coach touches on points of concern at media event

At Tuesday’s annual media and golf breakfast held at Gettysvue Country Club, University of Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton talked about raises for the coaching staff and ongoing construction at the facilities before turning the floor over to Vols’ head coach Phillip Fulmer.

Fulmer, the dean of Southeastern Conference football coaches, entering his 15^th season as the top Vol, talked about the upcoming season and touched on the overall depth and potential contributors at each position for the 2007 version Vols.

He said senior quarterback Erik Ainge is expected to report to fall workouts healthy after his ankle surgery in the spring. Fulmer also spoke of his hopes for a talented class of first year receivers and their prospects of stepping in and making instant contributions on an offense that lost its top three wide-outs from a year ago to either graduation or the NFL Draft.

Another area of concern for the Vols’ coaching staff entering fall drills next month is finding a dependable placekicker after the graduation of James Wilhoit. Fulmer noted that All-American punter Dustin Colquitt would actually be in line to take over place-kicking duties as well if the season were to start tomorrow. The coach added that freshman kicker Daniel Lincoln had nice potential and is expected to develop into the Vols’ full-time place-kicker in time. Until then, however, Fulmer said that Colquitt and Lincoln could share kicking duties.

Following a breakfast and media opportunity, the UT coaches and administration hit the links for a day of golf with local media at the picturesque West Knoxville course with just over a month left before everyone’s full-attention turns to the gridiron.

The Vols open the season on Sept. 1 when they travel to Berkeley, California to tangle with nationally-ranked California.