#VolReport: Assistants Break It Down

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Under on and off rain showers, Team 119 practiced for the fifth time this spring. The Vols’ assistant coaches met with the media following practice. They provided some detailed updates as the Vols head into Saturday’s practice at Neyland Stadium.

DeBORD’S SIGNAL-CALLER SCOOP

Coach DeBord addressed the progression of the quarterbacks today, noting the improvements of Joshua Dobbs, Quinten Dormady, and Jauan Jennings.

Though DeBord believes that Joshua Dobbs has improved his feet movement, he still has a little work to do.

“We talk about three quicknesses at the quarterback position: the mental, the arm, and the feet,” DeBord said. “Mentally, he’s quick that way and he’s really, again he’s got a strong arm and a quick arm, but he’s just got to continue to get better with his feet.”

DeBord has been impressed with how Dormady has handled the transition from high school to college football at such a quick pace.

“We have to remember that he should be in high school right now. He’s out here and we’ve thrown a lot of football at him and I really like how he’s handled it,” DeBord said. “He’s got really good talent and he’s working hard and he continues to get better every practice. I just like the way he’s going about this right now.”

The offensive coordinator also noted Dormady’s ability to handle the multiple coverages thrown at him during practice.

“He’s learning about every play against all coverages all the time and he’s doing a good job with that,” said DeBord.

Jauan Jennings’ mentality has impressed DeBord the most. Jennings has been working mainly with Offensive Graduate Assistant Nick Sheridan to improve his knowledge of the game.

“We’re really letting Nick Sheridan take him and start from ground zero and really build his knowledge and build his mechanics and all that,” DeBord said. “Jauan just continues to get better as he goes through these practices.”​

AZZANNI FINE-TUNING WRU

Five practices into the spring, wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni is pleased with his group of wide receivers. Through both ups and downs of perfecting mechanics, he sees improvement.

“Pig [Howard] has had a great first five practices. He had a big-time time today,” Azzanni said. “Von [Pearson] has been a little up and down here and there, but that’s to be expected at times during spring ball, but he had a good day today. Johnathon Johnson has been pretty solid.

“It’s good to have Cody Blanc out there taking some reps. Cody was another guy was another guy who was getting a lot better when he got injured. I’m pleased with all those guys.”

It’s not just the physical improvements on the field that Azzanni is noticing. He’s especially happy with the mental changes he’s seen, especially from Malone and Howard.

“Josh is improving every day,” Azzanni said. “It’s fun to watch. He has a high care factor so he’s really been working his craft. He still has a ways to go but he knows that. The thing I like about Josh right now is he’s coming out there with the mentality to improve. He’s not banged up and bruised so he’s able to improve. I’m pleased with his development.

“It’s night and day his approach right now. There’s days I have to push his buttons and get him going like every one of them. I’ve been pleased with his development as far as physicality and how he’s just a physical. He’s healthy, so it’s night and day. He looks like a different player.”

Howard has picked up where he left off after a successful 2014 season. Azzanni continues to praise Howard for his workmanlike style and changed mentality.

“He’s a completely different person,” Azzanni said. “I’ve said this many times, he’s night and day. He comes out there with a business approach. Anytime you take over a program, the guys who have been there a year or two want to ask `Why are we doing this’ and `We never it did it that way.’ He was kind of in that when we first got there. He’s completely opposite now. He’s doing everything we expect him to.”

WEATHERD PROVING A WEAPON

With Tennessee battling injuries this spring along the defensive line, senior Chris Weatherd has made the most of his opportunity to prove his mettle at the defensive end position. A role player last season who excelled on spying the quarterback in third down situations, Weatherd has shown speed around the edge that the defensive coaches cannot ignore.

“You’ve got to figure out a way to get him on the field because he does have a trait that nobody on our team possesses,” said linebackers coach Tommy Thigpen. “He can run sideline to sideline and play four quarters in the same speed he was in the first quarter. He does have a trait of rushing the passer and pursuing the ball.”

The transfer from Trinity Valley Community College saw action in all 13 games for the Vols last season, racking up 12 tackles and 2.5 sacks as a junior. Defensive coordinator John Jancek hopes Weatherd’s speed and athleticism make him a versatile and reliable mainstay on the field come fall.

“He’s going to be like Curt Maggitt–he’s going to play some defensive end and some SAM linebacker,” Jancek said. “I hope his role expands. That’s going to be on Chris. But he has shown some things. His speed and quickness is a benefit, just as long as he can hold up on the line of scrimmage at the defensive end.”

GAULDEN MAKING STRIDES AT NICKEL

Sophomore defensive back Rashaan Gaulden is sharing his time this spring at nickel and corner. Fairly new to the nickel position, he’s beginning to settle in.

Defensive backs coach Willie Martinez likes Gaulden’s physicality and athleticism at the position.

“I think he’s doing a nice job,” Martinez said. “I don’t know if you would call it natural, but when you’re physical and athletic, you have a chance to be pretty good. He’s shown that early on in these practices.”

If there’s one thing he isn’t surprised of, it’s Gaulden’s physicality. However, there is one aspect that he sees needing improvement.

“He was a very physical coming out of high school,” Martinez said. “That’s the one trait that we loved about him. He would show a lot of physicality when he played. I’m not surprised by that.

“Now it it’s just getting him to become more vocal because he has to do a lot of communication where he feels comfortable and that’s where he never played the position before. The great thing is that we did it in the fall. We committed to it and we had him backing up Justin Coleman. He learned from someone who did a really good job. He roomed with him, which we did on purpose. I think that was very beneficial for him because Justin was a great leader.”

MEN AT THE MIKE

Competition continues to swirl at the MIKE linebacker position, with up to five different Vols vying for time at the central defensive position. On Thursday, linebackers coach Tommy Thigpen spoke about the progress he has seen out of three potential candidates: Kenny Bynum, Gavin Bryant, and Dillon Bates.

A redshirt junior, Bynum has seen and heard his name consistently amidst all the MIKE linebacker speculation. Thigpen believes with two seasons and a redshirt year under Bynum’s belt, the Jacksonville, Florida, native could be ready to step in as the quarterback of the defense.

“He’s the guy that understands where everybody is supposed to be,” said Thigpen. “That’s going to be his edge. His edge will be the fact that he knows where everybody is supposed to line up, he’s got experience, he’s played in the big games, and he knows how to speak the language of the MIKE linebacker.”

Meanwhile, Bryant is stepping into spring workouts fresh off a redshirt freshman season. While still having some strides to make in the areas of communication and personnel recognition, Thigpen does not doubt Bryant’s physical abilities.

“He’s a guy that we like a lot because you see him on special teams and he can crush people,” he said. “We’ve just got to make sure that we slow it down for him, bring him in the meetings room more, and talk to him one-on-one. He wants to play; he wants to be the guy. He just needs more reps and more experience.”

Finally, Thigpen provided an update on Bates, who has spent the majority of his spring floating between inside and outside linebacker positions after his 2014 season was cut short due to a torn labrum.

“He’s still a little dinged up,” Thigpen said. “So we’ve got to make sure we don’t set him back. His strength is not there yet so we’ve got to be wise in how we use him. He’s really smart, really cerebral, very athletic. He has a lot of pride for the game. So we’re going to put him into some situations but we don’t want to put him in a situation where we set him back four or five months.”

SOUND BITES

Here are sound bites from #Team119:

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR MIKE DeBORD

»(On the progression of the offense as practice continues)

“Last week we started out the first two practices wearing shorts. We were working a lot of things footwork-wise, technique-wise, stuff like that. When you put that pads on, that’s when you really find out where you are. I feel like offensively, we’re making strides every practice. We’re not where we want to be at so we’ve just got to continue to work every practice and work on our execution and improve.”

»(On the wide receiver corps)

“I like their work ethic, number one. I really like the way they work the route technique. Zach [Azzanni] does a great job teaching them route technique. I really like them as far as work ethic and the speed they have and the techniques. They’re doing a good job.”

»(On Brady Hoke attending practice)

“He says that I was his coach. Well, I was a graduate assistant at Ball State in 1978 when he was I believe a junior, so he says I was his coach. He’s just trying to make me feel older than him. It’s really good to see him. We’ve had a great relationship for a long time like you mentioned. He’s a guy that’s passionate about football. It’s really good to talk to him about football. He came here to see how we practice and everything about our program here. You always share ideas, so he’s a great resource. We share ideas all the time.”

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR JOHN JANCEK

»(On who has stood out to him over the first five spring practices)

“Up front, I like Shy [Tuttle]. He’s still going through a process, but you can see he’s got some real natural ability as an interior defensive lineman. Andrew Butcher has done a great job. We’ve moved Chris Weatherd to defensive end and he gives us an element of speed off the edge, which is going to be important moving forward and adding depth at the defensive end position. At linebacker, I think Cortez McDowell has been really steady and has shown that he has a level of consistency that we can put him in the game and feel good about it. Kenny Bynum has done a really good job. [Jalen Reeves] Maybin has done a good job. In our secondary, Rashaan Gaulden has really shown some things. He’s really a tremendous talent; he’s just got to continue to learn and grow. Stephen Griffin, another true freshman back there, has shown that he has some really good athletic ability. It’s just going to be a process that these guys go through.”

DEFENSIVE BACKS COACH WILLIE MARTINEZ

»(On the low number of corners available for practice)

“We knew we were only going to have four corners going into the spring. We had to stay reasonably healthy to do that and be productive and get something out of it. We moved a couple of safeties to help with reps. They’re doing a nice job there. I really appreciate that because that’s asking them to do something they’re really not accustomed to and their skillset is not made for that. We’re getting by.”

»(On how much more he can teach with defensive backs that have been in the system)

“Again, we’re not going to do too much. We really concentrate on the fundamentals and the technique whether that’s tackling or getting off blocks. We’ve had the luxury of having a lot of depth at safety, so we could look at guys like Stephen Griffin,Todd Kelly Jr., Evan Berry and Lemond Johnson and minimize the reps of [Brian] Randolph and [LaDarrell] McNeil which was the game plan entering the spring. Unfortunately, we can’t do it at corner but they’re hanging there.”

PASSING GAME COORDINATOR / WIDE RECEIVERS COACH ZACH AZZANNI

»(On how practice was today)

“Practice was good today. It was good to get some humidity. We haven’t had that yet. We had a little rain at the beginning and teed it up and all of a sudden the sun came out and dropped some humidity on us. It was good for us to have to fight through that.”

»(On if he has to push the guys during practice)

“I have to push them less and less because they know the expectations, so they kind of go. When they don’t, they turn around and I’m standing there. They’re doing better with all that stuff. Expectations in year three, they’re getting it.”

RUNNING BACKS COACH ROBERT GILLESPIE

»(On sophomore running back Jalen Hurd)

“Jalen’s done a good job. Obviously we’re limited with some of the things he does and it’s still hard to keep him out. He’s a guy even when we’re live he still wants to go. He’s taken a big jump in year two, just from the meeting room. He’s asking questions about what other positions are doing and blocking schemes. So you can tell he’s trying to evolve and not just knowing what he’s doing, he wants to know what everyone else is doing. He’s also being a great leader to Alvin Kamara right now. Jalen’s been good and hopefully that continues throughout the spring.”

»(On the dynamic of Alvin Kamara learning from Jalen Hurd)

“He’s a very humble kid. Even though he’s maybe even a little bit older than Jalen, he understands the reps Jalen’s taken in this offense makes him a veteran. He’s done a good job of, I won’t say taking a backseat, but just allowing Jalen to give him suggestions and push him because Jalen understands how we want practice to flow. He understands the tempo. Sometimes you get an older guy and he doesn’t want to hear a younger guy he’s competing with tell him what to do, but he’s been good so far. So that says a lot about him and the character that Alvin has. He just wants to win. He’s been away from this league for a while. He just wants to do whatever he has to do to help this team win and that’s what you want.”

OFFENSIVE LINE COACH DON MAHONEY

»(On sophomore offensive linemanBrett Kendrick)

“He has been playing a lot more consistent. His style of play has improved. His goal this week was to finish more, finish blocks more. We will see more of today’s film tomorrow and exactly what he did but Tuesday he took strides in that. He has been very consistent with his pass sets, his understanding of the game and the speed in which he is playing is a lot faster. Right now he is doing some things that I am really excited about his play.”

»(On Mike DeBord’s commitment to the offensive line)

“You can never have enough eyes on the offensive line. From stance, steps, footwork, landmarks, all that. I think, as linemen, there is the excitement, myself included, when the offensive coordinator is that much involved. Again too the fact that he coached the position. There is that part of it where is voice comes into play in exactly what we do. So that has been fun. I love it. I love right now where we are at in terms of the developing and the growing stages. We have a ways to go but I like the impact that Coach DeBord is having with us, again having coached the position it makes it that much more of a work in progress.”

LINEBACKERS COACH TOMMY THIGPEN

» (On sophomore linebacker Elliott Berry)

“He’s totally different [than last season]. He’s smart. He’s got a great gene in his body that gives him an uncanny advantage. He does a good job. He’s able to go into the room and speak the language. He knows exactly where he’s supposed to be, knows exactly what everyone is supposed to do and their responsibilities. He’s a guy that honestly gets the point of playing within in the system. Very rarely is he out of position. Of course, we’ve just got to get him bigger to take on linemen, to get off and rip off of blocks. But as far as perimeter game, playing in space, and doing his job, he’s doing a pretty good job.”