you scrimmage — the first one is we’re really a bad football team,” Dooley said. “We have a long way to go, we really do. The passing game is terrible from an execution standpoint. The running game is nonexistent, and really that’s about it. The kickers and punters were below average.
“I’m not down,” Dooley said. “I didn’t expect to come out here and look like a championship-caliber football team. I’m not down at all, it’s right about where I thought we were. I didn’t think we were any good three days ago, I just didn’t say it. I wanted to wait until the scrimmage to see.
“Today just confirmed what I thought, but I’m not down by any stretch. It just means we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
You have to love Dooley’s honesty because he will give it to you and not beat around the bush. To me, I love that, and his team loves that about him. They will be better because of it.
Tyler Bray
All the questions are surrounding Tyler Bray. Does he have the metal capacity to be good all year? Will there be a sophomore slump?
During the scrimmage, Bray was 11 for 27 with 172 yards passing, three touchdowns and two interceptions. He didn’t exactly think he showed up too well either.
Bray did throw a beautiful 70-yard bomb to Da’Rick Rogers, and he threw one to Justin Hunter and one to newcomer Matt Milton.
“I was not totally thinking it was terrible, but it was pretty bad,” Bray said. “There were a couple reads that I threw, I probably shouldn’t have thrown them and gone to the other side. We’re still learning right now, still getting the offense right now.”
With offensive coordinator Jim Chaney installing more of the offense in the spring than last year, some of the youngsters were sure to be stumped, including Bray.
I would not be worried in the least bit because this team will make mistakes because they are young, but they are talented enough to be great in the long run.
