Justin Hunter Draws Praise, Gets New RTT Nickname

by Joel Hollingsworth on Aug 16, 2010 7:21 AM EDT in Tennessee Volunteer Football

Justin Hunter, prior to Bennie Wylie's strength and conditioning program. Photo courtesy of woodleywonderworks.

Talking Points for 8/16/10:

You can tell football is right around the corner, as player features are popping up all over the place. Take, for instance, freshman wide receiver Justin Hunter, whom the players call "Bones." Words worming their way into quotes about Bones include the following: Incredible. Smart. Tall. Rangy. Huge hands. Very athletically gifted. Unbelievable. Phenomenal. Mature.

All of that's in one article, but the quotes are from five different people, including three different coaches. Hunter's heroics must have gone viral at the media session, as Jim Chaney apparently got bored with it and turned it on its head:
"He doesn't run very well. He doesn't jump very well, and he's not very tall. He doesn't catch it well," Chaney said, grinning. "Has no talent. If he's any good it's all because of Charlie Baggett, our wide receivers coach."
But then he got serious again, and again, here come the analogies:
"We don't know until you go out on the field how they learn," Chaney said. "How quick can they learn? How big is the sponge, basically? He has proved to have a lot of good football intellect, and you just keep throwing stuff at him and he keeps swallowing it up. That's been good."
So add "huge sponge" to the litany of compliments. Maybe we should call him SpongeBones.

CBS has a couple of Tennessee features on their front page right now, including a look at the massive chore Derek Dooley has in front of him. Their SEC breakdown also has this gem about the Vols:

5. Tennessee: There's a lot of hope in Knoxville. Unfortunately for Vol Nation, that hope should be redshirted until 2011, or '12.

A redshirt year for hope? Funny.

Other player features: JerQuari Schofield, Herman Lathers (who put some anonymous 330-pound lineman on his butt), Tyler Bray (who's second string because he's still getting accustomed to the speed of the game), Tauren Poole and David Oku (who took turns keeping each other on campus over the past year), Nick Reveiz (you know the story, but you're not tired of it, either), and Brent Brewer. By the way, our crack research and investigative team has learned that both JerQuari Schofield and Jarrod Shaw are 331 pounds.

Derek Dooley: Perfectionist. Joker.

Dooley likes the Wildcat, but thinks it's "grandfather school" as opposed to "old school." It sounds like Gerald Jones will be running some again this year. Don't I remember seeing that he had like a 38-yard run or something in one of the scrimmages?

Videos of the day:

Player Comments Aug. 14 | UT Sports TV
Tennessee football player post scrimmage comments for August 14, 2010.
Dooley Comments Aug. 14 | UT Sports TV
Tennessee football head coach Derek Dooley post scrimmage comments for August 14, 2010.
Life is Orange and White | UT Sports TV
I do believe that's Mr. Daniels on the voice over. Life is Awrnge and Whaight.

Tweet Comment 4 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Please more Wildcat

For all his lack of real-world common sense, Lane Kiffin proved that he is, at worst, a fairly competent coach who is out of his league at this point in his career. That being said, when he trotted out the Nuke package on the first play of the Auburn game, Richardson took the ball up the sideline for 41 yards. So did we go back to that later on in the game? I never could figure that one out.

by Zach Towery on Aug 16, 2010 9:52 AM EDT reply actions

He had a few head scratchers last year...

That and the 4th quarter goal line series against UCLA, I still don’t know why a play action dump to the flat wasn’t attempted. I get that this was before Crompton saw the light but sheeshe.

The perfectionist joker column made me feel good, I’m sure there were plenty of players that had mixed feelings at best when Dooley came on board but he seems to have won them over, for now…

Bring it across, shape it down

by Getoffmyvols on Aug 16, 2010 10:08 AM EDT up reply actions

!!!!! WOW!!!!

Why have I not heard this before:

"I think he’s got a cape on his back, because he can fly," sophomore safety Janzen Jackson said. "Man, he’s just incredible."

Hunter, a multi-sport star from Virginia with Olympic aspirations in the long jump, missed nearly all of offseason football workouts while working with the USA Track and Field team. He won the USATF title this summer and placed sixth at the IAAF world championships before enrolling at UT just before the start of preseason camp. And he did all that despite being "not track sharp" after working on football-specific workouts.

Added sophomore cornerback Marsalis Teague: "He’s smart, and he’s an Olympic kind of athlete. That kind of helps."

"I was talking to (former Calhoun standout) Da’Rick (Rogers) a little bit, and I looked at Justin, and Justin says, ‘Coach, all I’m trying to do is not get yelled at,’" Dooley said.

Eric Berry Eats Landsharks For Breakfast.

by bobothevol on Aug 16, 2010 1:17 PM EDT reply actions