Freshmen aplenty for Vols

ATHENS, Ga. - Early in the fourth quarter of Saturday's 41-14 loss at Georgia, seven of Tennessee's 11 offensive players on the field were true freshmen.

"That's the future of Tennessee right there," said wide receiver Justin Hunter, one of those seven youngsters.

Glimpses showed that future could be much brighter than the present.

That young group marched 77 yards on 12 plays before true freshman quarterback Tyler Bray fired an incomplete pass into the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the 3.

Bray, who finished the game for junior starter Matt Simms, completed 8 of 12 passes for 81 yards.

"He played with a lot of calm out there. He was confident," Dooley said of Bray, a 6-foot-6 pocket passer from California. "And ... you know, it was a different situation. They were just playing [base] defense."

Even when the Bulldogs were still mixing it up, they had problems with Hunter. The gifted 6-4 athlete was arguably UT's biggest star throughout the day, catching four passes for 110 yards, including a 38-yard score that pulled the Volunteers within 17-7 early in the second quarter.

"I think Justin's got some special ability," Dooley said. "If he continues to work and progress and grow physically, I think he can be a special player. I do. He made some plays out there. He's just long. He's athletic. He's got great ball skills. And we're starting to feed it to him a little bit more.

"But he's still a freshman, so he struggles to line up, run the route, not zeroed in. As he develops confidence in what he's doing and how to react to what they're doing, he's going to get better and better."

Several other true freshmen played prominent roles. Tailback Rajion Neal had 70 yards on three catches, including a 58-yard wheel route to the Georgia 2 that set up UT's final touchdown.

Three true freshmen - tackle Ja'Wuan James and guards Zach Fulton and James Stone - played most of the game. John Propst played more than he has all season and was in on six tackles, and fellow linebacker Raiques Crump added three stops. Defensive end Jacques Smith played another big role with three tackles, including one punishing pop in the backfield.

UT has played 15 true freshmen this season. Only two programs in the country have used more.

"I was a little disappointed in how we were competing, especially how we came out in the second half," Dooley said. "I'd rather go lose with somebody competing, and we didn't compete the way we needed to. We had a lot of freshmen out there playing, and they did some good things - I mean a lot."

Tough Thomas

UT sophomore left tackle Dallas Thomas started Saturday despite missing most of the practices heading into the game with an unspecified left ankle injury.

Thomas played most of the snaps before leaving early in the fourth quarter, and he wore a protective walking boot for postgame media interviews.

"I did my best," Thomas said. "I felt better, but I just had to suck it up. I'd say I was about 90 percent. I just sucked it up and played for the team as much as I could."

Ayres gets to start

Joseph Ayres, a UT walk-on redshirt freshman defensive tackle from Knoxville who boarded at Chattanooga's McCallie School, shockingly started in place of sophomore Montori Hughes.

Hughes returned to the lineup for the third play and Ayres finished with just one tackle, but Dooley clearly tried to send a message to Hughes, who generally is considered the team's most talented interior lineman.

"It's just ... the other guy [Ayres] was playing better," Dooley said of his starting-lineup decision. "I wish it was a game-plan issue, but Montori hasn't been playing with the consistency and the discipline we needed him to play with, so we played the other guy."

Hughes left the game with an ankle injury after being hit with a nasty-looking chop block. Dooley said the medical staff would evaluate Hughes.

This and that

UT used its "G-Gun" package - with senior wide receiver Gerald Jones at shotgun quarterback - for the first time this season early in the first quarter. Jones kept the ball on the play and was thrown for a 1-yard loss. ... Simms' first-quarter interception Saturday was the first he'd thrown in 72 attempts.

Sophomore weakside linebacker Herman Lathers led the Vols with seven tackles. Senior middle linebacker Nick Reveiz, who entered Saturday as the SEC's leading tackler, had led UT the previous four games.

Georgia clearly won the field position battle Saturday. The Bulldogs' average possession started at their own 37, while UT's average start was its own 21.

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