At least one person in Tennessee believes. At least one person trusts Phillip Fulmer to lead Tennessee’s program back to prominence, because Andre Lott was on the field in 1998 and a captain in 2001, and his admiration for Fulmer is one reason he’s coaching in high school today.

Lott is an assistant football coach and head track coach at Hardin County High School in Savannah, Tenn., and a counselor for at-risk kids at the middle school. Lott can flash his 1998 national championship ring to those kids as a reminder they can succeed, because Lott is a former at-risk kid from Memphis who grew up in a single-parent household.

It’s fulfilling work. But Lott still wants move back to Knoxville and work for Tennessee, maybe by January.

“I want to get involved, man,” said Lott, who’s married with a little girl and another on the way. “My wife loves Tennessee. I love it. I love Knoxville. I’d like to get back up there and get involved any way I can.”

Lott did just that as a player, getting on the field as a freshman defensive back in 1998. His most vivid memory is the Arkansas game, highlighted by the infamous Clint Stoerner fumble.

“I actually played a lot in that game, so that one definitely sticks out,” Lott said. “On the fumble, I really didn’t know what happened because I was downfield with one of the receivers. I heard the reaction from the crowd and just looked at the sideline. That was huge.”

Lott was the last person to know Fulmer named him a captain in 2001. He overslept the practice when Fulmer made the announcement and had to run extra the following day.

“I paid for it,” Lott said. “Everyone thought it was funny to see a captain run extra like that. I told the guys I was sorry. That’s kind of a funny way to be named the captain.”

He spent three years with the Washington Redskins and played under Steve Spurrier. Lott was later critical of Spurrier’s coaching style in the NFL and signed with San Diego.

But he continues to heap praise on Fulmer, calling him “the main one” he respected and admired.

“It’s kind of funny, because the New England Patriots got booed. Everybody has so much of a high expectation that you should win every game,” Lott said. “It’s not going to be a perfect season. You don’t win every game that often. Coach Fulmer has done great things for his school, and because he’s lost to Florida the past few years everybody wants him fired. That’s not the case with me.

“He’s done so much for the school, and you won’t find a lot of people who have won as many games as he has. People don’t look at that. He puts in so much work, and everybody doesn’t see that part of it. I’ve talked to a lot of the older guys and they say the same thing. The things we did when I was there just don’t happen often. He’ll fix it.”

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