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Tennessee: Fulmer: QB shift is part of effort to win

By: Wes Rucker
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Staff Photo by Angela Lewis B. J. Coleman warms up before a scrimmage at Neyland Stadium on Sunday evening.

KNOXVILLE — Moments after telling his players and assistants that this season would be his last as Tennessee’s football coach, Phillip Fulmer made a deal.

Fulmer said he would stay committed to this team until this season expired, and he asked everyone in the emotion-filled room to emulate that effort.

That is his explanation for putting junior quarterback Jonathan Crompton back in the starting lineup Saturday at Vanderbilt.

It’s the best thing for the team, Fulmer said Tuesday afternoon.

“We’re going to try to win them, regardless,” he said. “Two weeks, it’s this team. Then you’re going to have to really look for me after the games.

“The next guy can figure out (the future).”

Fulmer said redshirt freshman B.J. Coleman from Chattanooga will play Saturday — which would be his first meaningful varsity snaps — but Crompton will start under center for the first time since late September.

A humiliating homecoming loss to Wyoming two weeks ago ensured that UT (3-7, 1-5 SEC) won’t play in a bowl game, and a loss to Vanderbilt or Kentucky would break the single-season record for a program that dates back to 1891.

“I don’t think any of us thought anything like this was even possible,” sophomore safety Eric Berry said.

Fulmer and first-year offensive coordinator Dave Clawson chided those who suggested that Crompton and sophomore quarterback Nick Stephens deserved all the blame for such a nightmarish season. But neither has masked their disappointment with that duo.

“With the way defenses play now, it’s very difficult to win football games without good quarterback play,” Clawson said. “That’s been one of my disappointments this year, that I have not gotten our quarterback position to play better, and I know that the quarterbacks are disappointed as well.

“I coach them, and I’m responsible for their play. I’m disappointed I haven’t got them to play better.”

Crompton was supposed to be Erik Ainge’s heir apparent. The former high school All-American took a vast majority of first-team repetitions throughout spring practice and preseason camp, and consistent praise from coaches and teammates flamed the hype surrounding his ascension.

Then the season started.

In six games, four as the starter, Crompton has completed 80 of 158 passes for 788 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions. And that’s including a 240-yard, two-touchdown afternoon against UAB.

“This has been as far from an ideal quarterback situation as you can have,” Clawson said. “You invest that many reps in a guy in his career and preseason and spring football, and I don’t care what level of football, and when that doesn’t go well, it’s a difficult situation.”

When Stephens’ promising start fizzled in consecutive weeks against South Carolina and Wyoming, Crompton — not Coleman — was put back in the saddle.

“Those guys are smart,” Clawson said. “They see what’s going on on the field. At no point during this year have we had outstanding quarterback play that the other guy said, ‘Geez, I don’t have a shot to get back into this thing.’ Unfortunately, that’s the way it’s broken.

“The way we would have loved it to happen is we opened the UCLA game, Jonathan throws for 360 yards and five touchdowns, and we’re not going through this whole thing. But from the UCLA to UAB game, then to the Florida game and the Auburn game, B.J. and Nick saw what was happening.”

Stephens hasn’t been available to the media since falling from No. 1 to No. 3 on the depth chart, but Crompton and Coleman seem rejuvenated by the most recent shakeup.

“I’m enthused,” said Crompton, who completed 11 of 27 passes for 91 yards and a touchdown off the bench against Wyoming. “I’m going to go out there and do the best I can. We’ve got to go out and win these last two games.”

Added Coleman: “It’s a great feeling. Growing up as a little boy, I always dreamed of playing SEC football. It’s a real special opportunity.”

Coleman helped his cause last Thursday, completing 22 of 31 passes for 325 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in UT’s junior varsity victory over Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy.

“The truth of it is, we haven’t done very well consistently, and there’s no reason not to try anything that’s available out there,” Fulmer added. “But it wasn’t just the JV game. Hargrave is a good prep school, but it’s not a SEC team or a SEC defense. A lot of that was done with screens and (naked bootlegs) and things. He did a good job on the two-minute drill, and a lot of other good things.

“I’m not taking anything away from him, but don’t go from here to way over there. We’re somewhere in the middle. He does give us some things, perhaps, better than what we’ve got. We’ll see.”

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