September 8, 2005
Vols name Rick Claussen starting QB
The QB shuffle continues at the University of Tennessee this week. After watching sophomore starter Erik Ainge struggle last week against unranked UAB in a 17-10 Vols win, Head Coach Phillip Fulmer announced yesterday that senior Rick Claussen would be the starting QB for Tennessee's next game in two weeks against Florida.
Claussen was the MVP of the Cotton Bowl in 2004, after starting the season 3rd on the Vols QB depth chart.
Fulmer named Ainge the starter for the UAB game, saying the sophomore offered a stronger arm and more mobility than Clausen. But Clausen, a senior, played better in the game. Ainge had two passes intercepted."Rick will start and we'll rotate probably," Fulmer said after practice. "I want somebody to take the job and it be it."
Both will continue to split time. Fulmer said he was not very concerned about the quarterback shuffle because he believes both are talented. Clausen and Ainge each started games last season.
"They split the reps [in practice]. We have two quarterbacks. Whoever runs out there first will be first," Fulmer said.
Comments:
CumberlandAve said:
posted on September 8, 2005 12:05 PM — 24.215.202.246 — link — abuse?
Hey CockyHoskins,
With that name, you must be a disgruntled South Carolina fan whose only delight in life is to resort to name calling and bad mouthing everything remotely associated with the University of Tennessee.
UT's Smokey is even beating USC's Cocky in the Mascot Challenge. Can things get any worse for South Carolina?
Rick Clausen is getting the starting nod against Florida because he played better than Ainge did against UAB. It's that simple. Fulmer doesn't even think UT has any worries at QB whether the starter is Clausen or Ainge.
What does concern Fulmer is the rest of the offense and the kicking game. He's upset with the receivers because of dropped passes and a failure to block downfield. He's upset with the running backs for missing blocks, making bad cuts and being inconsistent. He's upset with fullbacks who missed blocking assignments. He's upset with the kickoffs and he's upset with punt and kickoff returns failing because of missed blocks.
To my mind, Rick Clausen still has not proven himself against high-quality SEC opponents. Ainge did so against Georgia and Florida last year, but he is still rusty after not playing since the Notre Dame game last November.
If UT falls behind Florida with Clausen at the helm, we will no doubt see Ainge in at QB. Ainge is the superior athlete. He just needs to stop overthrowing so many passes. That has led to most of his interceptions. He needs to play well for an entire game instead of just one half. Let's not forget that it was Clausen's interception that led to UAB's sole TD against UT.
UT has a lot of work to do in a lot of areas if the Vols expect to beat Florida in Gainsville on Sat., Sept. 17
Volsfan1742 said:
posted on September 12, 2005 9:46 AM — 66.0.232.179 — link — abuse?
I dont think that Fulmer is goin to play Clausen because he wants his brother to come there. I am pretty sure that the youngest Clausen has already decided that he is not goin to come to Tennessee. I heard he was either going to USC or Notre Dame. Fulmer is playing Clausen because Ainge choked bad in the UAB game and Clausen played well. So he earned the job. And I think that if Tennesee worked the kinks out over the bye week then Florida is in for a tough game. Tennessee is stacked and if the recievers don't have butter fingers and Gerald Riggs brings his "A" game then Florida is goin to get soundly beat. Not taking away from Florida. They are a good team. But Tennessee just has more talent on the field this year and they are goin to be a Rose Bowl contender if they can get past Florida and LSU.
Alex said:
posted on October 30, 2005 11:16 AM — 71.50.98.59 — link — abuse?
After last night's debacle against South Carolina, I think Mike Hamilton needs to have a VERY SERIOUS TALK with Phillip Fulmer. NOT that Fulmer's a bad coach, he's a GOOD coach, HIMSELF, but has hired an EXTREMELY LOUSY STAFF of ASSISTANT COACHES, with the exceptions of defensive coordinator John Chavez and the conditioning coach. The recievers dropping passes RIGHT IN their hands, not ABLE to catch a ball on their fingertips, the RUNNING BACKS FUMBLING the ball as they are about to cross the end zone, the OFFENSIVE LINE getting hit with drive-killing penalties, are ALL COACHING woes, and NOT the GIFTED and TALENTED ATHLETE'S FAULT. These GREAT RECIEVERS NEED to be TAUGHT HOW to catch a ball that's thrown RIGHT INTO their hands or just on thier fingertips. They HAVE to haul them in! The recievers of PAST UT teams DID just this. Look at Alvin Harper, Peerless Price,to name just TWO of the MANY GREAT UT recievers who CAUGHT these types of passes in by-gone years, but STILL UNDER Phillip Fulmer's direction. Fulmer needs a MAJOR SHAKE-UP of his coaching staff., STARTING with the OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR, who CANNOT COME UP WITH A GAME PLAN to SCORE A POINT, HARDLY AT ALL this season. As UT has one of the NATION'S BEST DEFENSES, even an IRON CURTAIN CANNOT WIN GAMES unless the OFFENSE can put SOME points on the board! Has ANYONE NOTICED that the UT OFFENSIVE OUTPUT on POINTS has STEADILY DECLINED since David Cutcliff departed? THAT IS NO COOINCIDENCE! The thing IS, CUTCLIFF NEEDS ANOTHER JOB, NOW and re-hiring him as OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR AGAIN at UT woiuld have UT scoring between 35-50 points per game. SANDERS has them scoring mainly between 6-13 points per game, and THAT sort of output JUST WON'T GET IT! UT USED to be known as "Reciever U" by the PROS. It AIN'T NO MORE! Plus UT NEEDS a QB coach who can teach Eric Ainge how NOT to HURRY his passes, WHEN to go ahead and EAT the ball when necessary rather than throwing an interception, HOW TO GET RID OF THE BALL when he can't find a reciever EXCEPT ONE on the OPPOSING TEAM, how NOT to OVERSHOOT his recievers, how NOT TO HIT HIS RECIEVERS IN THE BACK, that's IF Ainge IS the FUTURE! The Running Backs coach needs to be able to TEACH a TALENTED GROUP of backs HOW TO RUN INTO THE END ZONE WITHOUT FUMBLING THE BALL INTO the End Zone. They NEED to learn how to BLOCK when called upon to do so.There are OTHER GLARING COACHING DEFICIENCIES that STAND OUT EVERY GAME. Coach Fulmer said the other day that UT was " only a few plays away from being 6-0 ( I guess NOW it's ONLY a couple plays FROM BEING 7-0!) yet those plays are not being executed. IT comes down TO player discipline during the game, AS DOES THOSE drive-killing penalties!THEY NEED A COACH WHO CAN teach THE OFFENSIVE LINE not TO GO FROM 1ST AND GOAL; to out of field goal range, even, because of unnessary penalties! Coach Fulmer is TOO LOYAL to his EXTREMELY LOUSY COACHING ASSISSTANT BUDDIES, RATHER than being LOYAL to the FANS who pay $45 a ticket to WATCH this BS. The MOVING VANS are GOING TO START SHOWING UP at the FULMER RESIDENCE IF he does NOTHING to change his COACHING STAFF. And THEN John Chavez will be the NEW head coach, which he would be a VERY ABLE coach! I remember Coach MAJORS had a team that was SUPPOSED to compete for the National Championship, AWARDED the "Flop of the Year" by SI. I ALSO remember his team that started 0-6,culminating in a LOSS TO ARMY! HE was given a choice to either CHANGE HIS COACHING STAFF or the AD would change the ENTIRE coaching staff, INCLUDING MAJORS. Majors WISELY HEEDED THAT call, and turned the team around the following year. You might say " we haven't had a Peyton Manning since '97" but how about BEFORE Manning? There were STILL VERY ABLE QBs with TALENT and they WON, like Jeff Francis to name ONE QB under Fulmer! Has FULMER gotten SO SURE of his JOB SECURITY he believes he could put a squad of high school cheerleaders in as his coaching staff and STILL KEEP his job? Has he just gotten to the point where he's TOO FAT, OLD, LAZY, and PLAIN OL' DOESN'T CARE ABOUT the fans who PRODUCE $45 for a TICKET TO WATCH THEM NOT PRODUCE ANY POINTS and LOSE to MUCH INFERIOR TEAMS? ALL the teams UT has faced this year have been INFERIOR to the UT TEAM TALENT. It's the COACHES that have been INFERIOR to OTHER TEAM'S COACHES! It's time for a SHAKE-UP, STARTING at OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR! RE-HIRE DAVID CUTCLIFF and LIGHT UP THE SCOREBOARD and WIN GAMES. DEMOTE OR FIRE RANDY SANDERS ALTOGETHER!Get the coaches who can TEACH these talented players. UT'S RECRUITMENT is ALWAYS in the TOP 10 in PROSPECTS, but since DAVID CUTCLIFF'S DEPARTURE, the OFFENSE HAS been STEADILY SCORING LESS AND LESS over the last few years and THIS YEAR has hit ROCK BOTTOM. It's TIME TO MOVE UP. GET RID OF THE COACHES WHO CAN'T TEACH or DEVELOPE THE TALENT they CONSISTANTLY RECRUIT! Or SOON the ticket prices will be back DOWN TO $1 on the STREET at GAMETIME, like they USED TO BE UNDER MAJORS. The fan that PAYS that $45 per ticket, the ALUMNI and the SEASON TICKETS HOLDERS DESERVE MUCH BETTER. Mike HAMILTON, take notice! Either TAKE NOTICE or watch the ATTENDANCE DROP like the BASKETBALL ATTENDANCE DROPPED!
Alex said:
posted on October 31, 2005 10:36 PM — 71.50.98.59 — link — abuse?
GOOD NEWS coming out of Knoxville for the FIRST TIME in 5 or 6 years. Sanders showed his "crybaby" attitude in announcing that "HE'S STEPPING DOWN!(translation: "I GOT FIRED!")I guess Sanders THOUGHT he should be the NEXT UT head coach so HE could lead UT FOOTBALL to EVEN LESS than MEDIOCORE! He found out he was WRONG. NOW, coach FULMER NEEDS to GO BACK TO HIS beginning as HEAD COACH, when HE was "HUNGRY"! Coach Fulmer NEEDS to NOT pay too much attention to the young beauties at UT, but to his FOTTBALL TEAM, his PLAYERS who are COUNTING ON HIM to help ADVANCE THEIR ABILITIES, PREPARE THEM for CAREERS in the PROS, for those who choose that path.THEY deserve THEIR chance to make the millions UT is paying coach Fulmer, but they HAVE to be developed through the UNIVERSITY STAGE BEFORE they can go through the PROFESSIONAL stage developement. When coach Fulmer ALLOWS a lousy coach like RANDY SANDERS, who's ATTITUDE has ALWAYS BEEN DEPLORABLE, TO REMAIN at the coaching position HE was at,EVEN BEING SEEN ON TELEVISION ARGUING WITH COACH FULMER, SHOWING ANGER BECAUSE HEAD COACH FULMER OVERRULED a PLAY CALL now and then, then COACH FULMER is showing a GLARING WEAKNESS in a TITLE held by the LIKES OF BEAR BRYANT AT ALABAMA,for just ONE GREAT coach. The DIFFERENCE is that Bear Bryant NEVER got LAZY and NEVER TOOK ANY GUFF from ONE OF HIS SUBORDINATES; as coach Fulmer took from Sanders. Were I coach Fulmer, I'd have Randy Sanders CLEARING OUT COMPLETELY from the UT ATHLETIC DEPT.AT THIS MOMENT! Let Sanders teach CHEERLEADING. He CAN'T TEACH FOOTBALL, THAT'S FOR SURE, nor can Sanders TEACH CHARACTER, since he SHOWS that he HAS NONE, as DEMONSTRATED ON TV and in the NEWS. He was a LOUSY QB at Tennessee, EVEN AS A BACK-UP. He SHOULDN'T have so much as been WATER-BOY, BUT SOMEONE allowed him the BACK-UP QB role. They say that " THOSE who CAN, DO! And THOSE WHO CAN'T, TEACH!" Well, SANDERS has FINALLY DISPROVEN THAT saying ONCE AND FOR ALL, as SANDERS could do NEITHER! CONGRATULATIONS TO COACH FULMER AND MIKE HAMILTON for "talking" Randy Sanders into "stepping down". That is coach Fulmer's FIRST LEAP TOWARDS ANOTHER NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP! Coach Fulmer, just DON'T GET COMPLACENT and HAPPY with ONE CHAMPIONSHIP!DON'T BE the "Gerry Cooney" of COLLEGE FOOTBALL.( Gerry Cooney, if you remember was once touted as the "great White Hope" in BOXING, but COONEY HAD NO HEART FOR IT! He had the TOOLS, but NOT THE HEART!) Coach Fulmer, YOU HAVE the TOOLS with your ATHLETES to WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS MORE than ONCE. DON'T BE the COACH WITHOUT ANY HEART!GET BACK to the BEGINNING, like you were when you FIRST GOT THE HEAD COACH JOB! And REMEMBER; YOU ARE THE BOSS, the HEAD COACH; and the REST are YOUR EMPLOYEES. DON'T BE their "buddies" ALSO as you TRIED with Randy Sanders! THAT was your FIRST,BIG MISTAKE! You KNEW he DIDN'T HAVE what it TAKES to be OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR at THIS LEVEL IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL, but STILL HIRED him rather than a NEW OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR from OUTSIDE, who would NOT HAVE you in THIS MESS, NOW! When your EMPLOYEES UNDER you do NOT GET THEIR JOBS DONE, you HAVE TO MAKE CHANGES, or the ALUMNI WILL SEE TO IT SOMEONE ELSE will have YOUR JOB who WILL make those NECESSARY CHANGES WHEN NEEDED, and NOT get TOO "Buddy-Buddy" with the assistant coaches! Here's your chance to START FRESH, and NOT go by the WAYSIDE as did Johnny Majors, because HE would NOT CHANGE WITH THE GAME! WE EXPECT at LEAST 30 points against Notre Dame, AND A WIN! YOU CAN DO IT!
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CockyHoskins said:
posted on September 8, 2005 11:31 AM — 129.252.82.207 — link — abuse?It looks like Phat Phil is trying to avoid another embarrasing situation where he loses out on a much more talented brother of current Vol b/c of playing time issues.
Rick Clausen is to Jimmy Clause as C.J. Leak is to Chris Leak.