London Vol
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SPRING TRAINING: INTERIM REPORT
Spring Training is now well underway, and everything feels exciting with new players showing their wares for the first time on Rocky Top and existing ones making strides during the winter. So, I would like to take this chance to comment on a few things that we have learnt so far.
NICO IAMALEAVA
The number one topic this Spring was always going to be what the new 5* Quarterback, Nico Iamaleava will look like. Although it is extremely early days to start forming an opinion, there are contrasting reports that he is both looking great as well as having bouts of underwhelming moments. Any paranoia that Iamaleava is not a cast iron certainty for having his number retired in three years will only have been enhanced by the news that Jake Merklinger, a Quarterback and the number 55 ranked player in the 2024 class, has given a verbal commitment to the Vols this week. The question that will linger is “if Iamaleava is so locked in for 2024 and 2025, why would such a highly ranked Quarterback sit on the bench for a minimum of two years? The bottom line is, it far too early to make any judgement call on Iamaleava.
ARION CARTER
Last week in my thoughts section about the new Linebackers I mentioned all three Freshmen, Arion Carter, Jalen Smith and Jeremiah Telander and had no preference who was the most promising. Well, whilst good things are reported about Jalen Smith and Jeremiah Telander, Carter is the one who is “making big waves” early on. This is particularly good news for the Vols as Linebacker was not exactly the best unit in the last few years and on top of this, they also lost Mitchell, Page and Banks who have left Tennessee for a variety of reasons. Whilst I accept that nowadays the Linebackers are required to be very mobile, I still personally like a good old-fashioned bumper in the MIKE position and Carter may just be that person.
SQUIRREL WHITE
The Wide Receiver group already looked strong on paper with the common consensus that McCoy, Thornton, Keyton and Squirrel would form the basis of the rotation. Thornton and Keyton has not disappointed in Spring Training, but the star WR so far has been “The Squirrel “(SO). Although he was super impressive in his freshman year, he is now pencilled in to play “the slot” replacing the Biletnikoff winner Hyatt and it already looks like he is more than capable of doing this.
CORNERBACK
Undoubtedly, the weakest unit in 2022 was the Secondary, particularly Cornerback. Therefore, any signs of promise will be grabbed by the rabid fanbase. So far, the news that has come from camp is how good Jordan Matthews is. He, you will recall, is the 154th ranked player from the 2023 class, so hopes were high that he could be the real deal and even push early playing time. Or even better, not only see the field early but hold down one of the Cornerback roles. If this was to happen, then this would be great news for Tennessee.
LEFT AND RIGHT TACKLES
One of the big questions was, who was going to replace Darnell Wright? and it looked like the 6`5, 300llb” John Campbell would be a ‘plug in’ replacement, whilst Gerald Mincey and Jeremiah Crawford would complete/split the duties at Left Tackle as they did quite well in 2022. However, the early signs are that Campbell may well move to the more important (protecting the Quarterback’s blind side) Left Tackle, thus forming a new and interesting partnership on the left with another Transfer Portal arrival Andrej Karic (RS-JR). So the replacement for Wright will come from an existing player and so far Mincey is the one suiting up at Right Tackle.
TIGHT END
Tennessee, under the Josh Heupel era have yet to really embrace the Tight End position in the playbook and losing Fant, the best receiver in the department, looked like only worsening this. But although it is early days Ethan Davis is apparently turning heads as a freshman, so with the addition of McCallan Castles, maybe the Tight Ends will contribute more than just blocking, after all.
DOMINIC BAILEY
I wish to mention Dominic Bailey. This RS-JR was one I predicted would make a big impression when he arrived on campus. I have been surprised that he has been buried in the depth chart ever since. Just as I was beginning to give up on my prediction, the word is that ‘the light has come on’ and he has made a big step forward. This is good news, for as good as the Defensive Tackles were last year, Rodney Garner likes to have a revolving stable of Tackles to keep them fresh. Thus, the emergence of Bailey will be very good news.
CAMERON SELDON
My last player I wish to highlight is Cameron Seldon. This freshman was highly rated at 133 nationally but things were a bit vaguer as to where he will fit in. It seems that he is starting in the Running Bank stable, but his skills also relate to Wide Receiver. In today’s American Football world there is an increasing opportunity for a player to combine both these shills and there is no better example than that of Deebo Samuel of the San Francisco 49ers. Could Seldon be a “clone” for Samuel in the College game? It would not be the first time that Josh Heupel was ahead of the curve. As I say, this one is very intriguing.
I have also expanded on the Spring Training on aviewfrombigben.com
GO VOLS
Spring Training is now well underway, and everything feels exciting with new players showing their wares for the first time on Rocky Top and existing ones making strides during the winter. So, I would like to take this chance to comment on a few things that we have learnt so far.
NICO IAMALEAVA
The number one topic this Spring was always going to be what the new 5* Quarterback, Nico Iamaleava will look like. Although it is extremely early days to start forming an opinion, there are contrasting reports that he is both looking great as well as having bouts of underwhelming moments. Any paranoia that Iamaleava is not a cast iron certainty for having his number retired in three years will only have been enhanced by the news that Jake Merklinger, a Quarterback and the number 55 ranked player in the 2024 class, has given a verbal commitment to the Vols this week. The question that will linger is “if Iamaleava is so locked in for 2024 and 2025, why would such a highly ranked Quarterback sit on the bench for a minimum of two years? The bottom line is, it far too early to make any judgement call on Iamaleava.
ARION CARTER
Last week in my thoughts section about the new Linebackers I mentioned all three Freshmen, Arion Carter, Jalen Smith and Jeremiah Telander and had no preference who was the most promising. Well, whilst good things are reported about Jalen Smith and Jeremiah Telander, Carter is the one who is “making big waves” early on. This is particularly good news for the Vols as Linebacker was not exactly the best unit in the last few years and on top of this, they also lost Mitchell, Page and Banks who have left Tennessee for a variety of reasons. Whilst I accept that nowadays the Linebackers are required to be very mobile, I still personally like a good old-fashioned bumper in the MIKE position and Carter may just be that person.
SQUIRREL WHITE
The Wide Receiver group already looked strong on paper with the common consensus that McCoy, Thornton, Keyton and Squirrel would form the basis of the rotation. Thornton and Keyton has not disappointed in Spring Training, but the star WR so far has been “The Squirrel “(SO). Although he was super impressive in his freshman year, he is now pencilled in to play “the slot” replacing the Biletnikoff winner Hyatt and it already looks like he is more than capable of doing this.
CORNERBACK
Undoubtedly, the weakest unit in 2022 was the Secondary, particularly Cornerback. Therefore, any signs of promise will be grabbed by the rabid fanbase. So far, the news that has come from camp is how good Jordan Matthews is. He, you will recall, is the 154th ranked player from the 2023 class, so hopes were high that he could be the real deal and even push early playing time. Or even better, not only see the field early but hold down one of the Cornerback roles. If this was to happen, then this would be great news for Tennessee.
LEFT AND RIGHT TACKLES
One of the big questions was, who was going to replace Darnell Wright? and it looked like the 6`5, 300llb” John Campbell would be a ‘plug in’ replacement, whilst Gerald Mincey and Jeremiah Crawford would complete/split the duties at Left Tackle as they did quite well in 2022. However, the early signs are that Campbell may well move to the more important (protecting the Quarterback’s blind side) Left Tackle, thus forming a new and interesting partnership on the left with another Transfer Portal arrival Andrej Karic (RS-JR). So the replacement for Wright will come from an existing player and so far Mincey is the one suiting up at Right Tackle.
TIGHT END
Tennessee, under the Josh Heupel era have yet to really embrace the Tight End position in the playbook and losing Fant, the best receiver in the department, looked like only worsening this. But although it is early days Ethan Davis is apparently turning heads as a freshman, so with the addition of McCallan Castles, maybe the Tight Ends will contribute more than just blocking, after all.
DOMINIC BAILEY
I wish to mention Dominic Bailey. This RS-JR was one I predicted would make a big impression when he arrived on campus. I have been surprised that he has been buried in the depth chart ever since. Just as I was beginning to give up on my prediction, the word is that ‘the light has come on’ and he has made a big step forward. This is good news, for as good as the Defensive Tackles were last year, Rodney Garner likes to have a revolving stable of Tackles to keep them fresh. Thus, the emergence of Bailey will be very good news.
CAMERON SELDON
My last player I wish to highlight is Cameron Seldon. This freshman was highly rated at 133 nationally but things were a bit vaguer as to where he will fit in. It seems that he is starting in the Running Bank stable, but his skills also relate to Wide Receiver. In today’s American Football world there is an increasing opportunity for a player to combine both these shills and there is no better example than that of Deebo Samuel of the San Francisco 49ers. Could Seldon be a “clone” for Samuel in the College game? It would not be the first time that Josh Heupel was ahead of the curve. As I say, this one is very intriguing.
I have also expanded on the Spring Training on aviewfrombigben.com
GO VOLS
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