40
'01 REVIEW
'01 REVIEW
'01 REVIEWINSIDE THIS SECTION
109 MISSISSIPPI STATE110 UT-CHATTANOOGA111 SOUTH FLORIDA112 LOUISVILLE113 SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI114 HOUSTON115 EAST CAROLINA116 UAB117 TENNESSEE118 ARMY119 CINCINNATI120 2001 FINAL STATISTICS122 2001 SUPERLATIVES123 MISCELLANEOUS STATS124 GAME-BY-GAME STATS128 2001 KEY DEPARTURES131 2001 DIARY
Mississippi StateMississippi StateStarkville, MS - It came down to just a pair of plays
in 19th-ranked Mississippi State’s 30-10 win over Memphisto open the sea-son Labor Daynight.MSU quarterbackWayne Madkintossed a pass inthe backfield toDicenzo Millerwho raced 51yards for the Bull-dogs’ first score,c u t t i n gMemphis’s leadto 10-7 with 4:34to play in thirdquarter. Then, onMemphis’s ensu-ing possession, Uof M punter JamesGaither had a puntblocked byMSU’s CurtisStowers and re-turned six yardsby Nathan Jack-son for a touch-down which gavethe Bulldogs a
14-10 lead with 1:37 remaining in the quarter.The two plays swayed the momentum of a Memphis
team who held a 3-0 lead at halftime and jumped out to a 10-0 lead sparked by a gem of a defensive play by the Tigersearly in the third quarter.
In addition to having a kick blocked, Gaither alsomishandled a snap on another punt and tossed an incom-plete pass, giving Mississippi State the ball at the Tiger 32earlier in the quarter.
On first down following the special teams’ miscue,Madkin tossed a pass to Justin Jenkins on a crossing pat-tern. Jenkins would cut up the sideline for what appeared tobe a big gain but the ball would pop loose on a DerniceWherry lick inside the 10. Glenn Sumter, who had 11 tack-les to lead the Tigers, would take the ball from midair andrace back down the sideline for 73 yards to the MSU 20.
After a two-yard run by Dante Brown, Anglin hookedup with a wide-open Bunkie Perkins in the corner of the endzone on a play-action pass for a touchdown. Ryan White’spoint-after gave Memphis a 10-0 lead with 10:44 to play inthe third quarter.
Following the score, Memphis forced a short offen-sive series for Mississippi State starting with a first-downsack of Madkin for a five-yard loss by Albert Means.
But after that stop, Mississippi State would roll off27-unanswered points.
Madkin finished the night completing 12 of 21 passes
for 174 yards and two touchdowns while Miller wouldcarry 12 times for 108 yards and a touchdown while ac-counting for 59 receiving yards.
After taking a 14-10 lead, the Bulldogs would go tothe ground and put together a 53-yard, 10-play drive culmi-nating with a six-yard Miller touchdown scamper. MSUwould run on nine of the 10 plays during the series andconvert a pair of third-down plays including a 12-yard runby Dontae Walker to move the ball inside the 10.
Leading 21-10, Mississippi State would add a 22-yard touchdown pass from Madkin to Jenkins in the cornerof the end zone while place kicker John Michael Marlinwould connect on a 24-yard field goal.
Mississippi State was penalized five times for 61yards to the Tigers’ three times for 25 yards in the first halfbut after the break, the Tigers were whistled for eight penal-ties for 46 yards.
Memphis managed 162 yards of total offense – 86rushing and 76 passing – while Mississippi State racked up353 yards of offense, 202 in the second half.
The U of M would take a 3-0 lead on a 33-yard RyanWhite field goal with 4:13 to play in the first half.
The Tigers’ first points capped a nine-play, 49-yarddrive. The big play of the series was a 31-yard pass fromAnglin to Perkins with the U of M facing a third-and-onefrom MSU 45. Mississippi State’s defense would hold theTigers to a total of three yards on their next two carries beforeJeremiah Bonds was stopped for a five-yard loss on anAnglin pass.
Mississippi State looked as if it would answer thescoring drive with one of its own to end the half.
Starting from their own 20, the Bulldogs would get a16-yard run from Miller on second-and-two and later a passinterference call on the Tigers would give Mississippi Statea first down at the Memphis 36. After a pair of pass incomple-tions, Madkin fumbled on third-and-one at the U of M 27 andDeMorrio Shank recovered for the Tigers with 1:09 remain-ing in the half.
Memphis had an opportunity to jump on the Bull-dogs in the first quarter.
On its second series, the U of M drove from its own 42to inside the Mississippi State 15. The drive was sustainedby a pass interference call on the Bulldogs on a first-and-10pass from Anglin to Ryan Johnson. The foul moved the ballto the MSU 22. Sugar Sanders picked up two yards and theTigers faced third-and-five after a three-yard run by DanteBrown. Anglin gained four yards on third down but facingfourth-and-one from the 13, Anglin was stopped at the lineof scrimmage by defensive end Conner Stephens.
After relinquishing the balls on downs, Memphis’sdefense went right back to keeping the pressure on theBulldogs. U of M defensive lineman Kenyun Glover sackedMadkin for a 10-yard loss on first down and MSU wouldlater have to punt out of its end zone.
SCORING SUMMARY
Memphis 0 3 7 0 10Miss State 0 0 14 16 30
UM (4:13 re 2nd) White 33 FGUM (10:44 re 3rd) Perkins 18 pass from Anglin (Whitekick)MSU (4:34 re 3rd) Miller 51 pass from Madkin (Marlinkick)MSU (1:37 re 3rd) Jackson 6-yard blocked puntreturn (Marlin kick)MSU (10:18 re 4th) Miller 6 run (Marlin kick)MSU (8:32 re 4th) Jenkins 22 pass from Madkin (kickfailed)MSU (5:40 re 4th) Marlin 24 FG
TEAM STATS MEM MSUFirst Downs 10 17Rushes-Yds 46-86 41-179Passes 10-17-0 12-22-1Passing Yds 76 174KO Return Yds 2-19 3-48Punts-Avg 7-32.0 4-45.3Fumbles-Lost 2-2 3-3Penalties-Yds 11-71 8-91Time of Poss. 34:29 25:31Sacks by 2-15 4-17
INDIVIDUAL LEADERSRushing: MEM-D. Brown 13-43-0, Anglin 16-
36-0, Meadows 6-12-0, Sanders 2-8-0, Suber 1-7-0,Bonds 1-6-0, Others 5-(-26)-0. MSU- Miller 12-108-1,Walker 15-68-0, Griffin 4-8-0, Jones 1-3-0, Madkin 5-(-12)-0.
Passing: MEM-Anglin 6-7-56-1, Suber 3-6-17-0, Wimprine 1-3-3-0. MSU-Madkin 12-21-174-2.
Receiving: MEM-Perkins 5-68-1, Higgins 2-(-3)-0, Garcia 1-11-0, Davis 1-5-0, Bonds 1-(-5)-0.MSU-Jenkins 4-61-1, Miller 2-59-1, Griffin 2-32-0,Grindle 2-9-0, Parker 1-9-0, Lee 1-4-0.
Interceptions: MEM-Vogel 1-0-0. MSU-none.
Attendance: 45,662 (Weather: 82 degrees,Wind NW 3, partly cloudy).
NOTES◆ Senior receiver Bunkie Perkins caught his first
career TD pass in the third quarter of the MSU game.Perkins, who had just one catch versus Miss. St. in2000, hauled in the 18-yard scoring pass from TravisAnglin.
◆ Junior safety Glenn Sumter registered thesecond longest fumble return in Memphis footballhistory when he rambled 73 yards in the third quarterwith a Justin Jenkins fumble. The all-time record is83 yards by Corey Irby versus Louisville in 1999.
◆ Senior offensive tackle Artis Hicks started his33rd consecutive game against Miss. State. Hicksbecame a starter in the second game of his freshmanseason (1998) and has never been out of the lineup.
Scott FieldStarkville, MSSept. 3, 2001Att. 45,662
1Game
MEMPHIS
1 0 9
UT-ChattanoogaUT-ChattanoogaMemphis, TN - University of Memphis junior quar-
terback Travis Anglin accounted for four touchdowns – rush-ing for two andpassing for twomore – as the Ti-gers defeatedChattanooga 43-10 in their homeopener.
Anglincompleted 15 of 22passes for 145yards while run-ning for 78 yardson 17 carriesagainst the Divi-sion I-AA Mocs.The four scoreswere the most by aTiger player sinceSteve Matthewstossed four touch-down passesagainst Tulane in1992.
Anglinwas not the soleplayer to have abanner day for theTigers.
Junior college transfer Dante Brown netted 158 yardsand a touchdown on 18 carries and also caught a touchdownpass. Senior defensive end Tony Brown, a Chattanooganative, totaled 1½ quarterback sacks, had two tackles andsix assists while sophomore defensive lineman Albert Meansbroke up one pass and drifted back into coverage to inter-cept another.
The victory was the first at Memphis for Tommy Westwho was elevated from defensive coordinator to head coachlast December.
In the end, Memphis had scored more points andnetted more yards of total offense (443) since a 49-7 win overTulane on Oct. 30, 1999. The U of M had 500 yards of totaloffense against the Green Wave two years ago.
It didn’t take long for the Tigers to get on thescoreboard against Chattanooga. On the first play from scrim-mage, Brown raced 62 yards to the Moc 15. He would carryfor 11 on the next play and two plays later Anglin wouldscore from two yards out.
Chattanooga would answer later in the quarter. Aftera short punt, the Mocs took over at their own 45. Startingquarterback Chuck Spearman would convert a couple ofthird-down plays, hitting Cos DeMatteo for a 21-yard pickup to the U of M 34 and later tossing a 3-yard completion toJason Ball for a first down at the 24. However, Chattanooga’sdrive would stall and the Mocs settled for a 34-yard BenThompson field goal to cut Memphis’s lead to 7-3 with 3:46to play in the first quarter.
Brown also did damage to begin the second quarter.Just a play into the second quarter, Brown went over
the 100-yard mark rushing with a 26-yard pickup to the U ofM 47. He would cap an 81-yard, 8-play drive when hecaught a 26-yard touchdown pass from Anglin.
Memphis led 14-3 with 12:01 left in the first half andBrown had accounted for 129 yards of offense on just fivetouches of the football.
Later in the quarter freshman punter James Gaitherpinned the Mocs inside their own 10. With a steady raincoming down in the Liberty Bowl, Chattanooga quarter-back Justin Barnes slipped on the turf and was down at the1-yard line. On the ensuing play Moc running back CharlesMcNeill was tackled in the end zone by Coot Terry for asafety.
Memphis then put together an 11-play, 50-yard drivewith Brown capping the series with a five-yard touchdownrun to give Memphis a 22-3 lead.
The drive appeared to have ended when Anglin lostthree yards on a fourth-and-four play from the 33 but apersonal foul penalty on the Mocs moved the ball inside theChattanooga 20.
The Mocs would cut Memphis’s lead to 22-10 beforethe end of the half.
Over half of Chattanooga’s yards on an 80-yard drivewould come from penalties. The Tigers were flagged fourtimes for 47 yards during the series – a personal foul, aroughing the passer call which nullified what would havebeen rookie defensive back Scott Vogel’s second intercep-tion of the season, a pass interference call and a seven-yardfacemask penalty tagged on to an 11-yard run by Jason Ballto give the Mocs first down at the Memphis six. From there,Ball would pick up five yards before plunging into the endzone for a 1-yard touchdown run.
The U of M was penalized 13 times for 110 yards.Chattanooga was flagged just three times for 35 yards.
Memphis would score 21 unanswered points in thesecond half to account for the 43-10 final score.
In the third quarter Anglin directed an 87-yard drivewhich ended with a scoring pass to Tripp Higgins. Anglincompleted five of seven passes during the series, includingstrikes of 12 and 10 yards to Ryan Johnson. The juniorsignal caller also scrambled for 11 yards on a third-and-fourfrom midfield.
A 43-yard pass to Bunkie Perkins in the fourth quar-ter would help set up a 15-yard touchdown run by Anglin.
Later in the quarter Chattanooga had moved the ballfrom its 22 to the 44 and faced first down. All 6-4, 345pounds of Means dropped back in coverage on first downand intercepted a Spearman pass.
The pick would lead to Memphis’s final score asquarterback Neil Suber completed passes of 10 and 24 yardsto Antoine Harden and Darron White before TravariousDavis scored on a 12-yard pass reception.
Despite the playing conditions, Memphis did nothave a turnover in the game. It was the first time the U of Mplayed turnover free since last year’s win at Arkansas State.
SCORING SUMMARY
Chattanooga 3 7 0 0 - 10Memphis 7 15 7 14 - 43
UM (13:08 re 1st) Anglin 2 run (White kick)UTC (3:46 re 1st) Thompson 34 FGUM (12:01 re 2nd) Brown 26 pass from Anglin(White kick)UM (7:59 re 2nd) Terry safetyUM (4:54 re 2nd) Brown 5 run (run failed)UTC (1:30 re 2nd) Ball 1 run (Thompson kick)UM (2:20 re 3rd) Higgins 0 FUM Recovery (Whitekick)UM (8:54 re 4th) Anglin 15 run (White kick)UM (4:51 re 4th) Davis 12 pass from Suber (White kick)
TEAM STATS MEM UTCFirst Downs 22 20Rushes-Yds 43-198 29-201Passes 20-29-0 20-46-1Passing Yds 198 201KO Return Yds 48 114Punts-Avg 7-41.6 7-41.7Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0Penalties-Yds 13-110 3-35Time of Poss. 29:34 30:26Sacks by 2-13 0-0
INDIVIDUAL LEADERSRushing: MEM-Brown 18-158-1, Anglin 17-
78-2, Sanders 5-14-0. UTC-Ball 16-24-1, McNeill 6-16-0.
Passing: MEM-Anglin 15-22-0-145-2, Suber5-7-0-53-1. UTC-Spearman 17-35-1-180-0, Barnes3-11-0-21-0.
Receiving: MEM-Perkins 4-57-0, White 4-39-0, Johnson 3-26-0, Brown 2-21-1, Garcia 2-10-0,Davis 1-12-1, Higgins 1-12-1. UTC-DeMatteo 7-55-0,Bandy 2-30-0, Jones 2-26-0, Peters 2-24-0.
Interceptions: MEM-Means 1-4-0. UTC-None.
A-24,053 (Weather: Cloudy, Intermittent Show-ers, Wind: SSW 14, 83 Degrees)
NOTES◆ Junior tailback Dante Brown gained a ca-
reer high 158 yards on 18 carries and scored twotouchdowns in the win over UTC. His 158 yardswere the most by a Tiger back since Teofilo Rileygained 190 yards against Arkansas State in 1998.
◆ Junior wide receiver Tripp Higgins caughthis first career touchdown pass against UTC. Higginscaught a 12-yard pass from Travis Anglin.
◆ Freshman receiver Tavarious Davis caughthis first career pass against UT-Chattanooga andturned the catch into a 12-yard touchdown. SeniorNeil Suber tossed the pass to Davis.
◆ Sophomore defensive tackle Albert Meansintercepted his first career pass in the Chattanoogavictory. He returned the interception four yards.
2
Liberty Bowl StadiumMemphis, TNSept. 8, 2001Att. 24,053
Game
MEMPHIS
1 1 0
South FloridaSouth FloridaMemphis, TN - By the time many in the crowd of
26,488 had become comfortable in their seats, the Univer-sity of Memphishad jumped out toa 17-0, first-quar-ter lead againstSouth Florida.The Tigers thenheld off a late rallyby the Bulls topost a 17-9 winand improve to 2-1 heading intotheir ConferenceUSA opener atLouisville.
S o u t hFlorida, whichjust began play-ing football fiveyears ago, willjoin the league asa football-playingmember for the2003 season.
Aminute into thegame Memphishad scored its firstpoints on a three-
yard touchdown pass from Travis Anglin to Sugar Sanders.The Tigers struck quickly as tight end Jeff Cameron hauled ina 20-yard pass on the game’s first play and the ball wasmoved to the USF 45 because of a roughing the passerpenalty on the down. Anglin’s 39-yard pass to Dante Brownmoved the ball to the six and the Bulls were penalized halfthe distance to the goal for an illegal substitution to set upthe Tigers’ first points.
Ryan White kicked a 45-yard field goal with 10:39 toplay in the quarter to make it 10-0.
Again Memphis would quickly move into striking dis-tance as Anglin tossed an 11-yard pass to Darron White onfirst down and Ryan Johnson ran for 10 to the USF 35.
Later in the quarter South Florida would move the ballfrom its own 19 to the Memphis 33 before Glenn Sumterintercepted a Marquel Blackwell pass. It was Sumter’s firstinterception of the year after picking off five passes a yearago.
Blackwell ended up passing the ball 61 times, complet-ing 25 for 276 yards. He was also intercepted a total of threetimes in the game.
Back on offense, Anglin got loose for a 56-yard run on afirst-down quarterback draw. Neil Suber would enter thegame at quarterback after the long run and three plays latercompleted a 14-yard pass to Antoine Harden to set up a one-yard touchdown run by Brown. Brown, who would sustaina sprained ankle in the game, would account for 116 yards ofall-purpose yards – 79 yards rushing on 17 carries and two
receptions for 37 yards.Anglin suffered a shoulder sprain but on the night com-
pleted 9-of-12 passes for 94 yards and also ran for 49 netyards.
By the end of the first quarter, the Tigers had accountedfor 185 yards of total offense to South Florida’s 58.
And the Tigers had an opportunity to widen the gap tobegin the second quarter.
Johnson took a lateral then fired a pass back across thefield to quarterback Anglin who raced 45 yards to the USF21. The Tigers would later have first-and-goal from insidethe 10 after a nine-yard pass reception by White. Anglinwould be sacked by Kawika Mitchell on first down andwould fumble when Shurron Pierson sacked him on seconddown. In addition to causing the fumble, Pierson wouldrecover a loose ball at the end of a 35-yard fumble return byTavares Jurineack to at the 49.
However, on USF’s next offensive play Blackwell wasintercepted by Memphis defensive back Jason Brown.
Memphis looked like it would take a 17-0 lead into thelocker room at halftime after USF kicker Santiago Gramaticahad a 32-yard field goal attempt sail wide left after beingpartially blocked by Anthony Harden.
But Anthony Williams would strip the ball from Anglinon first down at the 20. Pierson would pick up the loose balland go 15 yards for the touchdown. Gramatica’s point-afterwould bounce off the left upright and the Tigers led 17-6.
After rolling off 185 yards of total offense in the first half,Memphis would have just 140 yards the remainder of thegame, including 58 in the second half.
Memphis’s defense twice shutdown South Florida in-side the U of M 10 including on a dramatic final play of thegame.
Trailing by eight points, USF took over at its own 11with 1:06 to play following a 41-yard punt by Memphisfreshman James Gaither.
Blackwell would complete four of his first five passes,including a 28-yarder to Ryan Hearn and passes of 12, 6 and7 yards to Huey Whittaker to give the Bulls first down at theMemphis 36 with less than 30 seconds to play.
Blackwell would get out of the pocket to pick up 19yards to the Memphis 17 with 11 seconds to play. Facingsecond-and-10 from the 17 with six seconds to play, acontroversial pass interference call on Elijah Bell gave USFthe ball first and goal at the two with one second put on theclock.
But with Bell again covering, Blackwell’s pass in the farcorner of the end zone sailed high of receiver Whitaker andthe Tigers held on.
Memphis also held on a third-quarter series after theBulls faced second-and-two from the U of M two. A false startpenalty moved the ball back to the eight before Blackwellthrew three straight incompletions.
South Florida tallied 400 yards but Memphis's defensekept the Bulls' offense out of the end zone. In addition to hisinterceptions, Sumter had five solo tackles and broke up twopasses. Coot Terry had seven total tackles – six solos andtwo assists – had a quarterback sack and a pass break up.
SCORING SUMMARY
South Florida 0 6 3 0 - 9Memphis 17 0 0 0 - 17
UM (14:00 re 1st) Sanders 3 pass from Anglin(White kick)UM (10:39 re 1st) White 45 FGUM (1:00 re 1st) Brown 1 run (White kick)USF (:34 re 2nd) Pierson 15 FUM REC(kick failed)
USF (11:43 re 3rd) Gramatica 27 FG
TEAM STATS MEM USFFirst Downs 16 20Rushes-Yds 43-161 23-124Passes 15-20-1 25-62-3Passing Yds 164 276KO Return Yds 27 40Punts-Avg 9-36.9 8-41.6Fumbles-Lost 4-3 2-1Penalties-Yds 8-84 13-93Time of Poss. 32:10 27:50Sacks by 1-5 5-26
INDIVIDUAL LEADERSRushing: MEM-Brown 17-79-1, Anglin 10-49-
0, Johnson 2-16-0. USF-Crossley 6-50-0, Blackwell7-45-0.
Passing: MEM-Anglin 9-12-0-94-1, Suber 5-7-1-25-0, Johnson 1-1-0-45-0. USF-Blackwell 25-61-3-276-0.
Receiving: MEM-Johnson 3-6-0, Brown 2-37-0, White 2-20-0. USF-Whittaker 8-80-0, Hearn 5-76-0, Smith 3-42-0.
Interceptions: MEM-Brown 1-4-0, Sumter1-(-5)-0, Harden 1-26-0. USF-Reed 1-0-0.
A-26,488 (Weather: Clear, Winds: Light andVariable, 82 Degrees)
NOTES◆ Senior cornerback Anthony Harden turned in
his best performance as a Tiger. Harden had one passinterception returned for 26 yards, a blocked field goalattempt and registered two pass breakups and twotackles. Harden's interception was the first of hiscareer.
◆ Junior safety Glenn Sumter recorded his firstpass interception of the season and his seventh careerinterception against South Florida.
◆ Quarterback Travis Anglin did a little bit ofeverything against USF. In addition to his rushing andpassing, Anglin caught his first career pass for 45-yards during the second quarter of the game. ReceiverRyan Johnson completed the pass to Anglin aftercatching a lateral pass from Anglin.
◆ Memphis rover Jason Brown recorded his firstcareer pass interception against South Florida. Brown'sinterception was one of three for the Tigers in the winover South Florida.
◆ Tailback Sugar Sanders had his first career
Liberty Bowl StadiumMemphis, TNSept. 22, 2001
Att. 26,488
3Game
MEMPHIS
1 1 1
LouisvilleLouisvilleLouisville, KY – Memphis put up some respectable
offensive numbers but couldn’t muster a big play in the heartof its ConferenceUSA opener asLouisville posteda 38-21 win overthe Tigers.
M e m -phis had successmoving the ball,tallying 389yards of total of-fense – 79 yardsabove the squad’sseason average.But after fallingbehind 17-7 in thesecond quarter, theU of M failed toslice into theUL’s lead.
T r a i l -ing by 10 points,Memphis movedthe ball intoLouisville’s halfof the field on itslast two series ofthe second quar-ter.
U of M junior running back Dante Brown rolled off a 32-yard run but the Tigers were later forced to punt from the 45after quarterback Travis Anglin was sacked by DewayneWhite with Memphis facing a third-and-10 from the 36.
Anglin directed the Tigers back down the field afterMemphis took over at its own 40 with 1:04 to play in thehalf.
The series began with a defensive holding call on theCardinals. Memphis would move the ball to the 22 on passesof 6 yards to Bunkie Perkins, 9 to Antoine Harden, a 7-yardrun by Anglin and another 6-yard reception by Perkins.However, Ryan White’s 40-yard field goal attempt sailedwide left with 4 seconds to play in the half and Memphisheaded to the locker room trailing by 10.
The U of M would open the second half by again movinginto Cardinal territory. Anglin started the half’s openingseries with an 18-yard run before Brown picked up nineyards to the UL 48. The series would stall at the 40 whenAnglin’s third-and-6 pass fell incomplete and the Tigerswere forced to punt.
Brown had his second, 100-yard game of the year finish-ing with 119 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries but only22 of his yards came in the second half. Anglin, who missedmost of the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury, rushed for63 yards while completing 11 of 17 passes for 77 yards.
Louisville would stretch its lead to 24-7 with 4:19 leftin the third when freshman running back Lionel Gatesscored from four yards out. UL quarterback Dave Ragone
completed a 23-yard pass to Damien Dorsey on third-and-10 from the 40 during the drive and Gates would catch a one-yard pass before rushing for 9 and 4 yards prior to histouchdown plunge.
The final minutes of the fourth quarter held no resem-blance to the rest of the game.
Memphis redshirt freshman quarterback Danny Wimprinedirected a couple touchdown drives only to have Louis-ville answer with big runs.
Wimprine capped an 11-play, 65-yard drive with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Bunkie Perkins to cut Louisville’slead to 24-14 with 2:38 to play.
After a failed on-side kick attempt, UL senior runningback Tony Stallings went 45 yards for a Cardinal touch-down.
Antoine Harden would take the ensuing kickoff 55 yardsto the Louisville 35. Wimprine completed three of fourpasses on the Tigers’ next series including a 17-yard touch-down pass to Darron White with 58 seconds to play againcutting the lead to 10, 31-21.
After another unsuccessful on-side kick, Stallings brokea couple tackles up the middle for a 51-yard run and scoredfrom two yards out a play later to make it 38-21 with 43seconds to play.
With 98 yards on his final three carries, Stallings fin-ished with 155 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries.Ragone passed for 207 yards and two touchdowns, complet-ing 15 of 27 passes. Louisville finished with 442 yards oftotal offense.
Memphis jumped out to an early 7-0 lead after GregHarper forced and recovered a fumble by Ragone at theCardinal 22.
Anglin completed back-to-back passes of nine yardsapiece to White to give the Tigers first-and-goal at the four.Anglin would pick up two yards and after a defensiveoffsides penalty, Brown would score from a yard out 2:02into the game.
White caught a career-high six passes for 75 yards.Louisville’s second drive would start at the 20 but the
Cardinals would go 90 yards for their first score after beingflagged for holding on the first play of the series. On third-and-19 from the 11, Ragone tossed a 29-yard pass to Branchfor a first down. Ragone would be forced out of the pocketand run for 15 yards on the ensuing play to move the ballinto Tiger territory.
The Cardinals would cap the 11-play drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Branch tying the game at 7-7 with8:27 to play in the first quarter.
Louisville would extend its lead to 10-7 when NathanSmith connected on a 27-yard field goal on the second playof the second quarter. The Cardinals would convert two,third-down conversions and would turn another third-downplay into a first down as the Tigers were called for passinterference early in the 16-play, 70-yard drive.
Ragone would complete a 12-yard pass to Zek Parker onanother third-down play while Tony Stallings ran for threeon third-and-one from the 18.
SCORING SUMMARY
Memphis 7 0 0 14 - 21Louisville 7 10 7 14 - 38
UM (12:52 re 1st) Brown 1 run (White kick)UL (8:27 re 1st) Branch 10 pass from Ragone(Smith kick)UL (14:51 re 2nd) Smith 27 FGUL (5:17 re 2nd) Branch 69 pass from Ragone(Smith kick)UL (4:19 re 3rd) Gates 3 run (Smith kick)UM (2:38 re 4th) Perkins 21 pass from Wimprine(White kick)UL (2:22 re 4th) Stallings 45 run (Smith kick)UM (:58 re 4th) White 17 pass from Wimprine(White kick)UL (:15 re 4th) Stallings 2 run (Smith kick)
TEAM STATS MEM ULFirst Downs 24 20Rushes-Yds 38-212 40-235Passes 22-41-0 15-27-0Passing Yds 177 207KO Return Yds 95 29Punts-Avg 7-33.4 5-40.8Fumbles-Lost 2-1 2-2Penalties-Yds 1-9 9-73Time of Poss. 31:49 28:11Sacks by 1-9 2-16
INDIVIDUAL LEADERSRushing: MEM-Brown 16-119-1, Anglin 16-
63-0, Wimprine 5-30-0. UL-Stallings 17-158-2, Gates16-68-1, Ragone 4-14-0.
Passing: MEM-Wimprine 11-24-0-100-2, Anglin11-17-0-77-0. UL-Ragone 15-27-0-207-2.
Receiving: MEM-White 6-75-1, Perkins 5-48-1, Harden 4-39-0. UL-Branch 5-134-2, Parker 3-19-0,Harris 2-15-0.
Interceptions: None.A-39,256 (Weather: Partly Cloudy, Winds: NE 12
mph, 67 Degrees)
NOTES◆ Freshman quarterback Danny Wimprine had hisbest outing as a Tiger. The redshirt freshman enteredthe game in the fourth quarter and completed 11-of-24pass attempts for 100 yards and two touchdowns.
◆ True freshman receiver Darron White set newcareer highs for number of receptions, yards and fortouchdowns. White led the Tigers in receiving with sixreceptions for 75 yards and one touchdown. His firstcollegiate touchdown came on a 17 yard pass fromWimprine in the fourth quarter.
◆ Tiger tailback Dante Brown registered his second100 yard game of the season against Louisville.Brown tallied 119 yards on 16 attempts and scored onetouchdown.
Papa John's StadiumLouisville, KYSept. 29, 2001
Att. 39,256
4Game
MEMPHIS
1 1 2
Southern MissSouthern MissMemphis, TN – The University of Memphis ended a
seven-game losing streak to Southern Mississippi with a22-17 win whichcould best be de-scribed as oppor-tunistic.
A weekearlier, Louisvillescored two touch-downs in the finalminute of a 38-21Cardinal win. Butafter giving up 389yards of total of-fense against theCards, the Mem-phis defense didyeoman’s workagainst SouthernMississippi, inter-cepting fourpasses and forcinga fumble which ledto 17 of the team’spoints.
Sopho-more linebackerDerrick Ballardhauled in one ofUSM quarterback
Jeff Kelly’s four interceptions and raced 29 yards for atouchdown to give Memphis a 17-10 lead with 7:12 left inthe third quarter. In his first start of the season, Ballard alsowas credited with half a sack and totaled five tackles in thegame.
When Kelly stumbled and fell into the end zone backpeddling for a third-down pass attempt from the USM five,the Tigers’ lead was 19-10 with 14:15 left to play. Sud-denly, the Golden Eagles needed two scores to remainundefeated after getting off to a 3-0 start including a 17-9win over Oklahoma State and a Conference USA-opening,3-0 shutout against UAB the previous week.And then USM’s special teams came up big.
Following the Southern Miss free kick, Memphis’s nextseries went south and the Tigers faced fourth-and-18 fromtheir own 24. Etric Pruitt would block his second JamesGaither punt on the night, this one being downed at theMemphis three. Two plays later, Dawayne Woods scored ona one-yard run and the Eagles were back in it at 19-17 with11:37 to play.
Red-shirt freshman quarterback Danny Wimprine, whoentered the game in the second quarter, directed a nine-play,38-yard drive culminating in a 45-yard Ryan White fieldgoal with 7:33 to play. Wimprine was 13-of-27 for 102yards including 3-for-3 on the team’s final scoring drive.
From that point, the game was placed squarely on theshoulders of Memphis’s defense.
The Golden Eagles next drive was three-and-out as Kelly
was sacked by Treveco Lucas on third-and-7 from the USM23.
Southern Miss regained possession at its 20 with 4:57to play.
Kelly ran for seven yards on a critical third-and-6 thentossed a 25-yard pass to LeRoy Handy to the Memphis 44.The tandem hooked up on the next play for 18 yards. Woodsthen ran for seven yards to move the ball inside the U of M 20.Facing second down, Kelly was sacked by Ballard andDemorrio Shank for a nine-yard loss. Freshman defensiveback Cameron Essex broke up a third-down pass intendedfor Rocky Harrison. Kelly’s fourth-down pass attempt alsofell incomplete and the Tigers took over at their own 28 with2:28 to play.
After blocking three Gaither punts, USM’s special teamswould get one more opportunity. This time, Gaither got offa 45-yarder and after USM return man Kenneth Johnsonfound a seem down the far sideline, Gaither came up with thetackle. A holding flag on the return would give SouthernMiss the ball at its own nine with three seconds to play.
Despite having three punts blocked, Gaither, a true fresh-man from Litchfield, Ky., averaged 45 yards on the 10 puntshe was credited for with six being down inside the USM 20.
Kelly’s final pass was picked off by Anthony Hardenand the Tigers would celebrate one of its biggest ConferenceUSA wins.
The first play from scrimmage before 28,668 in the LibertyBowl set the tone for the Tigers’ win.
USM running back Tim Blackwell took a handoff andheaded around the left side of the Golden Eagle line. Shankcame up and forced Blackwell to fumble. Sophomore line-backer Greg Harper recovered at the 23 and ran 19 yardsback to the USM four.
Dante Brown would score from one yard out on thirddown and the Tigers led 7-0 with 13:47 to play. The touch-down marked the second straight week the Tigers had forceda fumble on an opponent’s opening drive and scored.
The Golden Eagles had not given up a touchdown toMemphis in its last three games. The U of M had averagedjust 3.7 points over the last three years and 5.9 points overits seven-game winning streak.
Southern Miss would put together an impressive 73-yard, 15-play drive its next series.
Kelly would complete three passes on third down con-versions to move the ball inside the Tiger 20. An 11-yardpass to Johnson gave the Golden Eagles first-and-goal fromthe five. Shank would break up a third-down pass from thesix and USM settled for a 23-yard Brant Hanna field goal.
Pruitt’s first punt block early in the second quarter setup a seven-yard touchdown pass from Kelly to Bobby Gar-ner with 13:57 left in the first half to give Southern Miss a10-7 lead.
Shank would intercept Kelly with 42 seconds to play atthe USM 32 and White would later drill a 37-yard field goalto tie the game at 10-10 at halftime.
SCORING SUMMARY
Southern Miss 3 7 0 7 - 17Memphis 7 3 7 5 - 22
UM (13:47 re 1st) Brown 1 run (White kick)USM (6:34 re 1st) Hanna 23 FGUSM (13:57 re 2nd) Garner 7 pass from Kelly(Hanna kick)UM (:12 re 2nd) White 37 FGUM (7:12 re 3rd) Ballard 29 INT Return (White kick)UM (14:15 re 4th) SafetyUSM (11:37 re 4th) Woods 1 run (Hanna kick)UM (7:33 re 4th) White 45 FG)
TEAM STATS USM MEMFirst Downs 13 10Rushes-Yds 34-60 34-79Passes 21-37-4 14-30-0Passing Yds 204 103KO Return Yds 55 80Punts-Avg 6-42.3 12-35.8Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-0Penalties-Yds 7-58 7-46Time of Poss. 32:04 27:56Sacks by 2-8 5-27
INDIVIDUAL LEADERSRushing: USM-Woods 8-36-1, Blackwell 15-
33-0. MEM-Brown 19-62-1, Wimprine 12-16-0.Passing: USM-Kelly 21-37-4-204-1, MEM-
Wimprine 13-27-0-102-0, Anglin 1-3-0-1-0.Receiving: USM-Handy 6-79-0, Garner 5-58-
1, Johnson 3-19-0, Johnson 3-15-0. MEM-White 4-49-0, Harden 4-35-0, Cameron 2-7-0, Perkins 2-7-0.
Interceptions: USM-none. MEM-Sumter 1-1-0, Harden 1-0-0, Ballard 1-29-1, Shank 1-0-0.
A-28,668 (Weather: Clear & Cool, Winds: NE 7mph & gusting to 18, 59 Degrees
NOTES◆ Redshirt freshman quarterback Danny
Wimprine entered the game for an injured Travis Anglinand completed 13-of-27 pass attempts for 102 yardsin leading Memphis to the win. The 13 completionswere a career high for Wimprine.
◆ Outside linebacker Derrick Ballard recordedhis first career pass interception against SouthernMiss. Ballard returned his interception 29-yards for atouchdown to give the Tigers a lead they would neverrelinquish.
◆ Senior inside linebacker DeMorrio Shank re-corded his first career pass interception which led toa 37-yard field goal by kicker Ryan White.
◆ Punter James Gaither had 450 yards puntingagainst USM. His 450 yards were the second mostever by a Tiger punter in a single game.
Liberty Bowl StadiumMemphis, TNOct. 6, 2001Att.28,668
5
MEMPHIS
Game
1 1 3
HoustonHoustonHouston, TX – Junior running back Dante Brown be-
came the first player in Memphis history to score four touch-downs in a game asthe Tigers toppledHouston 52-33for its second con-secutive Confer-ence USA win.
Brownregistered histhird, 100-yardrushing game, fin-ishing with 148yards on 26 car-ries. His 24 pointsalso set a newMemphis stan-dard, breaking theold mark of 18points which hadbeen accom-plished 19 times.The Swainsboro,Ga., native scoredon touchdownruns of 5, 15, 2 and31 yards.
Through sixgames, Brown has
eight rushing touchdowns and nine total.The Cougars, who fell to 0-5 with the loss, stayed in the
game despite falling behind 24-7 with 5:24 left in the firsthalf.
Memphis led 17-7 when Brown capped a nine-play, 56-yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown run with 6:36 leftbefore intermission.
Glenn Sumter intercepted a Nick Eddy pass three playsinto the Cougars’ next series and returned the ball 24 yardsto the Houston 11. U of M defensive end Treveco Lewishelped set up the pick when he put Houston in a long-yardage situation with a seven-yard sack of Eddy on firstdown from the 20.
Following a pass interference call on Houston, Browncrossed the goal line on a two-yard run and the Tigers’ leadwas 24-7.
However Houston answered with a 10-play, 91-yardtouchdown drive. Eddy completed a third-down pass toEthan Ross for 12 yards early in the series and running backJoffrey Reynolds caught a 22-yard pass a play later. TheCougars faced third-and-10 from their own 49 when Eddycompleted a 41-yard pass to Brandon Middleton.
The Tigers were later flagged for interference in the endzone and the ball was placed at the two. Chris Robertsongained a yard on first down before scoring on a second, 1-yard run which narrowed Memphis's lead back to a 10-pointmargin with 59 seconds to play in the first half.
While Houston would score twice in the third quarter to
keep things interesting, Memphis would distance itself fromthe Cougars .
The Tigers quickly regained the momentum and scoredon their first four series after the break.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Danny Wimprine, start-ing for the first time in his career, engineered a nine-play, 70-yard drive capped by a 19-yard touchdown pass to BunkiePerkins to start the half. Wimprine also had a 10-yard runand completed passes of 8 and 10 yards during the drivewhich put the Tigers back up by 17, 31-14 with 11:36 left inthe third quarter.
Perkins had four receptions for 92 yards on the night. A37-yard Perkins reception in the third quarter was calledback by an illegal procedure flag.
Again Houston answered as Eddy threw a 4-yard touch-down strike to Orlando Iglesias with 8:40 left in the thirdquarter.
Less than a minute later Wimprine hooked up withAntoine Harden for a 73-yard touchdown pass and theMemphis lead was 38-21.
Sophomore defensive back Jason Brown would bring anend to the touchdown-trading offensive battle when heintercepted Eddy and returned the ball 16 yards to nearmidfield and help set up more Tigers points.
Wimprine would run for 12 and 35 yards before scoringfrom 1 yard out to give the Tigers a 45-21 lead. In additionto completing 14 of 21 passes for 216 yards and two touch-downs, Wimprine also ran for 85 yards on 15 carries toaccount for 301 of the Tigers’ season-high 468 yards of totaloffense.
Houston would not go away. Despite falling behind by24 points, the Cougars would answer.
Eddy, a 6-4, 240-pound junior college transfer who wasalso making his first start, would complete a 29-yard pass toIglesias and Robertson ran for 12 yards before Reynoldsscored on a 28-yard run. Reynolds’ touchdown made thescore 45-27 with 2:42 left in the third quarter.
On the night, Eddy completed 28 of 42 passes for 331yards and two touchdowns for the Cougars. Reynolds had108 yards on 14 carries.
Memphis would run its lead to 52-27 on the second playof the fourth quarter. With the U of M facing fourth-and-one,Brown would blast outside and run 31 yards for a record-setting touchdown to cap a 10-play, 68-yard drive.
The Tigers’ third quarter broke down this way – Wimprinewas 6-of-8 passing for 124 yards; the Tigers ran for 110yards with Brown topping the 100-yard rushing markduring the quarter; and the U of M intercepted its secondpass of the game to set up a Tiger score.
Memphis’s scoring output was the most since a 62-20win over Tulane Oct. 31, 1992. Obviously it was the mostpoints in a Conference USA win and the largest winningmargin in a C-USA game since a 38-14 win over UAB in1999.
SCORING SUMMARY
Memphis 7 17 21 7 - 52Houston 0 14 13 6 - 33
UM (5:51 re 1st) Brown 5 run (White kick)UM (11:54 re 2nd) White 22 FGUH (8:41 re 2nd) Eddy 2 run (Patterson kick)UM (6:36 re 2nd) Brown 15 run (White kick)UM (5:24 re 2nd) Brown 2 run (White kickUH (:59 re 2nd) Robertson 1 run (Patterson kick)UM (11:36 re 3rd) Perkins 19 pass from Wimprine(White kick)UH (8:40 re 3rd) Iglesias 4 pass from Eddy(Patterson kick)UM (7:44 re 3rd) Harden 73 pass from Wimprine(White kick)UM (4:29 re 3rd) Wimprine 1 run (White kick)UH (2:42 re 3rd) Reynolds 28 run (pass failed)UM (14:18 re 4th) Brown 31 run (White kick)UH (3:46 re 4th) Robinson 30 pass from Eddy(pass failed)
TEAM STATS MEM HOUFirst Downs 23 22Rushes-Yds 51-252 28-130Passes 14-22-0 28-42-0Passing Yds 272 142KO Return Yds 88 125Punts-Avg 3-44.0 6-41.3Fumbles-Lost 1-1 1-0Penalties-Yds 6-38 10-79Time of Poss. 29:55 30:05Sacks by 1-7 0-0
INDIVIDUAL LEADERSRushing: MEM-Brown 26-148-4, Wimprine
15-85-1, Meadows 6-13-0. HOU-Reynolds 14-108-1,Robertson 10-29-1.
Passing: MEM-Wimprine 14-21-0-216-2, Anglin01-0-0-0. HOU-Eddy 28-42-2-331-2.
Receiving: MEM-Perkins 4-92-1, Harden 3-85-1. HOU-Iglesias 8-101-1, Reynolds 5-50-0, Ross4-28-0, Middleton 2-73-0.
Interceptions: MEM-Sumter 1-24-0, Brown1-6-0. HOU-none.
A-13,513 (Weather: Partly Cloudy, Winds: W-15mph, 67 Degrees)
NOTES◆ Junior tailback Dante Brown rushed for 148 yardsand four touchdowns in the Tigers' win over Hous-ton. His four touchdowns scored in a game set anew Memphis record for TDs in a game and for themost points scored in a game.
◆ Freshman quarterback Danny Wimprine startedhis first game as a Tiger and led the team to a 52-33win over Houston. Wimprine completed a careerhigh 14 passes for a career high 216 yards and twotouchdowns. He also had a career high 15 rushes for85 yards and one touchdown.
Robertson StadiumHouston, TXOct. 13, 2001Att. 13,513
6Game
MEMPHIS
1 1 4
East CarolinaEast CarolinaGreenville, NC – East Carolina quarterback David
Garrard completed 20 of 25 passes for 268 yards, includinga 45-yard scoringstrike to RichardAlston early inthe fourth quarter,as the Piratesposted a 32-11win over Mem-phis.
T h etouchdown passto Alston was abackbreaker forMemphis. Garrardstumbled backinto the pocketbut kept his com-posure and lofteda deep pass whichAlston hauled ineight yards deepinto the end zone.
Antoine Hardenwould block theextra point butEast Carolina’slead was 25-3with 14:00 to
play.A block in the back on the ensuing return against Mem-
phis would give the Tigers their worse field position of thegame at the U of M six. Memphis would manage just threeyards on its next three plays before a 45-yard James Gaitherpunt which ECU's Marvin Townes would return 12 yards tothe Tiger 42.
It would take the Pirates just six plays to cover 42 yardsand score again.
Garrard would again connect with Alston for a 23-yardpick up to the Memphis 18 on the drive. Alston would catchsix passes for 105 yards on the day.
Four plays later, Garrard would score when he scrambledright and dove into the end zone for a 4-yard scoring run togive ECU a 32-3 lead with 9:22 to play.
Memphis would add a late touchdown in the quarter.U of M redshirt freshman quarterback Danny Wimprine
would tie a Memphis freshman record when he tossed hisfifth touchdown pass of the season, a 12-yarder to BunkiePerkins. Wimprine also completed a pass to Ryan Johnsonfor the two-point conversion as the Tigers cut ECU’s lead to32-11 with 3:30 to play.
Wimprine, who completed 16 of 27 passes for 159 yards,would connect with Antoine Harden for a 40-yard comple-tion to the ECU 12 on the drive.
Memphis managed just 72 rushing yards and 231 yardsof total offense. The Pirates’ offense accounted for 473 yards
– 205 rushing and 268 passing.East Carolina was able to quickly jump out to a 7-0 lead
after Memphis punter James Gaither went to a knee fieldinga low punt. Gaither was called down at the U of M 21.
ECU running back Leonard Henry rolled off a 17-yardrun on first down and after runs of 1 and 2 yards, Garrardwould score from 1-yard out and the Pirates were out in frontwith 11:56 to play in the first quarter. The score marked justthe second time this season Memphis had given up a first-quarter touchdown.
Later in the quarter, the Pirates would drive from its own36 to the Memphis 18 before settling for a 35-yard Millerfield goal. ECU’s drive started with a 10-yard pass fromGarrard to Art Brown and the tandem would team up for an8-yard pick up on third-and-1 from the Memphis 45.
Memphis’s first three series were all three-and-out withthe Tigers totaling 13 yards. Following Gaither’s puntattempt which his knee hit the turf, Wimprine would get offa 51-yard quick kick with Memphis facing fourth-and-sixfrom the U of M 42. The rookie would have two, 51-yardquick kicks in the first half.
The Tigers finally picked up first-down yards but un-usual circumstances surround the Tiger’s first moving of thechains. Wimprine had the ball batted away from his intendedreceiver but tight end Jeff Cameron would haul the ball inand pick up seven yards. It was Wimprine’s first completionfor positive yards.
East Carolina added a pair of second-quarter field goalsto lead 16-0 at halftime.
On their first, third-quarter series the Pirates drove fromtheir own 13 to the Memphis 10.
Garrard completed an 11-yard pass to Marcus Whitewith ECU facing third-and-five then completed a 15-yarderto Arnie Powell. Henry would pick up 15 yards on one carryduring the series. A personal foul penalty on the Tigersmoved the ball inside the U of M 20.
Facing third-and-six from the 10, Memphis linebackerCoot Terry would tackle Garrard for no gain and ECU wouldsettle for a 26-yard Miller field goal to give the Pirates a 13-0 lead with 7:19 to play in the half.
East Carolina moved the ball 46 yards on seven playsbefore settling for a 35-yard field goal by Miller with fourseconds to play in the half.
Garrard completed a 15-yard pass to Eric Collier onthird-and-10 then the pair would team up for a 16 yard pickup to the Memphis 21. After a three-yard run by Henry, thePirates burned their final timeout of the half and would tackon the field goal.
Henry had 26 carries for 132 yards.At halftime ECU had 17 first downs and rolled up 258
yards of total offense – 133 rushing and 125 passing. Mem-phis had just 97 total yards of offense and picked up just fivefirst downs in the half.
Defensively for Memphis, Shaka Hill had a career day,accounting for 10 tackles including one for a four-yard loss.Greg Harper also had 10 stops while Tony Brown registereda sack and had nine tackles.
SCORING SUMMARY
Memphis 0 0 3 8 - 11East Carolina 10 6 3 13 - 32
ECU (11:56 re 1st) Garrard 1 run (Miller kick)ECU (1:04 re 1st) Miller 35 FGECU (7:19 re 2nd) Miller 26 FGECU (:04 re 2nd) Miller 35 FGUM (9:53 re 3rd) White 31 FGECU (4:32 re 3rd) Miller 26 FGECU (14:00 re 4th) Alston 45 pass from Garrard(kick blocked)ECU (9:22 re 4th) Garrard 4 run (Miller kick)UM (3:30 re 4th) Perkins 12 pass from Wimprine(White kick)
TEAM STATS MEM ECUFirst Downs 11 28Rushes-Yds 31-72 57-205Passes 16-27-0 20-26-0Passing Yds 159 268KO Return Yds 87 43Punts-Avg 7-45.9 5-44.2Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-0Penalties-Yds 7-64 5-43Time of Poss. 23:23 36:37Sacks by 3-16 2-18
INDIVIDUAL LEADERSRushing: MEM-Brown 19-70-0. ECU-Henry
26-132-0, Brown 9-33-0, Townes 6-26-0, Garrard 14-11-2.
Passing: MEM-Wimprine 16-27-0-159-1. ECU-Garrard 20-25-0-268-1, Troth 0-1-0-0-0.
Receiving: MEM-Perkins 7-50-1, Harden 2-47-0, Garcia 2-28-0. ECU-Alston 6-105-1, Brown 5-56, Collier 2-31-0, White 2-27-0.
Interceptions: MEM-none. ECU-none.A-38,120 (Weather: Mostly Sunny, Winds: Calm,
79 Degrees)
NOTES◆ Senior kicker Ryan White became the school'ssecond all-time leading scorer with his field goalagainst East Carolina. White scored his 223 careerpoint and surpassed John butler (214) and DaveCasinelli (218).
◆ Junior tailback Dante Brown led the Tigers inrushing with 70 yards but failed to score a touch-down since the opening game of the 2001 season.
◆ Junior safety Glenn Sumter led the team in tack-les with 14.
◆ East Carolina's 473 yards of total offense werethe most given up by the Tiger defense this season.
◆ Quarterback Danny Wimprine had two quick kicksin the East Carolina game and averaged 51.0 yardsper punt.
Dowdy-Ficklen StadiumGreenville, NCOct. 20, 2001Att. 38,120
Game
MEMPHIS
1 1 5
7
UABUABMemphis, TN – University of Memphis kicker RyanWhite’s 41-yard field goal with 43 seconds to play was
knocked down atthe line of scrim-mage as UABstaved off a Mem-phis fourth-quar-ter rally to post a17-14 road win.
T h eBlazers came intothe game havingheld all seven ofits previous op-ponents to lessthan 100 yardsrushing and ex-tended the streak,holding the U ofM to 94 yards onthe ground. Mem-phis running backDante Brown car-ried the ball 20times for 55 yards.
Despite the lack ofproduction run-ning the ball, theTigers rallied from
a 17-7 deficit behind quarterback Neil Suber who enteredthe game late in the third quarter.
Suber engineered a 14-play, 77-yard drive culminatingin a four-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jeff Cameron tocut UAB’s lead to 17-14 with 9:36 to play.
Suber went 7-for-9 during the series starting with a nine-yard pass to Bunkie Perkins and a 12-yard toss to AaronMeadows. Facing third-and-10 from the Memphis 44, Suberconnected with Ryan Johnson for a 23-yard pick up to theUAB 33. An 11-yard strike to Antoine Harden moved theball inside the 20.
Memphis faced third and goal from the four when Suberrolled right and tossed a short pass to Cameron who gotoutside a Wade Smith block at the goal line to score.
Despite getting inside the Blazers’ 35 on their last threeseries, the Tigers would be held scoreless by a senior-ladenUAB defense.
Ryan Johnson returned a Ross Stewart punt 40 yards tothe UAB 36 to set up the Tigers’ first drive after the fourth-quarter touchdown. The Tigers would go three-and-outwith James Gaither’s 33-yard punt downed at the Blazer 3.
Memphis’s defense held UAB to just three yards on itsnext series and the Tigers took over at the UAB 39 followinga shanked punt. This time, the Tigers faced third-and-fivewhen Antoine Harden couldn’t catch up to a Suber passacross the middle. Replays showed Harden was held on thecrossing pattern. With more than five minutes to play, Gaithergot off another short punt downed at the UAB 11.
Memphis’s defense held the Blazers to negative yardsthis time around and the Tigers took over at their own 47after a 45-yard Ross Stewart punt.
Suber completed a 19-yard pass to Darron White onsecond-and-eight to the UAB 32.
After an incomplete pass, Suber completed a 4-yard passto Johnson before hooking up with Perkins for a five-yardcompletion, a yard shy of the first down marker. Followinga time out with 52 seconds to play, Memphis settled forWhite’s 41-yard attempt.
Memphis jumped out to a 7-0 first-quarter lead.Brown scored on a 7-yard run with 5:07 left to play in the
quarter to cap a nine-play, 80-yard drive. The junior collegetransfer had his most success running the ball during the dayon the scoring series, rushing for 5, 9 and 4 yards before thescoring play which tied a school record for most rushingtouchdowns in a season (nine). The U of M was also aided bya pass interference flag on third-and-four from its own 26 anda 27-yard pass from Lionel Pieh to Antoine Harden to theUAB 13. After a two-yard run by starting quarterback DannyWimprine, Brown would carry twice finding the end zonewith his second carry.
Later, a pass interference call on the Tigers would giveUAB first-and-10 from the U of M 25 but a three-yard tacklefor loss would reverse a Blazer drive. UAB was also calledfor a false start and a three-yard tackle for loss by DeMorrioShank on Thomas Cox before Nick Hayes drilled a 48-yardfield goal with 14:12 left in the first half.
Glenn Sumter would intercept a pass on the Blazer’s nextseries but despite taking over at the UAB 40, Memphiscould not cash in and White would miss a 52-yard field goalattempt with 11:16 left in the first half. In addition to hispick, Sumter had 10 tackles (6 solos) and broke up a pass.
From its own 36, UAB drove 64 yards for the go-aheadtouchdown.
Cox ran for 12 yards and running back Jegil Duggerwould pick up 36 yards to the Memphis 11. After runs of 7and 2 yards by Cox, Kendal Gibson would score from twoyards out and UAB led at halftime 10-7.
UAB would extend its lead by taking advantage of aMemphis turnover late in the third quarter.
Blazer linebacker Rod Taylor intercepted and returned aWimprine pass seven yards to the Memphis 28. Wimprinecompleted just 7 of 19 passes for 65 yards and was inter-cepted twice.
On the Blazers’ first play following the interceptions,UAB took a page from the Memphis playbook with receiverJeff Trippetts completing a pass back across the field toquarterback Cox for an 11-yard gain. After a 7-yard gain byDugger, Cox carried for 5 and 3 yards before scoring from 2yards out with 3:30 to play in the third quarter.
SCORING SUMMARY
UAB 0 10 7 0 - 17Memphis 7 0 0 7 - 14
UM (5:07 re 1st) Brown 7 run (White kick)UAB (14:12 re 2nd) Hayes 48 FGUAB (8:28 re 2nd) Kendal 2 run (Hayes kick)UAB (3:30 re 3rd) Thomas 2 run (Hayes kick)UM (9:36 re 4th) Cameron 25 pass from Suber(White kick)
TEAM STATS MEM UABFirst Downs 14 21Rushes-Yds 33-94 44-114Passes 19-40-2 7-20-1Passing Yds 185 61KO Return Yds 4-118 2-34Punts-Avg 10-36.4 11-42.5Fumbles-Lost 2-0 1-1Penalties-Yds 6-45 7-45Time of Poss. 30:20 29:40Sacks by 0-0 0-0
INDIVIDUAL LEADERSRushing: MEM-Brown 20-55-1, Wimprine 7-
29-0, Suber 3-12-0, Anglin 3-(-2)-0. UAB- Dugger 19-61-0, Cox 12-43-1, Gibson 5-10-1, Anderson 3-5-0.
Passing: MEM- Suber 11-18-0-93-1, Wimprine7-19-2-65-0, Anglin 0-2-0-0-0. UAB-Cox 6-19-1-50-0.
Receiving: MEM-Johnson 5-38-0, Perkins 5-51-0, Cameron 1-4-1, Atw.Harden 3-49-0, White 3-25-0, Meadows 1-12-0, Anglin 1-6-0. UAB-Quinnie 2-36-0, Cox 1-11-0, White 1-6-0, Dudley 1-5-0, Dugger 1-4-0, Gibson 1-(-1)-0.
Interceptions: MEM-Sumter 1-0-0. UAB-Taylor 1-7-0, Brown 1-0-0.
A-25,462 (Weather 50 degrees, Wind NNE-10,Sunny & Clear)
NOTES◆ Junior safety Glenn Sumter recorded his fourthpass interception of the season against UAB. It wasSumter's 11th career interception.
◆ Junior tailback Dante Brown scored his ninthrushing touchdown of the season. It marks the mostrushing TDs since Larry Porter scored nine timesduring the 1993 season. The Tiger record fort rush-ing TDs in a season is 14 by Dave Casinelli in 1963.
◆ True freshman cornerback Cameron Essex hadhis first collegiate start against UAB.
◆ Junior transfer Doug Whittaker started his firstgame as a Tiger at offensive tackle. He replacedDonald Marshall in the lineup.
◆ Junior punt returner Ryan Johnson returned sixpunts for 58 yards in the UAB game. He now has 69career punt returns.
Liberty Bowl StadiumMemphis, TNOct. 27, 2001Att. 25,462
8Game
MEMPHIS
1 1 6
TennesseeTennesseeKnoxville, TN - There’s always a play which some-
times seems inconsequential at the time, but proves to bepivotal in agame’s outcome.
L e a d -ing 14-7, Tennes-see faced third-and-three from theMemphis 33 witheight minutes leftin the first half.Memphis defen-sive back GlennSumter jumped offthe Neyland Sta-dium turf clutch-ing the ball afterwhat was ruled anincomplete pass.Emphatically hepleaded his casethat he had pickedoff his second passof the game. Re-plays showedmerit to Sumter’sargument as theball bounced offUT receiverD o n t e ’
Stallworth and Sumter cleanly snared the pick.A play later, UT quarterback Casey Clausen tossed a 33-
yard touchdown pass to Stallworth on fourth down. Abotched point-after kick was turned into a two-point con-version as Seth Reagan completed the scoring pass toConstantin Ritzzman and the Vols went up 22-7 en route toa 49-28 win.
Tennessee would add a 27-yard Alex Walls’ field goalwith 1:21 left in the first half to lead 25-7 at the break.Clausen would complete 22-of-35 passes for 298 yards andfive touchdowns, directing the Volunteers to 24 second-half points including 17 unanswered in the third quarter toextend UT’s lead to 42-7.
Walls kicked a 27-yard field goal, Stallworth wouldcatch a 14-yard touchdown pass from Clausen and DerrickTinsley would add a 16-yard touchdown run in the thirdquarter.
Walls’ second-half field goal was set up after Memphispunter James Gaither went to a knee to retrieve a low snap atthe Memphis 26.
UT stayed primarily on the ground to put together touch-down drives of 72 and 57 yards later in the quarter.Tennessee totaled 520 yards of total offense – 234 rushing(106 in the third quarter) and 302 passing.
Memphis redshirt freshman quarterback Danny Wimprinewould engineer three successive touchdown drives in thefourth quarter. The Tigers drove 67 yards on 12 plays withWimprine scoring on a 1-yard run with 11:08 to play,
cutting UT’s lead to 42-14. The drive was aided by a hold-ing call in the end zone with Memphis facing third-and-goalfrom the UT 19 and a pass interference call on an incompletepass with the Tigers facing fourth-and-goal from the 10.Each penalty resulted in a U of M first down.
Tennessee would go three-and-out on its next two series.Wimprine tossed a 25-yard touchdown pass to Bunkie
Perkins on the Tigers’ next drive. Wimprine’s 20-yard passto Darron White helped set up the scoring drive.
A 49-yard hookup between Wimprine and White wouldset up a 10-yard touchdown pass to Travis Anglin and RyanWhite’s point-after cut the Volunteers’ lead to 42-28 with3:59 to play.
Off the bench, Wimprine completed 12-of-21 passes for186 yards in less than a half of play. White had a career-high104 receiving yards on six receptions.
Clausen would come back on the field in the fourthquarter and throw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Stallworthfor the game’s final score after the Tigers failed to recover anon-side kick.
Clausen completed five of seven passes on the Volun-teers’ first drive of the game, culminating in a 17-yard passto Jason Witten in the back of the end zone. Walls’ point-after gave UT a 7-0 lead with 12:25 left in the first quarter.
Clausen began the game with a 21-yard pass to Stallworththen fired a 13-yard completion to Will Bartholomew. A 7-yard screen to Travis Stephens followed. UT faced third-and-10 from the Memphis 35 when Clausen completed an18-yard pass deep across the middle to Kelley Washington.
The Volunteers began their second series from their own13 and moved the ball inside the Tiger 10. The Vols con-verted three, third-down conversions including a 27-yardpass from Clausen to Bobby Graham.
Tennessee faced first and goal from the 10. DeMorrioShank stopped Clausen for a 1-yard gain before Stephenspicked up 3 yards before being tackled by Sumter. On thirddown, Clausen passed across the middle. Witten deflectedthe ball into the hands of Sumter who was credited with a 33-yard return. An illegal block moved the ball from near midfieldto the U of M 16.
Sumter had a banner day. In addition to intercepting apass and having a second pick being ruled an incompletepass, he had 11 solo tackles and seven assists for a total of 18stops and broke up two passes. Shank finished with ninetackles.
Memphis running back Jeremiah Bonds fumbled on thefirst play of the second quarter. John Henderson recovered atthe UT 12. On first-and-goal from the three, Clausen com-pleted a touchdown pass to Troy Fleming.
A 34-yard kickoff return by Antoine Harden would setup a three-play, 60-yard Tiger scoring drive early in thesecond quarter.
UM starting quarterback Neil Suber completed a 23-yardaerial to Bunkie Perkins before Harden laid out for a 33-yardreception to the UT two. Suber would then find AaronMeadows for a 2-yard touchdown completion. Memphis hadcut the lead to 14-7 with 13:22 to play in the first half.
SCORING SUMMARYMemphis 0 7 0 21 - 28Tennessee 7 18 17 7 - 49
UT (12:38 re 1st) Witten 17 pass from Clausen(Walls kick)UT (14:16 re 2nd) Fleming 3 pass from Clausen(Walls kick)UM (13:22 re 2nd) Meadows 2 pass from Suber(White kick)UT (8:12 re 2nd) Stallworth 33 pass from Clausen(Ritzmann pass from Reagan)UT (1:21 re 2nd) Walls 27 FGUT (12:02 re 3rd) Walls 24 FGUT (5:29 re 3rd) Stallworth 14 pass from Clausen(Walls kick)UT (1:32 re 3rd) Tinsley 16 run (Walls kick)UM (11:08 re 4th) Wimprine 1 run (White kick)UM (6:48 re 4th) Perkins 25 pass from Wimprine(White kick)UM (3:59 re 4th) Anglin 10 pass from Wimprine(White kick)UT (2:24 re 4th) Stallworth 35 pass from Clausen(Walls kick)
TEAM STATS MEM UTFirst Downs 20 28Rushes-Yds 27-23 43-218Passes 18-37-2 24-39-1Passing Yds 281 302KO Return Yds 168 54Punts-Avg 5-40.2 4-49.0Fumbles-Lost 3-2 3-0Penalties-Yds 5-44 12-85Time of Poss. 23:56 36:04Sacks by 3-14 0-0
INDIVIDUAL LEADERSRushing: MEM-Sanders 10-20-0, Harden 1-
11-0, Perkins 1-10-0. UT-Stephens 20-124-0, Fleming5-38-0, Houston 6-36-0, Tinsley 4-29-1.
Passing: MEM-Wimprine 12-21-1-186-2, Suber6-16-1-95-1. UT-Clausen 22-35-1-298-5, Mathews 2-4-0-4-0.
Receiving: MEM-Harden 6-104-0, Perkins 6-87-1, White 2-69-0. UT-Stallworth 7-142-3,Bartholomew 3-36-0, Washington 3-30-0.
Interceptions: MEM-Sumter 1-33-0. UT-Battle 1-0-0, Baker 1-0-0.
A- 107,221 (Weather: Sunny, Wind: SW 5-10, 67Degrees)
NOTES◆ Tiger safety Glenn Sumter registered his fifth in-terception of the season against Tennessee. He alsologged 18 tackles
◆ Memphis kick returner Antoine Harden set aschool record with eight kickoff returns for 160 yards.The 160 yards ranks as the third highest single gametotal in Tiger history
Neyland StadiumKnoxville, TNNov. 10, 2001Att. 107,221
9Game
MEMPHIS
1 1 7
ArmyArmyMemphis, TN – University of Memphis freshman quar-
terback Danny Wimprine set a school record by accountingfor five touch-downs, includingfour passing, asthe Tigers de-feated Army, 42-10.
The winsnapped a three-game Memphislosing streak asthe Tigers evenedtheir record to 5-5heading into agame with Cin-cinnati and an op-portunity to se-cure the school’sfirst winning sea-son since 1994.
The U ofM’s offense rackedup 371 total yardsof offense and puttogether a pair ofimpressive 90-plus yard drivesduring the day.
The Ti-gers took a 17-3 lead with 7:25 to play in the first half whenDante Brown capped an 18-play, 98-yard drive with a six-yard scoring run. Memphis began the series, which con-sumed 6:35, at its own two after a 57-yard punt by the BlackKnights’ Dan MacElroy.
The U of M converted four, third-down conversionsduring the drive including a 17-yard pass completion toBunkie Perkins from Wimprine on a third-and-13 play fromthe Tiger 10. Perkins also caught a 14-yard pass on third-and-two from the Memphis 46 later in the drive.
Facing third-and-7 from the Army 37, Wimprine ran for18 yards to pick up another first down and also had a four-yard run on a third-and-1 from the Cadets’ 10.
Memphis was 8-for-11 in converting third down playsagainst Army.
The Black Knights would take advantage of a U of Mturnover to cut the lead to 21-10 in the third quarter.
The Tigers had taken control of the ball after Army failedto complete a pass on fourth-and-2 from the Memphis seven.Memphis would push the ball out to the 20 as Sugar Sandersran for a first down, running for four yards on third-and-1. Aplay later Sanders would cough up the ball and Army’sRyan Kent recovered at the U of M 11.
Ardell Daniels would run for nine yards before C.J. Youngscored on his second consecutive 1-yard run with 6:30 toplay in the third quarter.
Memphis would score three, fourth-quarter touchdowns.The first was set up by a late, third-quarter interception by
Marcus Smith who returned the ball 27 yards to the Army 27.Wimprine would toss a 12-yard scoring strike to Antoine
Harden to give Memphis a 28-10 lead on the first play of thefourth quarter.
On the next play from scrimmage, Memphis defensive endTony Williams would force Daniels to fumble and GlennSumter returned the ball 18 yards to the Army 10. An inter-ference call on the Black Knights would give Memphis theball at the one and Wimprine would score to give the Tigersa 35-10 lead with 13:19 left to play.
After 18 tackles a week earlier against Tennessee, Sumterturned in another stellar performance, leading the Tigerswith six solo tackles and an assist, the 18-yard fumble returnand an eight-yard interception return. The interception wasSumter’s sixth pick of the season and 13th of his career. TheDetroit native also tied a school record for career tackles bya defensive back. He has 123 for his career.
Memphis would stop Army’s offense inside the U of M10 a series later.
The Black Knights moved the ball from their own 8 to theTiger 6. The series including successive passes of 14, 12 and15 yards from Curtis Zervic to Clint Dodson, Daniels andAnthony Miller. Miller’s 15-yard reception moved the ballto the Memphis 6.
D.J. Stancil would pick up two yards on first down andafter a Zervic incompletion, Dodson was stopped for a twoyard loss by Derrick Ballard on a third-down pass. Millermanaged to pick up just one yard on a fourth-down rushingattempt and the Tigers would take over.
Memphis actually was back up to its own three by a falsestart on first down. Wimprine would carry for nine yards onthird-and-8 from the 7 and later would complete a 67-yardtouchdown pass to Harden.
Harden caught three passes for 109 yards including twotouchdown receptions. He also returned two kicks for 50yards including a 37-yard return to setup the Tigers’ firstscoring series at the U of M 40.
Memphis fell behind 3-0 when Army kicker Derek Jacobsdrilled a career-high 41-yard field goal to cap the BlackKnights’ first offensive series.
U of M running back Dante Brown rushed for 23 yards tomove the ball into Cadet territory. Facing third-and-17Wimprine tossed a 38-yard touchdown pass to Perkins whoslipped behind Army’s secondary for the score. Perkinscaught four passes for 91 yards. Wimprine would complete12-of-21 passes for 203 yards.
Wimprine passed both Neil Suber and Travis Anglin tobecome the all-time leading freshman passer at Memphis.Through 10 games, the rookie from River Ridge, La., hasthrown for 1,034 yards.
Anglin, who has been converted to primarily a widereceiver in the Memphis offense, helped set up the Tigers’second touchdown of the game when on a reverse he com-pleted a 30-yard pass to Harden down to the Cadet 4. Aftera one yard run by Brown, Wimprine completed a 3-yardtouchdown pass to Ryan Johnson with 3:04 to play in thefirst quarter.
SCORING SUMMARY
Army 3 0 7 0 - 10Memphis 14 7 0 21 - 42
Army (9:02 re 1st) Jacobs 41 FGUM (6:47 re 1st) Perkins 38 pass from Wimprine(White kick)UM (3:04 re 1st) Johnson 3 pass from Wimprine(White kick)UM (7:25 re 2nd) Brown 6 run (White kick)Army (6:30 re 3rd) Young 1 run (Jacobs kick)UM (14:53 re 4th) Harden 12 pass from Wimprine(White kick)UM (13:19 re 4th) Wimprine 1 run (White kick)UM (4:51 re 4th) Harden 67 pass from Wimprine(White kick)
TEAM STATS ARMY MEMFirst Downs 20 19Rushes-Yds 45-167 40-138Passes 16-35-3 13-22-1Passing Yds 154 233KO Return Yds 138 50Punts-Avg 4-48.0 2-38.0Fumbles-Lost 1-1 3-2Penalties-Yds 7-57 5-27Time of Poss. 34:42 25:18Sacks by 0-0 0-0
INDIVIDUAL LEADERSRushing: ARMY-Nevels 11-65-0, Daniels 19-
54-0, Thompson 1-16-0, Young 7-15-1. MEM-Brown18-80-1, Wimprine 14-55-1, Sanders 7-4-0.
Passing: ARMY-Zervic 16-33-1-154-0, Nevels0-2-2-0-0. MEM-Wimprine 12-21-1-203-4, Anglin 1-1-0-30-0.
Receiving: ARMY-Miller 5-49-0, Thompson2-31-0. MEM-Perkins 4-91-1, Harden 3-109-2, White2-20-0.
Interceptions: ARMY-Dial 1-0-0. MEM-Smith 1-27-0, Sumter 1-8-0, Garris 1-0-0.
A- 23,268 (Weather: Clear, Wind: E-7, 75 De-grees)
NOTES◆ Freshman quarterback Danny Wimprine threwfour touchdown passes to tie the Memphis record fortouchdown passes in a single game. Wimprine'sfour TD passes tie Steve Matthews (1992) and JamesEarl Wright (1961) for the most in a game.
◆ Freshman quarterback Danny Wimprine ran forone touchdown and threw for four in the Tigers' winover Army. His five touchdowns accounted for are anew Memphis record breaking the old mark of four ina game.
◆ Sophomore receiver Antoine Harden had his sec-ond consecutive 100 yard receiving game when hecaught three passes for 109 yards against the Ca-
dets. Harden had 104 yards in the Tennessee game.
Liberty Bowl StadiumMemphis, TNNov. 17, 2001Att. 23,268
10Game
MEMPHIS
1 1 8
CincinnatiCincinnatiMemphis, TN - The heartbreak was incredible. A
pain not felt by Tiger fans in a number of years. Just :25 sec-onds remained inthe game and Cin-cinnati faced afourth and 27 fromtheir own 27 yardline. Memphis hadthe lead 34-30.
One play andteam would beheading back tothe practice fieldsat Murphy Ath-letic Complex tocontinue prac-tices in prepara-tion for the team'sfirst bowl invita-tion in 30 years.
But the Cin-cinnati Bearcatshad other plans.
With 24ticks remaining onthe clock and fac-ing a fourth downand long, UCquarterback GinoG u i d u g l i
launched a long pass down the center of the field and re-ceiver Jon Olinger made a leaping catch for a first down at theMemphis 37 yard line.
Three plays later the Bearcats scored the go ahead touch-down on another Guidugli to Olinger pass of 13 yards andthe Tigers had to accept the fact that with just :04 remainingin the game, the season would end at 5-6 and another yearwould pass with no bowl invitation.
Memphis took the opening kickoff and marched downthe field with the passing of freshman quarterback DannyWimprine and the running of tailback Dante Brown. Aftercompleting a 46-yard pass to Antoine Harden on the game'sopening play, Wimprine moved the Tigers into field goalrange and Ryan White booted his first of two field goals onthe day.
UC answered the Tigers field goal with one of their ownon their first series. Guidugli completed a 57-yard pass toRay Jackson during the drive and Jonathan Ruffin kicked a20-yard field goal to tie the game.
The Tigers tallied their first touchdown of the game atthe 8:39 mark of the second quarter. The scoring play cameon a quick strike as Wimprine connected with freshman re-ceiver Darron White for 69-yards and the go ahead score.
Two series later, the Bearcats answered the Memphisscore with one of their own as tailback Nathan Wize ranseven yards for the tying score.
But on the ensuing series, the Tigers drove 70-yards toregain the lead before the half. Wimprine again connected
with receiver White this time for 15 yards and the UM touch-down and as the first half ended, the Tigers found themselvesleading 17-10.
The second half became a mirror image of the first as bothteams matched score for score.
UC took the kickoff to open the second half and puttogether a 16 play, 91 yard drive to again tie the score. Full-back Ray Jackson and tailback DeMarco McCleskey had 11carries in the drive which concluded with McCleskey goingthe final two yards for the touchdown.
Like a great heavyweight fight, the Tigers came rightback. Taking the UC kickoff at the 10 yard line, the U of Mmoved to the Cincinnati five yard line but had to settle for aRyan White field goal to regain the advantage in the game,20-17. The field goal was set up by a 37-yard pass comple-tion from Wimprine to wide receiver Travis Anglin.
But back came the visitors and riding the arm of Guidugli,the Bearcats moved the ball to the UM 28 yard line. Whenthe drive stalled, UC kicker Ruffin booted a 38 yard fieldgoal to again tie the score at 20-20.
The third period ended with the score again tied andfans of both teams cheering loudly for their squads.
After Memphis failed to move the ball on the openingdrive of the fourth stanza, UC took their first lead in the game.Aided by a pass interference call, the Bearcats moved to theUM 24 yard line. From there, Guidugli found his receiverOlinger in the end zone and hit him with a perfect pass for thescore.
Tiger fans were stunned but not for long. Memphis tookthe kickoff and in four plays were in the end zone for the gametying score. Tailback Dante Brown got the touchdown on a45-yard run, his longest carry of the day.
For Brown, the touchdown was his 11 rushing TD ofthe season, matching the second highest single season totalin school history. No Tiger had scored 11 rushing touch-downs since Dave Casinelli had 14 TDs in 1963.
Following a stalled series by both units,UC again re-gained the lead, 30-27, on a 26-yard Ruffin field goal with4:04 remaining in the contest.
Knowing that a bowl bid was on the line for the winnerof the game, the Tigers took the Bearcat kickoff and drovedownfield. Wimprine connected with receiver AntoineHarden for the go ahead touchdown with 1:48 remaining inthe contest.
UC returned the kickoff to the UC 25 and from there setout on their final drive of the game. UM managed a sack ofGuidugli on first down and second down was an incompletepass. On third down and 16, the Tigers were called for adisputed pass interference giving Cincinnati a first down atthe UC 33. Following an incomplete pass and two losses onrushing plays, the Bearcats faced a fourth down and 27 fromtheir own 27 yard line.
Guidugli took the snap on fourth down and droppedback to pass. His pass fluttered down the center of the fieldwhere UC receiver Olinger again made a great play by outleaping rover Jason Brown and making the catch at the UM37. Guidugli went right back to Olinger for 24 yards andwith just :04 remaining in the game, connected again withOlinger for the score.
SCORING SUMMARY
Cincinnati 3 7 10 16 36Memphis 3 14 3 14 34
UM (11:32 re 1st) R. White 32 FGUC (8:40 re 1st) Ruffin 20 FGUM (8:39 re 2nd) D. White 69 pass from Wimprine (White kick)UC (2:30 re 2nd) Wize 7 run (Ruffin kick)UM (0:21 re 2nd) D. White 15 pass from Wimprine (White kick)UC (8:07 re 3rd) McCleskey 2 run (Ruffin kick)UM (4:07 re 3rd) R. White 22 FGUC (1:08 re 3rd) Ruffin 45 FGUC (13:12 re 4th) Olinger 24 pass from Guidugli (Ruffin kick)UM (12:12 re 4th) Brown 45 yard run (White kick)UC (4:04 re 4th) Ruffin 26 FGUM (2:16 re 4th) Ato. Harden 38 pass from Wimprine (White kick)UC (0:04 re 4th) Olinger 13 pass from Guidugli (run failed)
TEAM STATS MEM UCFirst Downs 23 33Rushes-Yds 32-145 54-224Passing Yds 295 348KO Return Yds 4-55 5-57Passes 16-33-0 18-36-0Punts-Avg 5-48.6 5-41.8Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0Penalties-Yds 5-51 10-93Time of Poss. 24:54 35:06Sacks by 3-21 1-2
INDIVIDUAL LEADERSRushing: MEM-Brown 15-90-1, Wimprine 17-55-
0. UC- McCleskey 25-120-1, Jackson 21-113-0, Wize 2-17-1,Guidugli 5-(-22)-0.
Passing: MEM-Wimprine 16-33-0-295-3. UC-Guidugli 18-36-0-348-2.
Receiving: MEM-D.White 7-123-2, AntoineHarden 3-97-1, Perkins 3-21-0, Anglin 1-37-0, R.Johnson 1-16-0,Brown 1-1-0. UC-Olinger 6-144-2, Vann 4-44-0, Deatherage 3-33-0, Keith 2-63-0, Jackson 2-47-0, Wize 1-17-0.
Interceptions: MEM-0. UC-0.A-26,395 (weather- temp 66 degrees, wind SSW 20,
partly cloudy)
NOTES
◆ Freshman quarterback Danny Wimprine's 295 yards passingwas a career high. His three touchdown passes were the secondhighest of his career and his 14 touchdown pass this season werethe second highest total in Memphis football history.
◆ Junior tailback Dante Brown's 45 yard touchdown run was hissecond longest run of the season. He had a 62-yard run against UT-Chattanooga.
◆ Dante Brown's 902 yards rushing in 2001 rank as the fourthhighest total in school history.
Liberty Bowl StadiumMemphis, TNNov. 24, 2001Att. 26,395
11Game
MEMPHIS
1 1 9
2001 Final Statistics2001 Final Statistics
TEAM STATISTICSU of M OPP
First Downs 192 230Rushing/Passing 81/89 97/112Penalty 22 21
Total Net Yards 3594 4212Total Plays 736 830Plays per Game 66.9 75.4Avg per Play 4.9 5.1Avg per Game 326.7 382.9
Net Rushing Yards 1507 1686Rushing Yds Gained 1828 1952Rushing Yds Lost 321 266Total Attempts 418 438Avg per Play 3.6 3.8Avg per Game 137.0 153.3
Net Passing Yards 2087 2526Att/Comp/Int 318/177/6 392/206/15Avg per Att 6.6 6.4Avg per Comp 11.8 12.3Avg per Game 189.7 229.6
Punts/Avg/Blk 74/38.5/4 65/43.0/0Avg Punts per Game 6.7 5.9
Punt Ret/Yds/Avg 36/376/10.4 29/246/8.4Net Punting 35.2 37.2
Kickoff Ret/Yds/Avg 47/885/18.8 43/735/17.1Returns Per Game 4.2 3.9
Interceptions/Yds 15/167 6/7Avg Yds Per Ret 11.1 1.2
Fumbles/Lost 22/11 18/9Penalties/Yds 74/589 91/752
Yds Penalized/Game 53.5 68.43rd Dwn Cnv/Att/Pct 55/158/35.0 57/170/34.0Time of Possession 28:31 31:292 PT Safety 2 0
SCORE BY QUARTERS1 2 3 4 Total Game
U of M 69 66 48 111 294 26.7OPP 36 85 81 79 281 25.5
Overall Record: 5-6; C-USA Record: 3-4 (7th);Home: 4-2; Away: 1-4; Neutral: 0-0
Date Opponent Score Attendance9/3 at Mississippi State L, 10-30 45,6629/8 UT-Chattanooga W, 43-10 24,053
9/22 South Florida W, 17-9 26,4889/29 at Louisville L, 21-38 39,25610/6 Southern Miss W, 22-17 28,668
10/13 at Houston W, 52-33 13,51310/20 at East Carolina L,11-32 38,12010/27 UAB L, 14-17 25,46211/10 at Tennessee L,28-49 107,22111/17 Army W,42-10 23,26811/24 Cincinnati L, 34-36 26,395
Overall Attendance: 398,106 (36,191)Home Attendance: 154,334(25,722)Away Attendance: 243,772 (48,754)
2001 RESULTS
RUSHINGG ATT YDG YDL YDS AVG TD LG
Dante Brown 11 184 953 51 902 4.9 11 62Danny Wimprine 9 84 366 96 270 3.2 3 35Travis Anglin 10 66 286 59 227 3.4 2 56Sugar Sanders 7 28 66 18 48 1.7 0 9Neil Suber 5 16 55 21 34 2.1 0 11Aaron Meadows 9 17 39 10 29 1.7 0 6Ryan Johnson 11 6 30 2 28 4.7 0 10Antoine Harden 10 2 11 0 11 5.5 0 11Bunkie Perkins 11 2 10 1 9 4.5 0 10Jeremiah Bonds 3 5 9 4 5 1.0 0 4Scott Scherer 5 1 3 0 3 3.0 0 3James Gaither 11 1 0 13 -13 -13.0 0 0MEM 11 418 1828 321 1507 3.6 16 62OPP 11 438 1952 266 1686 3.8 17 51
RECEIVINGG NO YDS AVG TD LG AVG/G
Bunkie Perkins 11 46 579 12.6 6 43 52.6Darron White 10 34 422 12.4 3 69 42.2Antoine Harden 10 31 589 19.0 4 73 58.9Ryan Johnson 11 18 150 8.3 1 39 13.6Dante Brown 11 13 65 5.0 1 39 5.9Jeff Cameron 11 10 71 7.1 1 20 6.5Darren Garcia 6 7 63 9.0 0 24 6.3Travis Anglin 10 4 98 24.5 1 45 9.8Aaron Meadows 9 4 24 6.0 1 12 2.7Tripp Higgins 3 4 13 3.2 1 11 4.3Tavarious Davis 3 3 25 8.3 1 12 8.3Sugar Sanders 7 1 3 3.0 1 3 0.4Jeremiah Bonds 3 1 -5 -5.0 0 0 -1.6Danny Wimprine 9 1 -10 -10.0 0 0 -1.1MEM 11 177 2087 11.8 21 73 189.7OPP 11 206 2526 12.3 15 69 229.6
PASSINGG ATT COM INT YDS PCT TD LG
Danny Wimprine 9 196 102 4 1329 52.0 14 73Travis Anglin 10 65 43 0 403 66.2 4 43Neil Suber 5 54 30 2 283 55.6 3 35Ryan Johnson 11 1 1 0 45 1.000 0 45Lionel Pieh 5 1 1 0 27 1.000 0 27James Gaither 11 1 0 0 0 1.000 0 0MEM 11 318 177 6 2087 55.7 21 73OPP 11 392 206 15 2526 52.6 15 69
PUNTINGG NO YDS AVG LG BK IN20
James Gaither 11 67 2718 40.6 61 3 22Danny Wimprine 9 3 136 45.3 51 0 2Team 1 4 -6 -1.5 14 1 0MEM 11 74 2848 38.5 61 4 24OPP 11 65 2797 43.0 57 0 11
MEMPHIS
1 2 0
2001 Final Statistics
DEFENSEG UT A TOT TFL SACK FR PB
Glenn Sumter 11 90 47 137 2-2 0-0 2-91 13Demorrio Shank 11 40 34 74 8-16 2-7 2-0 4Greg Harper 11 49 24 73 13-41 5-24 2-19 1Tony Brown 11 46 22 68 10-42 7-36 1-0 4Derrick Ballard 9 44 16 60 8-22 1-5 0-0 4Marcus Smith 11 35 20 55 1-1 0-0 0-0 6Albert Means 11 27 24 51 4-21 1-5 0-0 1Coot Terry 9 28 20 48 4-14 2-12 0-0 2Treveco Lucas 11 31 16 47 7-21 4-18 0-0 2Jason Brown 11 23 19 42 2-8 0-0 0-0 8Shaka Hill 11 25 10 35 1-4 0-0 0-0 1Anthony Harden 10 27 7 34 0-0 0-0 0-0 6Eric Taylor 9 23 9 32 4-7 1-1 0-0 2Cameron Essex 10 19 12 31 1-1 0-0 0-0 4Mowbray Rowand 10 14 16 30 6-18 0-0 1-0 0Elijah Bell 9 17 10 27 1-1 0-0 0-0 5Boris Penchion 10 13 13 26 4-14 2-9 0-0 2Kenyun Glover 9 13 9 22 2-14 1-10 0-0 0Scott Vogel 11 13 7 20 1-4 0-0 0-0 0Jacob Ford 10 11 9 20 1-2 0-0 0-0 0Tristan Thomas 10 13 7 20 0-0 0-0 0-0 0Dernice Wherry 9 12 6 18 0-0 0-0 0-0 0Shakorr Bryant 6 9 7 16 6-11 2-3 1-0 0Quincey Stephenson 8 10 4 14 0-0 0-0 0-0 0Aaron Meadows 9 3 6 9 0-0 0-0 0-0 0Robert Douglas 5 2 4 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0Lionel Pieh 5 3 3 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0Antoine Harden 10 3 0 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0Garfield Garth 1 1 1 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0Jeremy Rone 2 1 1 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0Sean Garris 2 2 0 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 1Vincent Brown 1 1 0 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0Chris Cowley 3 0 1 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0TOTAL 11 655 386 1041 86-264 21-127 9-110 34
ALL-PURPOSERUN REC PR KOR OTH YPG TOT
Antoine Harden 11 589 0 533 0 113.3 1133Dante Brown 902 65 0 0 0 87.9 967Ryan Johnson 28 150 376 157 0 64.6 711Bunkie Perkins 9 579 0 0 0 53.5 588Darron White 0 422 0 78 0 50.0 500Travis Anglin 227 98 0 0 0 32.5 325Danny Wimprine 270 -10 0 0 0 28.9 260Jeremiah Bonds 5 -5 0 96 0 32.0 96Jeff Cameron 0 71 0 -7 0 7.1 64Darren Garcia 0 63 0 0 0 10.5 63Glenn Sumter 0 0 0 0 61 5.5 61Aaron Meadows 29 24 0 3 0 6.2 56Sugar Sanders 48 3 0 0 0 7.3 51Neil Suber 34 0 0 0 0 6.8 34MEM 1507 2087 376 885 167 456.5 5022OPP 1686 2526 246 735 7 472.7 5200
FIELD GOALSG 10-29 30-39 40-49 50+ TOT LG BLK
Ryan White 11 2-3 4-4 2-6 0-1 8-14 45 1MEM 11 2-3 4-4 2-6 0-1 8-14 45 1OPP 11 9-9 3-4 3-3 0-1 15-17 48 1
KICKOFF RETURNSG NO YDS AVG TD LG
Antoine Harden 10 25 533 21.3 0 55Ryan Johnson 11 7 157 22.4 0 40Darron White 8 6 78 13.0 0 21Jeremiah Bonds 8 4 96 24.0 0 28Scott Vogel 11 2 16 8.0 0 8Aaron Meadows 11 1 3 3.0 0 3Jeff Cameron 11 1 -7 -7.0 0 0Jason Johnson 10 1 9 9.0 0 9MEM 11 47 885 18.8 0 55OPP 11 43 735 17.1 0 39
INTERCEPTIONSG POS NO YDS TD LG
Glenn Sumter 11 DB 6 61 0 33Jason Brown 11 DB 2 20 0 16Marcus Smith 11 DB 1 27 0 27Anthony Harden 11 DB 1 26 0 26Albert Means 11 DT 1 4 0 4Greg Harper 11 OLB 1 0 0 0Scott Vogel 11 DB 1 0 0 0Sean Garris 11 DB 1 0 0 0Demorrio Shank 11 ILB 1 0 0 0MEM 11 15 167 0 33OPP 11 6 7 0 7
TOTAL OFFENSEG PLYS RUSH PASS TOT AVG
Danny Wimprine 9 280 270 1329 1599 177.7Dante Brown 11 184 902 0 902 82.0Travis Anglin 10 131 227 403 630 63.0Neil Suber 5 70 34 283 317 63.4Ryan Johnson 11 7 28 45 73 6.6Sugar Sanders 7 28 48 0 48 6.9Aaron Meadows 9 17 29 0 29 3.2Lionel Pieh 5 1 0 27 27 5.4Antoine Harden 10 2 11 0 11 1.1Bunkie Perkins 11 2 9 0 9 0.8Jeremiah Bonds 3 5 5 0 5 1.7Scott Scherer 5 1 3 0 3 0.6James Gaither 11 2 -13 0 -13 -1.2team 11 6 -46 0 -46 -6.6MEM 11 736 1507 2087 3594 326.7OPP 11 830 1686 2526 4212 382.9
PUNT RETURNSG NO YDS AVG TD LG
Ryan Johnson 11 36 376 10.4 0 40MEM 11 36 376 10.4 0 40OPP 11 29 246 8.5 1 18
SCORINGG TDS EXP 2XP FG SAF TP
Dante Brown 11 12 0-0 0 0-0 0 72Ryan White 11 0 36-36 0 8-14 0 60Bunkie Perkins 11 6 0-0 0 0-0 0 36Antoine Harden 11 4 0-0 0 0-0 0 24Danny Wimprine 9 3 0-0 1-1 0-0 0 18Travis Anglin 10 3 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 18Darron White 11 3 0-0 0 0-0 0 18Ryan Johnson 11 1 0-0 1-1 0-0 0 8Tripp Higgins 8 1 0-0 0 0-0 0 6Jeff Cameron 8 1 0-0 0 0-0 0 6Derrick Ballard 9 1 0-0 0 0-0 0 6Tavarious Davis 3 1 0-0 0 0-0 0 6Sugar Sanders 7 1 0-0 0 0-0 0 6Aaron Meadows 9 1 0-0 0 0-0 0 6team 11 0 0-1 0 0-0 1 2MEM 11 38 36-36 2-3 8-14 2 294OPP 11 34 27-30 2-4 16-18 0 281
Blocked Kicks (#): Anthony Harden (2)
1 2 1
2001 Superlatives2001 Superlatives
OPPONENT INDIVIDUAL GAME HIGHSRushes ........................................... 26, Leonard Henry (East Carolina)Yards Rushing........................................ 155, Tony Stallings (Louisville)TD Rushes ..................... 2, Tony Stallins (UL) & David Garrard (ECU)Long Rush ............................................... 51, Tony Stallings (Louisville)Pass Attempts .............................. 61, Marquel Blackwell (South Florida)Pass Completions ............................................ 28, Nick Eddy (Houston)Yards Passing ........................................ 348, Gino Guidugli (Cincinnati)TD Passes ........................................... 5, Casey Clausen (Tennessee)Long Pass ............................................... 69, Dave Ragone (Louisville)Receptions ......................................... 8, Huey Whittaker(South Florida)................................................................ 8, Orlando Iglesias (Houston)Yards Receiving ........................................ 144, Jon Olinger (Cincinnati)TD Receptions .................................... 3, Donte' Stallworth (Tennessee)Long Receptions ...................................... 69, Deion Branch (Louisville)Field Goals .............................................. 4, Kevin Miller (East Carolina)Long Field Goal .................................................. 48, Nick Hayes (UAB)Punts ................................................................ 11, Ross Stewart (UAB)Punting Average ................................ 49.0, Dustin Colquit (Tennessee)Long Punt ....................................................... 57, Dan McElroy (Army)Long Punt Return ............................................. 18, Willie Quinnie (UAB)Long Kickoff Return ................................... 39, Omari Thompson (Army)Tackles ............................................ 11, Anthon Williams (South Florida)Sacks ..................................................... 3, Chris Daley (South Florida)Interceptions .................................................................. 1, by 6 players
INDIVIDUAL GAME HIGHSRushes .................................................... 26, Dante Brown vs HoustonYards Rushing........................... 158, Dante Brown vs UT-ChattanoogaTD Rushes ................................................ 4, Dante Brown vs HoustonLong Rush .................................. 62, Dante Brown vs UT-ChattanoogaPass Attempts .................................... 33, Danny Wimprine vs CincinnatiPass Completions .................. 16, Danny Wimprine vs ECU & CincinnatiYards Passing ................................. 295, Danny Wimprine vs CincinnatiTD Passes .................................................4, Danny Wimprine vs ArmyLong Pass ........................................... 73, Danny Wimprine vs HoustonReceptions ........................................ 7,Bunkie Perkins vs East Carolina.................................................................... Darron White vs CincinnatiYards Receiving ................................... 123, Darron White vs CincinnatiTD Receptions ............................................ 2, Antoine Harden vs Army................................................................ 2, Darron White vs CincinnatiLong Receptions .................................. 73, Antoine Harden vs HoustonField Goals ........................ 2, Ryan White vs Southern Miss & CincinnatiLong Field Goal ......... 45, Ryan White vs South Florida & Southern MissPunts ..............................................10, James Gaither vs Southern MissPunting Average ................................ 52.2, James Gaither vs CincinnatiLong Punt ...................................... 61, James Gaither vs Southern MissLong Punt Return .........................................40, Ryan Johnson vs UABLong Kickoff Return ............................. 55, Antoine Harden vs LouisvilleTackles ........................ 18, Glenn Sumter vs Tennessee & East CarolinaSacks ............................................. 3, Tony Brown vs UT-ChattanoogaInterceptions ......................................................... 1, 8 players 15 times
TEAM GAME HIGHSRushes .......................................................................... 51 vs HoustonYards Rushing .............................................................. 252 vs HoustonTD Rushes ...................................................................... 5 vs HoustonPass Attempts ................................................................ 41 vs LouisvillePass Completions .......................................................... 22 vs LouisvilleYards Passing .............................................................295 vs CincinnatiYards Per Pass ................................................................ 10.6 vs ArmyTD Passes ............................................................................ 4 vs ArmyTotal Plays .................................................................... 79 vs LouisvilleTotal Offense ................................................................ 468 vs HoustonYards Per Play .............................................................6.8 vs CincinnatiPoints ............................................................................. 52 vs HoustonSacks By ................................................................. 5 vs Southern MissFirst Downs ................................................................... 24 vs LouisvillePenalties ........................................................... 13 vs UT-ChattanoogaPenalty Yards ................................................... 110 vs UT-ChattanoogaTurnovers ........................................... 4 vs South Florida & TennesseeInterceptions By .................... 3 vs South Florida, Southern Miss & Army
OPPONENT TEAM GAME HIGHSRushes ...................................................................... 57, East CarolinaYards Rushing ................................................................. 235, LouisvilleTD Rushes ........................................................ 3, Louisville & HoustonPass Attempts ............................................................. 62, South FloridaPass Completions ............................................................... 28, HoustonYards Passing ................................................................ 348, CincinnatiYards Per Pass ....................................................... 10.3, East CarolinaTD Passes ....................................................................... 5, TennesseeTotal Plays ....................................................................... 90, CincinnatiTotal Offense .................................................................. 572, CincinnatiYards Per Play ................................................................. 6.6, LouisvillePoints ............................................................................. 49, TennesseeSacks By ...................................................................... 5, South FloridaFirst Downs ...................................................................... 33, CincinnatiPenalties .................................................................... 13, South FloridaPenalty Yards ........................................... 93,South Florida & CincinnatiTurnovers ........ 4, Miss State, South Florida, Southern Miss, Army, UABInterceptions By .................................................... 2, UAB & Tennessee
Rushing Offense ................................................................................ 73Passing Offense ................................................................................. 82Total Offense ..................................................................................... 97Net Punting ....................................................................................... 62Punt Returns ..................................................................................... 39Kickoff Returns ................................................................................... 85Scoring ............................................................................................. 59Rushing Defense ............................................................................... 61Pass Efficiency Defense ..................................................................... 33Total Defense .................................................................................... 66Scoring Defense ............................................................................. T57Turnover Margin ............................................................................ T22
NCAA TEAM RANKINGS
MEMPHIS
1 2 2
Miscellaneous StatsMiscellaneous StatsIn the RED ZONE
Total ScoresTouchdowns 36, Field Goals 5
Non-ScoresMissed Field Goals 2
Loss of Downs 2Clock 0
Turnovers 1 (fumbles 1, Interceptions 0)
Opponent Total ScoresTouchdowns 24, Field Goals 12
Opponent Non-ScoresMissed Field Goals 1
Loss of Downs 6Clock 1
Turnovers 2 (fumbles 1, Interceptions 1, Clock 1)
TurnoversTakeaways 25, Giveaways 16 (Diff. +9)
Points Off TurnoversMemphis 87 (TD 12, FG 1)Opponent 33 (TD 5, FG 1)
Points Off Turnovers Per GameMemphis 8.70
Opponents 3.30
Third Down ConversionsYards Made/Att. Pct.1-3 24-35 .6854-6 12-42 .2857-10 15-53 .28311+ 4-24 .166Total 55-156 .352
Drive Chart Drives Drives Ended By Points Pts./ DriveQuarterback Started TD FG FGA PUNT DOWN TURN CLOCK Scored Drive EfficiencyWimprine 91 24 6 6 39 4 7 8 184 2.02 0.329Anglin 46 11 2 3 24 2 4 2 81 1.76 0.282Suber 25 3 0 2 12 0 6 2 21 0.84 0.120
Kickoffs No. Ret. OB TB FC OSK Avg. Depth Avg. Drive StartWhite 57 42 2 10 0 3 3.65 (208) 22.40 (1277)
Game-By-Game Team ComparisonsGame Score 1st Downs T.O.P Rushing Passing Total Offense 3rd Down
(No.-Yds-TD) (Cmp-Att-Yds-TD) (TP-Yds-TD) ConversionsMemphis 10 10 34:29 46-86-0 10-17-120-1 63-162-1 2-15
at Mississippi State 30 17 25:31 41-179-1 12-22-174-2 63-353-3 4-13Memphis 43 22 29:34 43-245-3 20-29-198-3 74-443-6 7-15
vs UT-Chattanooga 10 20 30:26 29-30-1 20-46-201-0 75-231-1 6-18
Memphis 17 16 32:10 43-161-1 15-20-164-1 63-325-2 0-11vs South Florida 9 20 27:50 23-124-0 25-62-276-0 85-400-0 5-19
Memphis 21 24 31:49 38-212-1 22-41-177-2 79-389-3 9-18
at Louisville 38 20 28:11 40-235-3 15-27-207-2 67-442-5 7-13Memphis 22 10 27:56 34-79-1 14-30-103-0 64-182-1 4-18
vs Southern Miss 17 13 32:04 34-60-1 21-37-204-1 71-264-2 5-17
Memphis 52 23 29:55 51-252-5 14-22-216-2 73-468-7 7-14at Houston 33 22 30:05 28-130-3 28-42-331-2 70-461-5 5-12
Memphis 11 11 23:23 31-72-0 16-27-159-1 58-231-1 5-15
at East Carolina 32 28 36:37 57-205-2 20-26-268-1 83-473-3 6-14Memphis 14 14 30:20 33-94-1 19-40-185-1 73-279-2 5-18
vs UAB 17 9 29:40 44-114-2 7-20-61-0 64-175-2 3-16
Memphis 28 20 23:56 27-23-1 18-37-281-3 64-304-4 3-10at Tennessee 49 28 36:04 43-218-1 24-39-320-5 82-520-6 5-15
Memphis 42 19 25:18 40-138-2 13-22-233-4 62-371-6 8-11
vs Army 10 20 34:42 45-167-1 16-35-154-0 80-321-1 6-18Memphis 34 23 24:54 32-145-1 16-33-295-3 65-440-4 5-13
vs Cincinnati 36 33 35:06 54-224-2 18-36-348-2 90-572-4 5-15
Fourth Down ConversionsYards Made/Att. Pct.1-3 2-5 .4004-6 0-3 .0007-10 0-0 .00011+ 0-3 .000Total 2-11 .181
MEMPHIS
1 2 3
Game-by-Game StatsGame-by-Game StatsGame-by-Game Rushing
No.-Yds-TD 20 Sanders 47 Meadows 22 Bonds 46 Brown 18 Wimprine 15 Anglin 14 Suber 9 R.Johnsonat Mississippi State DNP 10-22-0 13-35-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 15-32-0 3-(-2)-0 DNPUT-Chattanooga 8-43-0 7-19-2 17-75-0 1-3-0 0-0-0 12-34-2 0-0-0 DNPSouth Florida 31-96-0 6-16-0 DNP 0-0-0 0-0-0 2-32-0 4-0-0 1-3-0at Louisville 7-73-1 19-66-1 DNP 0-0-0 0-0-0 DNP 6-(-6)-0 4-8-0Southern Miss 1-(-5)-0 14-38-0 5-11-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 DNP 4-(-19)-0 11-44-0at Houston 29-132-1 7-7-0 DNP 0-0-0 13-(-12)-0 DNP DNP 6-4-0at East Carolina 19-39-0 1-0-0 2-8-0 0-0-0 9-2-1 0-0-0 DNP 4-8-0UAB 26-69-1 1-6-0 1-3-0 0-0-0 13-(-19)-0 DNP DNP 5-14-0at Tennessee 15-59-0 0-0-0 3-8-0 0-0-0 9-(-16)-0 DNP DNP DNPArmy 24-122-1 0-0-0 4-16-0 0-0-0 13-0-0 DNP DNP 3-9-0Cincinnati 18-18-0 0-0-0 1-3-0 3-34-0 5-(-11)-0 DNP 3-23-0 3-12-0
Game-by-Game RushingNo.-Yds-TD 1 Perkins 33 Atw.Harden 12 Scherer 85 Gaitherat Mississippi State 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 1-(-13-0)UT-Chattanooga 1-6-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0South Florida 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0at Louisville 0-0-0 1-0-0 1-6-0 0-0-0Southern Miss 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0at Houston 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0at East Carolina 0-0-0 0-0-0 1-3-0 0-0-0UAB 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0at Tennessee 1-10-0 1-11-0 0-0-0 0-0-0Army 1-(-1)-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0Cincinnati 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0
Game-by-Game ReceivingNo.-Yds-TD 9 Johnson 1 Perkins 88 Davis 81 Higgins 28 D.White 16 Garcia 86 Cameron 33 Awt.Hardenat Mississippi State 0-0-0 5-68-1 1-5-0 2-(-3)-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 DNPUT-Chattanooga 3-26-0 4-57-0 1-12-1 1-12-1 4-39-0 2-10-0 1-6-0 1-10-0South Florida 3-6-0 1-7-0 1-8-0 1-4-0 2-20-0 0-0-0 1-20-0 2-14-0at Louisville 2-4-0 5-48-1 DNP 0-0-0 6-75-1 1-10-0 1-9-0 4-39-0Southern Miss 0-0-0 2-7-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 4-49-0 1-4-0 2-7-0 4-35-0at Houston 2-18-0 4-92-1 0-0-0 0-0-0 3-9-0 0-0-0 1-9-0 3-85-1at East Carolina 1-39-0 7-50-1 DNP DNP 1-(-7)-0 2-28-0 1-7-0 2-47-0UAB 5-38-0 5-51-0 DNP DNP 3-25-0 0-0-0 1-4-1 3-49-0at Tennessee 0-0-0 6-87-1 DNP 0-0-0 2-69-0 0-0-0 2-9-0 6-104-0Army 1-3-1 4-91-1 DNP DNP 2-20-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 3-109-2Cincinnati 1-16-0 3-21-0 DNP DNP 7-123-2 DNP 0-0-0 3-97-1
Game-by-Game Receiving cont.No.-Yds-TD 10 D.Johnson 89 J.Johnson 11 Ad.Harden 46 Brown 20 Sanders 15 Anglin 47 Meadows 22 Bondsat Mississippi State 0-0-0 0-0-0 DNP 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 1-(-5)-0UT-Chattanooga 0-0-0 0-0-0 DNP 2-21-1 0-0-0 0-0-0 1-5-0 0-0-0South Florida DNP 0-0-0 DNP 2-37-0 1-3-1 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0at Louisville DNP 0-0-0 DNP 2-2-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 DNPSouthern Miss DNP 0-0-0 DNP 1-1-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 DNPat Houston 0-0-0 0-0-0 DNP 1-3-0 DNP 0-0-0 0-0-0 DNPat East Carolina DNP 0-0-0 DNP 2-(-5)-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 DNPUAB DNP 0-0-0 DNP 0-0-0 0-0-0 1-6-0 1-12-0 DNPat Tennessee DNP 0-0-0 DNP 0-0-0 0-0-0 1-10-1 1-2-1 0-0-0Army DNP 0-0-0 DNP 2-5-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 1-5-0 DNPCincinnati DNP 0-0-0 DNP 1-1-0 DNP 1-37-0 0-0-0 DNP
MEMPHIS
1 2 4
2001 Game-by-Game Statistics
Game-by-Game PassingCmp-Att-Yds-TD-Int 14 Suber 15 Anglin 18 Wimprineat Miss State 3-6-17-0-0 6-7-56-1-0 1-3-3-0-0UT-Chattanooga 5-7-53-1-0 15-22-145-2-0 DNPSouth Florida 5-7-25-0-1 9-12-94-1-0 DNPat Louisville DNP 11-17-77-0-0 11-24-100-2-0Southern Miss DNP 1-3-1-0-0 13-27-102-0-0at Houston DNP 0-1-0-0-0 14-21-216-2-0at East Carolina DNP 0-0-0-0-0 16-27-159-1-0UAB 11-18-93-0-1 0-0-0-0-0 7-19-65-0-2at Tennessee 6-16-95-1-1 0-0-0-0-0 12-21-186-2-1Army DNP 1-1-30-0-0 12-21-203-4-1Cincinnati DNP 0-0-0-0-0 16-33-295-3-0
Game-by-Game Field Goals Game-by-Game Punting
Scoring DrivesPlays-Yds-Time of Possessionat Mississippi State 9-49-4:47-FG; 2-20-0:41-TDUT-Chattanooga 5-80-1:52-TD; 8-81-2:59-TD; SAF; 11-50-3:05-TD; 13-87-
4:55-TD; 7-77-2:17-TD; 5-44-2:09-TDSouth Florida 3-80-1:00-TD; 6-28-2:12-TD; 5-83-1:43-TDat Louisville 4-22-1:42-TD; 11-65-2:47-TD; 4-35-1:24-TDSouthern Miss 3-4-0:53-TD; 6-12-0:30-FG; Int. Return-TD; SAF; 9-38-4:04-FGat Houston 9-60-3:12-TD; 9-59-3:10-FG; 9-56-2:05-TD; 1-11-0:09-TD; 9-
70-3:24-TD; 3-78-0:56-TD; 4-46-1:48-TD; 10-68-3:24-TDat East Carolina 9-30-2:56-FG; 8-63-1:37-TDUAB 9-80-3:39-TD; 14-77-6:14-TDat Tennessee 3-60-0:54-TD; 14-67-5:24-TD; 6-56-2:02-TD; 4-64-1:01-TDArmy 5-55-2:15-TD; 7-60-2:30-TD; 18-98-6:35-TD; 4-23-1:43-TD;
4-10-1:14-TD; 7-95-3:10-TDCincinnati 8-50-3:28-FG; 1-69-0:09-TD; 9-70-2:09-TD; 13-85-4:00-FG;
4-68-1:00-TD; 4-65-1:48-TD
Long Drives1. 18 Plays, 98 Yards, TOP 6:33 (2nd Quarter) TD vs Army2. 7 Play, 95 Yards, TOP 3:10 (4th Quarter) TD vs Army3. 13 Plays, 87 Yards, TOP 4:55 (3rd Quarter) TD vs. UT-C4. 13 Plays, 85 Yards, TOP 4:00 (3rd Quarter) FG vs Cincinnati5. 5 Plays, 83 Yards, TOP 1:43 (1st Quarter) TD vs South Florida6. 8 Plays, 81 Yards, TOP 2:59 (2nd Quarter) TD vs UT-C
Opponent1. 16 Plays, 91 Yards, TOP 6:53 (3rd Quarter) TD by Cincinnati
10 Plays, 91 Yards, TOP 4:25 (2nd Quarter) TD by Houston3. 8 Plays, 87 Yards, TOP 2:22 (1st Quarter) TD by Tennessee
10 Plays, 87 Yards, TOP 1:06 (4th Quarter) Clock by South Florida13 Plays, 87 Yards, TOP 5:18 (4th Quarter) loss on downs Army
No.-Avg.-In 20 85 Gaither 18 Wimprineat Miss State 6-37.3-2 0-0-0UT-Chattanooga 7-41.6-2 DNPSouth Florida 9-36.9-2 DNPat Louisville 7-33.4-3 0-0-0Southern Miss 10-45.0-5 0-0-0at Houston 3-44.0-2 0-0-0at East Carolina 5-43.8-1 2-51.0-2UAB 9-38.9-3 0-0-0at Tennessee 5-40.2-1 0-0-0Army 2-38.0-1 0-0-0Cincinnati 4-52.3-0 1-34.0-0
Made (R. White) Made Missedat Miss State 33 -UT-Chattanooga - -South Florida 45 42at Louisville - 40Southern Miss 37, 45 -at Houston 22 -at East Carolina 31 -UAB - 52at Tennessee - -Army - 47Cincinnati 30, 22 27
TacklesGame-by-Game Defense
UT-AT-TT Miss St. UT-Chatt. Sou. Florida Louisville USM Houston ECU UAB Tennessee Army CincinnatiRowand (DE) 1-4-5 1-5-6 0-2-2 0-1-1 1-1-2 2-1-3 5-1-6 1-1-2 2-1-3 1-0-1 0-0-0Bryant (DE) DNP DNP 0-0-0 2-1-3 2-1-3 4-2-6 1-1-2 DNP DNP 0-2-2 DNPT.Brown (DE) 3-0-3 6-2-8 5-2-7 1-1-2 7-1-8 2-2-4 6-3-9 4-0-4 5-1-6 6-1-7 3-3-6Lucas (DE) 3-1-4 2-1-3 0-1-1 1-1-2 3-1-4 4-0-4 4-2-6 3-2-5 2-2-4 3-3-6 2-1-3E.Taylor (DT) 3-0-3 0-0-0 DNP 0-2-2 2-1-3 2-1-3 0-0-0 5-1-6 4-2-6 3-2-5 4-0-4Ford (DE) 0-1-1 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-1 0-2-2 0-0-0 0-1-1 1-0-1 4-3-7 1-0-1Rone (DE) DNP 0-1-1 DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP 1-0-1 DNPGlover (DT) 2-0-2 1-2-3 0-1-1 2-1-3 1-2-3 1-1-2 1-1-2 2-1-3 2-1-3 2-0-2 0-0-0Means (DT) 2-1-3 1-3-4 3-0-3 0-2-2 1-4-5 3-2-5 3-3-6 3-1-4 3-1-4 4-5-9 4-2-6Garth (DT) DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP 1-1-2 DNPPenchion (DT) 2-3-5 1-1-2 2-1-3 0-1-1 1-0-1 0-11 3-2-5 3-1-4 1-1-2 0-2-2 0-0-0Shank (ILB) 3-4-7 5-3-8 1-1-2 6-4-10 5-3-8 3-5-8 1-4-5 4-4-8 5-3-8 4-3-7 2-1-3Terry (OLB) 3-2-5 5-4-9 8-2-10 2-2-4 3-4-7 1-1-2 3-2-5 0-0-0 1-1-2 0-0-0 2-2-4S.Taylor (OLB) DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPV.Brown (ILB) DNP 0-1-1 DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPGr.Harper (OLB) 3-3-6 5-3-8 4-2-6 2-2-4 6-0-6 4-2-6 6-4-10 4-4-8 6-2-8 4-1-5 5-1-6Douglas (OLB) 0-2-2 1-0-1 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-1-1 0-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-1 0-0-0 0-0-0Ballard (OLB) DNP DNP 4-1-5 6-1-7 3-2-5 4-1-5 1-2-3 11-2-13 5-1-6 5-3-8 5-3-8Hill (ILB) 0-0-0 0-1-1 2-0-2 1-0-1 3-0-3 1-1-2 5-4-9 0-1-1 1-1-2 2-0-2 3-1-4Young (OLB) DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP 0-0-0 DNPHyden (OLB) DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP 0-0-0 DNPVogel (DB) 5-3-8 2-1-3 1-0-1 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-1-1 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 2-0-2 1-0-1Sumter (DB) 7-5-12 2-3-5 7-1-8 11-2-13 12-3-15 4-9-13 11-7-18 8-6-14 11-7-18 7-1-8 10-3-13Essex (DB) 1-2-3 2-1-3 2-1-3 1-0-1 1-1-2 2-2-4 0-0-0 3-0-3 0-1-1 3-1-4 0-0-0Thomas (DB) 0-0-0 1-0-1 0-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-1 2-1-3 0-2-2 0-2-2 0-2-2 2-0-2 0-0-0Garris (DB) DNP DNP 0-0-0 DNP DNP DNP 1-0-1 0-0-0 0-0-0 1-0-1 0-0-0M.Smith (DB) 3-2-5 5-2-7 3-1-4 2-1-3 2-3-5 3-2-5 6-3-9 4-1-5 4-3-7 3-2-5 0-0-0Pieh (DB) 0-0-0 1-0-1 0-0-0 1-0-1 0-0-0 0-1-1 0-0-0 1-0-1 2-1-3 0-0-0 0-0-0J.Brown (DB) 1-2-3 2-0-2 2-1-3 1-0-1 2-1-3 0-4-4 5-2-7 2-2-4 2-6-8 3-1-4 4-1-5Wherry (OLB) 2-0-2 1-1-2 4-0-4 1-1-2 0-0-0 1-1-2 0-0-0 0-1-1 0-2-2 2-1-3 0-0-0Ant. Harden (DB) 2-0-2 2-0-2 2-1-3 2-0-2 3-0-3 2-1-3 2-1-3 0-0-0 4-2-6 2-1-3 6-1-7
Stephenson (DB) 0-0-0 1-0-1 1-0-1 1-0-1 0-1-1 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 2-1-3 1-0-1 1-0-1
(Game leaders are in bold)
TACKLES ARE COMPUTED FOLLOWING COACHES REVIEW OF GAME FILM
1 2 5
OPPONENT QB TB FB SE TE FL LT LG C RG RTat Mississippi Evans Arnold Tucker Blevins Kendall Dodson Middle. Seymour Powers Hicks SellsMississippi State Evans Arnold Floyd (WR) Blevins Kendall Dodson Middle. Seymour Powers Hicks Sellsat Minnesota
Name Miss. St. UT-Chatt. Sou. Fla. Louisville Sou. Miss. Houston E. Carolina UAB Tennessee Army CincinnatiMatt Adams DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPEric Anderson ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Travis Anglin ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Jason Austin DNP ✔ DNP DNP DNP ✔ DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPDerrick Ballard DNP DNP ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Elijah Bell DNP ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Jared Bidne DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPGreg Billingslea DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPJeremiah Bonds ✔ ✔ ✔ DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP ✔ DNP DNPDante Brown ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Jason Brown ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ DNPTony Brown ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Vincent Brown DNP ✔ DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPShakorr Bryant DNP DNP ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ DNP DNP ✔ DNPJeff Cameron ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Dierre Carter DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPBaki Celaj DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPWilliam Clark DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPJames Corder DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNChris Cowley DNP ✔ DNP ✔ DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPJon Crews DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPTavarious Davis ✔ ✔ ✔ DNP ✔ ✔ DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPRobert Douglas DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPJosh Eargle ✔ ✔ DNP DNP DNP ✔ DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPDarche Epting DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPSir Ernest DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPCameron Essex ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Trey Eyre ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ DNP DNP DNP ✔ ✔ ✔Jacob Ford ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Chris Franklin DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPGene Frederic ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Darren Garcia ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ DNPSean Garris ✔ DNP ✔ DNP DNP ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Garfield Garth DNP ✔ DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP ✔ DNPMatt Gehrke ✔ DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP ✔ ✔ DNP DNPJoey Gerda ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ DNP DNPKenyun Glover ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Draper Hall DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP ✔ ✔ DNPAndrew Handy DNP DNP DNP ✔ ✔ ✔ DNP DNP ✔ ✔ DNPAndrew Harden DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPAnthony Harden ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Antoine Harden DNP ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Derrick Harmon DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPDrew Harmon DNP DNP DNP DNP ✔ ✔ DNP DNP ✔ ✔ DNPGreg Harper ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔DeShaun Harris DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPArtis Hicks ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Tripp Higgins ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ DNP DNP ✔ DNP DNPShaka Hill ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Will Hyden DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP ✔ DNPRyan Ivey DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPDerron Johnson ✔ ✔ DNP DNP DNP ✔ DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPJason Johnson ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Ryan Johnson ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔E.J. LeFlore DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPTorrian Lewis DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPCarlton Little DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPTreveco Lucas ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Donald Marshall ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ DNPWilliam Martin DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPDavid McNair DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPAaron Meadows ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Albert Means ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Chance Nesbitt DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPDerrick Newble DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP
MEMPHIS
1 2 6
Tiger ParticipationTiger Participation
Name Miss. St. UT-Chatt. Sou. Fla. Louisville Sou. Miss. Houston E. Carolina UAB Tennessee Army CincinnatiHenry Oduah DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPJohn Patterson DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPBoris Penchion ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Bunkie Perkins ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Lionel Pieh ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Jimond Pugh ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Dwight Robinson DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPMario Robinson DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPJeremy Rone DNP ✔ DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP ✔ DNMowbray Rowand ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Sugar Sanders ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ DNP ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ DNPScott Scherer ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Ryan Schmitt DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPDemorrio Shank ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Marcus Smith ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Wade Smith ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Quincey Stephenson ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Neil Suber ✔ ✔ ✔ DNP DNP DNP DNP ✔ ✔ DNP DNPGlenn Sumter ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Eric Taylor ✔ ✔ DNP ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Sheldon Taylor DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPCoot Terry ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Tristan Thomas ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Travis Triplett DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPScott Vogel ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Henry Washington DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP ✔ DNPVon Webb DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPMarcus West ✔ ✔ DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP ✔ DNPDernice Wherry ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Darron White ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Ryan White ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Warren Whitaker DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNPDoug Whittaker ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔Danny Wimprine ✔ DNP DNP ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Roberto Young DNP ✔ DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP ✔ DNP
OFFENSE
OPPONENT QB TB FB/WR WR TE WR LT LG C RG RTat Mississippi State Anglin Meadows R.Johnson (WR) Perkins Cameron Garcia Hicks Marshall Pugh E y r e W.Smith
UT-Chattanooga Anglin D.Brown R.Johnson (WR) Perkins Cameron Garcia Hicks Marshall Pugh E y r e W.Smith
South Florida Anglin D.Brown R.Johnson (WR) Perkins Cameron Garcia Marshall H icks Pugh E y r e W.Smith
at Louisville Anglin Meadows R.Johnson (WR) Perkins Ant.Harden(WR) D.White Marshall H icks Pugh E y r e W.SmithSouthern Miss Anglin D.Brown D.White (WR) Perkins Cameron Ant.Harden Marshall H icks Pugh E y r e W.Smith
at Houston Wimprine Meadows D.White (WR) R.Johnson D.Johnson(WR) Ant.Harden Marshall H icks Pugh Gerda W.Smith
at East Carolina Wimprine D.Brown J.Johnson (TE) Perkins Cameron Ant.Harden Marshall H icks Pugh Gerda W.SmithU A B Wimprine Anglin (WR) D.White (WR) Perkins R.Johnson (WR) Ant.Harden Whittaker Hicks Pugh Gerda W.Smith
at Tennessee Suber D.Brown Meadows (FB) R.Johnson Cameron Ant.Harden Whittaker Hicks Pugh Gerda W.Smith
A r m y Wimprine D.Brown R.Johnson (WR) Perkins Cameron Ant.Harden Whittaker Hicks Pugh Anderson W.SmithCincinnati Wimprine D.Brown Meadows (FB) Perkins Cameron Ant.Harden Whittaker Hicks Pugh E y r e W.Smith
DEFENSEOPPONENT DE DT DT DE WLB MLB SLB BC R FS BCat Mississippi State T.Brown E.Taylor Glover Rowand Terry Shank Gr.Harper M.Smith J.Brown Sumter Ath.Harden
UT-Chattanooga T.Brown E.Taylor Glover Rowand Terry Shank Gr.Harper M.Smith J.Brown Sumter Ath.Harden
South Florida T.Brown Means Glover Rowand Terry Shank Gr.Harper M.Smith J.Brown Sumter Ath.Hardenat Louisville T.Brown Means Penchion Rowand Terry Shank Gr.Harper M.Smith J.Brown Sumter Ath.Harden
Southern Miss T.Brown Means Glover Rowand Ballard Shank Gr.Harper M.Smith J.Brown Sumter Ath.Harden
at Houston T.Brown Means E.Taylor Rowand Ballard Shank Gr.Harper M.Smith J.Brown Sumter Ath.Hardenat East Carolina T.Brown Means E.Taylor Rowand Ballard Shank Gr.Harper M.Smith J.Brown Sumter Ath.Harden
UAB T.Brown E.Taylor Glover Rowand Terry Shank Ballard M.Smith J.Brown Sumter Essex
at Tennessee T.Brown E.Taylor Glover Rowand Ballard Shank Gr.Harper M.Smith J.Brown Sumter Ath.HardenArmy T.Brown E.Taylor Means Lucas Ballard Shank Gr.Harper M.Smith J.Brown Sumter Essex
Cincinnati T.Brown E.Taylor Means Lucas Ballard Shank Gr.Harper M.Smith J.Brown Sumter Essex
2001 Game-by-Game Statistics
1 2 7
2001 START CHART
'01 Key Departures'01 Key DeparturesAppeared in two games for the Tigers during the 2001 season ... Worked as a back-up centerwith Jimond Pugh ... Played in the UT-Chattanooga and Houston games ... Lettered for threeseasons for the Tigers ... Played in nine games during the 2000 season ... Worked as a center
and guard during his career ... Played in a total of 18 games during his career.
51 JASON AUSTIN, Center6-5, 298, 3L, Winder, GA (Winder-Barrow)
98
MEMPHIS
65 ARTIS HICKS, Offensive Guard6-5, 295, 4L, Jackson, TN (Central-Merry)
Appeared in all 44 career games, including 43 as a starter ... Was a starter at both strong guardand quick tackle during his career ... Played 2,717 career snaps in the Tiger offensive line outof a possible 2,979 total plays ... Was named first team All-Conference USA in 2001 ... Wasselected to the Conference USA All-Freshman Team in 1998 ... Was selected to The SportingNews Freshman All-America Team in 1998 ... Was the first Tiger selected in the 2002 NFLDraft.
25 CHANCE NESBITT, Defensive Back6-3, 197, 2L, Columbia, SC (Columbia)
Came to the Tigers as a quarterback but was used as a receiver and defensive back ... Letteredfor two years before injuries took their toll ... Played in 13 games for the Tigers over threeseasons ... Suffered a knee injury that required surgery in the fall of 2000 and never returnedto game action ... Had one pass reception during the 1999 season against Ole Miss andregistered two tackles in the 2000 season.
58 DRAPER HALL, Linebacker6-0, 215, 2L, Little Rock, AR (J.A. Fair)
A walk-on who lettered for two years with the Tiger defense ... Worked as an outside line-backer and special teams member during his career ... Played in two games as a senior ...Appeared in the Tennessee and Army contests ... Played in the Tulane game of 2000 and wascredited with one tackle ... Appeared in the 1999 Cincinnati game.
Jason AustinCenter
Josh EargleOffensive Guard
Draper HallOutside Linebacker
Drew HarmonCenter
Artis HicksOffensive Guard
Ryan JohnsonWide Receiver
Aaron MeadowsTailback
Chance NesbittDefensive Back
1 2 8
One of the most dedicated players to wear the Blue-Gray ... Lettered for three years as anoffensive lineman but was plagued with injuries throughout his career ... Had knee surgeryafter the second game of his junior season and was never able to return at full strength ...Started against Mississippi State and Louisiana-Monroe in 2000 before suffering a tornACL ... Missed the remainder of 2000 and the spring of 2001 ... Appeared in nine gamnes forthe Tigers during his career ... Received the Top Tiger Award at the 2001 Football Banquet.
63 JOSH EARGLE, Offensive Guard6-3, 282, 3L, Sulphur Springs, TX (Sulphur Springs)
64 DREW HARMON, Center6-4, 245, 1L, Sharpsburg, GA (East Coweta)
Lettered for the Tigers during the 2001 season while working as a back-up center behindJimond Pugh ... Played in four games for the Tigers ... Appeared in the Southern Miss andHouston wins as well as the Tennessee and Army games ... Played 34 snaps of the Houstonvictory ... Had 14 snaps in each of the Tennessee and Army game.
9 RYAN JOHNSON, Wide Receiver6-1, 190, 3L, St. Louis, MO (CBCHS)
Appeared in 29 games, including 11 as a starter at wide receiver and kick returner ... Placedhis name in the Tiger record book seven times as a punt returner ... Finished his career with512 yards receiving and scored three touchdowns ... Had 28 career kickoff returns for 555yards averaging 22.4 yards per return ... Had 76 career punt returns for 784 yards ... Averaged10.4 yards per return for his career ... Is ranked first in number of career punt returns, sixth incareer punt return yardage and second in career punt return yards ... Left school one year earlyto enter the NFL Draft.
JOHNSON'S STATISTICS
Receiving G/S No. Yds Avg TD LG1999 7/0 7 111 15.9 0 392000 11/3 25 251 10.0 2 402001 11/8 18 150 8.3 1 39Totals 29/11 50 512 10.2 3 40Punt Returns G/S No. Yds Avg TD LG1999 7/0 3 19 6.3 0 112000 11/3 37 389 10.5 0 822001 11/8 36 376 10.4 0 40Totals 29/11 76 784 10.3 0 82
Came to the Tigers as a transfer from Millsaps College and earned a scholarship in 2001 ...Lettered for two seasons and was used as a special teams member ... Played in 11 games as ajunior and senior ... Appeared in six games as a sophomore ... Had 17 rushes for 29 yards asa senior and caught four passes for 24 yards and one touchdown ... TD came against Tennesseein Knoxville ... Finished his career with 30 rushes for 110 yards and one rushing touchdownwhich came against Tulane in New Orleans .. Had 10 career pass receptions.
Rushing G/S No. Yds Avg TD LG1999 6/0 9 44 4.9 1 132000 11/0 4 37 9.2 0 232001 11/5 17 29 1.7 0 6Totals 28/5 30 110 3.7 1 23
47 AARON MEADOWS, Tailback6-0, 195, 2L, Rossville, TN (Rossville Acad.)
MEADOWS' STATISTICS
Was a two-year letterman for the Tigers at receiver ... Was UM Offensive Player of the Yearin 2001 ... Came to Memphis as a transfer from Hinds Community College and became a starter... Played in all 11 games in 2000 and 2001... Was the leading receiver both seasons ... Had33 catches for 314 yards as a junior and grabbed 46 passes for 579 yards and six touchdownsas a senior ... Averaged 12.6 yards per catch as a senior ... Had a career high 82 yards receivingagainst Houston in 2001 and had 91 yards against Army ... Finished his career with 79receptions for 893 yards and six TDs.
PERKINS' STATISTICS
Receiving G/S No. Yds Avg TD LG2000 11/8 33 314 9.5 0 332001 11/9 46 579 12.6 6 43Totals 22/17 79 893 11.3 6 43
99
39 QUINCY STEPHENSON ,Defensive Back5-6, 169, 3L, Memphis, TN (East)
Lettered for three years as a walk-on defensive back ... Worked with the Tiger special teamsand as a cornerback ... Was credited with six tackles in '01 ... Had five tackles in 2000 andlogged four hits in 1999 ... Was a leader on special teams and had two punts downed insidethe twenty against Southern Mississippi in 2001 ... Finished career with 15 tackles and oneblocked kick.
2001 Key Departures
Played in 29 games, including 23 as a starter at cornerback ... Was the team's 6th leadingtackler in '01 with 55 tackles ... Had one pass interception which was returned for 27 yards... Registered 22 tackles in 2000 and had 28 hits during the 1999 season ... Credited with acareer high nine tackles in the 2001 East Carolina game ... Had three career pass interceptions... Finished career with 105 tackles and three interceptions.
SMITH' STATISTICS
Defense G/S UT AT Tot. Loss Sacks1999 11/5 19 9 28 1-2 0-02000 7/7 19 3 22 1-1 0-02001 11/11 35 20 55 1-1 0-0Total 29/23 73 32 105 3-4 0-0
21 MARCUS SMITH, Defensive Back5-10, 183, 3L, Memphis, TN (Hamilton)
14 NEIL SUBER, Quarterback6-3, 235, 4L, Woodstock, GA (Etowah)
Played in 28 games during his career and was the Tiger starter at quarterback in 14 of thosecontests ... Worked as a back-up quarterback during 2001 season ... Threw for 283 yards andthree touchdowns during the 2001 season ... Had 581 yards passing as a junior with twoTDs ... Completed 78 passes for 852 yards as a sophomore with four TDs and threw for 930yards and five TDs as a freshman ... His 930 yards as a freshman was a school record for a firstyear QB at the time ... Was twice named the Paul Gingold MVP of the Blue-Gray Spring Game... Received Tommy West's Top Tiger Award for the 2001 season ... Finished his career with238 pass completions for 2,646 yards and 14 touchdowns ... Is ranked sixth on Tigers' all-time passing list.
Passing G/S Att. Comp Pct Yds TD Int LG1998 7/4 124 61 .492 930 5 4 821999 10/7 164 78 .475 852 4 5 822000 6/2 121 69 .570 581 2 5 332001 5/1 54 30 .556 283 3 2 35Totals 28/14 463 238 .514 2646 14 16 *82
* ties for the sixth longest pass completion in Memphis history
1 BUNKIE PERKINS, Wide Receiver5-8, 160, 2L, Vicksburg, MS (Hinds JC)
1 2 9
Appeared in 29 games, including 11 as a starter at tailback ... Rushed for 48 yards on 28carries as a back-up for Dante Brown in 2001 ... Had one pass reception for three yards anda touchdown in the South Florida game ... Rushed for 646 yards and four touchdowns as ajunior ... Had a career high 132 yards rushing against East Carolina in 2000 ... Had a careerlong run of 62 yards against Army at West Point in 2000 ... Gained 254 yards rushing as afreshman in 1999 ... Finished his career with 948 yards rushing on 254 carries.
SANDERS' STATISTICS
Rushing G/S No. Yds Avg TD LG1999 10/2 59 254 4.3 2 282000 10/9 167 646 3.9 4 622001 9/0 28 48 1.7 0 9Totals 29/11 254 948 3.7 6 62
20 SUGAR SANDERS, Tailback5-11, 210, 3L, Coral Springs, FL (Coral Springs)
Was a four year letterman and three year starter for the Tigers ... Worked as an outside line-backer and inside linebacker during career ... Was credited with 74 tackles as a senior,including eight for lost yardage ... Was the team's second leading tackler in 2001 ... Startedall 11 games as a senior after redshirting in 2000 ... Suffered a broken bone in his foot in 2001and missed the season ... Had 65 tackles as a junior in 1999 and 63 tackles as a starter in 1998... Worked in 1998 and 1999 as an outside linebacker ... Finished his career with 221 totaltackles ... Was voted by team as a permanent captain for 2001 season.
SHANK'S STATISTICS
Defense G/S UT AT Tot. Loss Sacks1997 11/0 5 14 19 0-0 0-01998 11/10 35 28 63 2-14 2-141999 11/11 31 34 65 2-10 1-32001 11/11 40 34 74 8-16 2-7Total 44/32 111 110 221 12-40 5-24
45DEMORRIO SHANK, Linebacker5-11, 235, 4L, LaGrange, GA (LaGrange)
SUBER'S STATISTICS
Sugar SandersTailback
Demorrio ShankLinebacker
Marcus SmithDefensive Back
Bunkie PerkinsWide Receiver
Neil SuberQuarterback
Quincy StephensonDefensive Back
Played in five career games for the Tigers' defensive unit and as a special teams member...Appeared in two games in 2001 ... Played against UT-Tennessee and Army ... Appeared inthree games as a junior ... Had one tackle and one pass break-up against Tulane in 2000 ... Wasan outstanding student who was named the Nation's Top Black Engineering Student in2001-02.
2001 Key Departures
56 ROBERTO YOUNG, Outside Linebacker6-1, 229, 2L, St. Louis, MO (Sumner)
1 3 0
Lettered as a running back, defensive back and linebacker in his career as a Tiger ... Playedfree safety for the Tigers in 2001 and appeared in all 11 games ... Logged 18 tackles from hissafety position ... Played tailback for the Tigers in 2000 and was the starter against Missis-sippi State in the season opener ... Finished the 2000 season for 46 carries for 159 yards andhad 11 pass receptions for 58 yards and a touchdown ... Touchdown came on a 10-yard passin the Tennessee game ... Lettered as a linebacker in 1999 ... Credited with 11 tackles ... Playedin 29 career games for the Tigers ... Was named the Offensive Scout Team Player of the Year in1998.
Defense G/S UT AT Tot. Int FR Loss Sacks1999 10/0 10 1 11 0 0 0-0 0-02001 11/0 12 6 18 0 0 0-0 0-0Totals 21/0 22 7 29 0 0 0-0 0-0
Rushing G/S No. Yds Avg TD LG2000 8/2 46 159 3.5 0 32Receiving G/S No. Yds Avg TD LG2000 8/2 11 58 5.3 1 19
3 DERNICE WHERRY, Outside Linebacker6-0, 200, 3L, Covington, TN (Covington)
SUMTER'S STATISTICS
WHERRY'S STATISTICS
Appeared in 31 games, including 24 as a starter in the defensive secondary ... Set a Memphisrecord for tackles by a defensive back with 137 in 2001 ... Had eight double digit tacklegames in 2001 including a career high 18 against East Carolina and Tennessee ... Led theTigers in pass interceptions in 2001 with six returned for 61 yards ... Tied for 8th in the nationin pass interceptions with six ... Had 58 tackles in 2000 and was ranked 14th in the nationin interceptions with five ...Was redshirted during the 1999 season after injuring his kneeduring the 1998 season ... Had 26 tackles and two interceptions as a freshman ... Finished hiscareer with 221 tackles and 13 pass interceptions ... Was named the Defensive Player of theYear in 2001 ... Was selected by his teammates as a permanent Captain for 2001 ... Left schoolone year early to enter the NFL Draft.
Defense G/S UT AT Tot. Int FR Loss Sacks1998 9/2 20 6 26 2-7 0 1-2 0-01999 redshirted with injury2000 11/11 39 19 58 5-76 0 0-0 0-02001 11/11 90 47 137 6-61 2-91 2-2 0-0Total 31/24 149 72 221 13-144 2-91 2-4 0-0
24 GLENN SUMTER, Defensive Back6-2, 192, 3L, Detroit, MI (Cody)
Appeared in 44 games, including 44 as the starting kicker for the Tigers ... Was the mostheralded kicker since Joe Allison ... Was twice a finalist for the Lou Groza Award which goesto the nation's top collegiate kicker ... Made 8-of-14 field goal attempts as a senior and was36-of-36 in PATs ... Had a season long field goal of 45 yards ... Was 12-of-18 in field goals asa junior and hit on 18-of-18 PATs ... Made a long field goal of 47 yards as a junior ... Made 13-of-19 field goals as a sophomore including a school record five field goals against UAB inBirmingham ... Gained national attention as a freshman when he did not miss any field goalattempts or PATs ... Was the only kicker in the country that was perfect in 1998 ... Made 16-of-16 field goal attempts and 22-of-22 PATs ... Had a season and career long 52 yard field goalagainst Cincinnati as a freshman ... Finished his career making 49-of-67 field goal attempts... Was 101-of-101 on PATs during his career at Memphis ... Is the only kicker in Memphishistory to never miss a PAT.
Kicking G/S FGA FGM .Pct LG PATs TP1998 11/11 16 16 1.000 52 22-22 701999 11/11 19 13 .684 47 25-25 642000 11/11 18 12 .667 47 18-18 542001 11/11 14 8 .571 45 36-36 60Total 44/44 67 49 .731 52 101-101 248
82 RYAN WHITE, Kicker5-10, 191, 4L, Lilburn, GA (Shiloh)
Glenn SumterDefensive Back
Dernice WherryOutside Linebacker
Ryan WhiteKicker
Roberto YoungOutside Linebacker
Tiger safety GlennTiger safety GlennTiger safety GlennTiger safety GlennTiger safety GlennSumter set a record forSumter set a record forSumter set a record forSumter set a record forSumter set a record fortackles by a defensivetackles by a defensivetackles by a defensivetackles by a defensivetackles by a defensiveback when he loggedback when he loggedback when he loggedback when he loggedback when he logged137 total hits during the137 total hits during the137 total hits during the137 total hits during the137 total hits during the2001 season. In addi-2001 season. In addi-2001 season. In addi-2001 season. In addi-2001 season. In addi-tion, he was tied fortion, he was tied fortion, he was tied fortion, he was tied fortion, he was tied foreighth nationally ineighth nationally ineighth nationally ineighth nationally ineighth nationally ininterceptions with six.interceptions with six.interceptions with six.interceptions with six.interceptions with six.
January 2, 2001The athletic department staff returned to work after theChristmas holidays but getting to work was slow as ablanket of snow from New Year’s Eve continued to coverMemphis streets. The football staff will be in the officethrough Friday when the coaches depart for their nationalconvention in Atlanta, Georgia. Head coach TommyWest will travel to the convention seeking three assistantcoaches to fill out his staff.
January 3, 2001Tiger free safety Idrees Bashir, who was named to the2000 All-Conference USA Team, has announced that hewill test the NFL waters to see what his draft status is for2001. Bashir, a redshirt junior in 2000, was the team’sthird leading tackler. He would become the first Tiger tocome out early since cornerback Mike McKenzie (GreenBay Packers) in 1998.
January 4, 2001Scott Vogel, a quarterback and safety for Memphis Uni-
versity School, has committed to play for the Tigers in2001. Vogel projects as a strongsafety for Memphis. Vogel isjust the third player in Tigerfootball history to come fromMUS. Former Owl players onscholarship at the U of M in-clude center Hal McGeorge(1970-73) and Tony Settles(1981-82).
January 8, 2001
The Memphis football coaches are in Atlanta, Georgia,for the 2001 NCAA Football Coaches Association Con-vention. Tiger coach Tommy West is using the time tointerview assistant coaches to fill three vacancies on hisstaff including that of offensive coordinator.
January 9, 2001Chris Johnson, the football videographer for Fresno State,arrived in Memphis to interview for the same position onthe University of Memphis staff. Johnson, who is fromChattanooga and who attended the University of Tennes-see, has been the head videographer for Fresno State for
the past three years. The U of M is trying to replace BillSisler, who left Memphis in August to take the videocoordinator’s position at UMass.
January 10, 2001Former Tigers Reginald Howard and Gerard Arnold were
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in the Tiger weightroom visiting with current UM play-ers and working out for their NFL teams. Howard endedthe 2000 season with the Carolina Panthers and is ex-pected to return this summer to the Panthers camp. Arnold,who signed with the Washington Redskins, injured hisknee and missed the season. He is unsure of his futuredue to the changes in staff at Washington.
January 11, 2001
The Commercial Appeal announced that Memphis safetyIdrees Bashir has signed with an agent and would makehimself available for the NFL draft in April. Bashir hadchecked his options with the NFL Advisory Board anddiscovered that he is projected as a third round pick. Hebecomes the first Tiger to leave early since Mike McKenziein 1998.
January 12, 2001Tommy West and his staff welcomed five recruits tocampus for their official visit. The group included line-backer Sheldon Taylor of Trezevant High in Memphis,
James Gaither, a punter from Kentucky and Avery Gibson,a linebacker from Georgia, who had committed to SouthCarolina. Taylor was a former high school teammate ofAlabama sensation Albert Means.
January 13, 2001Joel Baron, a videographer from Millersville Universityin Pennsylvania, came to Memphis to interview for theTigers video coordinator’s position. Baron toured theMemphis facilities and went to dinner at The Rendez-vous with UM coaches. High school recruits continuedtheir visit to the campus.
January 14, 2001Memphis television stations announced that AlbertMeans, a Parade All-American who had signed in 2000with the University of Alabama, was leaving the Tideafter recruiting improprietieswere reported involving hisformer high school coach. It isspeculated that Means, a 6-4,325 pound defensive tackle,could enroll at the Universityof Memphis early next week.
Means played in nine gamesfor the Tide and started the fi-nal four games of the 2000 season. Under NCAA transferrules, the Trezevant High graduate would have to sit outthe 2001 season. However, due to the fact that Means hadno knowledge of the alleged violations involving his
recruitment to Alabama, the U of M will ask the NCAAto restore immediate eligibility for Means.
January 15, 2001The whirlwind of excitement surrounding Albert Meansspilled over into recruiting and three heavily recruitedplayers from Melrose High School in Memphis commit-
ted to the Tigers. Mario
Robinson, Jacob Ford andDierre Carter all announced thatthey would sign with Memphison National Signing Day. Thethree were being recruited by OleMiss, Tennessee, LSU and oth-ers and give new head coachTommy West a boost to his first
recruiting class. Robinson is a tailback who was injuredduring the 2000 season and played in just five games.
January 16, 2001
The recruiting express continued to roll along as punterJames Gaither, who had visited this weekend and SammySmith, a junior college defensive end from Mississippi,announced that they would attend the U of M. Gaither, anative of Leitchfield, Kentucky, is expected to replacegraduated punter Ben Graves. Smith is a 6-5, 245 pounddefensive end from Gulf Coast Junior College in Missis-sippi. Albert Means arrived on the Memphis campus andstarted the enrollment process. The former Parade All-American and director of football operations John Flow-ers walked from department to department on campusgetting Means registered for school.
January 17, 2001The Tigers recruiting efforts continued to pick up steamas Darron White, a tailback-defensive back fromCovington High School committed to the Tigers. Inaddition, Dierre Carter of Melrose High officially an-nounced that he would become a Tiger in February.White had 3,000 yards in total offense in 2000 andscored 32 touchdowns.
January 19, 2001The Tiger coaches are preparing to welcome 15 recruits
to Memphis despite a steady snow fall that promises anaccumulation of 2-3” before the day is over. Visiting theTigers this weekend are LaDarius Price, an outstandingprep quarterback from Memphis, Jayson Cooke, a quar-terback from Newport News, Virginia, Darryl Blackstock,
Scott Vogel
Albert Means
Mario Robinson
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an all-state defensive end from Newport News, Virginia,Mario Loiacono, a lineman from Rummel, Louisianaand Jake Finlayson, a tight end from Selmer, Tennessee.
January 20, 2001Fifteen Tiger football recruits enjoyed dinner at TheRendezvous and then traveled a few blocks to the banksof the Mississippi River to watch the Memphis basket-ball team defeat Houston in The Pyramid. Included in
the group were defensive linemen Shakorr Bryant andGreg Billingslea and offensive linemen Andrew Handyand Gene Frederic.
January 21, 2001The Memphis football recruiting train continued to rollas Shakorr Bryant and Greg Billingslea committed toplay for the Tigers in 2001. Bryant is a 6-3, 245 pounddefensive end from Middle Georgia College andBillingslea is a 6-3, 245 pound high school linemanfrom Tucker, Georgia. Bryant was a teammate of DanteBrown and Eric Anderson, two additional Memphis
recruits, who helped lead Middle Georgia to a fifth placein the national standings.
January 22, 2001Marcus West, an all-state defensive end from Columbus,Mississippi, has committed to play for the Tigers. West,who was heavily recruits by Ole Miss, Mississippi Stateand Southern Mississippi, canceled his visit to Missis-sippi State. Former Memphis offensive lineman John“Jumbo” Evans, who was inducted into the M ClubHall of Fame in 1998, died at his home in Brier Hill,Pennsylvania. Evans played for the Tigers in the early
1960s under former head coach Billy J. Murphy.
January 23, 2001The Tigers gained two additional football commitmentswhen James Corder and Sheldon Taylor both announcedthat they would attend the University of Memphis. Corderis a 6’7, 305 pound offensive lineman from Nashville,Tennessee. He led his Christ Presbyterian Academy to a15-0 record and the Tennessee Class 1A championship.Taylor, a 6’2, 220 pound linebacker from TrezevantHigh School in Memphis, had 100 tackles and ninequarterback sacks during the 2000 season. In 1999, he
teamed with newly signedMemphis defensive linemanAlbert Means to lead
Trezevant to the state play-offs.
January 24, 2001The Tiger football program
continued its strong recruitingperformance when Greg
Billingslea and Cameron Essex made their
commitments to the U of M official. Billingslea was usedas a blocking fullback at Tucker High School in Georgiabut will work as an offensive lineman for the Tigers.Essex is a defensive back who helped in Southwest DeKalbHigh team to a 12-1 record in 1999.
January 25, 2001The University of Memphis football staff reached intoMiddle Georgia College (JC) and plucked three top pros-
pects including tailback Dante Brown, who had signedwith Tommy West at Clemson before enrolling in juniorcollege. Also committing to the Tigers were Brown’steammates Eric Anderson, an offensive lineman andShakorr Bryant, a defensive lineman. Brown is a formerUSA Today All-American who rushed for over 1,400yards as a senior in high school.
January 26, 2001The Tiger football staff will welcome six prospects tocampus in what might be the final recruiting weekend ofthe season. Included in the group of six are linebacker
B.J. Dean of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, defensive backs TristanThomas of Marietta, Georgia, Eric Oliver of Jasper, Ala-bama and Lionel Pieh of Cordova High in Memphis.Also visiting officially are Stanford Rhule, a linebackerfrom Dillard High in Miami, Florida and Kevin Steltz, afullback from New Orleans, Louisiana.
January 27, 2001B.J. Dean, one of the most highly recruited linebackers inthe South, arrived for his official visit to Memphis. Dean,who had committed to Florida State last summer, arrivedlate due to a conflict with an indoor track meet in his
hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
January 29, 2001Tristan Thomas, a defensive back from Marietta HighSchool in Marietta, Georgia, committed to play for theTigers. Thomas is the 17th commitment for TommyWest and his staff.
January 30, 2001The Tigers continued their recruiting landslide whenMemphis East High quarterback LaDarius Price announcedthat he would sign with Memphis on national signing
day. Price, who wants to play receiver in college, saidthat he could see duty as a quarterback and receiver if itwould help the team. Price is the 18th commitment forthe U of M this winter.
January 31, 2001The Tigers picked up their 19th commitment of thefootball signing period when defensive tackle Tony Bondsannounced that he had chosen Memphis over SouthernMississippi and Ole Miss. Bonds, a native of Russellville,Alabama, recorded over 50 tackles during the 2000 foot-
ball season. Head coach Tommy West was in Miami,FL, visiting the home of offensive lineman AndrewHandy.
February 1, 2001Offensive lineman Andrew Handy became Memphis’ 20thfootball commitment of thesigning season. Handy se-lected the Tigers over Rutgersand UMass. He is slated towork as an offensive guard for
Memphis.
February 2, 2001Joe Cullen, the defensive linecoach for the University of Richmond Spiders, was inMemphis visiting with Tiger coach Tommy West.Cullen, who coached at LSU under Gerry DiNardo, isinterested in the defensive line coaching position at the Uof M. West retained six of the former assistant coachesfrom Rip Scherer’s staff and has three slots to fill includ-ing that of offensive coordinator.
February 6, 2001The University of Memphis prepared for the first signingclass under head coach Tommy West. The football officesent out 22 scholarships and it is anticipated that theTigers will receive 20 to 21 signed National Letters ofIntent on Wednesday’s signing day.
February 7, 2001The phone began ringing at 7:30 AM CST and did notstop until Memphis had received 20 scholarships fromstudent-athletes who will play for the Tigers in 2001.Andrew Handy, an offensive lineman from Miami, FL,was the first to arrive and Eric Anderson, a junior college
lineman from Middle Georgia College was the last of theday. The Tigers landed nine linemen on the day. After apress conference at the AOB, Tommy West and his staffleft for a booster party at The Rendezvous. The Tigersexpect the arrival of one additional scholarship on Thurs-day.
February 8, 2001Derron Johnson, an all-American safety from MelroseHigh School in Memphis, inked his scholarship andfaxed it to the Memphis football office on Thursday,brining to an end the 2001 recruiting season for the
Tigers. In what is being the greatest local recruiting classin school history, Memphis landed ten players from theMemphis ranks including Alabama transfer Albert Means.Now head coach Tommy West will concentrate on com-pleting his staff and hanging on to secondary coach TimWalton, who has offers from Miami (FL) and Notre Dame.
February 12, 2001Secondary coach Tim Walton flew to South Bend, Indi-
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ana, to interview for a similar position at Notre Dame.Joel Baron has been hired as the Tigers new vidoegrapher.He arrived on Monday from Philadelphia, PA, and im-mediately began work. Baron replaces Travis Simmonswho resigned in September after being on the job for justeight weeks.
February 13, 2001Tiger head coach Tommy West talked with Gunter
Brewer, an assistant coach at North Carolina, about theoffensive coordinator’s position at Memphis. Brewer,who is the son of former Ole Miss football coach BillyBrewer, coached at Marshall before going to Carolina.
February 14, 2001Randy Fichtner, the offensive coordinator at ArkansasState University, was in Memphis to interview withTommy West forthe same po-sition at theUniversity of
Memphis. Ficht-ner coached at the Uof M in the early1990s under headcoach ChuckStobart. He has beenat ASU for the past threeseasons.
February 15,2 0 0 1Tiger secondary
coach Tim Walton,turned down offersfrom Notre Dame andLSU to remain a member of Tommy West’s staff atMemphis. Walton had interviewed at Notre Dame onFebruary 12th and flew to Atlanta, GA, on February 13thto talk with Notre Dame’s athletic director.
February 16, 2001Randy Fichtner, the offensive coordinator at ArkansasState University, returned to Memphis for a second inter-view session with head coach Tommy West. Fichtner is
considered a top candidate for the offensive coordinator’sposition at Memphis. West and director of football op-erations John Flowers left Memphis at noon to attend theTennessee Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony inNashville, Tennessee. Former Tiger quarterback BillyFletcher was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
February 19, 2001Randy Fichtner, who served as quarterback coach underChuck Stobart from 1990-94, has returned to Memphisas offensive coordinator under Tommy West. Fichtner
has served the past four seasons as offensive coordinatorat Arkansas State University. Prior to joining the staff atASU, Fichtner coached the receivers at Purdue Univer-sity, his alma mater.
February 20, 2001Joe Cullen, the defensive coordinator at the University ofRichmond, arrived on campus for his first day of workwith the U of M. Cullen was hired as the defensive linecoach for the Tigers replacing Hank Hughes, who wasnot retained in the change of staffs. Cullen, a graduate ofthe University of Massachusetts, has also coached at
LSU in addition to his years at Richmond. Tim Banksarrived in Memphis and interviewed with Tommy Westfor the final open position on the staff.
February 21, 2001Offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner arrived at the Uni-versity of Memphis football offices for his first day on thejob. Fichtner comes to the Tigers after serving as theoffensive coordinator at Arkansas State University for thepast four years. The Ohio native noted that the AOB hadchanged considerably since he left in 1994. He was mostimpressed with the new football and basketball offices
that were added in 2000.
February 22, 2001Tiger football coach Tommy West participated in theWEGR-Rock 103 Radio Telethon for the RonaldMcDonald House. The annual fund-raiser has brought inover $4 million over the past ten years. The monies havebeen used to build a new wing on the house offers lodg-ing to patients at St. Jude Children Research Hospital.
February 23, 2001The Tiger football team will begin spring football prac-
tice on Tuesday, March 20th and the Blue-Gray Game isslated for April 7th. Tommy West had hoped to beginpractice earlier but had to postpone the start while hecontinued to hire assistant coaches.
February 26, 2001Rick Whitt, who came to the University of Memphis inJanuary of 2000 as linebacker coach, was named defen-sive coordinator for Tommy West. Whitt, who hadcoached with West at Clemson, South Carolina and UT-Chattanooga, helped the Tiger defense to a fifth placenational ranking in 2000.
February 27, 2001Tommy West completed his football staff with the hiringof Tim Banks as outside linebacker coach. Banks hadcoached the defensive secondaries at Bowling Green StateUniversity and Ferris State University before deciding tojoin the UM staff. The Detroit, Michigan, native playedhis collegiate football for Central Michigan
February 28, 2001Tiger head coach Tommy West attended a dinner bynumerous Memphis area doctors who wanted to showtheir support for Tiger football. Dr. Larry Newman spon-sored the dinner which was held at the Memphis Hunt &polo Club.
March 1, 2001
The NCAA handed down a ruling that allows Mrs. LisaMeans, the mother of Tiger signee Albert Means, toaccept monies donated in her behalf to help her pay backbills. The NCAA ruled that as long as none of themonies was donated by UM supporters then Mrs. Meanshad a right to the charitable contributions. Donationswere given by Memphis citizens who were interested inassisting Mrs. Means in paying back rent before she wasto be evicted. Assistant coach Tim Banks arrived inMemphis for his first day of work as a member of theTiger football staff. Banks will coach the Tiger outsidelinebackers.
March 3, 2001Memphis head football coach Tommy West was a fea-tured speaker at the Nike Convention held in Tunica,Mississippi. Several hundred high school and collegecoaches from across the country attended the annual meet-ing.
March 5, 2001The Memphis offensive staff left for Clemson Universitytoday to spend a week observing the Clemson offenseand meeting with the Tiger coaches. Randy Fichtner, the
new Memphis coordinator, Clay Helton, Russ Huesman,Rick Mallory and Charlie Coe will be looking for newideas to implement in the Memphis offense this spring.
March 7, 2001The Tiger football family received sad news today whenit was announced that former punter Virgil Pearcy (1974-76) died in Little Rock, Arkansas. Pearcy, who playedunder coaches Fred Pancoast and Richard Williamson,held the Memphis record for the longest punt in schoolhistory for six years. His 69-yard effort against Missis-sippi State in 1974 held until the 1980 season.
March 16, 2001Tiger defensive back Bo Arnold, who had just gained hiseligibility and was to participate with the team in springdrills, was severely injured ina one-car accident in Atlanta,GA, during spring break.Arnold suffered head injuriesand is currently in a coma atAtlanta Medical Center.
Bo Arnold
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March 17, 2001The update on Tiger defensive back Bo Arnold wasmuch better after 24-hours in the Atlanta Medical Center.The sophomore did indeed suffer head injuries but henever went into a coma. Arnold was being kept in acomatose state due to his facial injuries and his brainswelling. He was able to respond to his family when askquestions and was resting while still undergoing sur-gery to repair facial cuts.
March 20, 2001The Tigers held their first practice undernew head coach Tommy West and tosay the least, it was “upbeat”. Playerexcitement was evident at all positionsbut the new spread offense caughteveryone’s attention. Using as manyas four receivers, Tiger quarterbackspracticed throwing the ball to an ar-ray of pass catchers. West and hisstaff seemed pleased with the ef-
fort but indicated that the teamhas a long way to go beforespring practice ends.
March 21, 2001Memphis held its second conditioning practice atMurphy Athletic Complex. The spirited sessionlast two and a half hours and again featured a fast-pacedpassing attack numerous high school coaches from theMid-South attended the first two days of practice toobserve the new Memphis offense.
March 22, 2001The Tiger football put on the pads for the first time thisspring and practiced for over two hours at Murphy Ath-letic Complex. The session featured several full contactperiods in which new head coach Tommy West singledout the play of defensive linemen Tony Brown and EricTaylor. Offensively, the Tigers continued to work on thenewly installed spread offense.
March 23, 2001Freshman fullback Shaka Hill pulled a hamstring inpractice on Friday and will be held out of the first scrim-
mage. Head coach Tommy West singled out the play ofsenior quarterback Neil Suber and running back JeremiahBonds during the first week of practice.
March 24, 2001The Tigers scrimmaged for the first time this spring andindications are that the offense will be more “wide-open”this fall. Memphis backs rushed for more yards than inpast spring scrimmages but due to windy conditions,Tiger quarterbacks threw fewer passes than expected.Senior Aaron Meadows led all backs with 77 yards rush-
ing and two touchdowns. Junior Sugar Sanders added 58yards and Jeremiah Bonds tacked on 26 yards. Freshmanquarterback Danny Wimprine connected on a 70-yardscoring strike with sophomore receiver Darren Garcia.
March 25, 2001Powertel has signed an agreement to be the corpo-
rate sponsor of the 2001 Blue-Gray SpringFootball Game. The game will be played
on April 7 in Liberty Bowl MemorialStadium.
March 26, 2001After a two day rest, the Memphis foot-
ball team will return to the practice fieldfor spring workout number six. The teamworked out in shorts and pads in prepara-
tion for a Wednesday scrimmage at Murphy Ath-letic Complex. Defensive end Tony Brown washeld out of practice while doctors checked hissore knee. Brown sustained a knee injury in
Saturday’s scrimmage at the Liberty Bowl and itis feared that he may have suffered a torn ACL. Ifso, Brown could be lost for the 2001 season.
March 27, 2001The Football News has listed former Tiger safety
Idrees Bashir as the 68th possible pick in the April profootball draft. Bashir, who came out a year early, has beenprojected as a late first or mid second round selection.
March 28, 2001
In a steady downfall of rain the Tiger football team wentthrough a full pad practice at Murphy Athletic Complex.The final 15-minutes of the practice involved a situationscrimmage in which quarterback Travis Anglin hit onpasses of 40 and 25 yards and ran for 15 yards. Anglinconnected with Darren Garcia for 40-yards and hit tightend Jeff Cameron with a 25-yard toss. The scrimmagewas held to 36-plays in preparation for Saturday’s scrim-mage.
March 29, 2001Rain continued to hamper the Tiger practice sessions at
Murphy Athletic Complex but Tommy West still man-aged to lead his team through a two hour workout inpreparation for Saturday’s scrimmage. For the first timethis spring, the players worked on special teams assign-ments and the punting game. Defensive end Tony Brownattended the practice but watched from the sidelines as heawaited his exploratory knee surgery on Friday. Brownhad an MRI earlier that did not reveal any knee damagebut Memphis doctors wanted to make sure that he hadtorn a ligament during the Liberty Bowl scrimmage. Heis expected to miss the remainder of the spring.
March 30, 2001The Tigers scheduled scrimmage was called off due toheavy rains in the Memphis area. The additional practicesession will be added on the week following the Blue-Gray Game.
March 31, 2001The Memphis Tiger football team attended the Mem-
phis Maniax XFL game against the Los Angeles Ex-treme.
April 3, 2001William Martin, a walk-on offensive tackle from Mem-phis, suffered a separated shoulder in practice on Tuesdayand will be out for the remainder of the spring. Martinhad moved to the number two spot at left tackle on thedepth chart. Freshman tight end Eric Peterson left theMemphis football team for the second time in eightmonths. He is not expected top return.
April 4, 2001The Tiger football team went through a 65-play scrim-mage at Murphy Athletic Complex but it was not totallypleasing to head coach Tommy West. “I thought wegave into being tired”, West said. “We are having towork real hard at just being an average football team”.QuarterbackTravis Anglinand tailbackSugar Sanders ledthe rushers with36 and 35 yards
respectively.Quarterback NeilSuber completed5-of-9 pass at-tempts for 93yards and a touch-down. ReceiverRyan Johnsoncaught two passesfor 63 yards and atouchdown. Tight end Jason Johnson also had a TDreception. A coaching clinic for area coaches was held
after the scrimmage and over 80 coaches attended theevent.
April 5, 2001The Tigers worked in shorts and pads and tried to re-cover from the hard hitting on Wednesday during a 60-play scrimmage. Tiger quarterback Scott Scherer suffereda mild concussion during the scrimmage and will likelybe held out of the Blue-Gray Game on Saturday.
April 6, 2001
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The annual Blue-Gray Game Golf Tournament for formerfootball lettermen was held at Wedgewood Golf Club inOlive Branch, Mississippi. The team of John Bowers,Mike Omar, George Skouteris and Ken Balkunas wonthe event in a scorecard playoff over three other teams.Bruce Feldman of ESPN-The Magazine flew into Mem-phis to talk to Tommy West and Alabama transfer AlbertMeans for a feature story on Means life after the Alabamasituation.
April 7, 2001The University of Memphis held its annual Blue-GrayFootball Game at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. Theevent, attended by over 1,500 individuals, opened withthe presentation of several awards. The Rex DockeryMemorial Scholarship was given to freshman defensivetackle Kenyun Glover. The Chris Faros Most ImprovedPlayer Awards went to receiver Bunkie Perkins and de-fensive tackle Eric Taylor. The Glenn Jones 12th ManAward was given to three players, tackle Wade Smith,linebacker Demorrio Shank and safety Glenn Sumter.
The Ralph Hatley Scholarship was presented to tailbackJeremiah Bonds. Following the awards ceremonies, thespring scrimmage kicked off allowing the Tigers to show-case their new spread offense to fans. Junior quarterbackTravis Anglin led the team to the end zone on his firstseries as he completed passes to Tripp Higgins and RyanJohnson. Anglin finished his day completing 9-of-11pass attempts for 135 yards and two touchdowns andadded one rushing touchdown. He was named the game’sMVP. Freshman quarterback Danny Wimprine also ranfor a touchdown and had a touchdown pass to freshmanreceiver Von Webb. Numerous Tiger signees attended
the spring game including Columbus, Mississippi, tightend Marcus West.
April 10, 2001The Tiger football team participated in Picture Day forthe Media Relations Department. While Assistant ADBob Winn and Associated Jennifer Rodrigues were con-ducting photo sessions with the players, Albert Meansand Tommy West were posing for photos for ESPN - TheMagazine. The publication flew two New York photog-raphers to Memphis on Tuesday morning for the two anda half hour photo shoot.
April 11, 2001The Tiger football team ended their first spring undernew head coach Tommy West with a 60-play scrimmageat Murphy Athletic Complex. Working against a de-pleted defense, the Tiger offense rolled up impressiveyardage. Freshman quarterback Danny Wimprine rushedfor 53 yards on two attempts and connected on six-of-eight pass attempts for 97 yards and three touchdowns.Wimprine threw two touchdown passes to Bunkie Perkinsand one to Tripp Higgins. Senior Neil Suber hit on eight
-of-11 passes for 71 yards anda touchdown. West describedthe spring as a learning expe-rience for the team. “We gottougher during the spring andthat’s a good sign”.
April 12, 2001Conference USA announced that for the first time in the
league’s football history, Football Media Day will not beheld in Memphis. This year’s football kickoff event willbe held in New Orleans, Louisiana on July 23-25. MediaDay has been in Memphis for three years due to the factthat the league’s championship game, the Liberty Bowl,in played annually in the Bluff City. Head coach TommyWest, assistant AD Bob Winn and two members of theTiger football team will travel to New Orleans in July forthe event.
April 15, 2001The Memphis football players were given the Easter
weekend off to travel home and be with their families.They will return to campus after Easter and continuewith conditioning workouts until school ends in May.
April 16, 2001Robert Wilson, the writer for Lindy’s Football Maga-zine, called Tommy West to talk about the 2001 Tigerfootball team. Wilson also talked to linebacker DemorrioShank.
April 17, 2001Memphis defensive end Andre Arnold, who was one of
the nation’s leaders in quarterback sacks last season, islisted on this season’s Lombardi Trophy watch list.
April 18, 2001Albert Means, the former Parade All-American and Uni-versity of Alabama standout who left the school afterallegations that his high school coach received money forhaving Means sign with the Tide, received a waiver fromhis National Letter of Intent with Alabama and is nowfree to appeal to the NCAA to have his eligibility rein-stated immediately. If Means is declared eligible, hewould move into one the defensive tackle slots vacated
by Marcus Bell and Calvin Lewis.
April 19, 2001Six members of the University of Memphis football teamwill miss the opening game of the 2001 season and twowill miss a second game as penalty for their involvementin an academic violation of University and team policies.The six players include defensive end Andre Arnold,linebacker Derrick Ballard, defensive back Elijah Bell,defensive lineman Garfield Garth, receiver Antoine Hardenand defensive back Henry Washington.
April 20, 2001Head coach Tommy West, director of football operationsJohn Flowers, and assistant coaches Randy Fichtner,Russ Huesman, and Clay Helton played in the BartlettParks and Recreation Golf Tournament held atStonebridge Golf Club.
April 21, 2001
Two U of M Tiger defensive backs were selected in thesecond round of the NFL Draft on Saturday. Idrees Bashir,a junior who elected to enter the draft a year early, was the37th pick overall when he was taken by the IndianapolisColts in the second round. Cornerback Michael Stonewas picked later in thesecond round by theArizona Cardinals.Stone was the 54thpick overall.
April 22,
2 0 0 1Nose tackle MarcusBell, who was expected to bedrafted in the final rounds, wastaken in the fourth round by theArizona Cardinals. He was the 123rdplayer selected in the 2001 draft.Bell’s pick marked the first time since the 1985 seasonthat Memphis had three players picked in the first fourrounds.
April 23, 2001
The Tigers added two additional players to NFL rosterswhen tight end Billy Kendall and linebacker Kamal Shakirsigned free agent contracts. Kendall, who is the Tigersall-time leading tight end in catches, yards receiving andtouchdowns, signed with the defending world champi-onship Baltimore Ravens. Shakir, who is ConferenceUSA’s all-time leading tackler with over 400 career stops,signed with the Cincinnati Bengals.
April 24, 2001The University of Memphis continued to deliver playersto the professional ranks as defensive tackle Calvin Lewis
signed with the Cincinnati Bengals. Lewis became thesixth Tiger player from the class of 2000 to sign with anNFL team.
April 26, 2001Memphis linebacker Ian Williams and fullback NickTsatsaronis, both Canadians, were drafted in the CFLDraft. Williams was taken in the second round, whileTsatsaronis was selected in the fourth round. They arethe seventh and eighth Memphis players to be selectedby professional teams this spring.
Danny Wimprine
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highly sought after defensive backs in the country.
May 11, 2001Tiger head coach Tommy West traveled to Humboldt,Tennessee, where he participated in the annual Straw-berry Festival. West rode in the annual Strawberry Fes-tival Parade and later had lunch with Tennessee Gover-nor Don Sundquist.
May 14, 2001Former Tiger defensive end Rodney Lanctot was hon-ored by the National Football Foundation Hall of Fameas a recipient of the Scholar Athlete Award for 2000.Lanctot received his award at a black-tie affair at theAdamsMark Hotel in Memphis.
May 17,2 0 0 1Tiger head foot-ball coachTommy West
and Director ofFootball Op-erations JohnFlowers repre-sented the U ofM in the FedExMake-A-WishGolf Tourna-ment at Mem-phis NationalGolf Club inCollierville. The two day event is sponsored by the
employees and pilots of FedEx to raise money for Make-A-Wish.
May 18, 2001West and Flowers continued their play in the FedExMake-A-Wish Tournament at Memphis National GolfClub.
May 21, 2001Tiger head coach Tommy West served as the host foot-ball coach for the annual golf tournament that serves as afund raiser for the Sisters of the Poor Claire Monastery in
Memphis. Football coaches from across the country comeinto Memphis for the event including John L. Smith ofLouisville and Rick Minter of Cincinnati.
May 22, 2001Tommy West left Memphis for the annual ConferenceUSA meetings in Destin, Florida. West will meet withother C-USA coaches as well as conference officials tomap out plans for the 2001 college football season. HBOReal Sports continues to want to come to Memphis andinterview Albert Means over the Alabama situation that
April 29, 2001DeCorye Hampton, who started for two seasons at offen-sive tackle, signed a free agent contract with the OaklandRaiders. Hampton was the ninth Tiger player to sign aprofessional contract in April.
April 30, 2001Head coach Tommy West and director of football opera-
tions John Flowers participated in the 14th Annual Ti-ger Clubs Golf Tournament at Germantown CountryClub.
May 2, 2001Memphis football coach Tommy West, athletic directorR.C. Johnson and head athletic trainer Ed Cantler wereinducted into the All-American Football Foundation andHall of Fame in ceremonies held in Tunica, Mississippi.The Foundation honors individuals who have dedicatedtheir professional careers in various areas of athletics.
May 4, 2001Former University of Memphis football coach DonYanowsky, who now coaches linebackers at East Caro-lina University, was injured while visiting the home ofcurrent Tiger offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner, whena limb fell from an oak tree and struck Yanowsky. Hereceived injuries to his head, back and knee and wasrushed to The Med in critical condition. Yanowsky suf-fered a blood clot in his brain, a broken back and adislocated knee in the accident.
May 5, 2001
Don Yanowsky continued to undergo tests at The Medas he recovered from injuries he received at the home ofRandy Fichtner. His condition was upgraded from criti-cal to stable on Saturday.
May 6, 2001Yanowsky was moved from the ICU unit at The Med toa private room as his condition improved.
May 7, 2001Defensive end Andre Arnold, who led Conference USAin quarterback sacks during the 2000 season, has been
suspended from The University of Memphis thus bring-ing his collegiate career to a close. Arnold was expectedto return to his defensive end slot for the 2001 campaign.He had sat out the spring of 2001 under suspension forviolations of the university’s academic integrity policy.
May 9, 2001The Tigers received some good news when it was learnedthat Melrose High defensive back Derron Johnson hadpassed the ACT and was presumed to have qualified foradmission to the U of M. Johnson was one of the most
involved Means’ his high school coach.
May 23, 2001Tiger defensive back Bo Arnold, who was severely in-jured in a one-car accident in Atlanta, Georgia, in March,is reported to be playing pickup basketball games inAtlanta and awaiting his release from his doctors. It isnow possible that Arnold might be able to return to theteam this fall.
May 29, 2001Assistant athletic director Bob Winn, associate directorJennifer Rodrigues, and basketball media relations direc-tor Ron Mears left for Chicago, Illinois, for the annualConference USA meetings. The meetings are designedto discuss matters from the previous season and set upplans for the upcoming athletic year.
May 30, 2001As part of the annual Conference USA meetings, thesports information directors voted on their order of finish
for the 2001 football season. Defending conference cham-pion Louisville was selected to repeat as conference cham-pion. Southern Mississippi and East Carolina tied forsecond while TCU finished in fourth place. UAB edgedout Cincinnati for fifth place. Memphis was selected asseventh followed by Tulane, Houston and Army.
June 6, 2001Memphis head coach Tommy West played in the Wednes-day Memorial Pro-Am for the FedEx St. Jude Classic.The PGA TOUR event was held at TPC at Southwindin Memphis. West and his teammates were paired with
tour player Joe Ogilvie. The event was shortened due tostorms in the Memphis area.
June 9, 2001Director of football operations John Flowers played in aSaturday pro-am for the FedEx St. Jude Classic and wasselected to play with professional Ryan Dillon.
June 10, 2001Several of the new Tiger signees from the Memphis areahave begun to workout in the weightroom. The groupincludes Derron Johnson and Dierre carter of Melrose
High, Scott Vogel of MUS and Tyler Shelton of TrezevantHigh.
June 12, 2001All-Pro NFL receiver IsaacBruce stopped by the Memphisfootball office to visit with thecoaches. Bruce is living inMemphis during the off season.
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June 14, 2001Tiger newcomers, signees for the 2001 season, continueto arrive in Memphis and workout with strength coachMike Stark. Cameron Essex and Charles Wellington arebecoming regulars in the weightroom.
June 16, 2001Head coach Tommy West and his staff welcomedover 130 football campers to the U of M
campus for the 2001 Tommy West Foot-ball Camp. The week long camp is beingeach evening this week due to the middayheat factor.
June 18, 2001Mike Sullivan of HBO’s Real Sports con-tacted the University of Memphis SID officeabout an interview with Albert Means, the formerAlabama defensive tackle that transferred to Memphisafter recruiting allegations were aimed at his high schoolcoach. The national network wants to come to Memphis
in July to interview Albert and head coach TommyWest.
June 20, 2001Head coach Tommy West has given his staff two weeksoff to get ready for the 2001 football season. The coachescompleted the Tommy West Football Camp last weekand await the return of the Tiger football team in earlyAugust.
June 21, 2001Conference USA announced the results of the coaches
selections for the 2001 All C-USA team and the order offinish for the upcoming season. The University of Mem-phis, which was ranked 7th among the coaches for orderof finish this fall, placed just one player on the 2001preseason All-C-USA team. Memphis safety GlennSumter was the only Tiger named to the preseason squad.Conference USA coaches selected Louisville to repeat asconference champion in 2001. East Carolina and South-
ern Miss filled the two and three posi-tions while newcomer TCU wastabbed as the fourth place squad.UAB, Cincinnati and Memphis filled
the five, six and seventh places, whileTulane, Houston and Army rounded
the coaches picks.
June 22, 2001Blue Ribbon Football Magazinecalled to question the current eli-gibility of defensive tackle Albert
Means. According to their editors, Means will be tabbedthe Conference USA Newcomer of the Year if he is de-clared eligible for 2001.
June 23, 2001Tiger football signee Scott Vogel was named the defen-sive MVP of the Tennessee-Kentucky All-Star Footballgame in Knoxville, TN. Vogel is a defensive back fromMUS in Memphis. Another Memphis signee, James
Corder, an offensive tackle from Nashville, also playedfor the Tennessee squad. Memphis signee James
Gaither served as the kicker and punter for
the Kentucky team.
June 30, 2001Head coach Tommy West and
his family left Memphis for aweek’s vacation in Destin, Florida.
While West was headed to Florida, As-sistant AD Bob Winn and his staffleft Memphis for their national con-vention in San Diego, California.
July 2, 2001
HBO Real Sports has locked in on thedates of July 19 and 20 to come to Mem-phis and to produce a feature piece on Ti-ger signee Albert Means and his problems
at the University of Alabama. Means is still awaitingword from the NCAA as to his eligibility for the fall of2001.
July 5, 2001HBO Real Sports has made contact with Milton Kirk,one of Albert Means high school coaches, as to hisappearing on their special which will be taped on July 19
and 20 in Memphis. Producers are still attempting toreach Mean’s mother, Lisa Means.
July 10, 2001David McNair, who had signed with Memphis in 2000but returned home to North Carolina in the spring of2001, has returned to Memphis and will be a part of thefootball team this fall. McNair is a defensive linemanwho came to Memphis from Hargrave Military Academyin Virginia. Casey Winn, the daughter of assistant ath-letic director Bob Winn, started as a student secretary inthe football office.
July 12, 2001The University of Memphis has reached an agreement inthe buy-out of the contract with former head footballcoach Rip Scherer and both parties have signed the agree-ment. The agreement calls for Scherer to receive $175,000to be paid out over the next three years. Scherer, who isnow free to pursue another job, has been link to anassistants position with the University of Kansas.
July 13, 2001Representatives of a new area sports publication, TheMemphis Sports Journal, came to campus to meet withthe Media Relations staff. The publication is due tobegin circulation in November of 2001.
July 16, 2001The first Liberty Bowl meeting was held at LibertyBowl Stadium to discuss the upcoming football season.
Memphis officials toured the stadium to witness theremoval of the grass playing surface. New Tiff SportsGrass will be laid later this week.
July, 17, 2001The Commercial Appeal announced that defensive endAndre Arnold will not return for his senior season afterfailing to meet University academic requirements. Andrewas an All-C-USA selection in 2000 and ranked in a tiefor second in the nation in quarterback sacks. The news-paper received the information after talking with Arnold’smother.
July 19, 2001Head coach Tommy West returned to campus after sev-eral weeks of vacation and spent most his first day backtalking with Brian Burwell of HBO Real Sports. Thesyndicated feature series on HBO was in Memphis de-tailing the saga of Albert Means, an area football playerwho attended Alabama but left school after allegationsarose over his recruitment. Means is now enrolled at theU of M and is awaiting word from the NCAA as to hiseligibility this season.
July 20, 2001HBO Real Sports is still in Memphis talking with Albertmean’s mother, Lisa Means, his former high school as-sistant coach Milton Kirk and a reporter with the Com-mercial Appeal who was highly involved in the breakingof the story. The Tiger football staff took the nationalrecruiting test during the morning and then returned tostaff meetings.
July 22, 2001The Commercial Appeal will increase its coverage of theUniversity of Memphis by assigning three beat writers to
the U of M. John Stamm, the executive sports editor ofthe paper, told Tiger sports information director BobWinn that the paper was assigning Zack McMillan andGary Parrish to cover the Tiger athletics on a year roundbasis.
July 23, 2001Tommy West and members of his staff participated in theannual Liberty Bowl Golf Classic held at TPC Southwindin Memphis. The event was won by Southern Miss headcoach Jeff Bower and his team. West and his team posted
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a score of 15 under par.
July 24, 2001Athletic director R.C. Johnson, assistant AD Bob Winn,center Jimond Pugh and linebacker Demorrio Shank leftfor New Orleans, Louisiana, to attend the ConferenceUSA Football Media Day. Head coach Tommy West hadto speak to a civic group in Memphis and took an after-noon flight to New Orleans. A reception, sponsored by
ESPN, was held on Wednesday evening at Pat O’Briansin the French Quarter. DaveBrown and Chris Turner ofESPN attended the reception aswell as numerous head coachesand athletics directors.
July, 25, 2001Tommy West and Bob Winnparticipated in the C-USA Foot-ball Media Day Golf Tournament at Lakewood CountryClub in New Orleans. West, who is an excellent golfer,
won three of the four closest-to-the-pin awards. The eventwas shortened due to heavy rains. Later in the evening aVIP Dinner was held at the Hilton and the players attend-ing the event were introduced to those in attendance.
July 26, 2001The Conference USA Me-dia Day was deemed asuccess as media mem-bers interviewed play-ers and coaches fromthe C-USA schools.
TCU, which is enteringits first year as a C-USAmember, attended theevent. Print media mem-bers had the entire morn-ing for interviews. After abreak for lunch, televisionand radio reporters usedthe afternoon to conductinterviews. An interneton-line session was also held with the coaches.
July 29, 2001The Commercial Appeal ran a front page story on strengthcoach Mike Stark and his off season program. Players areput through numerous drills including flipping hugetires, carrying kegs of water and running 40-yard sprintsin ankle deep sand.
July 31, 2001A breakfast, sponsored by FedEx, was held at the Mem-phis Racquet Club for the expressed purpose of selling
the skyboxes at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium duringTiger football games. Hosted by FedEx’s Alan Graf andDave Bronczek and Memphis Redbirds owner DeanJerigan, the event was deemed a major success as 32 ofthe 37 skyboxes available were sold to area business-men. The three-year commitments on the skyboxes rangefrom $12,000 to $18,000 per year with all proceedsgoing to the University of Memphis Athletic Depart-ment.
August 1, 2001Area television stations gathered at the U of M to talkwith head athletic trainer Ed Cantler about the heat re-lated deaths in football camps around the country. Cantlerexplained the importance of rehydration that is stressedfor the Tigers. Memphis will open its football camp onAugust 8 when freshmen players arrive on campus.
August 2, 2001Tommy West and his staff welcomed a new recruit tocampus in hopes of landing the player for the 2001 sea-
son. Donald Marshall, a junior college player from Gar-den City JC arrived in Memphis for an unofficial visit.Marshall played at the University of South Carolina fortwo years before leaving for junior college. He has re-ceived his associates degree and has two years of eligibil-ity remaining. The 6”6, 280 pound offensive linemancould make an immediate impact in the Tiger offensivefront. Marshall committed to the Tigers before leavingfor home to pack his belong-ings for his return to Mem-phis next week.
August 3, 2001The Highland Hundred heldits annual Kickoff Banquet atWoodland Hills Dinner Clubwith a record crowd of 600 inattendance. Head coachTommy West used the event to display the new Tigeruniforms. West used UM running back Aaron Meadowsand tight endJeff Cameron asmodels for thehome and away
uniforms. AsM e a d o w smodel the homeuniform, Westtold the crowdthat Meadowswas the typeplayer you al-ways wanted onyour team, aplayer that did
everything asked of him despite the fact that hewas a walk-on. Well, theSomerville, TN, native is nolonger a walk-on as West pre-sented Meadows with a foot-ball scholarship at the dinner.
August 6, 2001Greg Billingslea, a defensive
end who signed with the Ti-gers in February, has been de-clared a partial qualifier and will be allowed to practicewith the team but unable to play in a game this season.Two freshmen signees, LaDarius Price and CharlesWellington did not meet minimum requirements for eli-gibility. The two are expected to enroll as non-qualifyingcandidates at the U of M and could become eligible forthe 2002 season.
August 8, 2001Tommy West and his staff welcomed 18 scholarship
players and four new walk-ons to campus on Wednesdayto mark the start of fall camp. Two of the Tigers morehighly regarded signees, running back Dante Brown anddefensive back Derron Johnson not come in on reportingday. Brown is waiting for paperwork from Middle Geor-gia College to be sent to the UM admissions office.Johnson had a death in his family and was in Nebraskafor the funeral. He is expected to return to Memphis onThursday evening and report for camp on Friday. Of the22 players that did report, seven were from Memphis andShelby County. Included in the group were Scott Vogel(MUS), Jacob Ford, Mario Robinson and Dierre Carter
(Melrose), Lionel Pieh (Cordova), Sheldon Taylor(Trezevant) and Darron White (Covington). There werealso noted players from outside Tennessee includingAndrew Handy (Miami, FL), Donald Marshall (Colum-bia, SC), and Marcus West (Columbus, MS).
August 9, 2001The newly arrived Tiger signees spent the entire day
Donald Marshall
Tiger fans attend Fan Day activities on August 24th at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. Head coach Tommy Westand his 2001 Tiger football team were available to meet fans and sign autographs.
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2001 Diary
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participating in academic orientation. The unit will be-gin on field workouts on Friday with two-a-day ses-sions. The Tigers were able to add a new walk-on whenClif Taylor, Jr. reported to camp. Taylor is the son offormer Tiger great Clif Taylor, who played fullback forMemphis and for the Chicago Bears and the Green BayPackers in the early 1970’s. Taylor, Jr., a graduate of EastHigh School in Memphis, is expected to work as adefensive back or receiver for the Tigers.
August 10, 2001The baby Tigers hit the field for their first two-a-dayworkouts under head coach Tommy West. What wasimmediately apparent was the speed of the class. Twosignees were missing the first day of practice. DanteBrown, a junior college transfer and Derron Johnson, aall-American defensive back from Melrose High in Mem-phis were missing. Brown was unable to enroll due tothe fact that some of his paperwork from junior collegehad not arrived at the U of M. Johnson was called out oftown due to a death in his family. He and his father
traveled to Nebraska for the funeral of his aunt.Johnson is expected in camp on Fri-day.
August 11, 2001Memphis defensive line coachJoe Cullen left camp and trav-eled to Boston, Massachusetts,due to the sudden death of hisfather. The freshman practicetwice on Saturday but movedindoor for the afternoon work-
out due to rain. Head coachTommy West singled outthe play of Jacob Ford ofMelrose High, ScottVogel of MUS in Mem-phis and James Gaither of Leitchfield, Kentucky. SeveralTiger seniors missed practice session due to the fact thatthey were participating in graduation. Quarterback NeilSuber, kicker Ryan White, offensive guard Josh Eargleand defensive tackle Boris Penchion received their de-grees on Saturday and will enroll in graduate for the fall.
August 12, 2001The Sunday version of freshman practice was forced in-doors due to an afternoon thunderstorm. The units workedout in the Memphis indoor turf room. “This class iseven better that I had expected”, said head coach TommyWest. “I thought that they were good when we signedthem but wow! There is a great deal of speed in this classand the enthusiasm is contagious”. While the freshmenwere practicing, the Tiger varsity reported to campus. Ajoint team meeting was held at 4 PM during a huge
thunderstorm that dumped two anda half inches of rain in a thirtyminute period. Streets and park-ing lots were flooded and delayedseveral university officials from at-tending the compliance meeting.
August 15, 2001Redshirt sophomore quarterback
Bran Webb was moved to widereceiver in efforts to bolster thedepth at the receiver positions.Webb has been hampered with in-juries since his arrival in Memphis but appears ready forthe 2001 season.
August 16, 2001Members of the HBO Real Sports team returned to Mem-phis to interview several individuals about Albert Means.A television special on Means and his recruiting processwith the University of Alabama should air in September.
Tiger quarterback Travis Anglin was forced to sitout of practice due to a mild case of pleurisy.Linebacker Draper Hall was sent hospitalizeddue to dehydration and back spasms.
August 17, 2001Highly touted junior college running back Dante
Brown finally arrived in Memphis and attended hisMemphis practice. The 6’2”, 210 pound tailback
was delayed in his arrival while completing aca-demic work at Middle Georgia College. He willhave his physical examination and should be
available to workout this afternoon.
August 18, 2001The Tigers scrimmaged for the first time
this fall and even though there were mis-takes made on both sides of the ball, Tommy West sawimprovement in his team. The offense gained over 400yards in total yards. Quarterback Travis Anglin passedfor a team high 60 yards completing five-of-11 attempts.Anglin also led the squad in rushing gaining 69 yards on10 carries. Safeties Glenn Sumter and Scott Vogel bothhad pass interceptions for the defense. Head coach Tommy
West was unable to attend the Saturday morning prac-tice. West’s son Turner sustained a broken arm during anearly morning football practice with his GermantownMiddle School team and waskept at Methodist Hospital forseveral hours.
August 19, 2001Memphis athletic directorR.C. Johnson told membersof the media that the bids for
the new athletic complex had been sent out by the StateBuilding Commission and that ground-breaking at Mur-phy Athletic Complex could come as soon as early Oc-tober. The $5.5 million renovation will add much neededlocker room and meeting room space.
August 20, 2001Tiger coach Tommy West announced that he expected tohear something from the NCAA on the eligibility ofAlbert Means prior to the start of the season and that theanswer might come on Tuesday, August 28. Means,
who transferred from Alabama, has been practicing withthe team since camp opened.
August 21, 2001The Tigers ended their afternoon workout with a 15minute scrimmage. Several players missed the practicesession including defensive tackle Albert Means and of-fensive tackle Travis Triplett. Both are suffering withsprained shoulders. Linebackers Draper Hall and WillHyden and defensive back Chance Nesbitt. During thethree series scrimmage, quarterback Travis Anglin ledthe team on an 80-yard scoring drive and ended the drivewith a one yard touchdown run quarterback Danny
Wimprine led the second drive which ended with a sevenyard touchdown run by tailback Dante Brown. Seniorquarterback Neil Suber engineered the third drive, com-pleting passes to Antoine Harden and Darron White.
Freshman defensive back DerronJohnson was switched to widereceiver in hopes of providing
depth and speed at the posi-tion.
August 22, 2001The Tigers continued two-a-
day practice session with amorning workout at Mur-phy Athletic Complex andan afternoon scrimmage atLiberty Bowl Memorial
Stadium. Head coach TommyWest spent a great deal of time dur-
Travis Anglin
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2001 Diary
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ing the morning session trying to motivate the offense.The motivational speech must have paid some divi-dends as the offense gained over 400 yards but stillmanaged just two touchdowns in the 100 play scrim-mage. Junior tailback Sugar Sanders led all rushed with49 yards on 12 carries. Travis Anglin added 47 yards andone touchdown. Freshman quarterback Danny Wimprinethrew for 60 yards while completing 11-of-17 passes.The top receiver was Darron White who had 30 yards
with one catch. Wide out Antoine Harden caught thelone touchdown pass of the scrimmage on a 23-yard grabof a Neil Suber aerial. A displeased Tommy West indi-cated that he might scrimmage again on Saturday.
August 23, 2001The football team was given the morning off so that theplayers could check out of South Hall, their home duringfootball camp, and move into their apartments and dormsfor the fall semester. The team returned to the practicefield for afternoon workouts. The Media Relations Officeheld it’s annual Media Dinner at Folks Folly in East
Memphis.
August 24, 2001The Tigers held an open practice on Friday afternoon atLiberty Bowl Memorial Stadium as part of FanFest ac-tivities. The one and a half hour workout drew cheersfrom Tiger fans. Following practice, fans were allowedon the field to get autographs and pictures with Tigerplayers and coaches. WMC-AM 790 broadcast live fromthe stadium and TOM II, the Tiger mascot, celebratedhis birthday with a large cake for U of M fans.
August 27, 2001Junior college transfer Shakorr Bryant sustained a torncartilage in his right knee and will be lost for two to fourweeks. Bryant was participating in non-contact indi-vidual drills when his knee gave way. His surgery isslated for Thursday, August 30. He was working as a
backup for Mowbray Rowand anddefensive end.
August 28, 2001The University of Mem-
phis received no
word fromthe NCAA
as to the eligibility of sophomoredefensive tackle Albert Means.
The Administrative ReviewSub-Committee’s report hadbeen expected to be an-
nounced on Tuesday. Juniorreserve quarterback Scott Schererswitched positions to wide re-ceiver on Tuesday afternoon.
If he demonstrates an ability to catch the ball, Scherercould help provide depth at receiver. West describedScherer as a tough, sure-handed player who has no fear ingoing after the ball and as a smart player who alreadyknows all of the pass routes.
August 29, 2001The University of Memphis and Albert Meansfinally got the call from the NCAA that they had
been so desperately waiting for and the responsewas positive. Means, a sophomore defensivetackle who had played his freshman seasonfor Alabama, had been granted his immedi-ate eligibility. A press conference was heldat Murphy Athletic Complex and a smil-ing Means was definitely pleased with thedecision. “At times I thought that I mightnot be able to play again. Now I’m ready to turn itloose”. Coach Tommy West called it “a great day forAlbert, the Means family and the Tiger football family”.
August 30, 2001With the addition of Albert Means to the defensive front,Tiger head coach Tommy West was free to make person-nel moves and he immediately moved defensive tackleDoug Whittaker to offensive tackle. Whittaker, a transferfrom UT-Martin has the size to help at tackle and as Westadded “he has the temperament of an offensive lineman.He’s a tough guy”. Offensive tackle Artis Hicks sus-tained a slight ankle sprain in the Thursday workout. Heis still expected to be ready for Mississippi State.
September 1, 2001
The Tiger football team traveled to Liberty Bowl Me-morial Stadium for a night workout. The practice wasdesigned to help the receivers and kick returners with thelighting of a night contest. The Tigers season openerwill be under the lights at Mississippi State.
September 2, 2001After a Sunday afternoon walk through at Murphy Ath-letic Complex, the Tiger football team boarded buses forthe three hour trip to Starkville, Mississippi. The teamwas met by members of the ESPN broadcast crew atScott Field in Starkville and
later, offensive coordinatorRandy Fichtner and defensivecoordinator Rick Whitt talkedwith ESNP announcers ChrisFowler and Michele Tafoya.
September 3, 2001With a chance to play in frontof a national television audience, the Tigers took onMississippi State University in Starkville and the sea-son opener was not what the Tigers wanted. Memphis
opened the scoring with a second quarter Ryan Whitefield goal and in the third period, quarterback
Travis Anglin connected with receiverBunkie Perkins on an 18-yard scor-
ing play to give Memphis a 10-0 lead late in the third period.
But number 19 ranked MississippiState answered with a blocked punt
and return for a score to cut the score to
10-7. The Bulldogs would added 23more points over a 14 minute spanand win the game 30-10. The youngTiger team fought hard but couldnot muster a passing game. The U
of M played 13 of their 20 2001signees during the game. Just
four seniors, three of offense andone on defense, started for the Tigers. Freshman quarter-back Danny Wimprine suffered a mild concussion in theMSU game will likely miss the contest with UT-Chat-tanooga.
September 4, 2001Tommy West announced at his weekly press conferencethat he would not offer excuses for the Mississippi Stategame. He stated that neither the noise, the crowd, nor theyouthfulness of the team really led to the defeat at thehands of Mississippi State. West told the media that thestaff would immediately go to work on the kicking gamewhich led to several breakdowns for the Tigers duringone game. Memphis started a freshman punter JamesGaither and a freshman snapper in Gene Frederic. “Theseare all things that we can fix,” West stated.
September 5, 2001Noted kicking guru Carol White of Atlanta, Georgia,stopped by the Memphis practice on Wednesday andoffered some advice to punters and kickers alike. White,who has served on the Georgia Tech staff for a number ofyears has worked with current Tiger kicker Ryan Whiterand former Tiger kicker and Lou Groza Award winner JoeAllison.
September 6, 2001Several members of the Tiger football team have decided
to give up the sport and concentrate on their studies.Receiver Bran Webb, tight end Joey Moore, and defen-sive end Ross Estes have opted not to finish the seasonwith the team. Webb and Moore had never played for theTigers while Estes had lettered for one season as a reserveend.
September 7, 2001Despite being the day before the Tiger home opener, theU of M football went through a practice session at Mur-phy Athletic Complex in preparation for the UT-Chatta-
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2001 Diary
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nooga game on Sept. 8th. Head coach Tommy Westannounced that junior tailback Dante Brown would gethis first start as a Tiger. Brown was the leading rusher inthe Mississippi State game.
September 8, 2001Junior college transfer Dante Brown rushed for 158 yardson 18 carries and scored two touchdowns in helping theTigers to a 43-10 win over UT-Chattanooga. Brown
opened the game with a 62-yard run on his first carry.Junior quarterback Travis Anglin threw for 145 yardsand two touchdowns and ran for two scores in directingthe Tiger offense. Defensive tackle Albert Means recordedhis first pass interception and was instrumental in limit-ing the Mocs to just 39 yards rushing. The win was thefirst for new head coach Tommy West.
September 10, 2001Head coach Tommy West announced at his weekly pressconference that junior tailback Dante Brown was every-thing he had thought he would be and maybe more.
Brown, a junior college transfer, led the team in “YAC”(yards after contact) yards in the win over UT-Chatta-nooga. The Georgia native gained 127 of his 158 yardsafter contact was made.
September 11, 2001Tiger football coach Tommy West called the team into atight circle prior to practice and had a 30-second momentof silent prayer for the victims of the terrorist bombing inNew York and Washington D.C.. West told the teamthat this was the most important thing they could do atthis time.
September 12, 2001Offensive tackle Artis
Hicks and offensiveguardDonaldMarshall
have switched positions in aneffort to put more punch intothe offensive line. In addition,senior Dernice Wherry wasmoved from defensive back to
outside linebacker. All of themoves are designed to get theproper players into the properpositions under head coachTommy West.
September 13, 2001The Tiger football team scrimmage for thethird consecutive day. The offense, which continues toimprove using the spread offense, had numerous longplays including runs by Sugar Sanders, Jeremiah Bonds
and Travis Anglin. The team was dismissed for theweekend following Thursday practice. “They neededsome time away from us and we some time away fromthe players,” West said. The team will return to thepractice field on Sunday afternoon.
September 16, 2001The Tigers spent 50 minutes Sunday afternoon on thefields at Murphy Athletic Complex with the majority of
the time dedicated to the special teams. Freshman punterJames Gaither and snapper Gene Frederic saw extendedduty. Gaither had several punts that caught the eye ofNFL scouts that were in attendance.
September 18,2 0 0 1Tiger coach Tommy Westannounced at his weeklypress conference that ShakorrBryant, a junior college trans-fer who was expected to help
the defense this fall, is healthyand will return for action inthe South Florida game. Bryant, a defensive end fromMiddle Georgia College, has been out of action since thethird week of fall camp when he suffered a torn curtilagein his right knee. David McNair, a freshman defensiveend, has also returned to the practice field after cartilagesurgery in August.
September 19, 2001The Atlanta Constitution-Journal sent a reporter to Mem-phis to interview head coach Tommy West and defensive
tackle Albert Means about the on-going NCAA investi-gation of Alabama football. The Tigers used the Wednes-day afternoon practice to scrimmage in preparation for theSouth Florida football game. Offensive tackle Wade Smithreturned to practice at full speed, as did defensive endShakorr Bryant.
September 20, 2001Tommy West, John Flowers and Bob Winn met withathletic director R.C. Johnson to lay plans for groundbreaking ceremonies at Murphy Athletic Complex. Bidshave been opened for the renovation of the football facil-
ity. University president Dr. Shirley Raines approved theproject and the selected bid was returned to the StateBuilding Commission in Nashville. With the Commis-sions final approval, ground breaking ceremonies couldbe held within the next two weeks.
September 21, 2001The Bulls of South Florida arrived in Memphis for aweekend game with the Tigers. The game will be carriedon ESPN Plus and will be offered across the country onDirect TV. The U of M worked out at Murphy Athletic
Complex before departing for the team hotel. The M-Club held its annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony atthe AdamsMark Hotel in East Memphis. Installed thisyear were football players Richard Adragna and DannySparkman. Adragna played defensive line for the Tigersfrom 1959-62. Sparkman was a quarterback for RexDockery and Rey Dempsey from 1982-85. He remainsthe school’s all-time leading passer.
September 22, 2001The U of M Tigers ran their season record to 2-1 underfirst year head coach Tommy West by knocking off theUniversity of South Florida, 17-9, in Liberty Bowl Me-morial Stadium. The Tigers opened the game by driving80 yards in three plays. Quarterback Travis Anglin com-pleted passes to tight end Jeff Cameron, tailback DanteBrown and Sugar Sanders to get Memphis into the endzone. Sanders caught the three yard scoring toss fromAnglin. On the following series, Ryan White booted a45-yard field goal and a few minutes later, Brown scoredfrom one yard out to give the Tigers a 17-0 lead. The
remainder of the game turned into a defensive struggleand Memphis had to stop USF on the Tiger one yardline on the game’s final play to insure the victory. Cor-nerback Anthony Harden was named the game’s defen-sive player. Harden had a pass interception, a blockedkick, two blocked passes and several tackles. Severalplayers were injured in the game including Anglin, Brownand defensive tackle Kenyun Glover.
September 25, 2001Freshman tight end Marcus West, who had appeared inthe first two games of the season for the Tigers, will be
lost to the team for the season. West suffered a fracture ofhis hip in practice last week. X-rays of the hip did notreveal the break but a later catscan showed the hairlinefracture. It is possible that West could receive a medicalredshirt and replay his freshman season next fall. Fresh-man David McNair will now do double duty as a defen-sive end and tight end.
September 26,2 0 0 1True freshman defen-sive back Lionel
Pieh spent most of theWednesday practiceworking with the Tigerrunning backs. With in-juries to Dante Brown andJeremiah Bonds, the stable ofbacks is running thin. Piehwas an all-state tailback atCordova High in Mem-phis.
Mississippi charge in winning, 22-17, before a crowd ofover 28,000 in Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. Fresh-man quarterback Danny Wimprine, playing in place ofre-injured Travis Anglin, threw for 102 yards and tail-back Dante Brown rushed for a game high 62 yards andone touchdown in the team’s first win over USM sincethe 1993 season. Outside linebacker Derrick Ballard wascredited with five tackles, one pass interception, onetackle for lost yardage, one quarterback sacks and two
pass breakups in leading the team to the win. Ballardreturned his third quarter interception 29 yards for thego-ahead touchdown and Memphis never looked back.Linebacker Demorrio Shank and Glenn Sumter also reg-istered pass interceptions. The Tigers improved theirrecord to 3-2 on the season.
October 8, 2001Sophomore linebacker Derrick Ballard was named theConference USA Defensive Player of the Week for hiswork in the Southern Mississippi win. The Universityof Memphis also announced that the game time for the
Memphis vs. UAB game on October 27th had beenchanged from a 7 PM kickoff to a 1 PM kickoff. The timechange was brought on by a concern for weather condi-tions late in October. The contest will also be aired byESPN + back to the Birmingham, Alabama, area.
October 9, 2001The Tigers returned to practice in preparation for thisweekend’s game with the University of Houston in Hous-ton, Texas. Quarterbacks Travis Anglin and Neil Suberhave returned to practice after nursing shoulder injuriesbut freshman Danny Wimprine spent of the practice work-
ing with the number one offensive unit.
October 10, 2001Tiger tailback Jeremiah Bonds return to practice aftermissing several days with an ankle injury. Bonds hasnot played since the South Florida game but will beavailable for the team against Houston is needed.
October 11, 2001Heavy rains in the Memphis area forced the football teamto work indoors at Murphy Athletic Complex. The city
received over four inches of rain throughout Wednesdayevening and Thursday morning. The three hour sessionwas broken into 90 minutes sessions for the offense andfor the defense. The State Building Commission signedoff on the Tigers’ South Complex renovation plan andconstruction should begin in two weeks.
October 12, 2001The University of Memphis football team departed Mem-phis for Houston, Texas, and this weekend’s footballgame with the Cougars. The Tigers are a favored to win
1 4 2
September 28, 2001Amid some fear of flying after the terrorist attack on NewYork and Washington, D.C., the Tiger football teamflew from Memphis to Louisville, Kentucky, for theweekend’s football game with the University of Louis-ville. The team worked out at Papa John’s Stadium onFriday afternoon.
September 29,
2 0 0 1The University of Louis-ville scored two latetouchdowns on long runsby Tony Stallings and de-feated the U of M, 38-21, in a ConferenceUSA game. Tigertailback Dante Brownhad his second 100-yardrushing performanceof the season and re-
serve quarterbackDanny Wimprine came into the game in the fourth quar-ter for an injured Travis Anglin and threw touchdownpasses to Darron White and Bunkie Perkins. Wimprinecompleted 11-of-24 pass attempts for 100 yards and thetwo scores. It was the Tigers’ first loss after consecutivewins over UT-Chattanooga and South Florida.
September 30, 2001Tommy West put the Tigers through a two hour practicesession in pads on Sunday afternoon in preparation forthe Southern Mississippi contest this weekend. South-
ern Miss will come to Memphis as the only undefeatedteam in Conference USA. Quarterback Travis Anglinwas held out practice and will be x-rayed on Monday todetermine the extent of his shoulder injury.
October 1, 2001Tommy West announced at his Monday press luncheonthat Travis Anglin’s shoulder injury was not an ACseparation and that he was hopeful that Anglin wouldreturn to action by Wednesday.
October 2, 2001The Chronicle of Higher Education had reporter Welsh
Suggs come to Memphis to talk to head coach TommyWest, defensive tackle Albert Means, linebacker SheldonTaylor, defensive end Jacob Ford, tackle Dierre Carter,tailback Mario Robinson and receiver Derron Johnsonabout life in the inner city and how hard it is for youngathletes to make it out of their environment when notshown the proper leadership from their high school
coaches.
October 4, 2001The Tiger football team traveled to LibertyBowl Memorial Stadium for an evening
workout prior to the Southern Mississippicontest this weekend. The team concentrated on theirgame plan for their annual Black & Blue Bowl with theGolden Eagles.
October 5, 2001After a brief workout at Murphy Athletic Complex, theteam left for their hotel and a movie. It was decided thatquarterback Travis Anglin had recovered from his shoul-der injury in the Louisville game and would be availablefor Southern Mississippi. Anglin has been limited inhis work this week in practice.
October 6, 2001The University of Memphis defense turned in their bestperformance of the season and held off a late Southern
Ground breaking ceremonies took place at Murphy Athletic Complex as part of the new $6.0 millionrenovation of the football training facility.
2001 Diary
Antoine Harden
2001 Diary
1 4 3
the game as Houston has not won in four tries thisseason. All three Memphis quarterbacks, Travis Anglin,Neil Suber and Danny Wimprine are available for servicein the game. The team will participate in a walk-throughat Robertson Stadium on Friday afternoon before check-ing into the Marriott West Loop.
October 13, 2001Tailback Dante Brown exploded for 148 yards and a
school record four touchdowns and freshman quarterbackDanny Wimprine threw for 216 yards and two scores asthe Memphis Tigers defeated Houston, 52-33, atRobertson Stadium in Houston, TX. Brown, a juniorcollege transfer, broke one of the oldest records in theMemphis record book with his four rushing touchdowns.He also set a new mark for points scored in a game with24. Wimprine, starting his first game as a Tiger, threwtouchdown passes to Bunkie Perkins and Antoine Hardenand also added a rushing touchdown in Memphis’s big-gest offensive explosion since the 1992 season.
October 14, 2001Former Tiger head footballcoach Ralph Hatley died of abrain hemorrhage. Hatleycoached the Tiger footballteam from 1947 to 1957 andwas instrumental in movingthe U of M from college levelfootball to a major universityprogram. He compiled an
overall record of 59-43-5. He was 88 years old.
October 15, 2001Memphis tailback Dante Brown continues to accom-plish firsts for the Tigers. The junior received Confer-ence USA Co-Offensive Player of the Week honors for hisplay against Houston last weekend. In doing so, Brownbecame the first Tiger offensive player in the five yearhistory of the league to earn the award. Memphis has had18 defensive and special teams players win Player of theWeek honors.
October 16, 2001Tailbacks Jeremiah Bonds and Sugar Sanders returned to
practice after missing two weeks with injuries. Bonds isreturning from an ankle injury and Sanders from a brokenbone in his left hand.
October 17, 2001Ground breaking ceremonies were held at Murphy Ath-letic Complex to kickoff the much awaited renovation ofthe football practice facility. Athletic director R.C.Johnson, University President Dr. Shirley Raines, FedExchairman David Bronzak, former Shelby County MayorBill Morris and head coach Tommy West spoke to the
crowd and with the addition of Willard Sparks, turnedthe first shovels of dirt. The 18-month project is ex-pected to start in two weeks.
October 18, 2001Head coach Tommy Westannounced that DannyWimprine would be thestarting quarterback for
the East Carolina game.
October 19,2 0 0 1The Tiger footballteam boarded their charter flightto Greenville, NC, for thisweekend’s game with EastCarolina. The contest is beingtelevised by ESPN Plus and isbeing offered in Memphis byWPTY-TV. Following the flight, the team worked out
for 30 minutes at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium being check-ing into the Ramada Plaza.
October 20, 2001Facing an inspired East Carolina Pirate football team fortheir Homecoming game, the Tigers did not play welland fell, 32-11. ECU gained 473 yards in total offenseand limited the Tigers to less than 300 yards. RyanWhite booted his sixth field goal of the year and BunkiePerkins hauled in a touchdown pass from DannyWimprine for the Tigers only points. White’s field goalmoved him into second place on the school’s all-time
scoring list.
October 22, 2001The Tigers returned to the practice fields at MurphyAthletic Complex in preparation for this weekend’s UABcontest. The intense, two-hour workout featured agreat deal of concentration on defense.Associated Press had a reporter atpractice for an interview withAlbert Means.
October 23, 2001
A line of heavy thunder-storms drove the Tigerfootball team off the prac-tice fields and into the turfroom at Murphy Com-plex for the afternoonpractice session.The team was ableto work outdoorsfor the first hour andthen spent the last one
and a half hours in the indoor facility.
October 24, 2001The Tigers returned to the practice fields at MurphyAthletic Complex one day after heavy rain storms forcedthe squad indoors. The team practiced for two hours infinal preparation for the UAB game this weekend.
October 26, 2001
The Tiger football team trav-eled to Liberty Bowl Memo-rial Stadium for a final prac-tice before taking on UAB.Prior to leaving Murphy Ath-letic Complex the 2001Memphis seniors had a groupphoto made for the cover ofthe final game program.
October 27, 2001The Tigers battled the nation’s number three ranked
defense but in the end, it was UAB that prevailed, 17-14,over Memphis. Dante Brown scored the U of M’s firstTD of the game on a four yard run. It was his ninthrushing touchdown of the season. In the fourth quarter,quarterback Neil Suber hit tight end Jeff Cameron fromfour yards out to cut the UABlead to 17-14. However, somevery questionable calls by theofficials aided the Blazers inwinning their fourth game of theseason.
October 29, 2001Tiger head coach Tommy Westwas still very upset by the outcome of the Memphis-UAB game and eluded to some missed calls by C-USAofficials during his weekly press luncheon. One call, amissed pass interference call when Tiger receiver Bunkie
Perkins was “clotheslined” at the UAB26 yard line, was addressed in the
Commercial Appeal’s game story.
October 30, 2001The Tigers returned to the prac-
tice fields at Murphy AthleticComplex for a short week ofwork due to this weekend’sopen date. Tiger quarterbackTravis Anglin continued towork as a wide receiver and isexpected to move to that po-sition for the remainder ofthe season. Defensive endMowbray Rowand and out-
side linebacker Coot Terry
Ralph Hatley
Jeff Cameron
Darron White
2001 Diary
1 4 4
both missed practice with injuries sustained in the UABgame. Both are expected to be ready for Tennessee.
October 31, 2001Bob Gillespie, a writer for The State in Columbia, South
Carolina, came to Memphis to do a major feature storyon Tommy West and his family. Gillespie covered Westduring his tenure as the head coach at Clemson.
November 1, 2001The Tommy West story, being written by Bob Gillespie,continued as the reporter visited with athletic directorR.C. Johnson, defensive coordinator Rick Whitt, offen-sive coordinator Randy Fichtner and West’s wife Lind-say. Following the afternoon workout, West dismissedthe team for the weekend. The team will regroup onSunday afternoon to begin preparations for the Ten-
nessee game.
November 4, 2001The Tigers began preparations forthis weekend’s Tennessee gamewith a Sunday afternoon workoutat Murphy Athletic Complex. Defen-sive tackle Albert Means, who missedall of last week’s practices due to about with pneumonia, returned to thecomplex but was limited to watch-ing from the sidelines. Means isdoubtful for the Tennessee game.
November 6, 2001Defensive ends Mowbray Rowand andShakorr Bryant have recovered from previ-ous injuries and will begin working out inpreparation for the Tennessee game.Bryant was hurt in the East Carolinagame and Rowand went down againstUAB. Defensive tackle Albert Means has return to thepractice fields at Murphy Complex but only as a specta-tor. Means is still suffering from pneumonia and is doubtfulfor the weekend.
November 7, 2001Tiger running back coach Clay Helton was admitted toBaptist Hospital with a possible case of appendicitis. Ifsurgery is required, Helton will miss this weekend’sTennessee contest.
November 8, 2001Coach Clay Helton made it through the night at BaptistHospital and did not require surgery. It is now suspectedthat he has an infection in his intestinal tract and he isbeing treated with antibiotics.
November 9, 2001The Memphis football team boarded a TWA charter forKnoxville, TN, and this weekend’s game with the sixthranked Volunteers. The Tigers are a 24-point underdog.The team worked out for 30-minutes at Neyland Sta-
dium, while head coach Tommy West visited with friendsand acquaintances from his days as a Tennessee playerand coach.
November 10, 2001Mistakes and turnovers helpedTennessee to a 49-28 Home-coming win over Memphis.A crowd of 107, 221 witnessedthe Vols score 25 first half
points and take a 25-7 half-time lead. However,
the U of M battled back from a 42-7 Tennesseelead in the third quarter and had cut the
Vol lead to 42-28 before a late score putthe game out of reach. Danny Wimprinecame in for quarterback Neil Suber and
led the team to three consecutive scoresin the fourth period. Wimprine threw
TD passes to Aaron Meadowsand Travis Anglin and ran for anadditional score. SophomoreAntoine Harden had a career dayreturning a school record eightkickoffs for 160 yards. He also
caught six passes for 104 yards.Safety Glenn Sumter inter-
cepted his fifth pass of theseason and had 18 tack-
les.
N o v e m b e r12, 2001
Tiger head coach Tommy West told members of theMemphis media attending his weekly press luncheonthat the Memphis football is still very much in the bowlhunt and that if the Tigers win their final two games to
finish the season at 6-5, he believes that the U of M willreceive it’s first bowl invitation since the 1971 season.
November 13, 2001According to The Commercial Appeal, the Tigers havebeen tabbed as a 12 point favorite in for this weekend’sgame with Army. Jason Mosbey, a running back fromCBHS in Memphis attended Tuesday’s practice at Mur-phy Complex.
November 15, 2001
Tiger freshman Derron Johnson, who was consideredone of the top recruits in the southeast last spring, has
been moved back to defensive back from wide receiver.Johnson, an all-state defensive back, was moved to re-ceiver in the fall of 2001 to bolster the thin ranks. Withthe advancement of the Tiger receiver corps, Johnson hasbeen returned to his safety spot.
November 16, 2001The Tigers did not travel to Liberty Bowl Stadium for aFriday walk-through but remained at Murphy AthleticComplex. Army worked out at the stadium in prepara-tion for Saturday’s afternoon game.
November 17, 2001Tiger freshman quarterback Danny Wimprine set a newMemphis record for most touchdowns accounted for whenhe threw four touchdown passes and ran for a fifth in theTigers’ 42-10 win over Army at Liberty Bowl Memo-
rial Stadium. Wimprine had TDtosses to Bunkie Perkins, RyanJohnson and two to AntoineHarden in leading theteam to a victory. Tail-back Dante Brownrushed for 80 yards andscored his 10 rushingTD of the season. De-fensive backs GlennSumter and Marcus bothregistered pass interceptions.Memphis could become
bowl eligible with over Cin-cinnati in the season finale.
November 19, 2001Head coach Tommy Westpraised the play of freshman quarterback Danny Wimprineand told media members thatthe Tigers were still verymuch in the college bowl hunt.It has been 30 years sinceMemphis played in a bowlgame.
November 20, 2001Representatives of the MotorCity Bowl in Detroit and theGMAC Bowl in Mobile, contacted athletic department
officials about attending thisweekend’s game with Cin-cinnati. The Tigers returnedto the football field to beginpreparing for the season fi-nale at Liberty Bowl Memo-rial Stadium.
Josh Eargle
Neil Suber
2001 Diary
1 4 5
November 21, 2001The Tigers continued their practice sessions at MurphyAthletic Complex while athletic department officials madeplans for a dinner to entertain bowl representatives intown to watch the Tigers play.
November 23, 2001Fourteen seniors took part in their final practice as aTiger. The short workout ended with the team leavingfor the hotel and a Friday night movie. Representativesof the Motor City Bowl arrived in Memphis and weretreated to dinner at Folks Folly. The GMAC Bowl ar-rived later Friday night.
November 24, 2001In one of the most heart-break-ing games in school history,
the Tigers found themselvesin the lead with just overone minute to play, butallowed Cincinnati todrive the length of thefield and score with four sec-onds remaining to take a 36-34win over Memphis. Memphis fresh-man quarterback DannyWimprine threw for a careerhigh 295 yards and threetouchdowns but it was notto overcome the Bearcats.
Freshman receiver Darron Whitecaught a career high seven passes for 123yards and two touchdowns and AntoineHarden added three receptions for 97 yardsand one score. The Tigers finished the seasonwith a 5-6 record, better than last year but not the win-ning mark the team had hoped for as the season began.
November 26, 2001Tommy West told media members attending his finalpress luncheon of the year, that seven Memphis coacheswere on the road and that recruiting was in full swing. He
stated that Memphis would look at several junior collegeplayers including a quarterback, kicker and wide receiver.He also stated that offensive linemen would be a priority.However, unless several players graduate early or leavethe U of M, the number of players signed will be verylow.
November 27, 2001The Commercial Appeal ran a story documenting thevast improvement of the Tiger football team this fall.The story told of the much improved Tiger offense underfreshman quarterback Danny Wimprine and young re-
ceivers Darron White and Antoine Harden.
November 28, 2001The Commercial Appeal quoted athletic director R.C.Johnson as saying he was in favor of making severalchanges in the Tigers’ football schedule for the future.With eight league games in the future, it will be impos-
sible for Memphis to play three and sometimes four SECschools per year. Johnson stated he was in favor of play-ing Ole Miss and Tennessee but saw no reason to con-tinue with games against Arkansas and Mississippi State.
November 29, 2001Head coach Tommy West left Memphis on his first re-cruiting visit. West is expected to return to Memphis intime to greet recruits arriving this weekend. The Com-mercial Appeal has reported that two junior college play-ers, David Davis of Itawamba Junior College and GenePerry of East Mississippi Community College will be in
Memphis this weekend. Both are linemen, a priority forthe Tigers.
November 30, 2001Tiger assistant coaches returned to campus for the week-end and to welcome recruits to campus. Two juniorcollege prospects, Danny Davis and Gene Perry, are ex-pected to arrive this weekend for their visits.
December 2, 2001The University of Memphis and the Highland Hundredbooster club hosted the annual Football Banquet at the
AdamsMark Hotel in east Memphis. The event is
held each year to honor the outgoing seniors andpresent them with their senior rings. Several
awards are also given each year. The awardsinclude the Offensive and Defensive Players
of the Year and the Top Tiger Award. The2001 Offensive Player of the Year Award was pre-
sented to receiver Bunkie Perkins. The Defensive Playerof the Year Award was given to safety Glenn Sumter. The2001 Special Teams Player of the Year went to puntreturner Ryan Johnson. The Offensive Lineman of theYear was awarded to tackle Wade Smith and the Defen-sive Lineman Award went to Tony Brown. The Scout
Team Player of the Year Awards went to Sir Ernest foroffense, Garfield Garth for de-
fense and Chris Cowley forspecial teams. Permanent
captains for the2001 sea-son, as
voted on by the Ti-ger team, went toBunkie Perkins, ArtisHicks and Wade Smithon offense and Glenn
Sumter, DemorrioShank and Tony
Brown for defense. The final two awards for the nightwere the presentations of the Top Tiger Trophies. TheTop Tiger Award is selected by head coach Tommy Westand goes to a player or players who have exemplified thehigh standards set by football. West named two Tigers,
quarterback Neil Suber and offensive guard Josh Eargle,as Top Tigers for 2001. Both players battled throughinjuries time after time and made their return to the field.
December 3, 2001A football scheduling meeting was held on Monday andthe out come of the was meeting was Arkansas beingdropped from the 2001 schedule. It was also requestedthat a talked about game with Utah be dropped also.There was no signed contract with the Utes and it wasfelt that game did not fit the schedule for 2001 since theTigers will now have to play eight Conference USA
contests. Games with Ole Miss and Mississippi Statefrom the SEC and South Florida will make up the non-conference opponents.
December 4, 2001Conference USA announced its All-Conference footballselections for 2001 and Memphis was represented by sixplayers. Offensive tackle Artis Hicks and free safety GlennSumter were named to the All C-USA first team, whiletailback Dante Brown was selected second team all-con-ference. The Tigers also placed three players of the All-Freshman squad. Offensive center Drew Harmon, receiverDarron White and punter James Gaither were named to
the freshman squad.
December 5, 2001Head coach Tommy West left Memphis to visit recruitsin Louisiana and Georgia. The Ti-gers are expected to entertain eightrecruits this weekend.
December 6,2 0 0 1Memphis freesafety Glenn
Sumter wasnamed to theCollege Foot-ball News All-ConferenceUSA team for2001.
Decem-ber 7,2 0 0 1The Commercial Appeal wrote that seven recruits were
to visits the U of M this weekend. The group included
2001 Diary
1 4 6
three Memphians. David Ligon, a defensive linemanfrom CBHS, Roosevelt Tate, a defensive end fromHamilton High and Antonio Sanders, an offensive line-
man from Fairley High are expected as well as juniorcollege receiver Durrell Robinson and Atlanta area quar-terback Maurice Avery. Robinson was recruited by TommyWest at Clemson before signing with Georgia out of highschool.
December 8, 2001With athletic director R.C. Johnson out of town onConference USA business, assistant athletic director BobWinn was asked to speak to the football recruits visit-ing. The breakfast meeting took place at the FogelmanExecutive Center on the Memphis campus. Among those
attending were David Ligon of CBHS in Memphis andDerron Parquet, a running back at LSU that is interestedin transferring to either Memphis or Georgia Tech for thespring semester.
December 10, 2001Offensive guard Artis Hicks was selected to play in theEast-West Shrine Game in San Francisco. He is the firstTiger invited to the game since Tim Borcky in 1987.The game is played on January 14, 2002.
December 11, 2001
Tiger cornerback MarcusSmith, who could have hadanother year at Memphis, hasdecided to leave school. Smithhas been selected to play inthe Blue-Gray Classic inMontgomery, Alabama, onChristmas Day.
December 12, 2001Quarterback Jeff Hilliard, of Tyler Junior College in Texas,is making his official visit to Memphis today. Hilliard,
who signed with Kansas out of high school, is a mid-semester player who could enroll in Memphis this springand participate in spring practice.
December 13, 2001As Jeff Hilliard continued his official visit to the Mem-phis campus, Tiger coaches are preparing for one of thebiggest recruiting weekend’s of the year. The Commer-cial Appeal listed the names of several area recruits thatwould be arriving on campus this weekend. The groupincluded Brandon Wright of East High School, ReubenMayes and Willie Henderson of Ridgeway High and
LaRon Harris of Kingsbury High.
December 14, 2001Tiger kicker Ryan White, who was named to several all-
America teams during his tenure, was selected to play inthe Blue-Gray Classic in Montgomery, Alabama, onChristmas Day. White will join Tiger teammate Marcus
Smith as a member of the Graysquad. Twelve high school re-cruits arrived in Memphis onFriday for their official visitsto the U of M. Included in thegroup were numerous area re-cruits. Eland Means andMario Pratcher of TrezevantHigh, Brandon Wright andBrandon Jenkins of East High, Willie Henderson andRueben Mayes of Ridgeway High, as well as DeAngeloWilliams, an all-state tailback from Wynne, Arkansas.
December 15, 2001Quarterback Bryan Brown of Corinth, Mississippi, ar-rived on Saturday for his official visit. Brown had partici-pated in a basketball tournament in Corinth and wasunable to arrive on Friday. He did get into Memphis onSaturday afternoon and was able to attend the Tigersbasketball game with the Ten-nessee Vols.
December 19, 2001Jeff Hilliard and David Davis,
two junior college footballplayers, signed scholarshipswith the U of M and will en-roll for spring practice.Hilliard is a quarterback from Tyler Junior College inTexas, while Davis is an offensive lineman fromMonticello, Arkansas. Hilliard, who signed with Kansasafter his prep career, lettered for two years at Tyler JC. Hethrew for over 1,800 yards in 2001 and had 18 touch-down passes. Davis played at Itawamba Junior Collegeand selected Memphis over Clemson.
December 25, 2001Tiger football players Ryan White and Marcus Smithboth participated in the annual Blue Gray All-Star Foot-ball Classic in Montgomery, Alabama. White, a formerTiger kicker, had a field goal and a PAT for the Grayteam, while Smith worked as a defensive back and spe-cial teams player. Merry Christmas to all Tiger fans.
December 26, 2001While the University was of-ficially closed for the holi-days, Liberty Bowl teams ar-
rived in Memphis and beganusing the complex for work-outs.
December 31, 2001Another calendar year has ended and Tiger coaches arehard at work recruiting for the 2002 season. Under head
coach Tommy West, the team came within :04 secondsof playing in their first bowl game in 30 years. Now wehave to wait another year but given the strides made byWest and his staff, it should be a Happy New Year in2002.
Derron Parquet
DeAngelo Williams
David Davis
Jeff Hilliard
