Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Kiffin hints Crompton's job on the line?

Kiffin reiterated after Monday's practice that the Volunteers simply need to play better around senior quarterback Jonathan Crompton, who completed 24 of 55 passes the past two games for 186 yards, zero touchdowns and five interceptions.
"Without getting too specific about it, we need to play better," Kiffin said. "We're not pleased with where our performance is. Our defense played well enough to beat the No. 1 team in the country, and we didn't play well enough on offense to do it. We're going to open up some competitions, and we're going to move some guys around, and we're going to figure out how to get this thing better.
"This will be a big week for a lot of guys on the offensive line, the receiver group, special teams. We need to get better. We need to improve this week."
Asked specifically about Crompton, Kiffin replied in a noticeably kinder tone. "Jonathan needs to have a very good game this week, and we need to do a good job around him," Kiffin said.
Kiffin said Crompton played "better" at Florida than he did against UCLA. The quarterback threw for exactly 93 yards each game, but he decreased his interceptions from three against the Bruins to two against the Gators.
Crompton and backup Nick Stephens weren't made available to reporters Monday night, but Crompton said Saturday that he saw improvements in the passing game in the Swamp.
"Obviously, you don't want to lose," he said then. "I don't care if it's by 1 or 100, you don't want to lose. If you're a competitor, you hate losing more than you like winning. But obviously, you've got to look at the positives. We had chances to capitalize early and late.
"We know we can be a good team. We're in our third game under this coaching staff, and we just played with the No. 1 team in the country. They've been here for four or five years, playing under the same system, and we played right with them." The SEC Rocks!

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