After not practicing Monday, Tennessee returned to the field Tuesday on a muggy afternoon in Knoxville.
Several assistants coaches were in rare form, too, making sure their guys knew it was a workday during the fourth workout of preseason practice.
“You think you’re getting another day off?"
Tracy Rocker, Chris Rumph and Brian Niedermeyer all expressed vocal displeasure with multiple players within their units.
Here are Tuesday’s rapid reactions from practice…
LINE CHANGE
Rocker was all over senior Kyle Phillips on Tuesday, but freshman Kingston Harris was drew the worst of Rocker’s wrath. Harris was sent off the field three different times for his effort, with Rocker making Harris do extra conditioning three different times.
Notably, when the Vols did full line-work, Shy Tuttle got some work at strong-side defensive end, with Emmitt Gooden at the nose and Alexis Johnson at defensive tackle. Johnson has been impressive in camp thus far, displaying a much greater physical presence. He whipped Tuttle in a 1-on-1 drill at the end of the media viewing.
BLOCK THAT MAN
Unlike in previous practices, Tennessee’s tight ends didn’t participate in routes on air Tuesday, instead doing a couple different blocking drills. Niedermeyer was really getting on Eli Wolf and Latrell Bumphus, mainly about footwork. Later, the group worked on combo blocks with the offensive line. As has been the case in the last week, Dominick Wood-Anderson routinely took the first rep with the unit.
RUMPH STILL RIDIN’ ALLEN
Outside linebackers coach Chris Rumph was really hard on junior college transfer Jordan Allen all spring, hoping to accelerate the sophomore’s development. The move seemingly paid off, as Allen had a strong offseason — both in the weight room and during team work. Allen has emerged as a factor at OLB, but Rumph is still riding the first-year player hard early in fall camp and on Tuesday, he made Allen redo a pass rush drill twice because he didn't like his fundamentals.
THIS & THAT
*** The wideouts were up and down again Tuesday during routes on air. Marquez Callaway, Jauan Jennings and Maleik Gray all had multiple drops. Jordan Murphy made a couple fine grabs, though, and Tyler Byrd was impressive both catching the football and showing acceleration after the reception. Overall, both Jarrett Guarantano and Keller Chryst threw the ball pretty well.
*** Unlike some of his coworkers, Kevin Sherrer was rather docile today. He mostly praised his ILB group. Quart’e Sapp and Daniel Bituli are leading the way there, but Darrin Kirkland Jr. is quickly reasserting himself with the group.
*** While it’s difficult to truly gauge any takeaways from the tailbacks (they’re always 120+ yards away), the pecking order for reps — no matter the drill — remains the same: Tim Jordan, Ty Chandler, Trey Coleman, Madre London, Princeton Fant and Jeremy Banks.
*** The DBs worked on avoiding cut-blocks and also did two other drills focused on footwork fundamentals.
*** Tuesday was the final day in shells, as the Vols will be in full pads tomorrow.
Several assistants coaches were in rare form, too, making sure their guys knew it was a workday during the fourth workout of preseason practice.
“You think you’re getting another day off?"
Tracy Rocker, Chris Rumph and Brian Niedermeyer all expressed vocal displeasure with multiple players within their units.
Here are Tuesday’s rapid reactions from practice…
LINE CHANGE
Rocker was all over senior Kyle Phillips on Tuesday, but freshman Kingston Harris was drew the worst of Rocker’s wrath. Harris was sent off the field three different times for his effort, with Rocker making Harris do extra conditioning three different times.
Notably, when the Vols did full line-work, Shy Tuttle got some work at strong-side defensive end, with Emmitt Gooden at the nose and Alexis Johnson at defensive tackle. Johnson has been impressive in camp thus far, displaying a much greater physical presence. He whipped Tuttle in a 1-on-1 drill at the end of the media viewing.
BLOCK THAT MAN
Unlike in previous practices, Tennessee’s tight ends didn’t participate in routes on air Tuesday, instead doing a couple different blocking drills. Niedermeyer was really getting on Eli Wolf and Latrell Bumphus, mainly about footwork. Later, the group worked on combo blocks with the offensive line. As has been the case in the last week, Dominick Wood-Anderson routinely took the first rep with the unit.
RUMPH STILL RIDIN’ ALLEN
Outside linebackers coach Chris Rumph was really hard on junior college transfer Jordan Allen all spring, hoping to accelerate the sophomore’s development. The move seemingly paid off, as Allen had a strong offseason — both in the weight room and during team work. Allen has emerged as a factor at OLB, but Rumph is still riding the first-year player hard early in fall camp and on Tuesday, he made Allen redo a pass rush drill twice because he didn't like his fundamentals.
THIS & THAT
*** The wideouts were up and down again Tuesday during routes on air. Marquez Callaway, Jauan Jennings and Maleik Gray all had multiple drops. Jordan Murphy made a couple fine grabs, though, and Tyler Byrd was impressive both catching the football and showing acceleration after the reception. Overall, both Jarrett Guarantano and Keller Chryst threw the ball pretty well.
*** Unlike some of his coworkers, Kevin Sherrer was rather docile today. He mostly praised his ILB group. Quart’e Sapp and Daniel Bituli are leading the way there, but Darrin Kirkland Jr. is quickly reasserting himself with the group.
*** While it’s difficult to truly gauge any takeaways from the tailbacks (they’re always 120+ yards away), the pecking order for reps — no matter the drill — remains the same: Tim Jordan, Ty Chandler, Trey Coleman, Madre London, Princeton Fant and Jeremy Banks.
*** The DBs worked on avoiding cut-blocks and also did two other drills focused on footwork fundamentals.
*** Tuesday was the final day in shells, as the Vols will be in full pads tomorrow.
