The Tennessee football team was out in full-force Sunday morning, practicing to the upbeat tempo of some feel-good gospel music. It’s something Josh Heupel did during bowl season on Sunday morning practices and it’s carried over to fall camp as well.
The Vols were in full pads for the first time in camp and the intensity level out on Haslam could be felt by everyone. Tackling drills at the top of practice had a little more to it than normal and as media were ushered off the field after three periods, the entire team came together for some goal line board drills (hitting).
It’s important for Tennessee to get these two full padded practices out of the way and to get acclimated well as Tuesday will be scrimmage one of fall camp.
As far as the injury front – Jerome Carvin was not in full pads as he continues to take precaution with what we’ve been told is a minor ankle situation. With the senior continuing to miss some time early in camp, freshman Addison Nichols is getting more looks at guard. The Peach State native has been getting work in at both guard and center so far in camp – but more guard the past two days.
Christian Charles and Cheyenne LaBruzza are still donning the red not contact jerseys while Jaylen Wright is getting work off to the side. All three were still dressed out in full pads, just as the rest of the team. Transfer running back Lyn-J Dixon was still in shells as his acclimation period is a few days behind. By my count, his first day of full pads should be Tuesday, but I could be wrong.
We did not see Kamal Hadden out there today, though he’s missed each of the past three practices we’ve been privy to. Transfer wideout Bru McCoy was getting some extra stretches in with a trainer off to the side while the media was present today. He was moving around well and was dressed in full pads, so it probably falls in line with the rest of the veterans as a precautionary look early in camp.
At the beginning of practice, the quarterbacks linked up with the running backs and the two groups went over screen passing with a dummy rusher getting into the face of the quarterback. The backs would rep the prototypical screen look with running up into the line of scrimmage to block and then peel out laterally to help his quarterback. Then, the backs would replicate a flat route look and finally, the backs would go in motion to an ‘h’ back look prior to the snap and run a simple hitch route, catching a bullet from the QB.
This was completely brand new to some and old news to others. Jabari Small looked good in this drill – as did veteran Lyn-J Dixon as you can tell he’s done this over the years at Clemson. Freshman Dylan Sampson looked smooth running screens as he was asked to do a lot of this in high school. But for fellow freshman Justin Williams-Thomas, as he even pointed out last week, this is a part of his game that needs some improving. It will the more he reps, but he looked behind Sunday morning and struggled to catch the football at times.
Let’s stay with the quarterbacks, shall we? Towards the end of out time out there, the signal-callers and receivers linked up to work a drill that simulates rollout passing in game-like situations. It’s a busy drill with four quarterbacks and four receivers going at a time – all running all over the place and rolling to one side of the football field. I love this drill because quarterbacks rollout to evade the rush several times during actual games and the receivers must react to this and help their QB.
Though there’s a lot to get out of the drill, I’d say the coaches weren’t too pleased with the way it was executed Sunday morning. It wasn’t horrible, but I felt like the quarterbacks struggled to consistently hit their targets on the rollout while there were more than one drop that I saw out there and some other balls I felt like receivers could have probably gotten to. Nonetheless, it’s a good drill and they’ll continue to do it throughout camp. Kelsey Pope was very animated during this part of practice, urging his receivers to keep climbing and to keep their eyes up.
To the trenches we go and something of note is that every offensive and defensive lineman are wearing knee braces. The offensive line are wearing the bulky orange and black medal braces that you’re probably accustomed to seeing, but now the defensive linemen are also wearing braces, though theirs aren’t nearly as big or bulky as their counterparts.
There’s some adjusting going on with those out on the practice field and it won’t feel comfortable overnight.
More on the defensive side of the football, tackling drills continued to be apparent as this staff is determined to become a better tackling football team in 2022. It was stance, steps & reacting to the ballcarrier for the linebackers under the cage while more open-field work for the defensive backs. Later on, the corners worked jamming the wide receiver and not letting them get off the ball. I thought Brandon Turnage looked good in some reps I saw.
One other note from the secondary, it’s the second day in-a-row that we’ve been seeing Tamarion McDonald getting a lot of work and praise at the STAR position.
Tennessee will finish off practice here on a Sunday around 11 o’clock and get prepared for another workday on Monday. Scrimmage one will be Tuesday morning.
