#VolReport: Assistants Notebook

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee’s assistant coaches met with the media on Thursday following the Vols’ 11th practice of spring.

NO RUST ON MOSELEY IN RETURN

Despite missing considerable time this spring battling through a tricky case of mononucleosis, Emmanuel Moseley is back up to full speed and wreaking havoc in the Vols’ secondary. On Thursday, the second-year defensive back out of Greensboro, North Carolina, came away with three interceptions in one-on-one drills, continuing to elicit positive attention from his coaches.

“There is no rust,” said defensive coordinator John Jancek after Thursday’s practice. “It was great to have him back out there. He works–that is the thing I love about Emmanuel. He was out because he had mono so he couldn’t practice for a number of days, but he continued to stay diligent in the film room and meetings.”

A key to Moseley’s impactful spring has come from an offseason commitment to the weight room. Jancek notes that his augmented physicality–“his physical makeup”–is one of the most obvious improvements Moseley has made since his true freshman campaign.

Moseley has added more than 30 pounds since arriving in Knoxville at about 150 pounds in the winter of 2014.

“Last year he was getting knocked around and getting big boyed at times. And this offseason he has really dedicated himself to the weight room and it shows out on the field.”

Defensive backs coach Willie Martinez has noted similar strides on the strength front: “His strength and power, you can see it when he’s playing whether he’s pressed or he’s trying to get off blocks. So he’s doing a good job with his hands. It’s good to see him back.”

PIG THE WARRIOR

Rising senior Pig Howard has been battling through bruised ribs since last week, donning a green, no-contact jersey since Saturday. And while the fourth-year wideout has continued to get reps within the safety provision, he has confessed his inexperience with the green shirt has fazed him mentally at times, leading to a handful of out-of-character drops.

“He got dinged up a little bit and he’s kind of favoring some bruises,” explained wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni. “On Saturday, he admitted it kind of messed with his mind a little bit. But up until then, he’s been good. He had a drop today but he also had a couple real big catches today.”

Howard has impressed throughout the spring camp, building on a junior season that saw him lead the team in both catches (53) and receiving yards (618). The Orlando, Florida, native has looked like one of the most consistent performers on Tennessee’s dynamic receiving corps.

“Pig has been a warrior,” said first-year offensive coordinator Mike DeBord. “He’s been going and doing a heck of a job.”

“He’s been outstanding,” echoed Azzanni. “And he will still be [consistent following the injury]–I’m not worried about him at all.

“Actually, these are really good lessons to learn. You’re going to have to play sometimes bumped and bruised. He’s fighting through it, but those are the things that come up that I can’t teach.”

LIMITED D-LINEMEN STAY ENGAGED

Butch Jones has made a point of keeping Tennessee’s players who are limited during spring due to injury mentally tough. One of those ways is keeping them involved in practice despite their limitations. As Thursday’s 11th practice of spring unfolded, the members of the Vols defensive line who are not going through full action, were on the field and participating in scrimmage situations in t-shirts and shorts.

“We are trying to get them some work to keep them engaged, keep them stimulated,” said defensive coordinator John Jancek. “Going over the things that are going to be problematic for us in what offenses do. Just trying to get those guys ready for the fall the best we can. Obviously they are limited with the surgeries and the injures that they have but certainly from a mental standpoint we can stimulate them and get them coached up.”

Derek Barnett, Curt Maggitt, Corey Vereen and Danny O’Brien have all stayed in tune with the defense and continue to mentor the younger and less experienced Vols.

“It’s been really important for those guys not participating, early in the spring what we did was actually assign them (duties),” said defensive line coach Steve Stripling. ” o you’re a leverage coach for (Charles) Mosley, you’re an effort coach for (Shy) Tuttle and we kept them involved that way, worked with them on the off days.”

Stripling has been able to specifically get the quartet of sidelined linemen certain tasks.

“These last two weeks we’ve been able to actually design periods,” he said, “three periods a day, that they are actually on the field obviously the tempo is not full speed but it is now giving them a chance to put their cleats on, put their helmet on, get out there and communicate and lineup properly and to review the defense so it’s been good.”

HURD AND KAMARA SHARING THE BACKFIELD?

With so much attention paid to the new running back duo of Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara, much of the speculation has centered on how the two dynamic backs might split snaps. But as offensive coordinator Mike DeBord and running backs coach Robert Gillespie described on Thursday, the Vols are working on ways to get both Hurd and Kamara on the field at the same time.

“Well, it’s very good,” said DeBord on the prospects of seeing both backs on the field together come fall. “Because they’ve both been banged up, we haven’t had them both at the same time except for today. So today, what we did is, we did work a little bit of that with both guys in there. We put about four plays in today and we’re going to keep building that package with those two guys.”

Gillespie spoke similarly of how Tennessee might look to utilize the “lightning and thunder” combination of Kamara and Hurd together, rather than relegating the pair to splitting reps on unique downs and situations. Said Gillespie, “Absolutely, I can see [Hurd and Kamara sharing a backfield]. With us playing a no-huddle offense and a fast tempo … we feel like we have two guys that can do a lot and obviously that will put defenses in bind.”

Whether these packages involve Hurd and Kamara in the same backfield or feature one spread out in the slot remains to be seen, but it’s apparent that the Tennessee coaches are eager to discover the various ways they can utilize their new dual threat at running back.

SOUND BITES

Here are sound bites from #Team119:

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR MIKE DeBORD

»(On junior quarterback Joshua Dobbs)

“Josh is always competitive and has been doing a great job of getting better every practice. I’m happy with where he is and I know he’s going to continue to get even better.”

»(On Coleman Thomas making the most of what’s left of his spring)

“Just reps. He got in there and got reps again. So again, he’s got a shorter spring. But he’s focused and he’s working on getting better so he’s got to make every rep count.”

»(On bouncing around to different position groups)

“I’ve always tried to [move around], yes. I’ve never wanted just to be with my position. I wanted to try to get around and I wanted guys to know hey, we’re in this together. It’s not me and them, it’s us. So I try to get around. And being new, I’m trying to build relationships with them so that also helps with that.”

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR JOHN JANCEK

»(On improvement of the defense)

“I do but I still feel that we are going to be young again this year with the number of players, true freshmen, that we are going to have to rely on. It is a process. I am excited about it because I think we have some talented players. It is just going to be a matter of putting everything together and not making mistakes and beating ourselves. That will be the challenge for us this fall.”

»(On having the competition at safety at every position group)

“I would. I would like a lot of our positions on defense to look like that, really our entire team, because those guys continually get better because they know if they have a day off or they take a day off, those guys behind them are right on their heels.”

DEFENSIVE LINE COACH STEVE STRIPLING

»(On redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Kendal Vickers)

“He’s kind of playing fast, the game has slowed down for him. He was always a conscious young man and all of those things but he has now learned how to play faster because the game is slower for him so he is able to react faster. He’s become from that space eating type guy to a player, he’s using his hands, able to get off blocks those kind of things, so he’s been outstanding. “

»(On sophomore defensive lineman Derek Barnett handling pressure and expectations)

“Well Derek’s greatest quality is consistence, he’s never up he’s never down and he obviously had an outstanding year. I think he’s a humble guy, I don’t believe he lets it get to him. I think he will handle it fine. I know this that he is anxious to get out there. He’s actually walked through, jogged through what he is doing with other participants, he’s probably doing a little too much because he’s fired up.”

PASSING GAME COORDINATOR / WIDE RECEIVERS COACH ZACH AZZANNI

»(On sophomore wide receiver Josh Malone)

“He’s working on his daily habits, just coming out there with a mindset every day to get better. And I think he’s done that for the most part. He’s been up and down a little bit, but I see flashes of good things that I didn’t see at the end of last year because of injuries. He wants to get better. He’s taking a ton of special teams reps right now just to learn the game a little bit better.”

»(On facing an improved secondary)

“I think our secondary has improved tremendously. I’m glad they’re on our team. But they’re hard to go against for us because there’s so many of them and very few of us. It’s definitely been a challenge for us, but I want it hard in practice. Coach Martinez is one of the best and he’s coached those guys–they’re well-coached. I don’t know if we’ll go up against a group that’s better coached than those guys.”

TIGHT ENDS COACH / SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR MARK ELDER

»(On redshirt freshman tight end Neiko Ceamer)

“He is doing a good job as far as getting better, it is still a process with him. But you can see improvements in his game, you see the skill set that he has. Not so much necessarily that he is moving up above anybody else. But we are rotating guys in, getting the right combination of people so on and so forth. We are trying to have all those guys take reps with the ones, at times, and with the twos, at times.”

»(On sophomore tight end Ethan Wolf)

“You see a veteran, you see a guy that is not having to think about just the basics of, `what is my assignment?’ You are starting to see him do a much better job of anticipating how someone is going to play something. He is getting better at running his routes, you see him creating separating as opposed to just running the route that is drawn up on paper. He has a man-to-man situation, he is able to lean and stick guys, he is able to create some separation, which is nice to see. You see him anticipating what the defense is going to be doing. He is growing as a player, you can definitely see that.”

OFFENSIVE LINE COACH DON MAHONEY

»(On Coleman Thomas’ return to practice)

“He was actually a lot better than I thought he would be. Playing center, his snap location was good. He has always been a guy who understands the offense and I was quite surprised that he was further ahead than I thought he would be.”

»(On redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Brett Kendrick)

“This whole spring, Brett’s [Kendrick] approach has been very consistent. Really both he and Austin Sanders are guys that know the time has gone by fast and it is time to step up and play. Both guys are working extremely hard at it. Brett has been consistent this spring. His work has paid off, his body is maturing and he has been steady.”

LINEBACKERS COACH TOMMY THIGPEN

» (On the young linebackers)

“It is a growing process. I have guys, with [Jalen] Reeves-Maybin, as well as Kenny Bynum, who are older guys that mentor the younger guys like the Elliotts [Berry], the Dillon Bates, the Cortez McDowells. Plays are going on on the field and you can see them on the sideline helping guys see the big picture, as well as in the room when I am on the board talking the wheels are spinning for young guys. The older guys slow it down for them and talk to them in a slower way. I have some great older guys with Kenny and Reeves-Maybin that are able to talk football, especially when they come on the sideline, especially if they messed up a call or jacked up a call. It is such a fast tempo it is hard to coach it on the field but I have those guys who are able to help. It is a growing process. It takes about a year, a year and a half for guys to understand run fits, pass assignments, alignments. It is a lot. We throw a lot at them.”

» (On playing linebacker in college)

“I played MIKE and WILL back when I was in college. But it was nothing like in today’s game, I would have loved to play today’s game because there is more thinking involved. But when I played it was more, `see ball, get ball.'”