Vols Fall Practice #10

[Fingers]

You never want to read *too* much into the order through drills in practice, but sometimes they end up more notable than others. As the safeties broke into their first period of individual work, there were two groups drilling pattern-matching coverage techniques. One group had a safety and Star and the other had just one safety.

The first tandem in the former was Andre Turrentine at safety and Christian Harrison at Star, followed by Boo Carter at Star with Christian Charles at safety. In the latter group, Will Brooks led off followed by Jakobe Thomas. The safeties looked to switch groups at one point to get reps on a drill that would appear to be simulating different sides of the field (since the Vols’ safety spots are more interchangeable than the old free safety-strong safety positions).

Harrison going through drills ahead of Carter is more notable because he “started” the scrimmage the other night, so perhaps he shouldn’t be written off quite yet.

Tennessee’s passing game was much crisper than it has been in routes-on-air as the quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends worked indoors on Monday morning.

The accuracy from the top three quarterbacks (Nico Iamaleava, Gaston Moore and Jake Merklinger) was pretty good on these routes and the wideouts made a lot of strong-handed catches away from their bodies.

Bru McCoy, Squirrel White and Kaleb Webb led the lines at the respective receiver spots. Chris Brazzell II went behind Webb and got some one-on-one coaching from Kelsey Pope after his rep. Chas Nimrod worked behind White in the slot as that group was split out wider than normal, outside the numbers even, and the order behind McCoy went Dont’e Thornton Jr., Nathan Leacock and Mike Matthews.

The order at tight end went Miles Kitselman, Holden Staes and Ethan Davis. The two transfers looked natural catching their targets and the timing was off on Davis’s route as the football whizzed by him. The Vols still appear to have a good thing going there.

p.brown

Veteran offensive lineman Cooper Mays was seen more an as observer today at practice (while the media was present) than an active participant during individual periods. He was dressed in full and with his teammates but wasn’t doing too much. He did take part in a few reps, however.

Sophomore cornerback Rickey Gibson was off to the side today as well as he battles a minor hamstring. Cornerback William Wright was also off to the side.

Running Cam Seldon was in a red non-contact jersey. Cornerback Jalen McMurray was dressed in full and going through drills. Wideouts Dont’e Thornton, Mike Matthews and Kaleb Webb were dressed in full and taking part in practice. Looked like offensive lineman John Campbell and Andrej Karic were going through individual period today. Freshman linebacker Jordan Burns continues to be sidelined.

We barely get to see anything to begin with and half of that is stretching. Now, with the third period closed off, there’s an amusingly short amount of time to actually watch anything of relevance.

Chas Nimrod looked to be running routes from the outside for a portion of routes on air today. The splits were very wide and Squirrel White ran one as well. Nico Iamaleava looked good in the period, connecting on his passes that consisted of five-yard outs, ins and slants. There was one drop in the period by Bru McCoy but we thought Kaleb Webb and Mike Matthews looked clean running routes.

Jackson Lampley was getting a ton of work at left guard.

Tim Banks was giving plenty of instruction to Boo Carter and Will Brooks. The cornerbacks were doing back pedaling and the linebackers were doing run-recognition. Both Keenan Pili and Arion Carter was taking part in individual. The defensive front was hitting then bags about the entirety of indy.

As we were being ushered off the field, some 1-on-1’s were taking place. The only one we could see was Ethan Davis taking on Jeremiah Telander. The tight end one that battle.

e.cain

There really wasn’t any key offensive players working to the side or in a red non contact jersey besides Cam Seldon remaining in his red non contact uniform

Mike Matthews was fully dressed out as was fellow freshman Braylon Staley. John Campbell Jr. and Andrej Karic were both dressed out and went through drills while we were at practice. Cooper Mays was also dressed out but he was not going through drills during the portion of practice that was open.

The same was the case for Dylan Sampson who was dressed out but also was standing off to the side while the running backs did drills.

Iamaleava was throwing to Bru McCoy, Ethan Davis, Squirrel White and Kaleb Webb while Gaston Moore was throwing to Dont’e Thornton, Miles Kitselman, Chas Nimrod and Chris Brazzell.

Besides one bad Bru McCoy drop, it was a relatively crisp portion of practice. The Vols worked on short in-breaking routes as well as curl routes.

The most important defensive injury note was that sophomore cornerback Rickey Gibson was working off to the side and not going through drills. He was fully dressed out.

Both Jalen McMurray and Christian Harrison went through drills with the rest of the defensive backs though McMurray was in a right knee brace and Harrison was in an left arm brace.

It was business as usual for the linebackers and defensive line. Linebackers worked on block shedding drills while then wrapping up a mock ball carrier. The defensive line did its usual circuit of footwork drills. Through two weeks of camp, that group remains very healthy to this point and continues to look like the strength of the team.

r.schumpert

Josh Heupel was spending some time with the defensive backs today. He liked what Boo Carter was doing during the drill where they smack the ball off the top of a dummy and recover the fumble.

- WR/TE Depth Chart:
- 1s: X - Bru McCoy, Y - Squirrel White, Z - Kaleb Webb, H - Ethan Davis
- 2s: X - Dont'e Thornton, Y - Chas Nimrod, Z - Chris Brazzell II, H - Miles Kitselman
- 3s: X - Nathan Leacock, Y - Dayton Sneed, Z - Nate Spillman, H - Holden Staes
- Mike Matthews was running with the 4s as he continues to recover from an early-fall injury that held him out for a while

Bru McCoy doesn't look limited in any way.

After rough opening sessions to practice that the media was able to view yesterday for Nico Iamaleava, he looked perfect today. Every throw was where it needed to be.

Jake Merklinger missed one throw high he'll want back but besides that, he did a nice job today, as well. Some backup receivers were dropping passes but it was rarely a quarterback issue on those.

r.sylvia

 

[GenRRN]

LETS GOO!!!!!

 

[RockyTop140]

Brazzell working with 2nd team. Not looking into it too much but up to this point I was assuming he would be a top target for Nico

 

[Adam2014]

It sounds like Nico had a good practice. Maybe he can take the starting position from Gaston Moore now!

 

[cherokeeeVOL]

My favorite quote from this one: "We barely get to see anything to begin with and half of that is stretching. Now, with the third period closed off, there’s an amusingly short amount of time to actually watch anything of relevance."

 

[ENGRVOL]

Sounds like the offensive side of the ball is the healthiest we have been in sometime. GBO!!

 

[OrangeMoundTNVol]

Brazzell working with 2nd team. Not looking into it too much but up to this point I was assuming he would be a top target for Nico

Probably punishment for his personal coach tweeting out practice film

 

[Shirleyudontmeanthat]

It sounds like Nico had a good practice. Maybe he can take the starting position from Gaston Moore now!

No way ….

 

[Vol865]

1s: X - Bru McCoy, Y - Squirrel White, Z - Kaleb Webb, H - Ethan Davis

Y is a TE
H is a Slot Wr

 

[25vol]

My favorite quote from this one: "We barely get to see anything to begin with and half of that is stretching. Now, with the third period closed off, there’s an amusingly short amount of time to actually watch anything of relevance."

Really shows you just how little we should value anything said in these. Think I’ll reserve my judgement on this team until game time.

 

[PEPPERJAX]

PHANGERS!!!!!

 

[25vol]

After rough opening sessions to practice that the media was able to view yesterday for Nico Iamaleava, he looked perfect today. Every throw was where it needed to be.

I wonder what all the Gaston Moore pumpers will think about this one. I’m ready to hear coping from all the guys ready to crown him starter yesterday after one bad practice from Nico.

 

[RockyTop140]

Really shows you just how little we should value anything said in these. Think I’ll reserve my judgement on this team until game time.

Last practice thread Nico missed a few passes during routes on air period and people were already wondering if Moore would take his job, lmao

 

[25vol]

Last practice thread Nico missed a few passes during routes on air period and people were already wondering if Moore would take his job, lmao

Oh yeah I know lol. I was just pointing that out because now after Eric said the 3rd period is closed off, the media barely sees anything even compared to before. So how much can you trust what they say?

 

[Adam2014]

I wonder what all the Gaston Moore pumpers will think about this one. I’m ready to hear coping from all the guys ready to crown him starter yesterday after one bad practice from Nico.

Gaston Moore just passes the eye test more than Nico. This is what my eyes are telling me and they are not wrong.

 

[aRmo]

Probably punishment for his personal coach tweeting out practice film

I was wondering where that footage came from lol.

 

[NighthawkVol]

p.brown









e.cain









r.schumpert






r.sylvia

So Patrick Brown has Ethan Davis at 3rd team, but Ryan Sylvia promoted him to starter. Interesting.

 

[NighthawkVol]

1s: X - Bru McCoy, Y - Squirrel White, Z - Kaleb Webb, H - Ethan Davis

Y is a TE
H is a Slot Wr

Y is the slot WR. H is TE...as in H-Back.

 

[WillisWG]

bvs can strike at a moment's notice and can be followed throughout preseason practices with the yoyo effect. during an outbreak of bvs I highly recommend humming Rocky Top or Fight Vols, fight.

 

[Billy Antrim]

My favorite quote from this one: "We barely get to see anything to begin with and half of that is stretching. Now, with the third period closed off, there’s an amusingly short amount of time to actually watch anything of relevance."

And yet we get no critique of the stretching.

 

[JRVOL11]

I hate Mike Matthews was banged up earlier on during camp, he won’t be down the lineup for long he’s way too talented to sit this year

 

[WillisWG]

My favorite quote from this one: "We barely get to see anything to begin with and half of that is stretching. Now, with the third period closed off, there’s an amusingly short amount of time to actually watch anything of relevance."

Yep

Tennessee saved the sanctity of the program by closing off period three and only letting the media watch the first two periods of practice today. That could lead to at least one or two more wins on the field this season, but it does lead to fewer observations today as we only watched 10 minutes of practice and they were stretching for three to five minutes.

 

[Mccage]

bvs can strike at a moment's notice and can be followed throughout preseason practices with the yoyo effect. during an outbreak of bvs I highly recommend humming Rocky Top or Fight Vols, fight.

We’re lucky to have the GRN!!

 

[WillisWG]

Everything Tennessee DB Coach Willie Martinez Said On Monday | Rocky Top Insider

See everything Tennessee defensive backs coach Willie Martinez said on Monday after the Vols keep rolling through fall camp.

www.rockytopinsider.com

On where they’re at with the Star position after the season-ending injury for Jourdan Thomas

“Christian Harrison and Boo Carter are taking the bulk of the reps. We know in the back of our minds that we have others that have played the position, whether it’s Will Brooks. We have the versatility, whether it’s Andre Turrentine. With the two guys right now that are competing at this (point are) Christian and Boo and they’re doing a really good job.”

 

[Vol_in_NC_1999]

And yet we get no critique of the stretching.

Gaston was named starter for the opening stretcher.