Tennessee is getting no love. And the Vols like it.

Tennessee is getting no love. And the Vols like it.

1. Tennessee is getting no love. And they like it: Tennessee won 10 games last season, including a New Year’s Day bowl game. One more good decision by the quarterback and the Volunteers probably beat LSU for the SEC championship.
But at the recent SEC media days only two hearty souls out of 70 picked the Vols to win the SEC East. The conventional wisdom is that Georgia and Florida are both top five teams and the Volunteers are a step below in terms of talent. And before this season is over that assessment could be completely accurate.
In short, outside of the state, not a lot of people are talking about Tennessee or giving them any shot in the SEC East. The Vols are totally under the radar.

And you know what? They kind of like it.
Fairburn’s Eric Berry insists this team has undergone a transformation since early in the year when there was a round of off the field incidents involving players. The seniors met privately and self imposed a curfew on the team and since then things have been calmer.
“People are overlooking this team but that’s okay,” said Berry, the splendid safety. “This team is very close and we expect to surprise some people.”

ajc.com
8/5/08