Vols Spring Practice #8

[Fingers]

Already without Bru McCoy this spring, Tennessee’s receiving corps was down both Ramel Keyton and Squirrel White on Monday morning. We didn’t see Keyton out there and White was not in full pads. The sophomore went through stretch before staying inside to work out with director of competition development Kurt Schmidt.

At linebacker, Aaron Beasley, who was held out of the scrimmage, continues to manage what we believe is a hamstring injury. He was doing some drills on Monday morning before staying inside. Also inside and working out with the other injured players was Keenan Pili, so the Vols are now very young at linebacker.

It’s also worth noting that Oregon transfer Dont’e Thornton, who has dealt with a hamstring injury, was running routes and getting a lot of work in Monday’s practice. He didn’t scrimmage, but could be working his way into being able to scrimmage on Thursday, which would be a benefit for him.

Nimrod, Weary, Leacock and Webb all had good snags on hard-thrown slant passes.

Even without Beasley and Pili, Tennessee has a good-looking group at linebacker with sophomores Elijah Herring and Kalib Perry plus freshmen Arion Carter, Jalen Smith and Jeremiah Telander. Walk-ons round out the numbers so there are still plenty of bodies for Brian Jean-Mary. There is one veteran practicing in fifth-year senior Kwauze Garland, and Beasley and Pili still can help from the sidelines so all is far from lost.

p.brown

The offensive line continues to be a work in progress, something of note from the scrimmage on Saturday. With Mays sidelined for a short time, what an opportunity it is for Parker Ball, Addison Nichols and Vysen Lang to show what they can bring to the table.

Overall, the quarterbacks looked fine but there was some miscommunication at times, which is understandable with some new guys taking reps up front.

With Jaylen Wright sidelined while we were out there, it was a whole lot of Dylan Samspn and DeSean Bishop during individual. Both of those guys had good scrimmages on Saturday and are doing their part in providing some depth to a room that is injury-bitten at times.

We continue to be impressed with rising sophomore Elijah Herring who has shown some strong leadership traits all spring. Freshman Jeremiah Telander is a guy who has shown his athletisism at practice over the last week. With all the talk on fellow freshman Arion Carter, Telander continues to chip away.

Secondary work was split into two with the emphasis still on open field tackling. The defensive line spent their time under the cage while we were out there as more and more eyes are on Elijah Simmons to see how he performs this week after standing out so far in spring drills.

e.cain

Offensive lineman Cooper Mays went through non-contact drills in the first period but was not in pads. Mays did not participate in the first scrimmage on Saturday.

Wide receiver Bru McCoy has not participated in any spring practices and likely won't at this point with less than two weeks to go. He has been in a full cast but appeared to have the cast off today. I couldn't tell for certain because he was wearing long sleeves but it looked like he was wearing some kind of brace on his arm.

Oregon WR transfer Dont'e Thornton has been in full pads since last week. Appeared to work a lot in the slot today during passing drills around the goal line. Could be a go-to target in those situations once the season starts.

n.taylor

Regarding Saturday's Scrimmage

At least as far as the first-team unit goes, Tennessee’s defense won the day. With how the Vols practice, the lineups are a little more fluid as certain platoons (quartets on the defensive line, tandems at linebacker and all five in the secondary) will rotate in during a series or to start one, so it likely wasn’t the same 11 getting the job done every time.

Heupel was pleased with how the defense tackled and played relentlessly, how disruptive they were up front and how well they got off the field on third down. The Vols were effective off the edge, we were told, with the new-look defensive end and Leo positions making their presence felt.

Sophomore defensive lineman Tyre West was a name mentioned to us as a standout and he’s one of a few second-year players the Vols need to take some steps this offseason. Heupel was also pleased with how the interior of the defensive line played and mentioned Elijah Simmons as a player who flashed to continue what he called “a really good first half” of the spring. Coaches will want to see individual players and units build off the scrimmage and do it again on Thursday.

Freshman linebacker Arion Carter did nothing in the scrimmage to slow down his spring hype train, and first-year cornerbacks Jordan Matthews and Rickey Gibson III are pushing with the latter getting some first-team run late in a practice last week. With more depth and more athletes comes more competition and more quality, and that was something we heard from multiple people at the scrimmage, was just how much more athletic the defense looks on that front, also an encouraging sign given how the Vols need to shore up some things on defense.

The offensive line seemed to catch some heat from scrimmage onlookers, but keep in mind that Tennessee has a lot of moving pieces with that group right now. You don’t just replace two 40+-game starters like the Vols are with Darnell Wright and Jerome Carvin and keep going with no bumps. Take out valuable center Cooper Mays, who was held out of the scrimmage, and it’s a group in flux.

Yes, the tackles had some issues in pass protection, but Heupel isn’t mentioning freshman running back DeSean Bishop as a scrimmage standout with the offensive line doing its part and the twos did some good things to get him and Dylan Sampson, who also got some first-team reps, into space for some good runs.

It wouldn’t be unfair, based on those we talked to, to say five-star freshman Nico Iamaleava had a better day than Joe Milton III in Saturday’s scrimmage. While the first-team offense struggled at the start, Iamaleava led a touchdown drive on his first series and looked really good. The freshman played poised and under control – in his first full-speed college scrimmage – and hit transfer tight end McCallan Castles for one touchdown and connected for at least one other deep ball.

It wouldn’t be unfair, based on those we talked to, to say five-star freshman Nico Iamaleava had a better day than Joe Milton III in Saturday’s scrimmage. While the first-team offense struggled at the start, Iamaleava led a touchdown drive on his first series and looked really good. The freshman played poised and under control – in his first full-speed college scrimmage – and hit transfer tight end McCallan Castles for one touchdown and connected for at least one other deep ball.

p.brown

 

[Bearkat_Vol]

First? Thank you, Fingers

 

[Vol524]

Thanks Fingers!

 

[Vol49er]

Well that last bit is gonna inspire some discussion for sure. I am super encourage about the development of some guys on the D-line though. Is Tyre West an edge rusher or more of a DT though? Hopefully an edge rusher, very worried about replacing Byron Young

 

[tobybeast]

Thanks Fingers!!!

 

[LouderVol]

good info as always! Thanks Fingers!

I like hearing that we have competition all over the place.

 

[IndianaVol]

I thought the positivity and vibe last spring was something...is it just me, or does this year's squad seem even more positive and aggressive?

 

[WillisWG]

Well that last bit is gonna inspire some discussion for sure. I am super encourage about the development of some guys on the D-line though. Is Tyre West an edge rusher or more of a DT though? Hopefully an edge rusher, very worried about replacing Byron Young

At 290 he's more DT type.

 

[Vol49er]

At 290 he's more DT type.

Feels like we have so much depth at DT, which is a great thing obviously. I just hope some of the young edge rushers are able to step up

 

[NighthawkVol]

p.brown






e.cain



n.taylor

Regarding Saturday's Scrimmage








p.brown

Sounds like Kalib Perry is going to be a player.

 

[volmandu]

... very worried about replacing Byron Young

Byron is gonna be very hard to replace no doubt but I have hopes Pearce and Joseph can do well ... esp Pearce flashed few times last year in garbage time

 

[rgvol]

I ll take a 3 running back like Dylan Sampson every year he is a baller

 

[rgvol]

I ll take a 3 like Desean Bishop every year he is a baller.

 

[rgvol]

I ll take a 3 running back like Desean Bishop every year he is a baller.

 

[leeroyphi136]

"It wouldn’t be unfair, based on those we talked to, to say five-star freshman Nico Iamaleava had a better day than Joe Milton III in Saturday’s scrimmage. While the first-team offense struggled at the start, Iamaleava led a touchdown drive on his first series and looked really good. The freshman played poised and under control – in his first full-speed college scrimmage – and hit transfer tight end McCallan Castles for one touchdown and connected for at least one other deep ball."

 

[sjt18]

Well that last bit is gonna inspire some discussion for sure. I am super encourage about the development of some guys on the D-line though. Is Tyre West an edge rusher or more of a DT though? Hopefully an edge rusher, very worried about replacing Byron Young

I'm kind of old... but I can remember the first year Cut was back at UT. Ainge was coming off an awful Soph season and already being called a bust. Crompton was a stud 4/5* with a lot of fans at that point. Reports out of spring fairly consistently talked about JC challenging Ainge and looking better. Then... the O&W game came. Ainge completed like 20% of his passes or something while JC had a much better day.

What most didn't see or understand was that Cut was challenging the two guys at entirely different levels. The next time we saw Ainge he torched a highly rated Cal team.


More recently, Bailey had great "stats" in the spring game a couple of years ago with many here declaring that he was the obvious starter. The supposed 2nd best QB recruit and 5* showed out and finally seemed to be fulfilling some of that promise. He's now the 3rd string QB at UNLV who finished 5-7 in the Mtn West last fall and 90th nationally in passing O (IOWs their other QBs weren't great either). Bailey did get his shot. He completed less than 52% of his passes for 318 yds and a 5.5 ypc.

My point is only that folks should be careful trying to read too much into things like this.

 

[WillisWG]

Byron is gonna be very hard to replace no doubt but I have hopes Pearce and Joseph can do well ... esp Pearce flashed few times last year in garbage time

Josephs need to add about 10 lbs but you're right on both these guys

 

[NighthawkVol]

Byron is gonna be very hard to replace no doubt but I have hopes Pearce and Joseph can do well ... esp Pearce flashed few times last year in garbage time

I think both have a higher ceiling than Young.

 

[DougVol]

I ll take a 3 running back like Desean Bishop every year he is a baller.

I’ll take a 4 ️ ️ ️ ️ Jamal Lewis every year he is a baller.

 

[rgvol]

Lol

 

[utvolpj]

I’ll take a 4 ️ ️ ️ ️ Jamal Lewis every year he is a baller.

Jamal was the top rated rb in the nation

 

[Big Cheese Offspring]

"It wouldn’t be unfair, based on those we talked to, to say five-star freshman Nico Iamaleava had a better day than Joe Milton III in Saturday’s scrimmage. While the first-team offense struggled at the start, Iamaleava led a touchdown drive on his first series and looked really good. The freshman played poised and under control – in his first full-speed college scrimmage – and hit transfer tight end McCallan Castles for one touchdown and connected for at least one other deep ball."

Oh no. Here we go with the bench Joe and start Nico hype train...

 

[WoodsmanVol]

I like under dogs, I'm a sucker for them. Which is why I keep hoping we'll hear noise about Jack Jancek being field-ready.

 

[Orangeblooded615]

Love to hear the D looks more athletic and Deep. Getting some young guys reps isn't a bad thing. Think we'll see some early contributions. Offense will be interesting if we can't stay healthy.

 

[njvols]

Am sure offense will come along...most glad to hear LBs are looking up.