Roy Exum
Colton Jumper had just finished packing his car, heading back to Chattanooga for just a few weeks before the football Vols would begin summer school and resume the grueling summer workouts when a teammate told him head coach Butch Jones was wandering around and hunting for him. Any player at any school will tell you the same thing: “It makes you pretty nervous.”
So Colton went to Coach Jones office and was told to shut the door. That makes you even more nervous and that’s when Butch gave him the toughest award you can earn in college football – a “battlefield promotion.” The reason coaches tell you to shut the door is because when a walk-on earns a full scholarship, both the Coach and the player usually cry.
Think about it. When you read about the classy high school recruits who now commit with regularity in their junior seasons, they are “given” scholarships. But when you go a whole year banging with the best, a battlefield promotion only comes when you “earn” it and that’s a whole lot tougher to do.
I have known Colton’s grandfather and his uncles since the beginning so I got a huge kick out of following him at Baylor. While he didn’t attract many “Big Five” schools, he got an offer from Navy and pounced on a chance to not only play for the Middies but follow his Uncle Cal – who starred at Vandy before flying Navy jets.
In Colton’s zest to be better, somebody told him about this “muscle builder” you see at vitamin shops and he started jugging the stuff. Well, it seems the supplement temporarily messed with Jumper’s liver and the Navy denied him during his physical. Heartbroken, Colton went to some post-grad school in New Jersey and there was further heartbreak. He didn’t get the looks he deserved.
One day his dad, Jay, confided in me that Colton was pretty dismal. It seemed like nobody wanted him so I tried to get him some attention but the timing was wrong. Nobody had scholarships. David Cutcliffe at Duke told me he’d love to have him, particularly after the way Baylor’s David Helton was becoming “all world,” but finally Jumper got a “preferred walk-on” bite in Knoxville.
Last year he played in 13 games, mostly special teams stuff, but after a good summer he showed promise at middle linebacker. After stumbling a little coming out of the gate, Darrin Kirkland went down in the Virginia Tech game and, for Colton, it was “next man up.”
In Tennessee’s last two games, the kid nobody wanted has proven the ancient axiom true: “If you stay, you will play.” He has led the Vols in tackles against Georgia and at Texas A&M but when a reporter asked him earlier this week if he ever dreamed he would start against Alabama on this, the hallowed “Third Saturday in October,” Colton shook his head and admitted, “If you had told me that this summer, I would have laughed in your face.”
Now no one is laughing. Some of the “Bandwagon Vols” have even texted him apologies for ragging him earlier this season but Colton – ever level – just laughs at the sudden exposure he is attracting on a team that is so hampered by injuries and a decided lack of depth in spots. The betting line opened with the top-ranked Tide a 9-point favorite but it had jumped to 13 by yesterday due to the cash flow.
The Alabama-Tennessee rivalry is regarded among the top five in the South and, while Alabama is seeking its 10th straight win over UT, the fact both teams are in the Top 10 for the first time since 1969 makes a ticket harder to get since Majors coached against Bryant.
“I think the biggest challenge for me is that I get so nervous,” Colton told a reporter earlier this week. “You would think I’d get used to it by now but not until the game gets going, after the first two or three plays, do I settle in. Then it becomes simply playing football.”
And that’s all Colton Jumper ever wanted to do back when none of the guys like Nick Saban even knew his name.
* * *
Earlier this week I got a giggle when I realized I have watched well over 50 dramas on “The Third Saturday in October,” most of them very live at either Legion Field or Neyland Stadium, and I don’t believe there is any other match-up to equal it. A bunch of the Alabama players say Tennessee is their biggest rivalry, especially those who didn’t grow up in the shadow of Auburn, and there is no doubt every UT player I have ever known says there is no team that makes their heart pump faster than the Tide.
I think the biggest reason is what Pat Dye once told me,” Alabama and Tennessee play the same way. They are so much alike … that may be why the players from both teams really respect each other. Take the fans out of it. I’m talking about the ones who play, who make the difference, who matter. They have such great respect for the other team.”
There is the theory that Bear Bryant always made Tennessee such a team priority because in his early years he could never figure out how to beat General Neyland. I know that was what made Alabama’s “cigar to the winner” so popular that every Tide coach since has taken boxes of stogies just to the Tennessee game.
What makes this year’s game so great is that both teams are in the Top 10 for the first time in 17 long years which may signal an end to UT’s nine straight losses.
MY PICK? Alabama’s depth is how they beat other teams. Watch how they constantly substitute players so that, late in the game, Alabama still has “fresh legs.” It’s hard to launch a fourth-quarter comeback against a team like that. Tennessee’s injuries aside, also know the Tide will try to flush QB Josh Dobbs with UT’s offensive line still buckling. If I was betting my lunch money, give me Alabama and I’ll give you the points. My best guess – Alabama, 34-10.
royexum@aol.com