WELLS RACES TO FOOTBALL

Tennessee track and field star Evander Wells is trying his hand -- make that feet -- at football this fall.

The Stone Mountain, Ga., sprinter was among those making their 2010 practice debuts Wednesday night at Haslam field. Wells earned nine All-America certificates during his four-year UT collegiate career on the oval and is among those signing on for possible playing time under new head coach Derek Dooley.

Wells played football back during his senior year at Stone Mountain High School, rushing for 528 yards and six touchdowns and returning two kickoffs for another pair of scores. But that was 2005.

"It should be fun getting back into football," said Wells, who has one season of eligibility left on the gridiron. "Obviously, the thing that is going to help me the most is my speed, which is one of the biggest reasons why I am here. The hard part is going to be remembering all of the formations and plays, but I'll work toward that and hope to bring some of my speed from the track and try to make some big plays on the field."

Despite the layoff, the track and field star definitely looks attractive to the Vols coaching staff thanks to that blinding speed, including a career best wind-legal time of 10.08 seconds in the 100 meters back in 2008. Wells' top wind-aided clocking in the 100 was 10.01, also in 2008.

"I've had a good run with track at UT and feel like I had a pretty good senior year," Wells said. "Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to allow me to continue on to the next level of that sport. I am scheduled to graduate in December, so I thought I would give football another try."

Dooley didn't hesitate to welcome the potential two-sport star, saying during Tuesday's press conference, "When they said he was a fast guy, I don't turn down fast guys."

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