During this time of the year, most high school seniors across the country are getting ready for their high school prom. Of course, Tyler Bray isn’t your typical high school student.
Bray, an early enrollee, and the rest of the Tennessee Volunteers wrapped up their spring practice with the annual Orange and White game inside Neyland Stadium on Saturday afternoon. One of the main storylines for the Vols was who would the quarterback for next season as Bray and Matt Simms will enter fall camp neck and neck for the title.
However, Bray may have separated himself from the rest of the back as he played with the poise of someone who shouldn’t be worried about high school prom.
“I was really pleased with his presence out there,” Dooley said. “He’s really a high school senior. He wasn’t nervous or jittery. He performed the way he has been performing all spring, and that says a lot about him. He made some good throws and he missed some throws. He did a good job.”
The team was spilt on the Wednesday before the contest by a draft held by the seniors. The result saw starters on both teams, and produced a competitive game.
“I thought it was a good, competitive matchup,” Dooley said. “Both sides played hard. Of course, the White jumped on them early and had a good lead, probably was feeling pretty good at halftime. The Orange came out and put one heck of a drive together in the third quarter and made it 13‐7. And like so many games and so much of what we worked on this spring, we’re sitting there with 3:23 to go in the game and it’s 13‐7. It’s such a critical time in the game to execute and make good decisions. Don’t make bad mistakes. Do the common things commonly well. Don’t make bad decisions. We had a big play by the White on an interception and that ended up being the difference in the game.”
The costly interception came after the Orange squad was threatening to score in the closing minutes of the game, and came off the arm of Simms, which was his third interception of his day.
Bray ended the game with two touc
hdowns as he was 18 of 40 for 200 yards, while Simms was 12 of 26 for 125 yards. Gerald Jones caught six of Bray’s passes for 84 yards including one touchdown. Denarius Moore also caught a touchdown pass.
A crowd of 35,891 UT fans showed up to see the contest, which was the third largest crowd at a spring game, and Coach Dooley was quick to make a note of it.
“First, let me thank the fans,” Dooley said. “What a great turnout by our fans. It was the third‐largest spring game that we’ve ever had. I’m so appreciative of how supportive they’ve been. They have been through a lot, too, over the last couple of years. They’re proving to be the best fans in the country. That’s good for the recruits, as well.”
The Volunteers open the 2010 season when they host UT-Martin on September 4th.
