University of Tennessee Athletics
Vols Scrimmage Against Texas A&M Tendencies
December 18, 2004 | Football
Dec. 18, 2004
Tennessee's last full practice of the pre-holiday schedule saw the Vols stage a two-part scrimmage in excellent conditions Saturday at Haslam Field.
"The best day we've had this week," head coach Phillip Fulmer called Saturday's session. "It was a great scrimmage for us to work against, as best we could, Texas A&M's offense and their option.
"It will be good film study for us to see where we are."
The Aggies are led by junior quarterback Reggie McNeal, who completed 177-of-306 passes this year for 2,550 yards and 13 touchdowns against only three interceptions. Perhaps just as impressively, he was the team's second leading rusher with 700 yards and eight touchdowns on 142 carries.
"They just put so much pressure on your defense with all they do," Fulmer said. "It's assignment football for our defense.
Fulmer said the Vols divided Saturday's scrimmage equally between first-team reps against Texas A&M's tendencies and younger squad members going through a mini spring practice.
"We didn't get anybody hurt and we now are just finalizing," Fulmer said. "This was the probably the best day this week that our secondary had and they needed it. We've worked really hard in the fundamentals of tackling, breaking to the ball, alignments and assignments.
"All week long we've made a big emphasis out of it. They seemed to take the challenge."
Fulmer said junior safety Jason Allen remains a cut above the rest of Tennessee's young secondary.
"You know that Jason Allen is going to line up and play every down as hard as he can go with the best technique he can play," Fulmer said of the SEC's leading tackler. "The rest of them have been inconsistent and you don't know what to expect.
"They played really well in some ballgames. Against Georgia, they played really well. Against South Carolina, they didn't give up anything easy. Other times, it drives you nuts."
The Vols have scheduled a walk-through for Sunday afternoon, followed by Monday morning's getaway session before the holiday break. The Monday workout will lean heavily toward conditioning because of the five off days that follow before the team reconvenes Dec. 25 in Dallas.
"The plan is pretty much in," Fulmer said. "That's what the walk-through is for, and we can make adjustments from what we see on the film."
Tennessee meets Texas A&M Jan. 1 at the sold out SBC Cotton Bowl. Kickoff in Dallas is set for 10 a.m. Central time with Fox carrying the television broadcast.
