#VolReport: Team 119’s Leaders Emerging

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee’s assistant coaches met with the media following practice on Thursday. One of the major themes the coaches spoke about after the Vols’ eighth practice was developing leadership on both sides of the ball.

Read what they had to say about the emergence of several leaders as Team 119 works towards building its identity with the DISH Orange & White Game just 16 days away on Saturday, April 25 (4 p.m./SEC Network Alternate Channel).

TRIO BUILDING LEADERSHIP ON O-LINE

Despite having a young offensive line, both Offensive Line Coach Don Mahoney and Offensive Coordinator Mike DeBord have seen improvement since last season.

“The experience of guys of playing together, understanding things the way they do. It’s allowed us to play at a higher level earlier,” said Mahoney.

Coach Mahoney also noted that the offensive line has begun to look up to three of their teammates as leaders.

“Leadership is really starting to emerge. Jashon Robertson, Kyler Kerbyson, Mack Crowder are doing a nice job of leading,” said Mahoney. “Today was a challenging day with the point and time in which we are in spring. They had to be that leader today to keep the group going and playing at the level we expect them to.”

Though many of Tennessee’s offensive linemen are still learning the ins and outs of the position at the SEC level, Coach Mahoney believes they’ve come a long way since last season.

“Last year at this time some guys were working at establishing and winning a position,” said Mahoney. “Now guys have played at the point where they’ve earned their stripes so to speak, just a few of them, and now they’re leading and they’re pushing other guys to step up like they need to.”

Freshman Jack Jones and Chance Hall have also impressed Coach DeBord since they arrived on campus this semester.

“What I like right now is they’re working on leverage, getting lower. They’ve really done a nice job of footwork.”

Though the offensive line has made progress since spring football began, Coach DeBord and Coach Mahoney are still working to find the five linemen that stand out from the crowd.

“What we have to do as coach is find the five best players and make sure the five best players are in that unit,” DeBord said. ​

GENERAL BYNUM TAKING COMMAND

Redshirt junior Kenny Bynum has stepped up this spring, showing improvement and commitment to learning the details of the linebacker position. As a standout in the position so far, linebackers coach Tommy Thigpen has seen his developments both on and off the field.

“I’ve seen a lot of leadership so far from him,” Thigpen said. “He’s been in the program with us going on the third year, so he knows how to communicate and speak the language. He’s finally starting to make a lot of plays. A lot of guys are starting to trust him on the field as far as getting all 11 guys lined up. I see a lot of maturity in him now and the guy who takes a whole bunch of pride in being the smartest guy in the room.”

The linebacker position is one that the Vols have heavily relied on for a high number of tackles. Team 119 is no different and the expectations are high for Bynum.

“That position in the last couple years has had over a couple hundred tackles,” Thigpen said. “The system is set up for a guy to make a lot of tackles. We expect a lot from him and looking for other guys to keep challenging him.

“Ninety percent of it is knowing where to go and who’s going to block you, anticipating the play that is coming. He’s doing a really good job trying to recognize formation and getting guys lined up and really learning how to protect himself. I’m pleased with him.”

MALONE DOING THE LITTLE THINGS FOR #WRU

Having only five wide receivers on scholarship available to play, Tennessee’s WRU isn’t quite where it wants to be, but is demanding mental toughness out of its players.

“I can sit here and say we only have five receivers playing right now and say that’s tough,” wide receiver coach Zach Azzanni said. Only five scholarship guys are healthy right now. But I’ve been using this as a positive.

We get banged up. We took a couple of shots out there today. Guys were limping around and just the normal things, and I said `Hey, you know you can do it now.’ I’m using it as a good thing. We need to grind through it. It’s good, mental toughness.”

With that in mind, Azzanni is pleased with how the receivers are coming along this spring. They’re learning to live up to the expectations of Team 119, Coach Jones and the entire coaching staff.

“We’re a little beat up right now, short on numbers, but it’s good,” Azzanni said. “It’s forcing these guys to really fight through and have some mental toughness. We need these days. The expectations are there. They know what to expect. I don’t have to say much. They know what I want. If I’m standing there with something to critique, they know why. The difference is the expectations.”

Also with big expectations is sophomore Josh Malone. During his freshman campaign, Malone played in all 13 games and tallied 23 catches for 231 yards. Azzanni understands that Malone is still young and has all the capability to learn what is required to make the big plays.

“Josh is doing well,” Azzanni said. He’s getting a lot of reps right now. He’s still a young pup, up and down. I’m not looking at the bottom line stuff. The average fan would come out here and say `He didn’t have many catches today.’ I look at all the same little stuff, habits, getting out on the field early, how he’s communicating, how he’s lining up his screen after someone else has the ball, playing without the ball. Those type of things are going to translate, eventually, into the big plays. That’s what I look at. I have to coach the little things. The big things will come.”

D-LINE BUILDING TOUGHNESS IN THE SPRING

Toughness isn’t built overnight. It’s also not built in the fall. Rather, it’s a process that defensive line coach Steve Stripling says starts now.

“It was a grinding day,” Stripling said. “With our situation we have limited number, so it was a good day to practice mental toughness which is a staple of our program. There wasn’t a lot of rotation. There was just a lot of getting reps. It was a great day.”

Although the number of defensive players that he has physically on the field is at a low, there’s not much that changes for him as a coach when it comes to teaching Team 119 what they need to know.

“It’s all the same for me. I’m coaching hard and having fun,” he said. “It’s a little harder on them. It’s mental toughness every day because there’s not rotation.

Everybody is taking every rep. We’re trying to fight through that and become more mentally tough. You build your toughness for a football team in the spring. You don’t build it in the fall, so I think it’s great.”

The added number of reps that the defensive line receives is invaluable, especially for the underclassmen, but it isn’t necessarily easy.

“It’s been up and down,” Stripling said. “Our young players, that’s part of that grind, learning to be consistent to try to get past the point of surviving the down but actually look at the sideline and know what the down of distance is, those type of things we call football intelligence. We’re striving to get more consistent.”

“It’s invaluable. If I had everybody out there, Shy Tuttle and Charles Mosley wouldn’t be getting these reps. It is invaluable for those guys. For the techniques, for the one-on-one execution that they’re getting and the coaching that they’re getting.”

SOUND BITES

Here are sound bites from #Team119:

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR MIKE DeBORD

»(On how the players have responded to his coaching)

“I feel like it’s been very good. They’re very receptive. They have great energy and they listen. I feel like it’s been great.”

»(On the pace of the offense in Saturday’s first scrimmage)

“I thought we needed to pick it up. That was one thing we talked about afterwards and that’s one thing we worked on today. I thought we played faster today but we’re still not there. We’ve got to continue to play faster and talking about tempo on and off the field all the time.”

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR JOHN JANCEK

»(On the defensive line)

“I’ve seen some guys make some individual improvements. Kendal Vickers had a really good practice yesterday. I see those guys. Shy Tuttle, Charles Mosley they’re getting better. As a unit we just have far too many mistakes. We’re young all over the place. We can’t use it as an excuse, but I really need to sit down and think about how these next few practices can be productive coming out of the spring.”

»(On the positives of freshman defensive lineman Shy Tuttle)

“His willingness to work. His coachability. Certainly he’s got some talent and he’s got some size, moves well. So I think if Shy just stays focused and works hard I think he’s got a shot to be a good player.”

»(On redshirt junior linebacker Kenny Bynum)

“The first thing is he knows what to do. He knows how to set the front. He knows all the calls, gets guys lined up and that’s huge. Kenny’s done a really good job. You know even at the end last year we started him in the bowl game, he did a really nice job.”

DEFENSIVE LINE COACH STEVE STRIPLING

»(On redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Kendal Vickers)

“Kendal had an unbelievable week. He’s been playing very sound and technical, but he actually made some fast-twitch plays this week so I think Vickers is the guy that’s showing up right now. I think it’s maturity. It’s been a process. He’s now close to 290 and is carrying it naturally. He’s very technical which is great but there still has to be fast-twitch and violence in your hands when you get off blocks. That’s what started to show up.”

»(On senior linebacker Chris Weatherd)

“Chris is in the Curt Maggitt mold. He’s going to have those same attributes, quickness. Play to your strengths, we tell him. You’re not going to match up with a 320 pound offensive tackle very well so use your speed. Obviously putting him on the edge he can utilize his speed against bigger players, so he’s really playing the same role that Curt plays in the fall.”

DEFENSIVE BACKS COACH WILLIE MARTINEZ

»(On the defensive backs group as a whole)

“We definitely have the competition going at safety. Where I am able to limit some reps for starters in LaDarrell [McNeil] and Brian [Randolph] and give these other guys more reps and they have taken advantage of it. Which, that is what we wanted to see. We have created a competition, a very healthy competition, they are competing and guys that want to play and they have shown it. That is really good because that only makes you better as a team. We don’t have it quite as much at corner. Losing Emmanuel [Moseley] a couple of weeks, plus the numbers are down there. We have the three guys that are coming in in the summertime. We don’t have quite the luxury of holding guys back and don’t have quite the competition that we would like to have. We will get it here in a week because Emmanuel will be back. I say that, but even a guy like Malik Foreman is taking advantage of it. He won the defensive back player of the practice, the last practice that we had and that was the first time he has ever won that. Which is really good because it has to do with production.”

PASSING GAME COORDINATOR / WIDE RECEIVERS COACH ZACH AZZANNI

»(On the passing game)

“It’s interesting because our one group is significantly different than our two group because of the two freshman quarterbacks. We can bombard Josh [Dobbs] with install, all the things we’ve been doing but we can’t do that with the other two. The first team we can put a lot of things in and it’s looking crisp and sharp and we get a little bogged down with the two’s. We have two rookie quarterbacks that really should be putting their tie on for the prom right now but they’re out here with us. It’s been up and down with different huddles.”

»(On the differences in the wide receiver corps this year)

“Well we don’t have as many of them, that’s the difference. We’re a little beat up right now, short on numbers, but it’s good. It’s forcing these guys to really fight through and have some mental toughness and we need these days. The expectations are there, they know what to expect. I don’t have to say much, they know what I want. If they turn around and I’m standing there with something to critique they know why. They’re not trying to figure it out, they know why I’m standing there coaching them and critiquing them. They know what they did wrong. That’s the difference is the expectations.”

RUNNING BACKS COACH ROBERT GILLESPIE

»(On running backs Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara taking mental reps)

“Absolutely, I believe everything happens for a reason. Obviously I would like to have those guys out there going but I have been able to see a different side of Jalen [Hurd] without him being able to be out there on the field. I think he is able to sit back and see and actually coach guys and help critique guys, that is the part I am able to see. Not only myself but the other coaches are able to see Jalen stepping up in a leadership role and understanding the whole scheme of the offense. Obviously I would like them to be able to be out there but I think he is becoming more of a student of the game instead of just sitting back watching.”

»(On Jalen Hurd embracing the competition at running back with Alvin Kamara)

“At this level, in the SEC, you can’t be afraid of competition. You can’t be afraid to go somewhere where there is another guy. If you are a great program like the University of Tennessee there are going to be other guys that are going to want to come here. I think once you start recruiting guys that understand that, they want the competition, that they feed off of each other, that ‘I want to be as good as my competition,’ that is when you know you have the right guy. That is the kind of guy Jalen Hurd is. I think that last year he saw having a little bit more depth would have allowed him to stay healthy and have a better freshman year. So I think having Alvin [Kamara] as a competitor, a good football player, he is seeing that ‘when I go out of the game it is not going to drop as an offense, this guy is going to help us stay on the field and break some long runs and take some of the pressure off of me.’ He has been great so far.”

TIGHT ENDS COACH / SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR MARK ELDER

»(On sophomore kicker Aaron Medley’s improvement)

“I would say there are a couple of things, one his confidence. You see that a guy a year ago was competing for the starting position; I think I can do it and so forth. Now you are seeing a guy that he is out here with confidence. He knows he can do it he is competing to be the best in the country, that’s his mind set he wants to be the best. He has a lot of confidence in himself rightfully so he has taken a lot of strides from last year. You see that he has a stronger leg than last year what he has been able to do in the weight room has helped him quite a bit. You are seeing that he is more accurate, you are identifying that with longer field goals he’s had a higher percentage of balls that he has hit and that’s where the accuracy comes into play. It’s easier on the chip shot that you can be a little bit off on an extra point and still make it, but when you are kicking from distance and you are making a higher percentage that’s when you know your accuracy is on.”

OFFENSIVE LINE COACH DON MAHONEY

»(On how the offensive line is further ahead this spring compared to last)

“It’s the understanding of mistakes that do happen. There’s the point of teaching and correcting it, but the guys that make the mistakes right now, through their experience they know the mistake they made. Some people say the game slows down a little bit. Sometimes maybe a quarterback that’s back there playing they say the game slowed down for them. For us up front, there’s guys that have experience now that if a mistake happens, they know exactly what it did, what hash we were on, so forth. I think the overall football intelligence is great due to a number of reasons. It’s a group that their efforts, their work ethic, their attitudes right. That whole process has allowed us to accelerate things a lot more.”

LINEBACKERS COACH TOMMY THIGPEN

» (On redshirt freshman linebacker Dillon Bates)

“He’s still hurt right now. He’s a smart kid. He takes a lot of pride. The greatest thing about Dillon is that he has a lot of pride in himself. He’s very prideful of the game. Unfortunately right now he’s just not 100 percent with his strength, so he struggles getting off blocks some. As far as the knowledge, he’s doing a really good job getting guys aligned. He comes in and asks a lot of questions. To me, he’s a true freshman so he has a long way to go as far as the knowledge of the game.”

» (On how lack of communication may fall back on linebackers)

“We have to get them all lined up. We have a lot of young guys on the field. You have to recognize when guys are misaligned. If you see one guy that’s misaligned you just go over there and get them especially when you have 18- and 19-year-old guys that are out there on the field that haven’t been in this atmosphere. You have to go down there and physically move them into the position.”