Tennessee Football Coach

Richard Dent's journey ends in Canton

"All I could do was dream," the former eighth-round pick of the Chicago Bears said Saturday upon becoming the first player from his college, the first from Atlanta and the fourth Bears player from the 1985 Super Bowl champions to be honored in Canton, Ohio.

His former Tennessee State coach Joe Gilliam Sr., who presented Dent for enshrinement, told the story of a skinny offensive lineman being dropped off with a suitcase in his hand at the team's practice field by his Murphy High School coach William Lester.

"But I didn't sign him," Gilliam told Lester.

"Well, you got him," Lester replied.

"William Lester told my mother, 'Look, I'm going to try to do something for him. I know he wants to leave the state of Georgia,'" Dent recalled.

Dent, who became a three-time All-American at Tennessee State at defensive end, thanked his late coach's wife, who was one of many of Dent's friends, family members and former teammates at the ceremony.

"William Lester and his wife gave me a ride [to school] for two years in a row," Dent said. "If it wasn't for Coach Lester, I couldn't be here today."

Dent thanked Scott Dean, his closest childhood friend, for giving up the band and persuading him to go out for the high school football team with him.

Dent also thanked his father, his eight siblings and two women from his neighborhood, one he addressed as Miss Payton, who gave him his first job and another, whom he called Miss Knight, 93, who "looked out for me."

"When you have dreams," Dent said, "it's very tough to say you do everything by yourself. None of us can get anywhere by ourselves."

Dent waved to a large contingent from Tennessee State, which included the school band, the university president and the former dean. He acknowledged heroes like Muhammad Ali and former Tennessee State greats and NFL Pro Bowlers Ed "Too Tall" Jones and Claude Humphrey.

Dent, a four-time Pro Bowler and MVP of Super Bowl XX, set a team record with 17½ sacks in '84, followed with 17 in '85 and finished with eight or more sacks for 10 straight seasons. He is tied for sixth on the league's all-time sack list with 137½.

Drafted 203rd overall in the '83 NFL draft, Dent played for 15 seasons, 12 with the Bears, one with San Francisco, one with Indianapolis and one with Philadelphia.

Dent acknowledged fellow Hall of Famer Dick Butkus, who was in attendance, as well as several of his Bears teammates and coaches who made the trip, including Jim Osborne, Emery Moorehead, Al Fontenot, Neal Anderson , Mike Richardson , Gary Fencik, Dan Hampton, Steve McMichael and former line coach Dale Haupt.

5 concerns for the University of Tennessee football team ...

KNOXVILLE -- The University of Tennessee football team begins preseason camp today. Here are five key questions facing the Volunteers in their second season under coach Derek Dooley.

1. What's the limit on sophomore quarterback Tyler Bray's potential?

Bray showed late last season that he has a big arm, the ability to make explosive plays and moxie in the pocket. Now that his secret is out, he'll have to be more cerebral to handle the better defenses he'll face, and he also will have to shoulder part of the leadership load on the Vols' sophomore-heavy offense.

"You earn the respect to be a leader, to me, based on your level of commitment to the program," Dooley said Monday. "People have a hard time respecting somebody if they don't see them committed to doing everything they can do to help us win. I think he's proving that to our team. It's a work in progress."

Ultimately, though, whether the Vols' offense will be just good or become great largely rests on Bray's brain, eyes and right arm.

2. How much help will the backs, receivers and line give Bray?

The Vols need a consistent running game that defenses must respect. There's no shortage of optimism with the offensive line, which has gone from major weakness to a strength in a year, and returning 1,000-yard tailback Tauren Poole backed up by Rajion Neal and freshmen Marlin Lane and Tom Smith.

The bigger question might be at receiver. Bray trusted Denarius Moore and Gerald Jones and tight end Luke Stocker would make plays for him last year and admitted the senior trio made him look really good at times. Talented sophomores Justin Hunter and Da'Rick Rogers step into Jones' and Moore's roles and Mychal Rivera fills Stocker's shoes, but behind them, someone -- perhaps DeAnthony Arnett or fellow freshman Vincent Dallas -- has to step up as a reliable target.

3. How good are Maurice Couch, Byron Moore and A.J. Johnson?

The junior college transfer duo of Couch, a defensive tackle, and Moore, a former Southern Cal safety who will play cornerback at UT, bring with them plenty of expectations to contribute immediately. Johnson, a freshman linebacker, was one of the Vols' most touted signees. Together, the trio is a talent upgrade at each level of UT's defense. How quickly they are ready to become significant contributors remains to be seen, however.

4. What returning players step up on defense?