Rehashing the same old stuff -- Thompson and Tennessee

I didn't quite process the fact that not only was Syd'Quan Thompson starting his first collegiate game as a redshirt freshman in front of 100,000 screaming Vols fans in Knoxville, but he was starting under a first-year defensive backs coach.

R. Todd Littlejohn was hired in the off season when J.D. Williams moved to Washington. In fact, Littlejohn was hired just before the last week of spring practice. This doesn't excuse the mistakes Thompson made, but I didn't realize just how new to the program everyone was.

PhantomBear has been saying for a couple of weeks now that based on the nature of the mistakes Thompson was making — going for the ball rather than the tackle in all three long Volunteer TDs that he was burned for — it was obvious he is going to be great, at least as good as Hughes (5 INTs, 2 returned for TDs) or Deltha O'Neal (10 INTs for Cincinnati last year). And Thompson had one INT yesterday, and almost had a second one that, had the receiver not made a nice defensive play, could have gone for a TD.

I think our very young secondary (3 first-time starters = Carpenter 16-36 for 177, 2 TD, 4 INT) is going to be okay.