Vols Spring Practice. #4

[Fingers]

The only real difference from Wednesday’s practice to Friday in terms of availability was tight end Miles Kitselman was back at work after he sat out the other day.

Otherwise there wasn’t much change in the list of unavailable players, which is heavier on the defensive side of the football with linebacker Arion Carter, defensive lineman Daevin Hobbs, LEO Emmanuel Okoye and safety Christian Charles, plus freshman linebackers Jaedon Harmon and Jadon Perlotte, freshman defensive linemen Christian Gass, Jayden Loftin and Mariyon Dye. Not practicing on offense are offensive tackle Jeremias Heard and freshman tight end DaSaahn Brame, who continues to deal with an illness. Also on the defensive line, Jamal Wallace stayed indoors to work on the side, and we didn’t see Nathan Robinson out there after he dealt with an illness earlier in the week.

Transfer wide receiver Amari Jefferson and redshirt freshman tight end Cole Harrison continue to work in non-contact jerseys.

Bryson Eason, Dominic Bailey and Tyre West all physically look like guys who have been around the block and in the battles in the SEC for multiple years. Jaxson Moi is noticeably trying to set the example to fill the leadership void in that room. Joshua Josephs looks as explosive as ever even in the most basic drills, and you can see him kind of carrying himself like a guy who is confident.

Redshirt freshmen Carson Gentle and Kellen Lindstrom (who got a tongue-lashing during bag drills) look noticeably more filled out physically and don’t look like freshmen anymore. Then Isaiah Campbell doesn’t look like a typical freshman at 282 pounds with long arms and massive hands.

Jeremiah Telander is coming off his first season as a starting linebacker, and he’s now an upperclassman heading into his junior season. With Arion Carter not out there as he recovers from an offseason clean-up, Telander is the tone-setter of the group, and you could hear him during Friday’s drills. He barked at his teammates to put their face into it on a block-shedding drill on the two-man sled, then was the loudest to respond when defensive coordinator Tim Banks moseyed over from the safeties to watch the linebackers and reminded them that they are the spearhead for the defense.

He had a good battle with tight end Miles Kitselman across multiple reps. Kitselman got him the first time, but Telander came back and got by him with a quick little shoulder-dip move

Elsewhere in that drill, running back Peyton Lewis started off with some good reps, winning against Edwin Spillman and then getting De’Rail Sims fired up with his position and physicality on the next rep.

The defensive backs involved in these drills had some early wins with Boo Carter (against Star Thomas) and Andre Turrentine (against freshman Justin Baker, who is having a whale of time adjusting to college level pass-protection) getting past their blockers.

Linebackers Spillman (against Thomas) and Ben Bolton (against Ethan Davis) also had wins to get in the backfield.

Freshman cornerbacks Ty Redmond and Timothy Merritt are still skinny enough to look like freshmen, but they are both long athletes with some juice, and Thomas gave Redmond some props in the post-practice DB huddle the other day in a video the Vols posted on their social media accounts.

We’ve seen the Vols work more pistol-formation stuff just with the quarterback-running back mesh-point drills, and there’s also perhaps been more condensed-formation type of stuff with the wide receivers here and there – and that’s not anything Tennessee has never done before, but when this offense is known so much for its wide splits, that’s a noticeable difference.

Case in point: Some red-zone routes-on-air work on Friday included receivers running routes from a more condensed set with the outside receivers were lined up closer to the core rather than near the sideline, which again is something the Vols have done before, typically when they are going tempo in a short-yardage situation and want to get in a quick run play before the defense is set. The slot receivers lined up across the line and came across the formation into the flat on the other side. The alignment and the routes run from those positions could be something or could be nothing – we’ll only know if we see Tennessee run them in the fall.

p.brown

Former Tennessee 2026 commit Brandon Anderson was at practice today. 2025 signee, but not early enrollee, Joakim Dodson was at practice again today. He was also at Wednesday’s practice.

Jermod McCoy, Jaydin Loftin and Jourdan Thomas were off to the side riding a stationary bike. Freshman Christian Gass, Jeremias Heard, Jamal Wallace, Arion Carter, Emmanuel Okoye, Daevin Hobbs, Mariyon Dye, and Christian Charles were in a group that was doing some light stretching while the team was in individual work. Cole Harrison and Amari Jefferson were in red non-contact jerseys. Freshman linebackers Jaedon Harmon and Jadon Perlotte were not full-speed. Tight end Miles Kitselman was back practicing today after doing some light side work on Wednesday. Nathan Robinson did not practice today.

Friday was the first day of full pads for the Vols ahead of spring break next week. So, at certain times, the intensity and physicality was ramped up in practice. At other times, it was a lot of mental work to make sure the position groups were grasping things before a week off for spring break.

DeSean Bishop has come miles and miles in pass pro from this time two years ago. He won’t win every rep, but he’s getting better. Peyton Lewis needs to continue coming along in this regard but had a really solid rep on Friday that got everyone hyped up. Miles Kitselman won a few reps, but also got beat a few times in the one-on-one.

Jeremiah Telander was held pretty badly once by Miles Kitselman and that frustrated him to the point that he bull-rushed freshman Justin Baker in his next rep. That did not please position coach William Inge one bit. Baker, had a rough day in the drill. Edwin Spillman won a few reps, utilizing his athleticism once to just side-step the offensive player.

Routes on air were in the redzone throwing into the endzone today, so we weren’t allowed to shoot the session. I thought it looked pretty clean overall with the Nico Iamaleava and Jake Merklinger having good days. Nico threw a dart to the back corner of the endzone to Braylon Staley and had several nice fades on the day. Mike Matthews did climb the latter once to haul in a slant over the middle in the back of the endzone on a ball that was elevated.

George MacIntyre had some moments today but was also being coached up on not getting his receivers drilled when defenders are eventually out there. A few of his throws didn’t have the zip needed or were behind the intended target. He also made some great throws as well. It’s all about finding some consistency with young players – this is normal.

Jake Merklinger continues to have a strong camp. He’s carrying himself with more confidence and has physically put in the work to improve his body. He had a good day throwing the football.

I think Travis Smith can be a real weapon down in the redzone. He’s got the frame for it. Jack Van Dorsalaer impressed as well. He receives the ball well for a young tight end.

-e.cain

 

[TAF]

FULL PADS!

 

[RDU VOL#14]

About Telander:
“He barked at his teammates to put their face into it on a block-shedding drill on the two-man sled, then was the loudest to respond when defensive coordinator Tim Banks moseyed over from the safeties to watch the linebackers and reminded them that they are the spearhead for the defense.”

For us to take it to the next level our linebacker play HAS to be better . In all 3 games that we lost, they were bad. Real bad. Misdirection and motion in the Arkansas and Ohio State games and coverage on the tight ends vs UGA killed us. Same thing the year before against Mizzou.

 

[TAF]

"Coach Chop" Post Practice

 

[JCVol00]

“Jeremiah Telander was held pretty badly once by Miles Kitselman and that frustrated him to the point that he bull-rushed freshman Justin Baker in his next rep. That did not please position coach William Inge one bit”
Idk why but that quote made me chuckle

 

[TAF]

And..The Man...Coach G...

 

[PEPPERJAX]

PHANGERS!!!!!!!!

 

[SayUWantAreVOLution]

And..The Man...Coach G...

"a different temperature of grease...." Big G has a way with words.

 

[WillisWG]

the @ wide split U...I like it

 

[feathersax]

And..The Man...Coach G...

RG...the MAN with the inside PLAN! What a great coach for our VOLS!

 

[BleedOrange81]

About Telander:
“He barked at his teammates to put their face into it on a block-shedding drill on the two-man sled, then was the loudest to respond when defensive coordinator Tim Banks moseyed over from the safeties to watch the linebackers and reminded them that they are the spearhead for the defense.”

For us to take it to the next level our linebacker play HAS to be better . In all 3 games that we lost, they were bad. Real bad. Misdirection and motion in the Arkansas and Ohio State games and coverage on the tight ends vs UGA killed us. Same thing the year before against Mizzou.

Could not cover the middle of the field for crap. Haven’t been able to in years.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

Could not cover the middle of the field for crap. Haven’t been able to in years.

I think part of the problem last season was that Banks was too reliant on the front four to get pressure in some of these games. Beck was barely touched and Howard was pressured once that would’ve gotten us off the field , but was negated by a facemask. I’m sure the numbers will show that we blitzed more than i thought, but it never felt like we had many exotic looks when we weren’t getting home w/ 4.

 

[joevol33]

Thanks again Fingers

 

[Jackcrevol]

About Telander:
“He barked at his teammates to put their face into it on a block-shedding drill on the two-man sled, then was the loudest to respond when defensive coordinator Tim Banks moseyed over from the safeties to watch the linebackers and reminded them that they are the spearhead for the defense.”

For us to take it to the next level our linebacker play HAS to be better . In all 3 games that we lost, they were bad. Real bad. Misdirection and motion in the Arkansas and Ohio State games and coverage on the tight ends vs UGA killed us. Same thing the year before against Mizzou.

LB and secondary, in those games.