Operating the first-team offense, Justin Worley led an opening-possession touchdown drive when he converted on third-and-goal from the 11, scrambling to his right and perfectly placing a toss across a defender into the arms of Daniel Helm.
Jalen Hurd, getting considerable work with Marlin Lane dressed but not participating after breaking a bone in his left hand, probably shined the most. On multiple instances, Hurd severely shook Vol defenders and also added a long, 24-yard run late in situational work.
Tennessee Football @Vol_Football
JONES: First off I want to congratulate @CuonzoMartin and @Vol_Hoops on their win today.
JONES: @MrHurd_1 ran today like we expect him to run. I am encouraged by the offense's performance.
JONES: The maturity of our team will show when they return from spring break.
"Offensively we started exceptionally fast, defensively we did not," he said. "I didn't like the way our defense came out, I didn't like their approach, I didn't think we had much energy. I thought our offense did a great job of driving the football. We had some big plays. Then as the scrimmage went on, the situational scrimmage our defenses started playing with the energy that we expect and we started generating three-and-outs and we started generating turnovers."
"He is working himself back into football shape and there is a difference," said Jones. "He hasn't played football in a year with recovering from the surgery so each day of practice I see him getting better and better. I see the improvement coming but I also see the confidence getting in him as well. So he understands what he needs to work on. I have said it, the maturity of this football team will show when we come back after spring break, on our approach when we meet as a team on Sunday, our approach on Monday and Tuesday. I am really very,very interested to see the leadership in what happens when we come back after spring break."
The second-team offense had touchdown drives of seven and 11 plays, with both the first- and second-team offense largely controlling the early parts scrimmage.
Worley getting out of the pocket extended a third-and-goal from the 11, where he worked through his progression before finding Helm running along the back boundary.
Workey threw off his back foot during situational work from the the 25-yard line and in. The floater in traffic was picked off McNeill near the goal line.
Ferguson threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Marquez North in the back corner of the end zone on first down later in the same situational scenario. Joshua Donbs threw to Josh Smith in the flat and Smith turned the corner for another 25-yard touchdown.
PF said Hurd ran really well. Size isn't a concern, he ran low, behind his pads and with power. People were surprised by his quickness and shiftiness.
- When the team broke into the scrimmage portion of practice, Justin Worley was the first quarterback to take the field. He was joined by Justis Pickett, Jalen Hurd, Josh Malone, Marquez North, Von Pearson, and Johnathon Johnson.
- On the first drive, Malone turned a 6 yard hitch route into a 15 yard gain. He shook off a tackle and tiptoed down the sideline.
- North was another receiver that was hard to take down. He ran a similar route and made several Vol defenders miss.
- Hurd slipped on what would have been a touchdown from about the 4 yard line. He was clearly frustrated by missing this opportunity to find the endzone.
- This drive ended with a touchdown pass in the back of the endzone to freshman tight end Ethan Wolf.
- All 4 quarterbacks split time working with the 1′s and 2′s. There were no QB changes in the middle of drives. They were also live (they can be hit) all day today.
- Nathan Peterman, Josh Dobbs, and Riley Ferguson all made several nice runs for big gains. Some were designed zone-read plays while others were scrambles on pass plays.
- Worley threw an interception off his back foot on 2nd and goal. There were no receivers near him and he seem flustered as he was rushed out of the pocket. Butch Jones was immediately on the microphone, calling the play a catastrophe.
- Dobbs fumbled after never really having a chance to dodge the pass rush. He tried to avoid them, but was eventually brought down/stripped of the ball. Corey Vereen scooped up the ball and walked the 1 yard into the endzone.
- Ferguson fumbled a snap on the goal line that was recovered by the defense. However, the defense was flagged for offsides and the offense scored.
- Ferguson also received a penalty after a pass was batted at the line, he caught it, and then threw it downfield. Mike Bajakian immediately called the freshman over to talk about the play.
- During that sequence of plays, Butch Jones announced on the microphone that had it been a real game, Dylan Wiesman would have been ejected. Wiesman came to the sideline and was heard saying that he could not get up from the pile on the touchdown run.
- The offensive line continues to struggle as the quarterbacks were pressured all afternoon. Granted it is only the 5th practice, so there is plenty of time for them to come together.
He had a combine clocked 4.37 and I always wondered how accurate. Either way id guess it is a solid 4.4 if there is error. I've seen him in person and was waiting to see how an actual scrimmage would go. He is quick.
Jalen Hurd juked two defensive backs out of their shoes on big runs. Butch Jones said hes still pressing Hurd to become a more consistent north-south runner, but he was pleased with what he saw on Friday.
* Marquez North made the catch of the day in the corner of the end zone. Who threw it? Redshirt freshman Riley Ferguson. And yes, thats becoming a trend.
* Running back Marlin Lane wore a bandage on his wrist and did not participate in the scrimmage. Jones said Lane planned to stay in Knoxville over the break to rehab his injury. Jones said he hopes that the senior is able to return before the end of spring practice.
Freshman running back Jalen Hurd added one long, juking run after another. Aldon Hill plunged in for a touchdown run. Marquez North caught a 25-yard touchdown in the corner the end zone.
Later it was Kenny Bynum pressuring quarterback Joshua Dobbs from the middle linebacker position, forcing a fumble that defensive end Corey Vereen scooped and scored from around the 5-yard line.
McNeil picking off Worley in the red zone wasn't enough for Cam Sutton, who played opposite of Moseley at corner.
"Just need more turnovers, more turnovers," Sutton said. "One turnover is not going to help us throughout the game. We have to cause more turnovers."
Sutton, after starting all 12 games during an All-SEC Freshman season in 2013, spent Friday at left corner, where he had a relatively quiet day.
But Friday afternoon, the former Beech (Tenn.) High School standout reminded those at Neyland Stadium why theres so much anticipation to begin with.
I thought Jalen Hurd really started to run like we expect him to run, Jones said.
By InsideTennessees count, Hurd logged three rushes of more than 20 yards, drawing oohs and ahhs from his teammates as he evaded would-be defenders with a few flashy cuts along the way.