What is the latest on Spring Ball? Got back on the field yesterday. They were in shells yesterday. Just a light contact day. They have been at it pretty hard the last couple of weeks and took a day yesterday to kind of work on some schematics and fundamental stuff. Get back in pads later this week . O and W game will be anything but a game. It will be a show because that's what Butch Jones does. Given their lack of depth with 13 guys out it will be hard to play a true game. See a lot of 11 on 11 situational stuff. Some one on one.
Todd Kelly Jr. lock down chain? What was so impressive about his work? Just making plays. In the run game getting downhill or defending the pass Todd is making Plays. Todd is improving which is natural for a Soph. He also is getting pushed. Great competition at the safety position. Evan Berry has had two really good scrimmages in a row. The competition at the safety position is probably the most fierce competition this Spring. It is making guys better. It is making Todd better and Todd is making Evan better. When you're trying to develop your football program that is kind of depth you need. Todd was very very proud he had the Lock Down Chain. Came out and did his interview with the chain on. Very proud of it.
How much has Evan Berry help himself? A ton. Put himself in good position. Playing the game instinctively and as a result he is more athletic. Not as stiff as last year. He has found a home at safety. Goes out and makes plays. That is what Martinez wants. He doesn't want them making plays tackling ball carriers 20 yards downfield. Wants those guys downhill in the run game leading things. Making plays in the backend in the passing game. This Soph. class is going to be the one if TN gets back these guys will put them back on the map. Look at Safety and Nickel with Kelly, Berry and Gaulden. Those 3 guys will be a huge part of TN moving forward.
Jashon Robertson plans? Working a lot at center just to make sure he is comfortable there. I don't think center will be his long term position. Getting in reps for an emergency role. Unless they decide in getting their best 5 on the field puts him at center. He is the strongest OL on the team. Squats and benches the most. He has the wrestling background. To me he is a tailor made road grading guard. Athletic enough to get out and run on pulls. He was so raw last year. For him to go over from DL and the first day he is running with the first team shows what kind of need they had at that position. This Spring at the OL it is not about surviving but about striving. Starting to see Jashon take off. Seeing taking steps in not just being a big strong guy but becoming a lineman.
Do you think Jack Jones has the potential to be in the rotation come Fall? Fundamentally, technique wise and effort wise yes. The question is can he get strong enough. I am not personally surprised at Jack's success because I know what it means for him to be at TN after spending time with him and his family. The style he plays with I knew would give him a chance. He is better leverage wise than I thought he would be. Still learning some. The other guy who has surprised me as a true Fr on the OL is Chance Hall. Coming off the Achilles injury. I think he just played 5 games his Jr. year on the OL and missed his Sr. year. He has got 4 or 5 games of OL under his belt and he has really done a nice job. Playing right guard next to Jack. Both of those guys has done a nice job but they are not going against the best competition because TN is depleted at DL right now.
Back up QB spot? How has Dormady done? Done a nice job. Is he ready to play? NO. Thrown the ball with good accuracy. He has a nice touch. Further along than we expected to be with the shoulder cleanup. You can tell he has been well coached. Son of a head coach who was an offensive minded head coach. Used some of TN principles on offense last season getting him a little bit of a head start. He is a film room junkie. Left a favorable impression for the future not just with coaches but players. Johnathon Johnson bragged on his throwing and maturity.
Derek Barnett? Did they sense how good he could be? Did they teach him more? Do they teach him different ? ( rammmmbbbbllling fever from you know who) It is now about using more than his raw ability. Derek will admit that he didn't know a lot of things last year. Didn't know certain gap responsibilities. He was just trying to play both gaps. He has told me "if I would of known certain gap responsibilities I would of made even more plays behind the line of scrimmage" (that's scary!!). Derek is coming of the shoulder injury so it is about getting his strength back foremost. He has spent this Spring working on individual technique stuff. A lot of film study. Really diving in in completely understanding the defense. The amazing thing about Barnett is that he didn't get here till the summer. He didn't have 15 workouts in the Spring. He started in late June. So much early on was just natural ability. The future for him obviously if he can stay healthy is unbelievable. This year teams will game plan for Barnett. Dealing with TE's chipping and full backs.
The advantage of Early Entries depends on the kids? Some benefit and then some come in like Barnett did? Barnett was unbelievable committed to arriving at TN in shape. Is that because some guys where already enrolled and he wished he could have been a EE or is it his natural drive. Who knows what made him tick the way he did. When he arrived the thing that jumped out is when he did sprints with DL he was leading the way. When he came in he didn't have to waste time getting in shape and dropping weight. That is a credit to him. Because of his commitment and self-motivation it put him in position to succeed right out of the gate.
What about Kendall Vickers? He has done some good things. Playing better leverage and much lower. Better for him that he has settled on one position. Hands are better. Really strong guy. Squatting over 700 lbs. Still got to get consistent. Providing some good depth. Get a healthy Owen Williams, O'Brien and Shy Tuttle and if McKenzie come in ready to play you can slide some guys around. It is Vickers and Tuttle this Spring only. They have benefited greatly.
Seems like Jancek understands when to be schematically simple and when to get tricky? He does. What Jancek has doen right out of the gate is that he didn't dump everything on them. He wasn't trying to get them to be some exotic defense. Simplified it. Do what they do best and build form there. Didn't want to slow them down. Added as the season went on. Don't ever under estimate the value of blitzing the QB without bringing the kitchen sink. When you can get double digit sacks from two DE in Maggitt and Barnett you can play back end football a whole lot better. That had that luxury last year.
That is why this Fall can be a lot of fun? It could be. You don't see many teams out there that can get to the QB with a 4 man natural rush. Those that can will succeed. Those that can't can strive but also give up some big plays.
How is TN embracing the expectations this year? They love it. We will see what happens when they get into the season. They like the fact that people are saying this team can contend. You have upper classmen that had to hear when they were younger if they would even have a winning season or if they can get to 6 wins. Now they are talking about they can contend for the East. You have the younger guys when they would text each other when they were recruited was to try to build to this point. To have outside expectations form national pundits.
That's all folks!! Thought it was some pretty good stuff today. They did not ask anything about Guarantano. Hope we get him today. Go Vols!!!!
Todd Kelly Jr. lock down chain? What was so impressive about his work? Just making plays. In the run game getting downhill or defending the pass Todd is making Plays. Todd is improving which is natural for a Soph. He also is getting pushed. Great competition at the safety position. Evan Berry has had two really good scrimmages in a row. The competition at the safety position is probably the most fierce competition this Spring. It is making guys better. It is making Todd better and Todd is making Evan better. When you're trying to develop your football program that is kind of depth you need. Todd was very very proud he had the Lock Down Chain. Came out and did his interview with the chain on. Very proud of it.
How much has Evan Berry help himself? A ton. Put himself in good position. Playing the game instinctively and as a result he is more athletic. Not as stiff as last year. He has found a home at safety. Goes out and makes plays. That is what Martinez wants. He doesn't want them making plays tackling ball carriers 20 yards downfield. Wants those guys downhill in the run game leading things. Making plays in the backend in the passing game. This Soph. class is going to be the one if TN gets back these guys will put them back on the map. Look at Safety and Nickel with Kelly, Berry and Gaulden. Those 3 guys will be a huge part of TN moving forward.
Jashon Robertson plans? Working a lot at center just to make sure he is comfortable there. I don't think center will be his long term position. Getting in reps for an emergency role. Unless they decide in getting their best 5 on the field puts him at center. He is the strongest OL on the team. Squats and benches the most. He has the wrestling background. To me he is a tailor made road grading guard. Athletic enough to get out and run on pulls. He was so raw last year. For him to go over from DL and the first day he is running with the first team shows what kind of need they had at that position. This Spring at the OL it is not about surviving but about striving. Starting to see Jashon take off. Seeing taking steps in not just being a big strong guy but becoming a lineman.
Do you think Jack Jones has the potential to be in the rotation come Fall? Fundamentally, technique wise and effort wise yes. The question is can he get strong enough. I am not personally surprised at Jack's success because I know what it means for him to be at TN after spending time with him and his family. The style he plays with I knew would give him a chance. He is better leverage wise than I thought he would be. Still learning some. The other guy who has surprised me as a true Fr on the OL is Chance Hall. Coming off the Achilles injury. I think he just played 5 games his Jr. year on the OL and missed his Sr. year. He has got 4 or 5 games of OL under his belt and he has really done a nice job. Playing right guard next to Jack. Both of those guys has done a nice job but they are not going against the best competition because TN is depleted at DL right now.
Back up QB spot? How has Dormady done? Done a nice job. Is he ready to play? NO. Thrown the ball with good accuracy. He has a nice touch. Further along than we expected to be with the shoulder cleanup. You can tell he has been well coached. Son of a head coach who was an offensive minded head coach. Used some of TN principles on offense last season getting him a little bit of a head start. He is a film room junkie. Left a favorable impression for the future not just with coaches but players. Johnathon Johnson bragged on his throwing and maturity.
Derek Barnett? Did they sense how good he could be? Did they teach him more? Do they teach him different ? ( rammmmbbbbllling fever from you know who) It is now about using more than his raw ability. Derek will admit that he didn't know a lot of things last year. Didn't know certain gap responsibilities. He was just trying to play both gaps. He has told me "if I would of known certain gap responsibilities I would of made even more plays behind the line of scrimmage" (that's scary!!). Derek is coming of the shoulder injury so it is about getting his strength back foremost. He has spent this Spring working on individual technique stuff. A lot of film study. Really diving in in completely understanding the defense. The amazing thing about Barnett is that he didn't get here till the summer. He didn't have 15 workouts in the Spring. He started in late June. So much early on was just natural ability. The future for him obviously if he can stay healthy is unbelievable. This year teams will game plan for Barnett. Dealing with TE's chipping and full backs.
The advantage of Early Entries depends on the kids? Some benefit and then some come in like Barnett did? Barnett was unbelievable committed to arriving at TN in shape. Is that because some guys where already enrolled and he wished he could have been a EE or is it his natural drive. Who knows what made him tick the way he did. When he arrived the thing that jumped out is when he did sprints with DL he was leading the way. When he came in he didn't have to waste time getting in shape and dropping weight. That is a credit to him. Because of his commitment and self-motivation it put him in position to succeed right out of the gate.
What about Kendall Vickers? He has done some good things. Playing better leverage and much lower. Better for him that he has settled on one position. Hands are better. Really strong guy. Squatting over 700 lbs. Still got to get consistent. Providing some good depth. Get a healthy Owen Williams, O'Brien and Shy Tuttle and if McKenzie come in ready to play you can slide some guys around. It is Vickers and Tuttle this Spring only. They have benefited greatly.
Seems like Jancek understands when to be schematically simple and when to get tricky? He does. What Jancek has doen right out of the gate is that he didn't dump everything on them. He wasn't trying to get them to be some exotic defense. Simplified it. Do what they do best and build form there. Didn't want to slow them down. Added as the season went on. Don't ever under estimate the value of blitzing the QB without bringing the kitchen sink. When you can get double digit sacks from two DE in Maggitt and Barnett you can play back end football a whole lot better. That had that luxury last year.
That is why this Fall can be a lot of fun? It could be. You don't see many teams out there that can get to the QB with a 4 man natural rush. Those that can will succeed. Those that can't can strive but also give up some big plays.
How is TN embracing the expectations this year? They love it. We will see what happens when they get into the season. They like the fact that people are saying this team can contend. You have upper classmen that had to hear when they were younger if they would even have a winning season or if they can get to 6 wins. Now they are talking about they can contend for the East. You have the younger guys when they would text each other when they were recruited was to try to build to this point. To have outside expectations form national pundits.
That's all folks!! Thought it was some pretty good stuff today. They did not ask anything about Guarantano. Hope we get him today. Go Vols!!!!
