NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Nearly every step of the way is a lesson learned for the 34 newcomers who have played this season for Tennessee.
Among that group are 22 true freshmen -- most for any team in the country -- that have seen action in the Volunteers' 2-1 start. Their first road test came two weeks ago Saturday in the 34-10 loss at Oklahoma.
Second-year coach Butch Jones hopes his young Volunteers learned how to navigate hostile territory against the Sooners. Tennessee opens Southeastern Conference play Saturday at No. 12 Georgia (2-1, 0-1 in SEC).
"In our team meeting, speaking with the team, (we talked) about what it takes to go on the road and win in the SEC in a hostile environment versus a very, very good football team and all the things that go in to playing winning football," Jones said.
Even with the trip to Oklahoma and the respectable effort there notwithstanding, it's a different animal playing on the road in the SEC. That's especially so this Saturday at Sanford Stadium against a Bulldogs team eager for its first league win after falling 38-35 in South Carolina in its SEC opener.
"Out of our 70 (players) that we'll take on the road to the University of Georgia," Jones said, "only 11 have ever played in a game at Sanford Stadium. To do the math for you, that's about 16 percent, if my math skills serve me correctly.
"(I've) never been a part of anything like that. Again, that's part of the growth and maturation of this football team as we continue to grow and develop."
Of the true freshmen, much is being heaped on running back Jalen Hurd, a prize recruit who started the season sharing carries with senior Marlin Lane. But against Oklahoma, the bruising 6-foot-3, 227-pound Hurd rushed for 97 yards, most for a Vols true freshman since 2009. At 69.7 yards per game, he's the No. 2 freshman rusher in the SEC on 48 carries, third-most for any league frosh.
Hurd leads the Volunteers with 209 rushing yards and one touchdown to go with four catches for 40 yards and another score. Lane has gained 137 yards on 34 carries with three touchdowns.
"It did help us a lot," Hurd said of playing that first career road game at Oklahoma in front of a raucous crowd of 85,622 at Memorial Stadium. "Just because it's good experience to have going into Georgia. But we're just focusing in on Georgia every day, and we're really excited for it."
If anybody should know anything about talented running backs, it's Georgia coach Mark Richt, who features one of the deepest and talented corps of rushers in the country. The bell cow is junior Todd Gurley, a Heisman Trophy candidate who is fourth in the SEC in rushing with 402 yards. But freshmen Sony Michel (206 yards, 10.3 yards per carry) and Nick Chubb (116, 9.5) are more than capable too.
"I think you have to start out thinking in terms of stopping the run and being sound there," Richt said of defending Tennessee's offense. "Hopefully, getting them into a longer third-down situation, more of a passing situation where you can start to come after a guy. But if their running game is going good and their play-action pass, I can promise you their play-action pass will be effective, if they're running the ball well."
Senior quarterback Justin Worley has settled into the starting job quite nicely for the Volunteers, who lost a 34-31 overtime heartbreaker to the visiting Bulldogs last season. In that game, Worley led Tennessee to the near upset of then-No. 6 Georgia by completing 17 of 31 passes for 215 yards and a touchdown.
After winning the starting job late in preseason camp this year, Worley has completed a solid 70 of 120 passes (58.3 percent) for 721 yards with six touchdowns and three interceptions.
"This is a new year, new team, new season, so you can't really dwell on the past," Worley said. "We had success against them, both offensively and defensively, and we'd like to say that we should have won that game and stuff, but we've moved on. This is a new year, and we've still got to go out there and play the game."
Jones agreed with his quarterback about putting the overtime loss to Georgia into perspective. Then again, the Volunteers did follow that defeat with an upset win over visiting South Carolina for the team's biggest win of the season.
"I thought it did help in our overall development," Jones said of the Georgia game last year. "Because I thought our team showed some perseverance. I thought we battled adversity. I thought we made some critical plays, some fourth-and-one plays at critical stages of the game, to put us in a situation to win the football game."
Tennessee's talented receiving corps has diminished in recent weeks. Sophomore Josh Smith, who leads the team at 13.5 yards per catch, and junior Von Pearson are both out with high ankle sprains. The Vols still feature sophomore Marquez North and his team best in catches (14) and receiving yards (173), followed by junior Pig Howard (13 for 89). But they need true freshman Josh Malone -- another top recruit -- to pick up his game beyond just the five catches for 63 yards thus far.
Defensively, the Volunteers are gearing to defend the run.
"It's remarkably tough," sophomore defensive lineman Corey Vereen said of Georgia's ground game. "With a back like Gurley, he's real dynamic, gives you yards after carry, real explosive, fast, pretty much an all-around back. He's really good, and not just him."
