Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe has seen his share of big-time quarterbacks in his day.
From tutoring the likes of Peyton and Eli Manning to spending a short time with Brady Quinn at Notre Dame, Cutcliffe has gained the reputation of a quarterback coach guru.
And when Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer asked Cutcliffe to rejoin the Volunteers’ staff in 2006, the Rocky Top faithful wanted to know the answer to one burning question.
Could Cutcliffe resurrect the play of struggling junior quarterback Erik Ainge?
In the 2005 season, sloppy play by Ainge contributed to the Volunteers’ 5-6 overall record – their first losing season since 1988 when Tennessee went 5-6.
Ainge completed just 45 percent of his passes in 2005, coupled with 737 yards, five touchdowns and seven interceptions.
But with the Cutcliffe’s second coming to Knoxville, Tenn., things began to change for the Volunteers.
“He came in and didn’t like the way things were going,” Ainge said. “He just set out to change them.”
Cutcliffe said his strategy for molding Ainge into an effective quarterback was to begin from scratch.
“We had a meeting with the quarterbacks and just kind of laid some ground rules – from a discipline standpoint, a work-ethic standpoint,” Cutcliffe said. “We went back to studying defenses. I even went through the evolution of the zone blitz.”
For Ainge, studying the mental aspect of football was the correct place to start.
“What [Cutcliffe] corrected was my understanding of the game of football and getting me comfortable,” Ainge said. “He does a great job of calling plays and finding out what I like and putting me in good situations to be successful. That’s what allows you to be kind of relaxed.”
The results in one year have been like night and day.
In eight games this season, Ainge has completed 67.9 percent of his passes for 2,213 yards, 16 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Cutcliffe said he worked with Ainge on a few physical aspects of his game such as tempo and footwork. He said Ainge’s improvement in quarterback IQ has been crucial.
“I think that knowledge had helped him as much as anything,” Cutcliffe said. “He’s much more comfortable at least because his knowledge is so much greater.”
Since arriving at Tennessee, Cutcliffe said Ainge’s evolution has progressed as expected, despite his poor performance in 2005.
“Our spring game, he played like he was supposed to have played,” Cutcliffe said. “Then we had a preseason scrimmage this fall that he was really impressive in.”
Ainge’s improvement in 2006 has not only caught the eyes of stat-watching media and fans but also several LSU players, who have noticed the junior quarterback’s improvement by studying film.
“From my standpoint, him last year and this year, he is a totally different player,” LSU senior safety Jessie Daniels said. “He’s matured so much more than he did last year. Last year, he would get rattled a little bit.”
LSU junior safety Craig Steltz agreed with Daniels and said Ainge’s playing experience had done him well.
“He’s a calm and composed quarterback,” Steltz said. “He reads through his reads. He finds the open receiver and gets him the ball. That’s all a quarterback has to do and let the receivers make the plays.”
—–Contact Kyle Whitfield at [email protected]