Vols Fall Practice #6

[Fingers]

First day of full pads. Wesley Walker is back. Still no Cooper Mays. Squirrel White was there but didn't run routes in front of media

r. sylvia

Tennessee football put the pads on for the first time this fall Tuesday morning on a beautiful morning on the Haslam Practice Field.

Cooper Mays was dressed out and warming up but wasn’t out on the practice field going through drills during the open portion of practice.

Bru McCoy, Squirrel White and Nathan Leacock were fully dressed out and went through warmups. But like Monday, neither White or Leacock were going through routes on air. McCoy did catch passes Tuesday after working inside during the open portion of practice Monday.

Dont’e Thornton was absent during the open portions of practice. Ethan Davis also was dressed out but working inside after warmups.

Both Joe Milton III and Nico Iamaleava overthrew one deep ball but were otherwise accurate. Milton had the throw of the day. A vintage Milton deep shot, the talented passer evaded the pocket to the right before uncorking a beautiful deep ball that dropped in McCoy’s arms right in stride.

Ollie Lane, who has been repping with the first team at guard, was working at center which propelled Texas transfer Andrej Karic into the first team left guard spot.

Tennessee’s running back group is fully healthy to this point and all were active going through drills Tuesday. Inside the Anderson Training Center they caught swing passes from the Vols’ quarterbacks. Dylan Sampson led the way during the drill followed by Jaylen Wright. The only ball that hit the ground was a low throw from Iamaleava to Wright.

Jourdan Thomas, Wesley Walker and Tamarion McDonald were dressed out but stayed inside to work once the team went out to the Haslam Practice Field.

Safety Christian Charles also worked outside during the first drills before running back inside the Anderson Training Center.

The corners didn’t get out of tackling work either and it’s clearly an adjustment for talented freshmen Rickey Gibson and Jordan Matthews. Defensive backs coach Willie Martinez provided plenty of instruction for both as they went through drills.

Defensive line coach Rodney Garner was fired up and not pleased with his group’s energy Tuesday.

r.schumpert

The offensive line was back in groups going over tandem blocking assignments. Centers and guards, some guards and tackles. Addison Nichols got some work with the ones again today during the drills. Gerald Mincey continues to rep at left tackle during individual, but him flipping over to the right for more work could be in store at some point in camp.

All the running backs looked comfortable doing the drill, especially Jaylen Wright and Jabari Small. Could we see freshman Cam Seldon catch the football out of the backfield this season, just as we saw it in the spring game? We will see.

Later on, the quarterbacks and wide receivers worked on the scramble drill. The drill simulates when a quarterback is flushed out of the pocket and on the run. The receivers need to recognize that and adapt or roll to whichever side of the field the quarterback is scrambling to. All four quarterbacks went at once and threw to four different wideouts.

As you’d expect, Joe Milton looked sharp in this drill. He rolled to his left, squared his shoulders and launched one down the field over the middle to White. Nico Iamaleava missed once badly, but it looked as if it was a miscommunication between he and the receiver. That’s why you practice this drill. We saw what Nico could do on the scramble during the Orange & White Game.

The defensive backs were drilling out in space, shedding a defender and then hitting the one-man tackling sled. Looked like Andre Turrentine flashed in this drill. He was under control and his mechanics were sharp. There’s a lot of opportunity for him to get some looks with McDonald, Thomas and Walker all limited in some fashion. Jaylen McCollough continues to be getting plenty of work with the first group as well.

Gabe Jeudy-Lally looked good doing this drill – as did Warren Burrell. Some of the younger corners are still figuring out how to use those angles to their advantage, but Jordan Matthews and Rickey Gibson made some good looking plays today.

As expected, the veterans Aaron Beasley and Keenan Pili know how it’s done. Elijah Herring, who was a bit out of control in pass-rushing drills on Saturday, looked comfortable tackling today. The young guys like Arion Carter, Jeremiah Telander and Jalen Smith pack plenty of punch with their tackles – but will continue to focus on the fundamentals such as head placement and driving of the feet. Brian Jean-Mary was reminding them of that during the drill.

e.cain

Some good news: Wide receiver Bru McCoy was back on the field and running routes. However, we didn’t see Dont’e Thornton Jr. out there during drills. Squirrel White and Nathan Leacock both ran inside after being out there for a couple of periods, but they remained limited.

Tennessee also remains short at safety with Wesley Walker, Tamarion McDonald and Jourdan Thomas all staying inside to go through workouts with the training staff. That’s arguably the top three Star options in the secondary, so cornerback Warren Burrell jumped into drills with the safeties for a period. It looks like Andre Turrentine is the second man up at safety behind Jaylen McCollough, at least as far as the order in drills.

It looked like freshman tight end Ethan Davis stayed inside as well.

Garner set the tone early in this period by getting on to Elijah Simmons for treating one rep like a walk-through instead of going as hard as he could. The veteran defensive line coach later got all over Kurott Garland for not doing what he needed to do. It was a patented Garner tirade and Garland probably has been on the receiving end of several of them over the past two-plus years.

The defensive tackle group included Simmons, Garland, Omari Thomas, Omarr Norman-Lott and Bryson Eason. Freshman Nathan Robinson also worked with this group, if that’s any indication what the Vols believe the future looks like for the newcomer. Other rookies were with the edge players – Tyree Weathersby and Daevin Hobbs are ends and Chandavian Bradley and Caleb Herring are Leos.

Couple more quick notes on Simmons: Garner got on to him, but earlier in practice he broke the team down between stretch and individual drills and also (politely) stepped in front of a walk-on to make sure he went first when the big guys started their work on the two-man sled.

It’s notable Warren Burrell got some work at Star. Obviously the Vols are down their top three guys so moving a guy like Burrell makes sense because you need to get quality reps for your defense and for your offense as well. Only time will tell if Burrell working there is a stopgap due to who’s not practicing or something real – Tennessee obviously has a glut of cornerbacks and the main goal for the coaches will be getting their best DBs on the field.

Freshman Khalifa Keith made a couple of nice grabs, including one thrown on his back hip. Jabari Small made a twisting catch on a pass thrown behind him as well. Jaylen Wright, Dylan Sampson and DeSean Bishop all looked natural catching the football in this setting.

After the running back did some more pass-catching work and ran through the beloved blasters, the quarterbacks went outdoors for routes-on-air and it did not go great. Again, Tennessee is limited at wide receiver with a few guys limited or not there. Bru McCoy and Ramel Keyton were first up outside, Chas Nimrod slid over to the slot and Kaleb Webb and Nate Spillman were the only other scholarship wideouts.

Quarterbacks Joe Milton III and Nico Iamaleava were accurate for the most part, but the receivers had too many drops, including some that hit them in the hands and there was some visible frustration.

p.brown

 

[Mackdknife]

First

 

[WillisWG]

Yep, thanks Fingers!

For the first time, the team practiced in full pads and the intensity was clear from the coaching staff, particularly on defense, as Tennessee gears up for Thursday’s scrimmage.

 

[Rockvegas]

Thanks for the update

 

[ButchPlz]

I still find it weird how these guys all report things so differently.

 

[Vol524]

Thanks Fingers

 

[K-town Vol Fan]

Cooper Mays was probably on the toilet

 

[titansvolsfaninga]

I still find it weird how these guys all report things so differently.

White wasn't out there but he caught a pass from Milton on the scramble drill.

 

[ButchPlz]

White wasn't out there but he caught a pass from Milton on the scramble drill.

It's been that way since day #1.

And then someone saying "they looked good", while another says "everything sucked".

 

[cherokeeeVOL]

How much of practice do these media guys actually see? They seem to have sweeping takeaways from what I would assume would be very little exposure. Also, I hope Squirrel is good to go...

 

[PEPPERJAX]

FANG GERZ!!!

 

[MemphisVol77]

Freshman Khalifa Keith made a couple of nice grabs, including one thrown on his back hip. Jabari Small made a twisting catch on a pass thrown behind him as well. Jaylen Wright, Dylan Sampson and DeSean Bishop all looked natural catching the football in this setting.

Our RB room got serious hands.

I don't know how many snaps he's realistically in line for, but Khalifa Keith looks like he could end up being a great get. I love bruising RB's with hands.

 

[butchna]

Cooper Mays was probably on the toilet

Averaging 4500 calories during breakfast, brunch, lunch, dunch, supper, dupper, dinner, brinner and speakfast.

 

[cherokeeeVOL]

Love how he roasts Chandavian Bradley for kissing up to the coach around minute 3. Also had a good laugh at him roasting Elijah Simmons about his number change around minute 9. This is one of the more entertaining position coach interviews I've watched in a while. Garner means business. Love it:

 

[OrangeTsar]

White wasn't out there but he caught a pass from Milton on the scramble drill.

Sounds like Joe overthrew the practice field maybe?

 

[OrangeTsar]

Averaging 4500 calories during breakfast, brunch, lunch, dunch, supper, dupper, dinner, brinner and speakfast.

 

[VolFreakJosh]

Love how he roasts Chandavian Bradley for kissing up to the coach around minute 3:

Garner takes no BS.

Love it.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

I like that they note Garner chewing on D linemen like popcorn. If you're going to take an grill-ful you might as well take it from the best.

 

[VolFreakJosh]

I like that they note Garner chewing on D linemen like popcorn. If you're going to take an grill-ful you might as well take it from the best.

Funny you say that considering a lot of kids now, wouldn’t like Rodney Garners style of coaching.

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

Funny you say that considering a lot of kids now, wouldn’t like Rodney Garners style of coaching.

The ones that make big dance appreciate it, I'm sure.

 

[OrangeTsar]

Funny you say that considering a lot of kids now, wouldn’t like Rodney Garners style of coaching.

Just like Saban though, if you develop a reputation for getting kids to the NFL, they will put up with a lot. Pruitt tried the tough approach but didn’t have the results to back it up

 

[njvols]

It appears Milton has got his accuracy dialed in. If he's efficient on the field on game day, we're in for another good year. Me personally, I benchmark him (or anyone) against Hooker. Milton isn't Hooker, but if our run game and Milton's short/mid routes are accurate (we know long ball will be there), I think it will offset some of his lesser mobility than Hooker.

 

[Nerwen Aldarion]

Cooper Mays was probably on the toilet

I laughed way too hard at this.

 

[volmanNC]

In other news, a UFO was reported before the Vols started practice. It was later determined to be a football thrown while Joe Milton was doing some warm-up drills.

 

[fossilfiction]

Now is when it gets real. When the pads come on, it's almost here.