Parker's punt return puts Tennessee in high gear from word go

ROBERT TURBEVILLE
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- One minute, 22 seconds.
That's how long it took for Eric Parker to deliver a head shot that appeared to send the Arkansas Razorbacks staggering Saturday.
By the time the dust settled from his 48-yard punt return, it was the end of the first quarter and the crowd of 107,262 at Neyland Stadium was still partying.
And with good reason.
Parker returned a low, end-over-end punt by an ailing Richie Butler to the Arkansas 5-yard line with 13:38 left in the first quarter, setting up Tennessee's first touchdown in a 35-0 first-quarter outburst.
The Razorbacks tried to rally after Tennessee scored the most points in a single quarter in its history, but never gained enough ground, losing 63-20.
"We got behind the eight ball early, got behind the eight ball," Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt said. "And when you get behind an eight ball with a very, very good team, you can get dominated like that, and that's what happened to us today."
Tennessee scored its first touchdown three plays after Parker's return. The Volunteers then scored on their next three possessions, one on a fake field goal, and returned a fumble for a touchdown.
"It energized everything," Tennessee Coach Phillip Fulmer said of Parker's return.
"A big play like that is the turning point of the game even though it happened so early," said Tennessee defensive end DeAngelo Lloyd, who late in the first quarter returned a fumble 34 yards for a touchdown. "We knew they were going to come in with a lot of confidence after beating us last year, but that play helped us take it out of them early."
The punt return was helped by the low punt from Butler, who entered the game first in the SEC and fourth in the nation with a 45.3-yard average per punt.
Butler was not 100 percent healthy. He started having back spasms before the game and coaches were not sure he would be able to play. They thought they might have to use place-kicker Brennan O'Donohoe or fullback Adam Daily, both of whom punted in high school.
Tennessee had seen on game film that Butler sometimes had low punts, and the Volunteers worked on holding their blocks on low punts during practices leading up to the game, Fulmer said.
The practice didn't hurt.
"It was a line drive, and I had a lot of room to return it," Parker said. "And the holes just started opening up all the way down the field and allowed me to cut back."
Parker fielded the punt near the right sideline at the Tennessee 47 and made Steven Harris miss near the Arkansas 45 as his blockers formed a wall.
Keith Turner and Chuck Nalley got hands on Parker just inside Arkansas territory but couldn't bring him down. Parker then cut back across the field to the Arkansas 30 by the left hash mark, where he picked up a block from Burney Veazey on Kevin Baker. Parker then ran diagonally toward the corner of the end zone but was tackled by Ken Hamlin and Butler at the 5.
"We've really been great all year [stopping punt returners]," Arkansas special teams coach James Shibest said. "It's going to happen once or twice a year somewhere.
"He [Parker] just hit it downhill. We didn't get much help out of our gunner, our outside wide [defender, Harris]. He was there to possibly make a play. They just hit it downhill and made a good play."
Parker wasn't a likely hero. The junior entered the game ranked eighth in the SEC in punt returns and his previous best this season was a 23-yard return in a victory over Southern Mississippi.
Still, Parker thought he had a chance to get his first punt return for a touchdown since last year's Memphis game.
"I felt real sick when I didn't get in there," he said.
"I know he wishes he'd gotten in the end zone, but that was big," Fulmer said.
Parker's return was just the latest of several special teams breakdowns for Arkansas this season. That list includes 2 kickoff returns for touchdowns, 2 blocked punts and 2 lost fumbles on punt returns.
It was also the second week in a row that a special teams breakdown deflated the Razorbacks, joining a kickoff return for a touchdown by Ole Miss in Fayetteville a week earlier.
"Things just seem to have to go exactly our way for us to be in the ballgame," Shibest said. "That's what happens when you've got a young team sometimes. You've got to overcome that. Your football team's got to be able to beat adversity."
Arkansas didn't have much of a chance to overcome adversity Saturday after Parker started the avalanche.

This article was published on Sunday, November 12, 2000

RETURN to main page

Copyright and permissions
Copyright © 2000, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.
This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.