The Orange team (defense) beat the White team (offense), 95-71, in Tennessee’s spring game Saturday. That basketball score came courtesy of a system that awarded points for all sorts of things, including first downs and pass breakups. More than 61,000 fans turned out, the second-highest spring game attendance total in school history.
2013 Tennessee spring game recap: Quarterbacks struggle, but there were points aplenty
Tennessee’s impressively thorough scoring system allowed one squad to come close to breaking 100 on Saturday.
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Despite the high scoring, the Volunteers didn’t get great performances from their quarterbacks, who are fighting to replace Tyler Bray. Jones gave no hint afterward at a leader for the starting role, if there is one.
JONES: The quarterback position is wide open, just like every position. The amount of growth a team can make from May to July is monumental.
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) April 20, 2013
Junior Justin Worley led the way with 123 yards passing and a score, but he completed just eight of 18 passes and threw an interception. Redshirt freshman Nathan Peterman finished the day 9-of-23 for 98 yards. In fairness to the quarterbacks, though, this is a team that lost its top four receivers from a year ago. Those four accounted for 2,914 receiving yards and 26 touchdowns.
The receiving leaders Saturday were Cody Blanc, who did not have any receptions last season, and Vincent Dallas, who had nine grabs a year ago. Tennessee has the bulk of its offensive line back, but clearly the skill positions leave a lot of questions to be answered.
On the defensive side, defensive end Daniel McCullers finished with six tackles, including one for loss. He was third on the Vols in tackles for loss last season, but Jones says the team is going to need more out of him in 2013.
JONES: I think we have probably pushed McCullers the hardest. We need him to be a dominant defensive factor. I was encouraged by his play.
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) April 20, 2013
True freshman linebacker Corey Vereen had a nice afternoon as well, finishing with four sacks.
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