Brices Off the Beaten Path

It's the eighth year of "Off The Beaten Path," and it was a pair of 8s --- 88 yards --- that Evan Berry traversed, sometimes backwards, for a touchdown in the win against Western Carolina.

Already Cam Sutton has eight tackles on the season in some limited work and with his next defended pass, Sutton will climb to eighth place on the Vols' all-time chart --- sharing the spot with All-American Deon Grant --- with 28 passes defended.

Tennessee's improved ground game already has five players with rushes of 12 or more yards, and seven Vols have gained 8-plus yards on a single carry.

Similarly, Tennessee has eight different players who have caught passes of 16-plus yards.

Vol opponents have averaged eight punts per game through the first three contests; they've punted 24 times for 1,043 yards --- a 43.5-yard gross average with a net of 36.8.

And now … it's on with the Path.

CHILLING WITH JRM

WORTH REPEATING

"I'm here to win every game, so I don't really think about it," Josh Dobbs said when asked about the Tennessee program's 10-game losing streak to the rival Florida. "You know, history's history. Our goal is to go out there and make new history this weekend. I play to win every game, and I'm excited to play (the Gators) again."

DRILL BITS

It wasn't happenstance that allowed Quinten Dormady in his most extensive collegiate action to complete six of eight passes that included a highlight-worthy Tomahawk to fellow rookie Preston Williams in the Vols' resounding 55-10 win this past Saturday against Western Carolina.

No, Dormady's obvious skill and confidence is borne from his days in Boerne, Texas, where he worked at length with his father on QB accuracy drills.

Though not any singular drill; rather the 6-foot-4, 216-pound gunslinger worked countless days and hours with his father, Mike, a respected Texas high school coach.

"I mean, I couldn't name a specific drill. I think it goes back to mechanics and goes back to that and repetitions, to be accurate," Quinten Dormady said. "But that's something that you have to take pride in as a quarterback. Growing up with my dad, that's something that we took pride in. All quarterback drills you want to be accurate, whether you're throwing into a net or throwing to a receiver. You've got spots that you want to throw the ball."

Still, Team Dormady didn't leave anything to chance. There were the usual tests --- we've seen Alton 'Pig' Howard fill the bucket this fall from 40 yards out --- but also some unique skill-development items involving that other futbol goal.

"Throwing into buckets, that kind of thing. Throwing into nets. Throwing over soccer goals to drop it in," he said. "You kind of tailor things to go through games and go through drills as you get older."

Saturday was no drill for Dormady or the Vols, and he responded in a big way with his family able to make the long trip in from the Lone Star State.

"It's very exciting. I haven't seen them yet," Dormady told us moments after the Vols' win Saturday night. "When I see them I'm sure they will be very excited. They mean a lot to me, obviously. All my family does, but them being here. It's hard for them to be here, about 17 hours away. And my dad (coached) a game last (Friday) night. So they flew in early this morning. That means a lot to me.

"It crossed my mind [that his parents had just witnessed his first TD pass]. Just really just knowing that they were here to see it, that means a lot. With them making this trip, I know it's hard on them and I know that I mean a lot to them. They mean a lot back to me."

VFL IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Don't look for a mixed message from Geraldo Orta. There are no sanitized, polished talking points, either.

>[?

Tennessee's former defensive back doesn't know where he would be without the impacts of Butch Jones, Willie Martinez and Tim Miller, among others, midway through his college career not quite three years ago.

But the Valdosta, Ga., native knows one thing: he'd still be continuing down a path of self-destruction without them.

That's the message Orta shared with Jones, Martinez, Miller, Steve Stripling and Zach Azzanni, among many more, when he stopped by Vols' practice in the past week.

"Well, to be honest as I look back and look at how my life was before they got there, I was basically in a bad position coming from a broken home, not knowing my mother or father," Orta said. "Being able to come from a background in a boys' home all my life and into college football is very different.

"When I first got there, my whole attitude coming from the boys home was still around. I had a bad attitude, wasn't doing great in school. None of that mattered to me. When Coach Jones got there, it all changed. He was pushing for grades, pushing for extra from me on the field and off the field. They saw how bad I was; I was playing good on the field but I was bad off the field."

In a home for abandoned or troubled boys since elementary school, Orta didn't know his approach was bad. It was product of environment more than willful desire to thumb his nose at authority and structure.

"I didn't know I needed to change because that's all I knew. Coach Martinez was my position coach, and he was the one person I trusted the most," Orta said. "He would sit down and talk with me about life. His family became my family. I never had a family before. Coach Jones and Coach Martinez really pushed me to change my life around."

Nowhere did Orta change more than in the classroom. By his own admission, during his early years at Tennessee Orta had been placed into a math class that he attended for one week and then to which he never returned.

A few semesters into Jones' young tenure atop Rocky Top, Orta had worked himself into 'Vol Scholar' status.

"My first semester was kind of bad but that second semester, I made a 3.0 and it made me so happy. Because I wanted to make them happy," said Orta, who also volunteers at Miller's Sevier Heights North Campus Church, where he was baptized. "Then I did it again after that. That's when I knew my life was changing."

It had to; Jones and Martinez didn't gloss over the hurdle-filled path in front of Orta.

"Coach Jones and Coach Martinez, we were sitting in the team meeting room, they said 'Orta, if you get your life right you could play nickel.' Coach Martinez always stayed on me about my grades. I'm thankful for him and Coach Jones. They used to tell me straight to my face what I was doing wrong. I see that today and I like that so much.

"I started talking to Tim Miller, started going to church and stuff. Met a brother of mine, Curtis Williams, who goes to that church. We started hanging out and getting together. It changed my life. Today, I try not to hang around negativity; I try to hang around positive people. The thing I like about Coach Jones, he's a good coach in football but he's also a good coach in life. I used to cuss and fight all the time. Coming from the boys home, that's all I knew. Defend myself. But they showed me other ways to go about life. Graduating from the University of Tennessee from a boys home, where I came from? I never had that intention; never thought about graduating college. Somebody coming from my position, how far would you think they could go? If it wasn't for them I would not have graduated from college."

Orta graduated with a degree in criminology; now, he's made plans for graduate school. From not going to class, Orta now wants more time in school hallways. He also works at Cherokee Country Club with a company as a personal trainer, a bit of tribute to another mentor, Vols strength and conditioning coach Dave Lawson.

"I didn't go to class. I remember one time I had a math class I went for a week and didn't go after that. Anytime anybody said anything to me I didn't like, I'd fight them or talk back to teachers and coaches. I would just say five cuss words in one sentence. I basically never dressed right, used to sag and not wear stuff that looked good in society. Fans I didn't know or something, I'd brush them off. Say 'Get out of my face.' Now I see that if I'd kept being on that path, it would have led me to self-destruction."

Instead, graduation led Orta to a party. Miller, Martinez, Williams and others insisted on it.

"As soon as I graduated, Coach Martinez and them were the first people I wanted to tell," Orta shared. "They basically were my family, the only family I knew that I could call my family. When they both called me and said 'Yeah, we're throwing a party for you,' we had to change the dates like twice because of important life events. I didn't expect everybody to be over there, and my brother Carlos and his wife, and I actually rode with them to Mr. Tim's house. I pulled up in the yard and see a couple cars and I was thinking 'I didn't know it was going to be like this.' I saw Jenny, Mr. Tim's wife, their kids, then I saw Coach Martinez and Mrs. Kim and I saw my strength coach, Coach Ike (Taylor). I wasn't expecting them to be there. That's how I knew they were for me, and wanted to see me improve in life.

"They don't know to this day how much I look up to them."

Maybe, just maybe, Orta doesn't know how much respect so many people have for him.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

With brother Eric beaming from the sideline, @Vol_Football's Evan Berry pulled off a dazzling 88-yard KO return TD: http://t.co/CyrFgGAH68- ESPN (@espn) September 20, 2015

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