WRCBtv.com | Chattanooga News, Weather & Sports4 injured Vols stuck watching teammates struggle

BETH RUCKER
Associated Press Sports Writer

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The hardest moments for Herman Lathers are when he has to watch his Tennessee teammates don their uniforms in the locker room only to struggle on the field against a tough Southeastern Conference opponent.

The junior linebacker was supposed to be among the Volunteers' leaders on the field this season as one of the team's few returning starters, but an offseason injury has kept him out for the entire 2011 season so far.

"I feel like in areas I could have helped sometimes in some games," Lathers said. "It's just hard being out knowing you should be in there helping those guys. I feel like I let the seniors down, but I can't help the accidents that happen, so I've just got to bounce back from it."

Missing games is tough for any player, but it's especially frustrating for players like Lathers, quarterback Tyler Bray, wide receiver Justin Hunter and safety Brent Brewer who would be starting for a Tennessee team that was already short on depth.

Tennessee (3-5) handed Cincinnati its lone loss of the season and managed to do some good things on offense with talented young players in September before losing Hunter, the team's top playmaker, to an ACL injury and Bray to a broken thumb. The Vols have only managed to score 22 points in four straight losses since Bray's injury on Oct. 8.

Brewer became the Vols' latest casualty when he tore his ACL on Saturday against South Carolina.

"That's part of the game," coach Derek Dooley said. "We can't whine about injuries because everybody gets them. Everybody gets injuries every year. The important team is to build your team with depth and experience so when you do have those injuries it doesn't really have a giant effect. It will always have a little effect, but you can overcome them with a deep and talented football team."

The injuries have had a huge effect on a team that's still rebuilding after the firing of Phillip Fulmer and quick exit of Lane Kiffin left the Vols with back-to-back coaching turnovers in the down time after the 2008 and 2009 seasons.

Eighteen recruits from the signing classes those seasons — the Vols who would be juniors and seniors now — have left Tennessee, were kicked off the team or never qualified in the first place, leaving the Vols short an entire signing class worth of players. Freshmen and sophomore now outnumber the upperclassmen on the team two to one.

Tennessee is 0-5 in Southeastern Conference play, which is equal to the number of conference losses the Vols had last year and in the 2005 and 2008 seasons. Tennessee hasn't had fewer than three SEC wins since conference play expanded in 1992 and hasn't finished with fewer than three wins in the league since the 1977 squad was 1-5 in SEC play.

Dooley knows there's no guarantee of wins with games against No. 8 Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Kentucky coming after this Saturday's homecoming meeting with Middle Tennessee (2-5).

"It's very difficult when you're 0-5 in the SEC to feel good," Dooley said. "It's hard. It hurts. The players hurt, I hurt. You can't sleep at night trying to figure solutions, but you've got to keep your perspective on where you are and where you need to go. And that's not an easy thing to do, especially in today's climate. But if you don't keep your wits about you, it will put you in your grave."

The injured players are trying to do their part during their rehabilitation time by offering suggestions and support to the teammates during meetings and games and watching film with them. Hunter, who suffered his season-ending surgery early in Tennessee's third game of the season, has figured out a good way to keep his own spirits up.

"If I can't play on the field, I'll play (NCAA Football) on the Xbox sometimes with myself just to get my stats up," he said with a smile.

Lathers has a unique struggle. He's the only player of the four to miss the entire season to date, and he just returned to practice this week after breaking his ankle in a summer drill with his teammates. His coaches and trainers don't know yet when or even if he might be available to play this season, but if he is cleared to play he'll be faced with a decision of trying to help his team immediately or taking a medical redshirt and waiting even longer to return to the field.

"I've thought about it a lot. I talked to my brother a lot about it," Lathers said. "I'm just going to see how this week and maybe next week goes and decide from there. I definitely feel like I want to play, but if I definitely feel like my body's not there where I can give 100 percent, then I'm not going to play."

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.