Vols football: Ainge told to play like Parker
KNOXVILLE - Phillip Fulmer wants Erik Ainge to play like a girl.
And there's nothing sexist about it.
The Vols are making a run for a bowl game and you can purchase tickets now to all bowl games. We have
Outback Bowl tickets,
Orange Bowl tickets,
Cotton Bowl tickets,
Sugar Bowl tickets and the grand daddy of them all
Rose Bowl tickets in stock now and ready to be shipped.
You can also purchase Tennessee Vols tickets for all home and away games.
The Tennessee football coach was talking with women's basketball coach Pat Summitt recently, and the two got to talking about national titles. Fulmer asked Summitt why she thought it took her nine years to win another national title.
Summitt's response: Candace Parker.
That's when it dawned on Fulmer: Erik Ainge, his starting quarterback, needed to play and conduct himself more like Parker, an all-everything talent who led the UT Lady Vols to the national championship last season.
"You have to have a Candace Parker-type player in your program to be able to do that," said Fulmer, whose last national title came in 1998. "You go back and look at Peyton Manning or Jamal Lewis or Travis Henry or Tee Martin; we've had those people in our program before.
"Do I think that Erik Ainge can be that kind of player? I do. I think Erik Ainge can be that kind of football player that our team rallies around, takes the bull by the horns and makes the plays that help you win a championship."
Far-fetched?
The Parker comparison might be far-fetched to some, but don't count Erik Ainge among them. He saw the composure and steadiness Parker displayed during the Lady Vols' 2007 championship run and came away impressed.
Erik Ainge noticed Parker gathering her teammates together during critical times, telling them not to panic, that everything was going to be fine and they would succeed. He's shown similar characteristics, but he wants to do it with more consistency.
"I understand the analogy," Erik Ainge said. "You need your big-time player to step up and play a big-time role. Your best players need to play their best in the best situations against the best teams in the best conference."
It's a little more specific for Fulmer.
In football parlance, Fulmer said Erik Ainge needs to "hang in the pocket, make the play he's supposed to make, not allow the defense to touch the football when it's his responsibility. Those would be things that he could do to help us, to reach that Candace Parker level."
One-on-one
Using Fulmer's benchmark, Erik Ainge has already played with the best. Parker earned immediate respect from Erik Ainge when the two played some pick-up basketball on campus a couple of years ago. And it's clear the two maintain a friendly relationship.
When asked if he could beat her in a game of one-on-one, Erik Ainge smiled and threw a few friendly barbs.
"I'm not going to say that she wouldn't hit the deck a couple of times," Erik Ainge said. "I might have to foul her pretty hard and rough her up. But she's special. She can probably take half the football team in basketball. She's a special player."
And what about a dunk contest?
"She can dunk better than I can," Erik Ainge said.
See More
at www.jacksonsun.com
|
