Ainge ready to lead Vols to an SEC title
HOOVER, Ala. -- Earlier this summer, ultra-successful Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summit gave Phillip Fulmer a simple response to what could have been a complicated question.
"We were talking about her nine-year stretch there, as to why she thought she hadn't won a (national) championship," Fulmer said Friday at SEC Media Days. "She had been close a couple of times (before winning one again in April). She said it's pretty simple (why the Vols came through this year) - it's Candace Parker.
"You have to have a Candace Parker-type player in your program to be able to do that."
Parker was the best women's college basketball player in the nation last year and the Vols rode her to a national title.
Fulmer thinks he might have a football version of Candace Parker to lead the Vols in 2007.
Senior quarterback Erik Ainge.
"You go back and look at Peyton Manning or Jamal Lewis or Travis Henry and some of those guys. ... we've had those people in our program before," Fulmer said. "I think Erik Ainge can be that kind of football player that our team rallies around, that he takes the bull by the horns and makes the plays that help you win a championship."
Erik Ainge said he's ready to be that special player.
"I can understand the analogy (about Parker). I know what Coach Fulmer is saying," Erik Ainge said. "You need your big-time players to step up and play a big-time role. Your best players need to play the best in the big situations in the best conference. That's how it is.
"I understand exactly what he's saying. I'm ready. I feel ready. I can't wait to get to camp. I'm excited about where our football team is at. It's always come down to a couple of plays in every game that are going to make or break your year."
Erik Ainge said his sometimes-successful, sometimes-disappointing, sometimes-tumultuous three years in Knoxville have steeled him for the role of team leader and clutch performer.
"I feel tested," he said. "I know what it's like to throw three interceptions in the first half of a game and then come back in the second half to win. To play, to not play. To win big games, to lose big games. I've done just about everything except win a championship. That's our goal; that's what we want to do."
Anyone who watched Erik Ainge in his true freshman season, watched him beat Florida in the closing seconds in only his second college game, would have thought Erik Ainge would own a championship ring by now. At least one.
But all that promise he showed in 2004 melted into disaster and disappointment in 2005. It was an awful year - for Erik Ainge and the Vols.
At times, Erik Ainge looked like he'd forgotten how to play. He was sacked. He lost fumbles. He threw interceptions. He was benched. And the unthinkable occurred - the mighty Vols fell to 5-6.
A season later, Erik Ainge and the Vols bounced back. With the help of former UT offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe, who had coached the Manning brothers (Peyton at UT; Eli at Ole Miss), Erik Ainge revived his career and the Vols started winning again in 2006.
Erik Ainge set a school record for pass completion percentage (67.0), threw for 2,989 yards and 19 touchdowns and led Tennessee to a 9-4 season. If he hadn't missed the LSU game (a defeat in the closing seconds) with a sprained ankle, the year might have been even better for Erik Ainge and the Vols.
Now, after the ups, the downs, the disappointments, the promise, Erik Ainge appears primed to put an emphatic exclamation point on his UT career.
"He's been through the gauntlet now in the SEC," Fulmer said. "He's had great success when nobody expected him to. He's had some disappointments when nobody thought he would. From a maturity standpoint, his skin will be pretty thick. He'll be able to handle anything.
"If he plays the way he's capable of playing within the system, hangs in the pocket and makes the plays he supposed to and doesn't let the defense touch the ball, he can reach that Candace Parker level."
Fulmer said Erik Ainge also must be a leader. It's a role he seems to have already embraced.
"I'm trying to get guys to follow me," he said. "They're doing a good job. (Being a leader) just happens. You have to prove to your teammates that they can trust you, that you can win those close games, that you're a good player.
"You can't be a hypocrite. I can't tell a guy to go to class if I'm not going to class. I can't tell a guy to stay out of the club and make good decisions if I'm in the club making bad decisions. You've got to embrace that role 24/7."
By early December, Erik Ainge hopes he's embracing an SEC championship.
"I couldn't care less about being the All-SEC quarterback or anything else as long as I have a ring on my finger," he said. "That's all that matters."
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